Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret is just as good as the brilliant book – film review May 22, 2023 The poster for this new coming-of-age drama boasts that it is “based on the book loved by millions.” For once, film publicity isn’t exaggerating. Judy Blume’s 1970 novel Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret became a popular choice for American adolescents in the era, and its adaptation comes with the seal of approval from [...]
Beau is Afraid is self-indulgent but visually stunning – review May 22, 2023 Ari Aster, the man behind the nightmarish horror films Hereditary and Midsommar, is back for his difficult third film. Some of his genre contemporaries have already experienced divisive third outings. Opinions were mixed about Jordan Peele’s Nope, while Robert Eggers had trouble with a bigger budget in The Northman. Can Aster succeed with Beau is [...]
Brokeback Mountain play, review: Where’s all the gay sex?! May 19, 2023 Brokeback Mountain play review and star rating: ★★★ Where was all the spine-tingling intimacy? The kissing scenes that show what two men together can be like, the caressing of a shoulder with the tuft of hair, the chin nuzzling into the armpit, the gazes of adoration? Brokeback Mountain, originally a 1997 short story published in [...]
Book Club: The Next Chapter is good fun, even if there’s no plot – review May 13, 2023 Once a reliable staple of the box office, older audiences have been the last demographic to head back to the cinema post-Covid. Hoping to draw back silver-haired cinephiles is the star-studded sequel to 2018 comedy Book Club. Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen return as the group of friends who decided to [...]
Love Again film review: Really, really bad. Why is Celine Dion in this? May 12, 2023 There have been a few romantic comedies in recent years that have moulded themselves around famous singers. 2019’s Yesterday was anchored around the music of The Beatles, while Last Christmas used George Michael as a soundtrack for festive love. At one point titled It’s All Coming Back To Me Now, this week’s release Love Again [...]
Still: A Michael J Fox Movie is a wonderful celebration of the great man – review May 11, 2023 Still, A Michael J Fox movie review and star rating: ★★★★★ For viewers of a certain generation, watching Michael J Fox in Still will inevitably bring sadness. The man who became an icon of Hollywood cinema as Marty McFly in Back To The Future has been living with Parkinson’s Disease since 1991, publicly disclosing his [...]
Glory Ride, Charing Cross Theatre, review: Touching tribute to Italian war hero May 11, 2023 Glory Ride review and star rating: ★★★★ Gino Bartali won the Tour de France for Italy in the 1930s and 1940s but it was another of his conquests that became legendary: how he secretly smuggled documentation to refugees in the Second World War, helping save the lives of thousands of people being persecuted after Italy [...]
August in England, Bush Theatre, review: Lenny Henry at his formidable best May 11, 2023 August in England review and star rating: ★★★★ Lenny Henry’s beloved as a comedian, but before that he was primarily an actor, as he reminds us with such panache in August in England, a new piece of writing penned by Henry about the Windrush Generation. Henry’s story about a black man whose life is upturned [...]
Meet the man who quit the City to reinvent the film industry, one documentary at a time May 9, 2023 City banker Julian Bird set up Lorton Entertainment to show that investing in films could be profitable, and documentaries on Diego Maradona, Oasis and Wayne Rooney have proven him spectacularly right. “I’m not really a massive film fan,” says City banker-turned-unlikely movie mogul Julian Bird. It’s perhaps a surprising statement from someone who has been [...]
Ip Man: The Awakening: Kung Fu film about Bruce Lee’s mentor misfires May 6, 2023 This historical origin story is the latest to dramatize the life of Wing Chun master Ip Man. Over the years, the man who mentored Bruce Lee has been portrayed many times, most notably in Donnie Yen’s hit Ip Man franchise (2008-2019) and Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster. This seems unlikely to be as well regarded, as [...]