Category: Films
‘Wonderfully sentimental’: why Defending Your Life is my feelgood movie
In a world where we venerate the actor-writer-director (Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen etc), the great Albert Brooks still feels widely underappreciated. His voice work in [more…]
Actor Michele Austin: ‘Mike Leigh has a wicked sense of humour’
Born in London, Michele Austin trained at Rose Bruford College before beginning a wide-ranging career on television, film and stage. She was Yvonne Hemmingway in [more…]
All That’s Left of You review – deeply moving epic of Palestinian intergenerational trauma
All That’s Left of You, Palestinian American film-maker Cherien Dabis’s wrenching portrait of intergenerational trauma, begins its 75-year tale of displacement as the great epics [more…]
Sky Force review – Akshay Kumar stands tall in threadbare air-war flagwaver
The hope is that the Hindi mainstream is learning from its current spell of commercial turbulence. The evidence, alas, suggests otherwise. For Republic day in [more…]
Felicity Jones: ‘I try not to look in the mirror too much’
I think about bringing up our children all the time, and the thought is: we can’t mess it up, we have to do everything perfectly, [more…]
Streaming: Gladiator II and the best sword-and-sandal movies
If men, according to the internet, simply cannot stop thinking about the Roman empire, then Hollywood remains a largely male-brained enterprise. Storytelling trends come and [more…]
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You review – Rose Byrne is a knockout in anxious dark comedy
Last year’s toothless adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch, premiering then disappearing during fall festivals, tried to bring attention to the specific hell of motherhood. But [more…]
‘Stick-it-to-the-man sentiment’: Oscar-nominated films compete to bait Donald Trump
When reacting to Oscar nominations, actors traditionally err on the side of hyperbole. This year was no exception. “I don’t know if I’m quite in [more…]
Jimpa review – Olivia Colman soars in otherwise muddled queer family drama
More so than other film festivals, Sundance can be a kingmaking force, shining light on an unknown film-maker and then entering into a mutually beneficial [more…]
‘Everything is trying to kill you’: harrowing Ukraine film gets standing ovation at Sundance
A harrowing new documentary from Mstyslav Chernov on Ukraine’s ailing counteroffensive against the Russian invasion brought tears and a standing ovation to the Sundance film [more…]
