By 1987 Mrs Thatcher had been in power for eight years and believe me it felt like a whole lot longer than that at the time. As if things could get any worse, Curiosity Killed the Cat, Tiffany and Debbie Gibson were mounting assaults on the UK charts. I’d tried to block all of those… Blinded By The Light Read More
Blinded By The Light trailer: Bruce lights the way in 80s Luton
The 80s were a crazy decade – awesome music, terrible politics. (Possibly the latter helped cause the former.) In Blinded By The Light it’s 1987 and Mrs Thatcher is in power, while record players and Walkmans hum with Wham! and Bananarama (when it comes to the 80s, if you never tried to wind a cassette… Blinded By The Light trailer: Bruce lights the way in 80s Luton Read More
Sorry To Bother You (London Film Festival) 4 stars
With so many of us well-boiled frogs now, the only way to demonstrate how crazily evil our world has become is to take the metaphors and make them concrete. That’s what Boots Riley has done with his blunt satire Sorry To Bother You. In this alternative reality which isn’t that alternative, America has continued the… Sorry To Bother You (London Film Festival) Read More
The Gospel According To André 3.5 stars
Fashion, that most ephemeral thing, is to some akin to a religion, its best prophets dazzling us with catwalk collections that inspire devotion and reverence. Though genuine divinity too weaves through this documentary about icon André Leon Talley (already I’m co-opting the language of churches and saints). Talley – fashion writer, editor and expert on… The Gospel According To André Read More
Eaten By Lions 3.5 stars
*** Check out my video interviews with the cast and my written interview with director Jason Wingard *** In Eaten By Lions the mum and dad/stepdad of brothers Pete (Jack Carroll) and Omar (Antonio Aakeel) suffer exactly that fate, and I won’t deny it’s a relief not to have to labour over a movie title’s meaning. You could argue… Eaten By Lions Read More
BlacKkKlansman (Cannes 2018) 4 stars
There’s a big sign strung across the entrance to the Colorado Springs Police Department, encouraging new recruits from diverse backgrounds to apply. Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is soon their first Black police officer, fulfilling his lifelong dream. And once there, he also joins another outfit as their first Black recruit; the local branch of… BlacKkKlansman (Cannes 2018) Read More
Sweet Country 4.5 stars
There’s little lighthearted in Warwick Thornton’s tale about Sam, an Aboriginal man on the run for killing a white man in self-defence, though humour does occasionally break through. Archie, brought along by the group of white men hunting Sam, is bemused that he should somehow be able to track someone through a barren landscape miles from… Sweet Country Read More
Sweet Country Trailer: Warwick Thornton Tackles Racism & Justice
*** My review of Sweet Country is now up *** A tale of death and racism in 1920s Australia, Sweet Country is a gut-wrenching but brilliant and gripping film set amid an arid but beautiful landscape, from director Warwick Thornton (Samson And Delilah). Sam (Hamilton Morris in his first professional role), an aboriginal farmer, is… Sweet Country Trailer: Warwick Thornton Tackles Racism & Justice Read More
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 3.5 stars
“You join the gang, you’re culpable,” says Mildred to her local pastor who has come to berate her for holding the local police force to account. She draws parallels between LA gang members being found guilty of crimes they didn’t commit because of group culpability, and joining a church where members are abusing altar boys…. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Read More
Suburbicon 2.5 stars
Like the name of Suburbicon itself, the 1950s housing development where this story is set, this is a film made up of two separate elements that just don’t fit together. The 1950s period details are fun: the opening credits’ living breathing Suburbicon sales brochure, and the bold-patterned office fixtures and fittings, more than the oft-used… Suburbicon Read More
Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun? 3 stars
It’s an odd title as who fired the gun that killed Bill Spann, a 46 year old African American man in Dothan, Alabama that night in 1946, is not in doubt. It was director Travis Wilkerson’s great grandfather, SE Branch, in his convenience store. Charges were later dropped and Branch was never punished. Nor is… Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun? Read More
Victoria And Abdul 2.5 stars
One of the downsides of being a rich, powerful monarch who is a figurehead for billions is a lack of privacy, and In Victoria And Abdul one of our most famous queens has to give regular updates to her physician, while surrounded by servants and courtiers, of her bowel movements. Sadly the film, like Victoria herself, could… Victoria And Abdul Read More