The Dig – Mulligan and Fiennes shine in gentle period drama January 28, 2021 The true story of the Sutton Hoo excavation gets the Netflix treatment in a handsome period drama The Dig, an awards hopeful that quietly works its way into your affections. The story takes place in idyllic Suffolk in 1939. Wealthy widow Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) hires softly spoken excavator Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to investigate [...]
Twist review – Sky’s Dickens update is not so Artful January 28, 2021 Like Dracula and Sherlock Holmes, Oliver Twist is a character that seems to have been reimagined a number of ways over the years on the big screen. As well as the standard dramatisations of Dickens’ classic, there’s the beloved 60s musical Oliver!; animated hit Oliver & Company; and, er, a version set in the New [...]
WandaVision Episode 3 review: a not-so-groovy 70s episode January 22, 2021 SPOILER WARNING: this review contains spoilers for all current episodes of WandaVision. Disney+’s WandaVision opened up with a double bill of episodes last week, presumably to introduce what is quite a trippy concept if you’re not Marvel literate. Avenger Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and her android lover Vision (Paul Bettany) are living in literal sitcom bliss [...]
Schemers review – Dave Mclean biopic is a flat B-Side January 21, 2021 Biopics that feature their subjects are not a new thing – Muhammad Ali and radio host Howard Stern both played themselves in the stories of their lives. However, they are rarely followed by rave reviews. Schemers is based on the early breakthrough of Dave Mclean, a music promoter who went on to work with some [...]
White Tiger review – a thrilling adaptation of the best-seller January 20, 2021 Netflix’s film output can be a mixed bag. The streaming giant sinks a lot of money into expensive, star driven vehicles that are average at best (see last year’s Rebecca, Hillbilly Elegy, and The Midnight Sky). However, it has also provided a platform for interesting stories that in ordinary times may have struggled for breathing [...]
Marvel show WandaVision Episode 1 and 2 double bill review January 15, 2021 While it wasn’t the original plan, we are finally getting more of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Of course, cinemas are largely unavailable at the moment, so the first Marvel Cinematic Universe story will be on the small screen in the form of WandaVision, a spin-off for Avenger Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and computer-based hero [...]
Stardust review – Bowie movie is a real oddity January 14, 2021 It’s five years since David Bowie passed away, leaving behind fifty-year legacy of creativity and inspiration. A movie biopic has been the dream of many a filmmaker since before Bowie died, with Danny Boyle recently attempting to make a musical. Bowie refused to allow the director to use the rights to his songs, scuppering the [...]
Blithe Spirit review: Judi Dench leads spooky nostalgia fest January 14, 2021 Welcome to cinema’s New Normal. While big blockbusters are optimistically waiting for us in the spring, the first quarter of the year is strategically filled with independent releases that have adopted a dual release format – in cinemas if we have them, on VOD if not. Produced by Sky, Blithe Spirit (starring Dame Judi Dench) [...]
One Night In Miami – Muhammad Ali fiction shines a powerful light January 14, 2021 Based on the Kemp Powers play of the same name, Amazon’s One Night In Miami, a big hope for the 2021 awards season, is centred on the real life meeting of four African-American icons in the hours after Muhammad Ali’s (Eli Goree) 1964 title victory over Sonny Liston. Instead of partying, Ali met with friends [...]
21 movies to see in 2021: Our bumper guide to the year ahead January 8, 2021 If 2020 had been the plot of a movie, no-one would have believed it. As the pandemic spread its tendrils across the globe, Hollywood’s studios were forced to shut their doors and an entire year’s worth of blockbusters either moved to streaming or were pushed back to 2021. This year the only thing we can [...]