The Oscar ceremonies, Hollywood’s annual ritual of patting itself on the back for delights real or imagined, are taking place next Sunday night. Unless you’re one of those obsessives who likes to stay up into the wee hours to hear the results, California time being ten hours behind us, you won’t know who won until…
Bob Dylan’s career ran chronologically alongside that of another iconic singer with the same Christian name. Bob Marley is less well known to most people than Dylan but Bob Marley: One Love (12A), a biographical drama of the Jamaican singer-songwriter, may change that. The casting of Kingsley Ben-Adir in the title role received the blessing…
Whenever anyone signs up for a research experiment in a film – especially if they’re locked in the kind of laboratory you associate with David Cronenberg – you get the sneaky feeling that things are going to go horribly wrong. Soon. Such suspicions are copper fastened when the person conducting it says things like, “You…
When Pope Francis recently approved the blessing of same sex couples by priests, he polarised many Catholics. Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers (16) may polarise them even more. It deals with the struggle of a gay man, Adam (Andrew Scott), with his sexuality, mixing reality and illusion in an intense operetta of the emotions.…
It’s 1988 and we’re coming up to Christmas. Elderly Jew Sir Nicholas Winton (Anthony Hopkins) is decluttering his study to please his wife Grete (Lena Olin). In the process he discovers a scrapbook from World War II. Flash back half a century. Nazism is about to sweep across Europe. The young Nicky (Johnny Flynn) is…
I refused to become a Barbenheimer during the year. When I was growing up there was a perfectly respectable practice of showing ‘small’ pictures and ‘big’ ones, despite the threat of the infamous ‘Paramount decree’ of 1948.
John Mulderig One promising way to get in the holiday mood is to watch a Christmas-themed movie. And, since yuletide films naturally tend to qualify as family-friendly, they can also provide an opportunity to gather the clan, make some popcorn and relax together. Following, in alphabetical order, are capsule reviews of eight such pictures with…
I have a theory. Endeavour is based on the same premise as Doc Martin. You probably think that sounds ridiculous but think about it. Both series feature introverted eccentrics who come up with elaborate solutions to complex problems. In one case they’re medical, in the other criminal. I recently bought box sets of both on…
Ronnie O’Sullivan is generally regarded as the greatest snooker player of all time. In the just-released documentary about his life, Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Reason (Amazon Prime) we’re brought into the complexities of his life and game. At times he appears so good he’s on a different planet to his colleagues. He can do…
As the race for the US presidency hots up, we’re confronted with the fact that we’ll possibly face a re-run of the last one. Regardless of one’s feelings about the merits of Messrs Biden or Trump, their prominence reflects the lack of young blood at the top of the political tree. I was only…
Aubrey Malone