Category: Films
The Fire Inside review – blazing boxing drama packs a serious punch
At a Toronto festival strangely heavy on middling dramas about either wrestlers (Unstoppable, uplifting yet routine) or boxers (The Cut, downbeat yet ridiculous), it’s easy [more…]
Unstoppable review – Jennifer Lopez and Jharrel Jerome lift routine sports drama
There are winks throughout the Matt Damon/Ben Affleck-produced wrestling drama Unstoppable suggesting that those involved are keenly aware of the archetypes that have come to [more…]
Venice 2024: Almodóvar’s first major festival win is richly deserved – and epically overdue
Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door is a tender, heartfelt drama about a driven former war correspondent who’s in search of the perfect final scene. [more…]
The Last Showgirl review – Pamela Anderson’s big comeback is a big disappointment
The desire to see Pamela Anderson receive her flowers after being mistreated and denigrated by numerous parties – from the media to men in the [more…]
We Live in Time review – Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh charm in heartfelt weepie
There was a warm late summer surprise to be had with last month’s surprisingly thoughtful and tender adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s supermarket bestseller It Ends [more…]
Russian documentary accused of falsely showing invading soldiers as victims
A new documentary portraying the lives of Russian soldiers near the Ukrainian frontlines has faced fierce criticism for attempting to whitewash Moscow’s war crimes. Russians [more…]
Venice film festival 2024 roundup – Nicole Kidman gets carnal and Lady Gaga goes crazy
In a summer when oppressive heat has turned the Venice Lido into a sauna, the stars at the city’s annual film festival were as numerous [more…]
Hard Truths review – a Mike Leigh classic of day-to-day disillusionment and courage
Those two stark monosyllables in the title are a callback to Leigh’s debut from 1971, Bleak Moments: they lay down an uncompromising and yet also [more…]
Norman Spencer, David Lean’s collaborator and UK’s second oldest man, dies aged 110
Norman Spencer, who worked on some of the most acclaimed films made in Britain in the 1940s and 50s, has died at the age of [more…]
Can Travis Knight’s He-Man movie do for boys what Greta Gerwig’s Barbie did for girls?
Just a couple of years ago the advent of a Barbie movie powered by feminism might have seemed about as likely as the plaything giving [more…]