Mr Malcolm’s List review: by-the-numers but pleasantly entertaining August 26, 2022 The stale genre of costume dramas has been given a boost in recent times by productions that have opted for a more diverse approach in casting. Amando Iannucci’s David Copperfield and Netflix smash hit Bridgerton have all the hallmarks of the classic tales, but with stars that revive character tropes with a different approach, and [...]
Official Competition: Penelope Cruz shines in biting movieland satire August 26, 2022 One thing Hollywood loves to celebrate is itself. There are numerous movies of the highs, lows, and in-betweens of the American film industry, but not as many that focus on European cinema. New comedy Official Competition puts prestige cinema in the spotlight, and comes up with a winner. Set in Spain, an elderly millionaire (José [...]
The Feast sees horror descend on the Welsh Valleys August 19, 2022 Rural horror films are all the rage. Whether it’s the windswept mania of The Lighthouse, or the Icelandic wilderness of last year’s Lamb, directors have found terror in nature, and that continues with The Feast. In the Welsh mountains, politician Gwyn (Julian Lewis Jones) and his wife Glenda (Nia Roberts) live a life of simmering [...]
Mama’s Affair: There’s more to this Hong Kong comedy than Cantopop stars Keung To and Jer Lau August 19, 2022 Mama’s Affair has made headlines for being the acting debut of Keung To and Jer Lau, members of Cantopop boyband MIRROR. They are directed by Kearen Pang, a popular Hong Kong multi-hyphenate artist who was a part of the show on which the band was discovered. But despite its pop-culture credentials, it’s the veteran star [...]
My Old School is a surprisingly nice documentary about the man who posed as a kid to go back to school August 18, 2022 A decade of Netflix true crime may lead you to believe there’s something sinister in the set up for British documentary My Old School. It’s the story of Brandon Lee – not Bruce Lee’s son, but the Scottish school student who in the mid-90s was revealed to be a 32-year-old man called Brian MacKinnon. It [...]
Nope film review: Jordan Peele does it again in UFO horror mystery August 17, 2022 In the five years since his debut film Get Out, Jordan Peele has established himself as a new Master of Horror. The promotional material for his latest work suggests he knows how popular he’s become, too: his own name is highlighted with equal prominence to the film’s title: Nope. Taking place on a California ranch, the [...]
Secret Headquarters review – A sub-par Spy Kids August 10, 2022 Director Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, who brought superheroes to streaming with Netflix’s Project Power, do the same for Paramount+ with family adventure Secret Headquarters. Walker Scobell stars as Charlie, a teenager struggling to connect with his father Jack (Owen Wilson), who is always away for work. While staying home alone at his house, Charlie [...]
Where Is Anne Frank review – A touching testament to an icon, with a twist August 10, 2022 There have been a spate of animations in recent years that can deliver heart-breaking stories with the lightest of touches – think 2017’s The Breadwinner, or 2006 Oscar nominee Waltz With Bashir. The director of the latter, Ari Folman, returns to tell one of history’s best-known stories with a new twist. Where Is Anne Frank [...]
Thirteen Lives sees Ron Howard tackle the Tham Luang cave rescue August 6, 2022 Some moments in history are described as being “like something from a movie”, and the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue certainly fits that description. Thirteen Lives is the third film based on the rescue, and has Oscar-winning director Ron Howard behind the camera. Four years ago, a boys’ football team explored a cave after practice. [...]
Prey is the Predator prequel we didn’t know we needed August 6, 2022 At a time when legacy sequels are all the rage, Prey is a bit of an oddity. It’s a prequel to 1987’s Predator, but you wouldn’t know that from the posters or publicity, with the film going in a different direction to John Mc Tiernan’s classic, and its many mediocre sequels. Coming straight to streaming [...]
