It’s rare to find a film that combines such huge respect for the gorgeousness and grubbiness of female friendship with such dizzying disrespect for the human liver. They’re connected in this film of course, though I still feel drained just thinking about the sheer quantities of white wine consumed by best friends Laura and Tyler… Animals (Sundance London) Read More
Secret Life Of Pets 2 3 stars
Cute animals in movies often become scene-stealers. Jonesy the ginger cat in Alien. Daisy the floppy-eared beagle in John Wick. Black Phillip the satanic goat in The Witch. Okay, not that last one. In The Secret Life Of Pets 2, it’s Rooster. He’s not actually a rooster, he’s a Welsh sheepdog, wonderfully voiced by Harrison Ford. He… Secret Life Of Pets 2 Read More
Giant Little Ones (Canada Now Film Festival) 4 stars
I’m baffled by modern adolescence, and can hardly believe myself that back in the ’80s mine was modern too. Luckily Keith Behrman’s film leaves me with a sense of hope for my own children’s upcoming teen years, which may have more in common with my own than I feared. In Giant Little Ones Behrman, who… Giant Little Ones (Canada Now Film Festival) Read More
Destination: Dewsbury 2 stars
It’s a huge shock when the first one of your generation dies, as delusions of immortality crumble and the reality of middle age looms. New indie British comedy Destination: Dewsbury tackles this from the viewpoints of four men, mates since school, their lives starting to disintegrate just as the fifth member of their schoolboy gang turns out… Destination: Dewsbury Read More
Can You Ever Forgive Me? 4.5 stars
There’s a scale for private letters from icons: $75 for a genuine Fanny Brice letter, $350 for a genuine Fanny Brice letter with a fake PS. Lee Israel, failed biographer turned successful forger, has probably stumbled upon one of the few lucrative careers in writing, so it’s a pity it’s illegal. It’s a writer’s job… Can You Ever Forgive Me? Read More
A Friend In Need (Short Film) Short Film 3.5 stars
A Friend In Need brought to mind that (probably apocryphal) Mark Twain quote: “I once sent a dozen of my friends a telegram saying ‘flee at once – all is discovered.’ They all left town immediately.” Here it’s affairs, drugs, crimes against fashion (I’m looking at you, Patrick), and being rude to a pole dancer… A Friend In Need (Short Film) Read More
Ralph Breaks The Internet 3.5 stars
It’s the city that never sleeps. An always-on, flashing lights-filled, metropolis with a dark underbelly. No not Swindon. This is the Internet, and whereas many of us find it intermittently breaks us, here it’s Ralph himself doing some serious damage – first when his videos go viral, and then when he lets loose a destructive… Ralph Breaks The Internet Read More
A Simple Favour 3 stars
*** Not sure I can ever claim a review is entirely spoiler-free, but I haven’t included the twists and turns *** Much like at-a-crossroads suburban mom Stephanie, A Simple Favour is a film that tries on different outfits, unsure what it really wants to be. It certainly ticks a lot of boxes: thriller, comedy, satire, crime… A Simple Favour Read More
Fishbowl California 4 stars
*** Check out my interviews with director Michael A MacRae & actor Steve Olson, who plays Rodney *** Some screen icons are so ingrained in our memories, it takes something special for us to move past them. Viewing Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal recently, I finally laid to rest the image of Death playing Twister with… Fishbowl California Read More
Girls Trip 3.5 stars
“I control my destiny… if I will it, I can have it all” says Ryan, a successful writer and motivational speaker who is about to enter the big league (think Oprah crossed with Martha Stewart) with her new book You Can Have It All. Ryan and her footballer husband are turning themselves into a mega-brand. Which leaves… Girls Trip Read More
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie 4 stars
This is a film all about the strength of laughter, friendship, and knicker elastic – the ties that bind us and the binds that stop our underwear from falling down round our ankles. George and Harold go to a miserably joyless establishment called Jerome Horwitz Elementary School where children are so unhappy they climb into lockers at the… Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie Read More