It’s like death – but with a safety net!” Lily the therapist [If you’re looking for my 4-star review, it’s here] Normally here I would list who dies, and the generally horrible ways this happens, and I will do this; though in ClearMind people never really die as it’s a simulation. And one person –… Still game: life and death in ClearMind Read More
ClearMind 4 stars
A grieving mother uses virtual reality to find answers and plot her revenge. I’m not an aficionado of virtual reality, screeching when my sons force me to walk the plank off a highrise, even though my fall will be broken by my living room carpet. But I am fascinated by the idea that we’re in… ClearMind Read More
Love never dies – Bridget Jones Mad About The Boy spoilers and ending
Love, lust, and massive lips – how Mad About The Boy unfolds, and of course the answer to the question that drives the universe: Roxster or Mr Walliker, which suitor ends up with our Bridget? (We find out near the end that Mr Walliker is actually called Scott but I’m a mum and can only… Love never dies – Bridget Jones Mad About The Boy spoilers and ending Read More
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy 4 stars
Bridget, now widowed, gets back in the dating game – and finds a much younger man. Bridget is back, and she has become, dare I say it, slightly more sophisticated. Where once she slurped blue soup now she quaffs blue cocktails; and she has gained a beautiful Hampstead house, possibly accidentally swapped for her hairbrush…. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy Read More
65 3 stars
A space pilot crashlands on Earth 65 million years ago, and has to fight prehistoric predators while getting himself and his young charge Koa to their escape vessel. (My re-cap article is here) 65 million years ago, Man meets Dinosaur. That’s 64 million years before Raquel Welch met Dinosaur. (I hope you’re all feeling bad for… 65 Read More
The Reef: Stalked 3 stars
Four women are hunted by a shark while on a seagoing kayaking adventure. Received wisdom is that sharks got a raw deal from Peter Benchley’s novel and Spielberg’s classic movie. Though they’ve now been so thoroughly rehabilitated — personally I trace it back to Viz magazine’s self-explanatory cartoon strip The Pathetic Sharks — it’s hard… The Reef: Stalked Read More
All is not black and white in new trailer for The Righteous
“Be careful what you wish for. But be certain what you pray for.” Frederic prays for his penance — possibly rashly, it turns out. This first feature from director-actor-writer Mark O’Brien is a dark chiller about a burdened man who feels the wrath of a vengeful God, after he and his wife are visited by… All is not black and white in new trailer for The Righteous Read More
Pig 5 stars
A man’s truffle pig is stolen and he travels into the city to find it. Pig‘s titular pig is an adorable old ham. When she’s happy she snorts like an old man laughing at his own jokes, while the river tumbles and twigs crackle around her; when she’s taken you can hear her shrieking in… Pig Read More
Promising Young Woman: the end
Cassie plots the denouement to her own story, and though he knows the risk she’s taking, for her it’s worth it. Without Nina, Cassie sees herself as half a person (she wears a chain with half a pendant on it, while Nina had the other half). Cassie knows she might well die, and that her… Promising Young Woman: the end Read More
Pieces Of A Woman: the final bit of the jigsaw
Warning: very spoilery about the end of the film – if you want to read my review instead, it’s here. Pieces Of A Woman is about Martha navigating her grief when her baby dies, and part of that is about her regaining control after the birth. Births are often unpredictable but she had tried to… Pieces Of A Woman: the final bit of the jigsaw Read More
Pieces Of A Woman 3.5 stars
When Martha and Sean’s baby dies shortly after her home birth, the months that follow see relationships around her fracture as Martha tries to navigate her grief. When Martha goes into labour, she and her husband Sean find their chosen midwife stuck with another birthing mother. They’re sent Eva instead, an unexpected development but not… Pieces Of A Woman Read More
The Secret Garden 2.5 stars
An orphaned girl discovers a magical garden hidden at her strict uncle’s estate. I was underwhelmed by The Secret Garden but not the secret garden. The film feels soulless, its magic and reality uneasy (flower)bedfellows; while the garden is a gorgeously tangled, artfully curated wilderness housing everything a child, kept captive by an adult world… The Secret Garden Read More