Reviews

Well, perhaps simply watching the original BBC interview would give you just as much insight as this dramatisation of how the now infamous interview with Prince Andrew came together. As a production it is well done, with super performances all round, but I think I would rather have seen an explanation of how he got involved or we might say embroiled into a 'friendship' with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and how after that the whole thing unravelled in such a damaging and disastrous way. This film is worth seeing, but it doesn't reveal anything new or enlightening, however, it's by no means unsuccessful in what it does.

A film about the life of a toilet cleaner in modern Tokyo is not on the face of it an easy sell, and indeed I did have my doubts, but Wim Wenders delivers a rather sweet contemplative and intimate film about how simplicity can transcend the complexities of modern life, even in the deep complex urban landscape of Tokyo.

It's very Japanese of course, contrasting the modernity of the city, highlighted perfectly by the incredible architecture of that city's public toilets, but in a life seen through the eyes of our main protagonist , beautifully played by Koji Yashuko, we see a different way of looking at the city and life in general. I was absorbed, enlightened, and charmed, and there's a great use of music too. Nothing world shaking, but it's all rather affecting and very well done.

I like films which try to break the mould a bit, and although American Fiction is clearly influenced by Woody Allen and other middle bracket sophisticated comedies, it does what it does brilliantly and with a freshness of approach. The key to this satire on modern day America, its racial and culture wars, middle class paranoia, and its contradictions, is the brilliantly witty and sardonic screenplay and the superb central performances, especially Jeffrey Wright. It's clever and often touching, and has a real heart. If the plot is slightly thin at times then that's made up for by a sheer freshness of approach, and the sense that it is genuinely topical and contemporary. There's a great jazz soundtrack too. I liked it a lot.

Frank Herbert's Dune series is an immense and complex work, perhaps for Sci-Fi as challenging as Tolkien is for fantasy, and bringing it successfully to life is quite an achievement. The second part is just as spectacular as the first, continuing as before with a combination of eerie other worldly atmosphere, incredible tech spectacle, plenty of noisy action, and a coherent though sometimes outlandish plot. In this part of the saga there's also quite a lot of delving into the more meaningful aspects of Herbert's concepts and ideas - a mish mash of philosophical ideas on mankind and cultural political and religious ideas, which the more I watched became clearer, though not in a negative way.

Overall, it's a thrilling and immersive movie, technically breathtaking and often dramatically powerful, and even when it's also rather odd it does try hard to stay close to its origins, and I think it mostly succeeds. I saw this in 70mm and IMAX, and I recommend seeing it on the biggest screen possible.

Bob Marley, like Hendrix, Jim Morrison. Monroe and many others will never be seen old and mature, so he remains iconic, revered, and unchanged and at, supposedly, the height of his powers. This biopic is a somewhat predictable mix of the ups and downs of his short life, but offers very few insights in to the real person, and so although I really enjoyed the film it felt very packaged, and I mostly didn't learn anything new. Even so, the music is tremendous, with Kingsley Ben Adir giving a stormingly good performance as Marley, and there's an admirable and authentic use of language and culture which holds together well. Good without being great, it's an absorbing worthwhile and deserved tribute.

Not always what seems, this is a powerfully affecting film with a deep emotional core, but it is ultimately very depressing. It left me thinking over some profound stuff though, about the decisions we make in life, and especially how it might be if we could meet our long gone parents again? It's all handled brilliantly, and despite the sense of forboding and sadness which pervades the film, it really does hit the mark. I think what you make of it may depend on your own life experience.

Ostensibly, it's a poignant gay love story set in the 1980s, but it's also a story about loss and regret and the passage of time, based on a Japanese novel, its source material is vivid and clear, and It's also hard to overstate the incredible acting in this film, especially Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, but the rest of the small cast which includes Jamie Bell and Claire Foy.

In the end it's a depressingly sad and even tragic film, and it does stay true to its Japanese origins, however, I can understand those who might have preferred a lighter touch.

It's what you don't see that has an intense impact in this drama. We become observers as Rudolf Hass and his family live a life of luxury and plenty in their spacious house and beautiful gardens next door to Auschwitz concentration camp. It's a holocaust drama like no other. The ordinary even mundane life of the family plays out, but we hear and even occasionally see, as they must have, the horror of what was happening yards from their living quarters.

It's a remarkable film, often beautiful, full of stunning images tempered by a soundtrack that gradually reveals the terrible truth, as we observe all too clearly the depths to which mankind did and sadly, still can, reach. You have to credit the performances, which capture the detached cold hearted inhumanity of it all, and particularly the sound and photography, and although I could have done without some of the more art-house elements of this film, it's an impressive film, impossible to ignore, and stays in the mind.

It's hard to fault this wonderful bittersweet comedy. Alexander Payne has of course given us similarly quirky and high quality product in the past with 'Sideways' and 'The Descendants' , but there's something extra here that makes 'The Holdovers' special . If it's the writing and directing that are just as good as the earlier films, there are also extra quality's, such as a melancholy atmosphere that Christmas can have that's captured perfectly, and poignant personal dramas are blended wonderfully with pithy and often hilarious comedic moments throughout.

I also thought that the 1970s setting was captured perfectly, with photography and style just right, in fact, it felt to me close to a 1970s viewing experience. As for the performances, they raise things even further. Paul Giamatti is superb, and both Dominic Sessa and Da 'vine' Joy Randolph outstanding.

It's a great film. Good old fashioned film making at its best.

I'm old enough to remember the dramatic events of 1972, when a group of passengers survived a terrible accident when their plane crashed in the high Andes. It's one of the great survival stories, and the truth of it, as the film accurately shows, is both tragic and heroic. This impressive film doesn't flinch from showing it how it was, based on the true stories of the survivors and the wealth of available evidence.

All in all this a tremendous film, put together carefully and powerfully to tell what seems to be the authentic story of the crash and its aftermath. It's a long 2.5 hour film. But not a minute is wasted. If you can take the rather grisly aspects then you'll be rewarded by a memorable film. The cast are superb, and the production values match up to what's required. Highly recommended.

I really did want to like this Moroccan drama, and indeed, it is very beautifully and carefully executed, but I did find it just a bit too languid and nuanced for its own good, perhaps also finally just a little too sad and poignant, but it lingers in the mind, and like the precision snd skill of the kaftan maker, struggling with his sexuality and the conflicts of the society he is in, it does create a lasting effect. Not only a touching drama, but it highlights some very human themes and struggles.

Of course, a film from a Muslim country with themes on homosexuality and the struggles of individuals in a repressed society is a brave but necessary thing, and for that the makers should be congratulated. Beautifully crafted by all concerned.

Surreal; weird; funny; imaginative; stunningly designed; debauched; explicit; horrific; oddly engaging; disturbing; fantastic; strangely compulsive: 'Poor things' is all of those things and more. It's one of those films that you either get or you don't. A few minutes into the showing I was at there were clearly noises of a few members of the audience departing, supposedly unable to engage with the film, and it must be said, the first 30 minutes of the film are truly surreal and odd, however, personally I was drawn in by the sheer audacity of the production, and the story, which for all of it's oddness, is in fact coherent.

So, what was I watching? A Frankenstein update? An allegorical fantasy? A powerful metaphorical tale for our times? Whatever, cinematically this is truly something to savour in so many ways, though you do need to accept the extremes of language and treatment, and it's definitely not for the faint hearted or MOR viewer. Emma Stone is truly amazing in the central role, and Willem Defoe, Mark Ruffalo and the whole cast are tremendous too, with Yurgos Lanthimos doing an amazing job directing, but to my mind it's the witty and engaging screenplay by Tony McNamara and the remarkable design that deserve the fullest recognition. Challenging film making, and one to savour and remember.

In some ways this is a curious film. It's Priscilla's story of how she met and then eventually married Elvis Presley and is simply the story of the life she had with him; it's also completely the opposite of last year's hyperactive biopic by Baz Lurhman.

No flashy star biopic here, instead there is a stronger though essentially low key focus on the rougher edges of stardom i.e. Drug taking, affairs, and the struggles Elvis had during his career, but the film is rather uncritical, ignoring or sidestepping the odd fact that Elvis become obsessed with Priscilla when she was just fourteen, which some might question. Obviously this is the story that Priscilla wants to tell, with music taking second place to what is ultimately an authentic feeling portrayal of the relationship.

I liked the film without being over impressed, Sofia Coppola gives us a considered and thoughtful film, with Cailee Spaeny excellent as Priscilla and Jacob Eldori getting Elvis about right without really looking like him. Overall, this is worthwhile and offers an interesting angle on the Elvis 'legend'.

Watching a classic like Bonnie & Clyde decades later, it's easy to forget just how ground breaking the film was when it came out. Beforehand, gangster movies financed by the big studios were more like westerns, goodies, baddies, and not much in between was the order of the day, but with this film Arthur Penn brilliantly used European film techniques to portray Bonnie, Clyde, and their gang as anti-heroes, even using humour to intentionally, or perhaps not, channel Into the youth led anti establishment movement welling up in the late 1960s. The film is brilliantly conceived, a thrilling watch, wonderfully acted, and offers a great evocation of depression era America too. It's worth mentioning too that it was a film that introduced relatively realistic violence. This one really was influential, and it's still worth seeing too.

Now here's something: a disaster or apocalypse movie with a brain. I was intrigued by the idea of this film, didn't know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised.

Those looking for an action or disaster epic will be disappointed. This is much more Hitchcock with something Spielberg thrown in, and unlike fantasy disasters, this actually has a feasible plot. There's a constant sense of being unsettled and menace throughout, which cleverly and sometimes spectacularly ramps up to hysteria, as life technology and normality break down in unexpected ways for a normal family trying to escape the city for a break. Excellent performances and skilfully written, the film says a lot about modern life and how we see ourselves, and I think in the long run this might be regarded as a bit of a minor classic of its time. Recommended.

Fennel's 'Promising young woman' was an exciting surprising and entertaining debut, so I had high hopes for 'Saltburn'. The film certainly has got attitude and a certain off centre style, but ultimately I didn't think it had any real substance, being a sort of rehash of 'Brideshead Revisited' punk or modern style, however, without proper conviction and purpose and hardly any sense of authenticity. After all, 'Brideshead'was very much a product of its time, particularly of the class system of early 20th century Britain.

It was great to see Barry Keoghan again, and there's plenty of other talent on show, but for me this was not impressive.

The story of Nicholas Winton, who saved hundreds of children from the Nazis just before the start of WW2 by organising trains from Czechoslovakia to the UK, is very much a story worth telling, especially as he was essentially a modest hero, one who didn't even think he deserved recognition, which makes his story all the more moving as it unfolds in flashback from late 70s Britain as Winton, superbly portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, remembers the events of the late 1930s.

Of course, there have been so many WW2 dramas over the years, so I felt the pre-war scenes do somewhat lack tension and a certain freshness, but good direction and succinct writing do calmly and absorbingly set the scene, explaining those earlier events well, but we also follow the way that 40 years later the heroic efforts of Winton and his colleagues were finally revealed and celebrated, ultimately making it a truly moving and revealing film. Perhaps, considering how things look today, it's also a reminder of how good really can triumph over evil and cynicism, and it's finally a superb tribute to a remarkable man.

A biopic of one the 20th century's musical icons, Leonard Bernstein, and warts and all, focussing on his marriage to Felicia Montealagre and his tormented bisexuality, which, given the mores of the times, was hidden from view whilst he was alive. Unlike last year's disappointing maestro film 'Tar' , this movie has real passion, and uses music well.

The marvellous thing about this film is that doesn't flinch from the hard stuff of life whilst displaying to us the incredible talent and the stunning music that Bernstein gave us. It's a beautifully crafted film, telling its story coherently and naturalistically, though I must say we found some of the dialogue muffled, so subtitles helped - a small criticism of the film. The key is that music is used here so well, on the basis of West Side Story' alone Bernstein was a genius, but there's more to discover here too.

Bradley Cooper as Bernstein and Cary Mulligan as his wife are quite brilliant, and Cooper directs superbly too. I can imagine that those looking for a mainstream movie follow up to 'A star is born' may find it unappealing, but I thought it was tremendous.

Firstly, let's just say that I am not in the ideal demographic for 'Barbie', being male, 66 years old, and I don't have children, so it's taken me a while to get to this film. Anyway, what a lot of fun this film is. The concept works brilliantly and it's all carried through with self effacing charm and humour that both wins you over from the start , opening wonderfully with a parody of 2001, and then keeps you engaged throughout. Margot Robbie is perfect in the lead and Ryan Gossling couldn't be better as Ken (or one of the many Ken's), and the whole thing chugs along effortlessly and humorously. The idea of the conflict between the wonderfully created female world of Barbieland and the male dominated real world is milked for all it can give, with director Greta Gerwig hardly missing a trick. On so many levels this is a clever and tremendously entertaining film and I really loved it - even an old guy like me....

If there were a list of greatest challenges for film makers, making a biopic of Napoleon would be high on it. Notably, Abel Gance made a 5hr epic the 1920s, and Stanley Kubrick spent decades planning a film but never managed to make the movie about Napoleon he wanted. Ridley Scott, past master of the intimate visual spectacle - perhaps perfect for the task?

Well, I thought it generally did work, but at 2.5 hours how could you include in the entire life of such a massively complex historical figure? There's so much history squeezed in here that it's mind boggling, however, somehow Scott does make sense of it. The battle scenes are brilliantly and coherently handled, though of course they're not detailed, Austerlitz and Waterloo pass by in minutes for instance, but they do drive the narrative well. Equally, Napoleon's relationship with Josephine is a dramatic focus that helps us understand something more about the man his times and his relationships.

Joaquin Phoenix is excellent in the title role, though he is portrayed neither heroically or as a despot, but as something of an eccentric oddball who just happens to be a military and organisational genius. I was also very impressed by Vanessa Kirby as Josephine and other great supporting al performers too; with Rupert Everett brilliant as Wellington.

There are a lot of historical inaccuracies in the film, most are excusable, but some are unnecessary, and I couldn't help thinking that perhaps two long more detailed films might have done the job better than what is a 'potted history' in one volume, so we do lose something given the truncated version presented. It's a great epic, huge in scale, cinematically quite satisfying, robustly executed by Scott, and though it will not please everyone, I thought it a worthy effort.

An interesting take on the murder mystery and court case genre, this film sets out to to give the audience the full works but without any Hitchcock style shocks or tensions, instead opting for a simple telling of events, which does have the ring of authenticity about it, gradually revealing the truths that lie hidden, or do they?. Less a riveting thriller more an emotionally charged drama, the film reminded me of those Ingmar Bergman films of the 1970s, where emotions are laid bare and realities are revealed. The courtroom scenes are as brilliantly handled as the rest of the film, with superb performances and sharp dialogue, plus for me it was an interesting insight into the French legal system and its workings. Overall, this was an absorbing 2.5hrs, but don't expect a riveting thriller, it's a much more nuanced film than that.

Ridley Scott is good at scale, and here he shows just how good. A story about the crusades, Jerusalem, and the deep conflicts of the medieval world could be romanticised one sided and have no historical clarity, but here, real history and authenticity are given a chance, whilst of course mixing in a degree of dramatic licence and wistfulness. In many ways this is often visceral and balanced in its outlook, sweeping and often spectacular, but the film does have its issues; Orlando bloom is underwhelming in the lead, but just about gets by, and I found the dialogue a little unclear at times, but the theme, the dangers of religious fanaticism, are acutely observed, and the crusaders, a confused rabble with equally confused motives, are portrayed accurately, well balanced by a fair portrayal of the opposing Muslim forces. Generally there are no goodies and baddies. It's impressive, and well worth a look.

What a lovely swansong for Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson. A sweet natured, deceptively simple, and ultimately deeply moving film, it's the true story of a WW2 veteran who 'escaped' from an old folks home on the south coast of England to attend the 2015 D-Day commemorations, becoming a celebrity into the bargain. Caine and Jackson (in her final film before she died) absolutely nail it here, and of course are perfect for their roles, both giving marvellous performances, and it's also wonderful to see a film that highlights but yet celebrates lives and the experience of older folks. The film is sensitively directed and wittily earthily written; a touching and often moving tribute to a generation that's now gone, and a terrific final act for two greats.

Having just read 'King Leopolds ghost', about the rapacious exploitation of the Congo by Belgium, here is a magnificent film about Patrice Lumumba, the first PM of that country when it gained independence in 1960, who was forced from office after only a few months by rivals backed by the CIA and Belgium. It's a superbly directed written and performed film, and is impressive in so many ways. Never overstated, Lumumba is portrayed with dignity and realism, and overall it's a tragic and terrible indictment of the way that first colonialism and then Cold War rivalry conspired to undermine any sparse hope and inspiration that the new country and its leader of Congo might have had. Well worth a look, but it helped that I read up a bit first about the Congo and Lumumba.

Well, this was something of a surprise. I started out thinking I was going to see a drama set in 1960s London, but this was quite a bit different than that, and far more unusual. Edgar Wright directs what is a mish mash of time travel fantasy, zombie horror and, yes, 60s themed drama. It looks great, and is generally really engaging, helped enormously by good performances all round and some wonderful cameos from 60s icons Diana Rigg (in her last film), Terence Stamp, and Rita Tushingham. I kept watching despite the odd mash up , and in the end I enjoyed the film. Great use of locations and some glorious sixties music on the soundtrack.

This Polish period drama is incredibly well crafted and impressive in so many ways, and in its own way it is a great piece of old fashioned screen storytelling, however, there are some glaring flaws. The storyline starts well; it's old Warsaw in the early 20c and I was soon absorbed by the tale of a successful surgeon who's life is turned upside down, losing his home memory and livelihood, and has to find his way back...I was hooked, however, increasingly the plot then becomes just a bit unlikely, and by turns by the end it's almost ridiculous. There are awkward overtones of Downton Abbey, and some clunky cheesy plot lines, however much of it works too, and ultimately it was enjoyable and a satisfying easy going experience. Don't be put off by those faults. If you can suspended disbelief in the obvious inconsistencies then you'll enjoy it for what it is - a perfect rainy afternoon movie.