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 [...]
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 [...]
The Laureate film review: If you miss Downton Abbey, try this May 5, 2023 The Laureate film review and star rating: ★★★ The lives of writers don’t always make interesting viewing, but the private side of our favourite authors always seem to find their way to the screen. The Laureate centres on poet Robert Graves (Tom Hughes), famous for his writing about his experiences during World War I. The [...]
Guardians of The Galaxy Volume 3 review: Effective but over-stuffed finale May 3, 2023 Guardians of The Galaxy Volume 3 review and star rating: ★★★★ 2014’s Guardians of The Galaxy was seen as a massive gamble for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It made some risky decisions, namely focussing more on lesser known characters, and bringing in a more unknown director, but the decisions paid off, as three movies and [...]
Polite Society review: A bold and interesting film debut April 28, 2023 Bridgerton actor Priya Kansara plays Ria, a young woman from a traditional British-Asian family with the less-than-traditional dream of being a stunt woman. Older sister Lena (Ritu Arya) helps her with her passion, but that bond seems to be in jeopardy when she embarks on a whirlwind romance with the family-approved Salim (Akshay Khanna). Enlisting [...]
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: Another cosy British drama April 28, 2023 Having stolen art to highlight the plight of the elderly in The Duke, Jim Broadbent is back being a lovable eccentric in this adaptation of Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. He plays the title role of Harold, a retired man lacking purpose until he receives a letter from an old friend in [...]
Air film review: Ben Affleck’s feel-good Nike movie April 27, 2023 Good Will Hunting besties Matt Damon and Ben Affleck reteam for the story behind the Air Jordan shoe, a product that still is the gold standard among sneaker heads but had a rocky road to infamy. This biopic follows Sonny Vaccaro (Damon), an executive at the struggling Nike brand who believes he has found basketball’s [...]
Little Richard: I Am Everything– A stunning documentary about an overlooked legend April 27, 2023 Throughout history, those who created great movements are rarely the ones who enjoyed the benefits. Little Richard: I Am Everything is a stunning documentary about a singer, but also a meditation about how cultural history is manicured. Told through archive footage and talking head interviews, it’s about the life of Richard Wayne Penniman, the singer [...]
