*** Read my interview with director Carl Hunter *** Finally, a story about the beautiful game that isn’t boring or dependent on stereotypical ideas of its players. Yes, I’m talking about Scrabble. Set near Liverpool in the North West, director Carl Hunter’s delightful film is witty and moving – and beautifully written by Frank Cottrell Boyce… Sometimes Always Never (London Film Festival) Read More
2001: A Space Odyssey (Cannes 2018) 5 stars
I’m usually that person saying it’s okay to watch movies any way you can – Netflix, cinema, laptop, mobile phone. Hell, download it to your own eyeball then look for explanations in a recently-discovered ancient cave painting, if it works for you. But 2001: A Space Odyssey is one that, if you get the chance,… 2001: A Space Odyssey (Cannes 2018) Read More
Funny Cow 4 stars
In the 1970s the Northern working men’s club circuit was both a launchpad for an entertainment career and a dismal corner where acts went to die. If they even had the energy to do that. And in Funny Cow, as well as comics, singers and ventriloquists, we’re treated to a performance by the world’s most… Funny Cow Read More
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 4 stars
Technologies based on Hedy Lamarr’s invention are now so ubiquitous, and have had such huge effects on our lives, I rather feel that a little Hedy avatar should pop up before we email, tweet, or indeed go to war, that says “are you SURE you want to do this?” Think how many hot-headed, post-1990s wifi-enabled… Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story Read More
Phantom Thread 4.5 stars
To paraphrase Emily in The Devil Wears Prada, it turns out I’m just one wild mushroom omelette away from my goal weight. I never collect mushrooms in the great outdoors, as I’d rather not risk death for size zero, though it makes a change to see food used as a weapon against a gourmand fashion… Phantom Thread Read More
The Greatest Showman 3 stars
The Greatest Showman is historically inaccurate and hugely emotionally manipulative in a by-numbers way, and I could almost feel my heartstrings being tugged as I sat in the cinema; but if you take it at face value, it’s an engaging and at times moving musical. I just wish that they had simply made up their… The Greatest Showman Read More
The Man Who Invented Christmas 4 stars
A Christmas Carol is so traditionally festive that we sometimes need reminding that the novel itself created much of that tradition. The Man Who Invented Christmas picks up the story of its author Charles Dickens, in 1843 – three years after the publication of the hugely successful Oliver Twist, sadly quickly followed by several flops…. The Man Who Invented Christmas Read More
North By Northwest 4 stars
North By Northwest is nearly 60 years old, and is one of those films that demonstrates how much classic storytelling has been narrowed with new technology – I spent the first few minutes of this mistaken identity thriller thinking “Townsend could just google Roger Thornhill, then he’ll know it’s not really George Kaplan!”. But some… North By Northwest Read More
Killing Of A Sacred Deer 3 stars
The background sounds during key scenes in Killing Of A Sacred Deer – most of the time it isn’t really music – hugely reminded me of The Twilight Zone, and in many ways the film is like an extended, European cinema version of one of its episodes. This is certainly a movie that is hard… Killing Of A Sacred Deer Read More
Faces Places 4.5 stars
Charming, eye-opening, and consistently hilarious, this photographic road trip through a series of French villages by two new friends, the 88 year old director Agnès Varda and 33 year old JR, a hipster artist known for his enormous photographs pasted onto huge outdoor backdrops, highlights the changes to rural life and how people of all… Faces Places Read More
The Rape Of Recy Taylor 4 stars
A young black woman in a long white dress runs along a road and through fields at dusk, repeatedly looking behind her. The footage is from a race film, movies made from about 1915 onwards, by black directors about black experiences, using mostly black casts. They enabled black stories to be told without the “white gaze”…. The Rape Of Recy Taylor Read More
Breathe Easy 3.5 stars
You know the apocalypse is only going to get worse when you’re British and your mate says “oh and we’ve run out of beer”. Turns out the world ends not with a bang but with a young man’s whimper, that the stash of Fosters is all gone. In Britain, anyway. Elsewhere it’s more urgent and more violent, as… Breathe Easy Read More