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 [...]
Vanguard review: Jackie Chan plays the hits January 7, 2021 The current climate is exactly the right moment for a classic action movie, a genre that can provide us with escapism and some vicarious victories at a time when so much seems out of our control. Vanguard would seem to fit the bill – legend Jackie Chan reunites with Stanley Tong, his collaborator on two [...]
Pieces of A Woman review: The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby excels in harrowing drama January 6, 2021 The coming awards season sees a number of challenging subjects covered by contenders – civil rights abuse in Da 5 Bloods, Nomadland’s portrayal of a broken economy, and depictions of dementia in The Father and Supernova. This week’s drama Pieces of A Woman looks at an equally difficult topic, but one not often explored. Vanessa [...]
Nicolas Cage’s The History Of Swear Words is flippin’ average January 6, 2021 First, a warning. As you might have guessed, this review will contain some very adult language. Netflix’s latest series offering seems irresistible. Nicolas Cage, Oscar winning star turned living meme, presents a show about the history of naughty words. In the age of the endless scroll, that’s more than enough to entice most browsers to press [...]
Shirley film review: Elizabeth Moss chills again in strange horror December 28, 2020 Having chilled us earlier this year with breakout hit The Invisible Man, Elisabeth Moss plays American horror author Shirley Jackson in an interesting non-biopic. Odessa Young and Logan Lerman play Rose and Fred, a young couple expecting a baby who come to live with Jackson and her husband Stanley Hyman (Michael Stuhlbarg), an academic and [...]
The top films of 2020, from Parasite to Mank December 27, 2020 The absence of cinema releases for much of 2020 gives this year’s ‘best of’ film list a strange new context, as the industry shifts from reliance on the opening week box office and cinema fans focus on what they miss about the big screen. Here’s our pick of this year’s best movies, comprised of titles [...]
