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REVIEW: Groundhog Day at The Old Vic
6 August 2016, matinee It's incredibly rare that an actor takes a role indelibly associated with someone else and makes it completely, and perhaps irrevocably, their own. But that's what's happened...
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Bette Davis, Heaven's Gate and the legacy of Hitler's favourite film -...
I had a holiday the other week, and watched eight films. I've written about them here:Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980)− I love the idea of Heaven's Gate− a peerlessly ambitious artistic statement...
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Rick's 100 favourite movies: Part 3
This is the third of four posts about my favourite movies, taking in everything from Elia Kazan's apologia for informing to Pixar's finest film, via martial arts, pastries and Lillian Gish with a big...
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Jean Renoir's The River – Reviews #238
A few thoughts on a fascinating film.The River (Jean Renoir, 1951)– Shot entirely on location in India, this was Renoir's first film in colour and his favourite of his works; Scorsese called it, along...
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Rick's 100 favourite movies: Part 4
Hello. Here's the final part of my top 100 countdown, containing my favourite 25 films. The others parts are here: 100-76, 75-51 and 50-26.25. Les quatre cents coups (François Truffaut, 1959)A film...
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Elvis, Julieta and the cop I love - Reviews #239
Everything I've watched in the last couple of weeks.FILMS CINEMA: Julieta (Pedro Almodovar, 2015)– A wonderful, extremely powerful film about a middle-aged woman (Emma Suarez) willing to give up...
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Caroline Proust, My Night at Maud's and the birth of satire − Reviews #240
A round-up of some things I never got around to sharing, plus Season 2 of Spiral.*SOME SPOILERS*My Night at Maud’s (Eric Rohmer, 1969)− I’ve become a huge Eric Rohmer fan over the past few years. The...
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Basia Bulat, The Entertainer and a voice you could write a book about −...
LIVEThe Entertainer (Garrick Theatre)− It makes sense that Kenneth Branagh would close his first season at the Garrick with this: a play synonymous with his hero, Laurence Olivier. Branagh is Archie...
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Abe Lincoln, Notorious and Jack Lemmon being irritating – Reviews #242
Plus:Plan 9: Part 2, Bryan Singer's classic prank and a really horrible book about Leeds.Abe Lincoln in Illinois (John Cromwell, 1940)– This is one of the best films I've seen in a long time: an...
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Fathers and daughters at the BFI – Reviews #243
A double-bill of emotionally devastating films on the big screen. The best way to spend a Sunday.CINEMA: The Railway Children (Lionel Jeffries, 1970)− I watch this every couple of years and am crudely...
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REVIEW: Björk at the Royal Albert Hall
21 September 2016Pic by Santiago Felipe/Getty A mesmerising night in the company of one of our time's truly great artists, centred largely on her tortured last record, Vulnicura, the most harrowing...
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Maggie Smith, A. I. and a trip to see David Niven's suit − Reviews #244
Please excuse the relative sparsity and brevity (and indeed one of my most obvious opinions, about A. I.), I've been moving flats. A second update is on the way after this one.FILMSThe Prime of Miss...
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Joseph H. Lewis, Margaret, and what to watch when you have a cold − Reviews #245
Fillums.Margaret: extended version (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011)− One of the best films of the decade so far: a breathtaking, one-of-a-kind character study about a high-school student (Anna Paquin)...
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London Film Festival: Part 1 - Rebecca Hall, La La Land and Finnish film
"Do you have dreams...?" What a massive treat this is: one of the world's greatest film festivals on our doorstep, glowing amidst the gloom of this lousy year, and bringing the likes of Michelle...
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London Film Festival: Part 2 - Isabelle Huppert, Manchester by the Sea and...
My continuing adventures at the wonderful London Film Festival."I'm not done yet, right, I got more left in me..." (I now see the LFF trailer, which plays before every screening, whenever I close my...
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London Film Festival: Part 3 − Bassem Youssef, Certain Women and a dead...
"What was she like?""Beautiful..." As good a description as any for Kelly Reichardt's mind. Four more films from this year's fest:SUNDAY 9th (continued) Film 10: The Fury of a Patient Man (Raúl...
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London Film Festival: Part 4 − Xavier Dolan, Don't Think Twice and a really,...
The last of the fest, and what a joy it was. Well, with a couple of exceptions, for the greatest of which: read on...SATURDAY 15thFilm 14: It's Only the End of the World (Xavier Dolan, 2016)− A hell of...
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REVIEW: Brian Wilson at the Royal Albert Hall
Friday 28 October 2016Brian Wilson and his band, including Brian (at the piano), Darian Sahanaja (second from left), Al Jardine (white suit), Blondie Chaplin (blue suit) and Paul Von Mertens (front...
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Amanda Knox, The Jinx and Bridget on Brexit – Reviews #246
A few things I've seen over the last couple of weeks.FILMI Married a Communist (Robert Stevenson, 1949)– If you’re interested in the history of Hollywood, then this is essential viewing: a movie...
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Double-bill: animals who are a bit like humans – Reviews #247
Come marvel at my tenuous links.Zootropolis (Byron Howard and Rich Moore, 2016)– The best thing that Disney – old Disney, standard Disney, non-Pixar but now Lassetered Disney – have done since The Lion...
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