Spoiler! Her husband gets shot. “Jackie” tells the story of the spiralling grief, loss and anger of Jackie Kennedy driven by the assassination of JFK in Dallas in November 1963. Hopping backwards and forwards in flashback, the film centres on the first interview given by Jackie (Natalie Portman, “Black Swan”) to a ‘Time’ journalist (Billy … Read more
“It’s very nostalgic – will people like it?” A little film. Not sure whether you might have heard of it yet? Damien Chazelle has followed up his astonishingly proficient “Whiplash” – my top film of 2015 – with a sure-fire theatre-filler in “La La Land”. The old-fashioned musical extravaganza is back, and back with style! … Read more
Lists, lists… nothing but bloody lists. It’s that time of the year again, and a chance to look back at the films that have thrilled, moved or excited me during the last year. And then some of the turkeys of the movie season. While some of these were released in 2014, they only reached my … Read more
At one point in Birdman “or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)“, Michael Keaton as ‘celebrity turned serious actor’ Riggan Thomson rants at a vicious New York Times critic Tabitha (the excellent Lindsay Duncan – – “About Time”; “Dr Who: Waters of Mars”) about how all critics lamely fall on “labels” and “comparisons” to describe their … Read more
“Demanding is over-rated” said a wise woman, who I also happen to be married to. Woody Allen’s latest film Magic in the Moonlight, is a light and fluffy piece of movie confection set on the photogenic Cote d’Azur that delights the eye but hardly taxes the brain. Set in the 1920’s, Colin Firth plays Charlie … Read more