Falling review – Viggo Mortensen family drama feels too familiar December 5, 2020 35 years after his big screen debut, Viggo Mortensen steps behind the camera for his feature debut, in a story he also writes and stars in. He plays John, a pilot who lives in California with his husband Eric (Terry Chen) and daughter Monica (Gabby Velis). His contented West Coast life is disrupted by the [...]
David Fincher’s Mank is a classic about a classic December 5, 2020 There is a sad irony to David Fincher’s love letter to Old Hollywood being a big new release for Netflix. Mank is the company’s big hope for Oscar glory, as films about the film business tend to go down well with the people in it (Birdman, La La Land, The Artist, Adaptation… we could go [...]
The Godfather Part III gets a new cut and a new title – The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone December 5, 2020 It’s not just superheroes that are getting a new edit. Thirty years on from its release, The Godfather Part III gets a new cut and a new title – The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. Director Francis Ford Coppola and writer Mario Puzo’s original vision was a coda, rather than an official third [...]
The Mandalorian season 2 episode 6: S2E6 sees a legend return December 5, 2020 *** SPOILERS AHEAD: If you haven’t watched the most recent episodes of The Mandalorian Season 2, look away now*** After a few episodic adventures, the larger picture of this season of The Mandalorian seems to be coming together. Last episode we got a huge chunk of information about The Child – or Grogu, as he [...]
Crock Of Gold – A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan: A tribute to a life lived hard December 4, 2020 When we first see the star of Crock Of Gold – A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan, the instinct is to feel sad. He looks ravaged by the excesses of his 62 years, wheelchair bound and pale. However, one of the first preconceptions this documentary smashes is the idea that the singer/songwriter is a tragic [...]
The Mandalorian season 2 episode 5: S2E5 a Clone Wars showdown November 27, 2020 With the broadcast of S2E5, we’re past the midpoint of The Mandalorian Season 2, and those who were wondering where this is all going got a big boost with this episode, subtitled The Jedi. Almost immediately we are treated to a James Bond-esque pre-credit sequence where a mysterious figure with two lightsabers (!) slashes their [...]
Eternal Beauty review – a gripping and peculiar story of love and mental illness November 25, 2020 Actor Craig Roberts (Submarine) follows up his 2015 directorial debut Just Jim with Eternal Beauty, a gripping and peculiar story of love and mental illness. Sally Hawkins stars as Jane, a woman living alone in a hellish British suburb. She suffers from depression and schizophrenia related to various traumas from her past, such as a [...]
Jungleland: An indie movie with heart and style November 25, 2020 Like a swift left-hand jab, Jungleland has popped up out of nowhere in this year’s jumbled cinema landscape. It’s a film that seems destined for streaming queues – starring two actors you probably recognise from “that thing they did a few years ago”, with a plot that sounds inviting enough to give it a shot. [...]
Audrey documentary review – a cinematic Wikipedia entry November 25, 2020 If there’s one thing to take away from that unsettling 2014 chocolate bar advert, it’s that Audrey Hepburn remains a figure of fascination for millions. Thirty years on from her death, her image is still iconic in the world of cinema and fashion, with the famous image from Breakfast At Tiffany’s adorning walls around the [...]
The Mandalorian season 2 episode 4 review: S2E4 feels like classic Star Wars November 20, 2020 *** SPOILERS AHEAD: If you haven’t watched the most recent episodes of The Mandalorian Season 2, look away now*** In last week’s chapter, The Heiress, we were introduced to new characters who are likely to play a big role in this season at some point. This week, we go back to a relatively self-contained adventure, [...]
