Biography 240 results

A United Kingdom Competition

Based on the inspirational true-life romance between Botswanan King Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo) and his British wife, Ruth Williams Khama (Rosamund Pike), A United Kingdom is a British period piece set in the 1940s, following an interracial union in the face of fierce opposition from their families and the British government, the tribal elders of Botswana and the apartheid government of South Africa. The film concentrates on the couple’s journey as they move to Bechuanaland (modern...

Hacksaw Ridge Competition

Hacksaw Ridge is the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss [Andrew Garfield] who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon, as he believed that while the war was justified, killing was nevertheless wrong. As an army medic, he single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was wounded by a ...

Snowden Movie Review

Snowden was a young and prodigious computer geek that got involved in the US government network of spies and its American citizen electronic scrutiny. He got pulled in, chewed up and spit out when the morality of the domestic spying regime overwhelmed him. He ended up paying a very heavy price for his ethics. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is outstanding as Snowden and it’s almost eerie how close his portrayal comes to the real person (especially brought to light in the film’s coda where the ...

Sully Movie Review

Tom Hanks plays Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger who after a bird strike disables the plane’s twin engines makes a snap decision that untimely saves all 155 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus A320. The film starts with Sully having nightmares about a different outcome to his actions and those scenes are quite arresting. The film continues using the plot device of the investigation of Sully and his co-pilot played by Aaron Eckhart (with his usual roguish charm). These actions ...

Free State of Jones Competition

From THE HUNGER GAMES writer and director Gary Ross, and starring Academy Award® winner Matthew McConaughey, comes an epic wartime action romance about one man’s defiance which led to a revolution on and off the battlefield. Pokemon Go // FREE STATE OF JONES is based on the thrilling and moving true story of Newton Knight (McConaughey), a soldier who, in a time of conflict that divided a nation, flees the battlefields after being disillusioned by the horrors of war that touched his ...

Queen of the Desert Competition

A true story of the life of British explorer and adventurer, Gertrude Bell, Queen of the Desert chronicles her journeys of love and loss in the Middle East during the early 20th century.   //   A curious and adventurous young woman eager to explore the world outside of England, Gertrude Bell (Kidman) goes to the British embassy in Tehran where she quickly falls in love with a secretary of the embassy, Henry Cadogan (Franco). This sparks the beginning of a life-long advent...

The Man Who Knew Infinity Competition

The Man Who Knew Infinity stars Jeremy Irons, Dev Patel, Stephen Fry and Toby Jones and is based on the incredible biography by Robert Kanigel. The Man Who Knew Infinity tells the amazing true story of self-taught mathematical genius, Srinivasa Ramanujan. Dev Patel stars alongside Jeremy Irons in a film that explores the brilliance of a man many believe could decipher the very fabric of the universe and possibly existence itself. Driven by his destiny for a greater calling, Ramanujan’s ...

Eddie the Eagle Movie Review

It is perhaps a result of the popularity of geek chic in recent times that a movie about an athlete who goes to the Olympics and comes dead last in his event has become a commercial viability. Such a story has precedence in truth, of course, with Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards, a British ski jumper that was so far behind the competitive field of his Olympic peers that he endeared himself to people the world over for simply having the guts to ‘have a go’. It must be said from the ...

Florence Foster Jenkins Competition

From acclaimed director Stephen Frears (Philomena, The Queen), Meryl Streep stars in the true story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress and socialite who obsessively pursued her dream of becoming a great singer. Convinced of her own talent, the voice Florence heard in her head was beautiful, while to everyone else it was hilarious and awful. Her husband and manager, aristocratic English actor St Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant), was determined to protect his beloved from the truth. ...

The Lady in the Van Movie Review

Well it was also the first time I had ever laid eyes on Maggie Smith, who played the sea goddess, Thetis. And to my 12-year-old eyes, Maggie looked positively ancient. Of course, she was a spritely 47-year-old then (I say ‘spritely’ because that's how old I am now) but she has grown older as I have grown older and, as a result, she has always looked ‘old’ to me. At 81, it's fair to say she has earned that mantle now but one thing that has not faded with her age is her performance ...