It is a quiet, rainy Saturday afternoon. You’ve got the house to yourself for the first time in ages. You don't have the energy for mayhem and chaos. You’re just going to stay in and watch a movie. But what movie? What are you in the mood for? And is your mood likely to change? … Continue reading Saturday Afternoon Movies, Part 1 – Firefox (1982 Clint Eastwood)
Absolutely everything! Well, when they are done well that is. One fresh example is They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson’s recent, extraordinary and awe-inspiring documentary presenting World War I footage. Painstakingly restored with colour and realistic sounds added, this film is composed entirely of archival footage from the British National Museum and a soundtrack … Continue reading War Films, What Are They Good For?
Us (2019, Monkeypaw Productions and Blumhouse Productions) Written and directed by Jordan Peele. Music by Michael Abels. Featuring Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, and Tim Heidecker. The brilliant Jordan Peele returns to the director’s chair with another horror film. This time about a family holidaying in Santa Cruz, California … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Us and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Mary Queen of Scots (2018 Focus Features and Working Title Films) Directed by Josie Rourke. Featuring Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, David Tennant, Guy Pearce, Jack Lowden and Joe Alwyn. Mary Queen of Scots is a period drama set in the second half of the 16th Century about the troubled reign of Queen Mary of Scotland … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Mary Queen of Scots and The Front Runner
The Children Act (2018, FilmNation Entertainment and BBC Films) Directed by Richard Eyre. Featuring Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Fionn Whitehead and Ben Chaplin. Based on a novel by Ian McEwan. This English-set drama follows the traumatic life choices surrounding religious objections to blood transfusions by Jehovah Witnesses. Seventeen year-old Adam (Whitehead) is dying and only … Continue reading The Two Reviews: The Children Act and Vice
Prologue – A Man With No Name This is the story of a story. Not the whole story of course just the highlights. The greatest stories are timeless. They crop up again and again. Christopher Booker, in his 2004 book, described seven basic plots. Leo Tolstoy thought that there were only two: a man goes … Continue reading Akira Kurosawa meets The Man With No Name
On Chesil Beach (2018, Number 9 Films, BBC Films & Lionsgate) Directed by Dominic Cooke, based on a novel by Ian McEwan, featuring Saoirse Ronan, Billy Howle, Emily Watson, Ann-Marie Duff and Samuel West. The film On Chesil Beach is a romantic drama based on the short novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. It is … Continue reading The Two Reviews: On Chesil Beach and BlacKkKlansman
Lean on Pete (2017, A24, Curzon Artifical Eye, BFI and Film4) Directed by Andrew Haigh, based on a novel by Willy Vlautin, featuring Charlie Plummer, Chloë Sevigny, Travis Fimmel, Steve Zahn and Steve Buscemi Andrew Haigh has beautifully adapted Willy Vlautin’s brilliant and understated novel for the screen. Having read the book when it was … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Lean on Pete and Disobedience
Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016, Hypnotic Pictures & Picture Palace Pictures) Directed by Bill Morrison; Produced by Bill Morrison and Madeleine Molyneaux As an archaeologist and a film enthusiast, I have always wanted to explore this topic more – the genuine and artful presentation of the fruits of archaeological discovery on film. There is only … Continue reading The Two Reviews – Documentary Special: Dawson City: Frozen Time and The Newspaperman
The Death of Stalin (2018, eOne films & Gaumont) Directed by Armando Iannucci, featuring Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Jason Isaacs, Rupert Friend, Michael Palin, Andrea Riseborough, Dermot Crowley and Jeffrey Tambor The biting political and social satire of Armando Iannucci has struck a chord with many viewers from his breakthrough with The Day Today … Continue reading The Two Reviews: The Death of Stalin and Annihilation
