Reviews 1033 results

Last Night in Soho Movie Review

The story while set in the present uses a clever plot device to go back in time to London (specifically Soho) in the swinging sixties. The dress code of the period is also brought to full colour as are the rocking hairstyles. The overall effect is quite intoxicating and it highlights how bland and limiting the current sense of fashion can be.   //   Eloise "Ellie" Turner (Thomasin McKenzie) is a countryside girl who follows her muse for fashion by moving to the West End ...

British Film Festival – The Duke Movie Review

The film starts when his protest against the TV levee that the Poms inflicted back in the sixties lands him in jail where he does time. Broadbent is perfectly cast as the heart of gold Bunton as is the always impeccable Helen Mirren as his long-suffering wife Dorothy. His activities escalate until he is accused of stealing a portrait of the Duke of Wellington by the Spanish painter Goya.   //   Getting the components correct for a true feel-good experience is not an easy ...

British Film Festival – The War Below Movie Review

The story is built around the actions of William Hawkin (Sam Hazeldine) a family man and miner rejected for active duty due to the early onset of miner’s lung. His shame at not being able to serve drives him and his men to extraordinary lengths in the undertaking. There is also a critical look at the military’s penchant for staid and possessive thought in disregarding these non enlisted men's heroics.   //   Lacking the budget for big set pieces and special effects ...

No Time To Die Movie Review

The tale this time out is a continuation of the storyline that has underpinned all the Daniel Craig Bond movies. When Casino Royal launched back in 2006, it introduced a much more visceral 007. It began at his inception and featured his first kill. Then throughout successive films, his character weathered huge loss and discord with the realities of his chosen profession.   //   It’s always been the threat to the world at large that powered his immense sense of King and ...

British Film Festival – My Father And Me Movie Review

Telling the tale of his father Maurice Broomfield who is now considered one of history's finest industrial photographers, filmmaker Nick Broomfield delivers a brilliant story that works on so many levels. His father vividly recorded the post World War II height of the British industrial age with still photos that are amazing in their technical brilliance and humanist subject matter. These frame the most human of stories, that of father and son.   //   Nick's relationship ...

Eternals Movie Review

The balance between exposition and action feels out of kilter. There are ideas and plot devices that can’t be fully expressed in mere sentences and the Marvel movie's proclivity to build to a spectacular final reel seemed unavoidable. This does little to enliven the final results.   //   The expansion of ideas taps into some interesting avenues and things look dire for most of the human race until the final crescendo. That there is hope for humankind by film’s end is ...

The Many Saints of Newark Movie Review

The film’s pedigree is a solid one with the show’s original creator David Chase and former episode writer Lawrence Konner penning the story and screenplay. Setting its timeline as a prequel was also a wise move and it takes full advantage of the salty language and unruly race relations of the time.   //   Building the main storyline on a character, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), that was never seen on the television show gives hardcore fans more involvement. ...

Ron’s Gone Wrong Movie Review

In this case, Barney voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer is an outsider for various reasons, most central to this is his oddball family. His widower father Graham (Ed Helms) scratches out a living by selling silly novelties from a home business while his old-world grandmother Donka (Olivia Colman) runs the household to hilarious effect.   //   When a personal A.I. robot comes on the market, Barney’s parental units can only afford a damaged and decidedly second-hand unit with a ...

The Last Duel Movie Review

Matt Damon is Sir Jean de Carrouges, a knight who marries Marguerite (Jodie Comer) to shore up his flagging finances. She soon bears witness to being sexually assaulted by Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) and sets into motion a conflict between the two former friends that ends in a duel with deadly consequences.   //   Splitting the film into three distinct chapters allow you the viewer to make up your own mind about the events that have occurred and highlights how male and ...

Riders of Justice Movie Review

After that, it departs from both expectations and conventional plot devices known to the genre. Underlying its tilt into becoming a revenge yarn are so many divergent elements it becomes something unique and draws you in via a number of unexpected ways. You start to care and sympathise with this rag-tag group of outcasts.   //   Their idiosyncrasies and odd behavioural quirks are explained in snippets and the unfurling of these tightly wound characters provides almost ...