Film
The Current War review – lacks the spark of inventionThursday, 25 July 2019
We like to think of scientists and inventors as innocent dreamers, trampled upon by the cruel old world. Of course, that’s not wholly true. Just look at today’s tech and social media industries. In fact the man cited as America’s greatest ever... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: Ash Is Purest WhiteTuesday, 23 July 2019
Chinese director Jia Zhangke has made a masterful career from following the changes that his native land has undergone in the 21st century, catching the speed of its transition from old ideological order to the relentless dynamism of subsequent... Read more... |
Lights, Camera, Malta!, BBC Concert Orchestra, Malta review – a spectacular celebration of film historyMonday, 22 July 2019
With sapphire blue waters, year-round sun and architecture that spans centuries and cultures, it’s little wonder that Malta is a favourite location for Hollywood. To celebrate its long featured history, Radio 2 brought the BBC Concert Orchestra to... Read more... |
Tell It to the Bees review - taboo love in 1950s ScotlandSaturday, 20 July 2019
In Tell It to the Bees, sex is aberrant unless it’s conducted by a straight married couple. Since Annabel Jankel’s low-key drama is set in a grim Scottish mill town in 1952, you can add “white” to that dictum. We’re in the land of John Knox here and... Read more... |
Pavarotti review - enjoyable but superficial survey of a superstarFriday, 19 July 2019
One of the most memorable moments in Ron Howard’s documentary about Luciano Pavarotti is one of its earliest scenes. It’s a chunk of amateur video shot when Pavarotti visited the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, a splendid Belle Epoque structure in the... Read more... |
Varda by Agnès review - a richly moving film farewellFriday, 19 July 2019
French director Agnès Varda looks back over a cinematic career of seven decades in this a richly moving film farewell, finished not long before her death at the end of March, aged 90. It’s structured around a series of masterclasses in which she... Read more... |
The Lion King review - a dazzling photocopyThursday, 18 July 2019
The cynicism of this film’s existence squeezes all the feeling from it. It approaches cherished childhood memories of the original The Lion King (1994) with a view to remonetising them. Technological advances apart, there’s no reason at all for this... Read more... |
Gwen review - gothic horror set in north WalesThursday, 18 July 2019
This gothic yarn set in 1850s Snowdonia stars Maxine Peake as Elen. She’s left alone with two young daughters to manage an isolated farm when her husband goes off to war. Mysterious omens – a sheep’s heart filled with nails festoons the farm... Read more... |
Blu-ray: Lords of ChaosWednesday, 17 July 2019
“All this evil and dark crap was supposed to be fun,” complains exasperated Norwegian black metal overlord Euronymous, played by Rory Culkin, as his world spirals out of control in a cataclysm of murder, suicide and church burnings. The true events... Read more... |
Ewa Banaszkiewicz and Mateusz Dymek: 'Is our film porny?'Wednesday, 17 July 2019
Spoiler alert: About sixty-four minutes into our debut feature film, one of the main female characters undresses for the camera. Alicja is being filmed by the other protagonist, a young American documentarian named Katie. As the sexually charged... Read more... |
The Brink review – behind the scenes with Steve BannonSaturday, 13 July 2019
Donald Trump’s former strategist, alt-right propagandist and all-round provocateur Steve Bannon comes under the spotlight of a smart, dynamic, behind-closed-doors documentary, as he attempts to turn his brand of far-right populism into a global... Read more... |
Armstrong review - the man behind the leapFriday, 12 July 2019
You wait 50 years for a moon landing documentary, then two come along at once! With Apollo 11 still showing in cinemas, along comes Armstrong. But while the former focuses solely on the lunar mission through archive footage, the latter is the wider... Read more... |
