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Rebecca (Cinemas, 12A) Verdict: Revisiting a classic Rating: Daphne du Maurier did not write her haunting 1938 novel Rebecca expecting it to be adapted for the screen — but it wasn’t long, as she put it herself, before film people were ‘sniffing around’. The sniffing has never really stopped. Alfred Hitchcock’s celebrated movie was released … Read more
Saint Maud (Cinemas, 15) Verdict: Gripping and disturbing Rating: Kajillionaire (Cinemas, 12A) Verdict: Might steal your heart Rating: I Am Woman (Cinemas, 15) Verdict: Tin-eared biopic Rating: Religious fervour in the movies is a hell of a thing. We’ve only just seen Harry Melling as a murderous preacher with a messiah complex in the Netflix film … Read more
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix, 15) Verdict: The jury’s out Rating: On The Rocks (Cinemas, 12A) Verdict: Flimsily appealing Rating: With the U.S. at another convulsive moment in its history, with accusations of racism and police brutality flying from one side and of Left-wing agitators stirring up trouble from the other, Aaron … Read more
David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet Verdict: Powerful and important Rating: About 25 years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sir David Attenborough. He was already regarded as a kind of wise, benign uncle to the nation. Now he’s 94, maybe we should think of him as a great-great uncle. Sitting alone with … Read more
Bill And Ted Face The Music (cinemas, PG) Rating: Verdict: Uninspiring rehash The Devil All The Time (Netflix, 18) Rating: Verdict: Dark but gripping The Christopher Nolan blockbuster Tenet has not, it seems, quite achieved what the cinema industry hoped by tempting multitudes back to the multiplexes. But since it needs two or three viewings … Read more
The Duke Rating: Some of the screenings at this year’s Venice Film Festival are not for the faint-hearted. Last night saw the world premiere of Pieces Of A Woman, a shattering drama starring Vanessa Kirby (Princess Margaret in the first two series of The Crown) as a young mother who loses her baby. But who … Read more
Mulan (Disney+, 12A) Rating: Verdict: Colourful but humourless I’m Thinking Of Ending Things (Netflix) Rating: Verdict: Great acting, grim tale Mulan, Disney’s latest live-action remake of one of its own hit animations, was meant to be one of the two summer blockbusters, along with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, to breathe fire back into the wounded dragon … Read more
An American Pickle (In cinemas, 12A) Rating: Verdict: Sweet and sour Young Ahmed (Curzon Home Cinema) Rating: Verdict: Powerful and timely Papicha (VOD platforms) Rating: Verdict: An auspicious debut The comic premise of the innocent abroad has a long cinematic heritage and comes in many forms: Woody Allen in Sleeper, Peter Sellers in Being There, Paul … Read more
Come As You Are (VOD platforms, including Curzon Home Cinema) Rating: Verdict: Bold and warm-hearted Saint Frances (opening in cinemas next week, 15) Rating: Verdict: Hugely assured debut Arkansas (VOD platforms, 15) Rating: Verdict: Southern fried hokum The spectre of political correctness, or ‘wokeness’ as it seems to be called these days, looms over Come … Read more
Hamilton (Disney+) Rating: Verdict: Too stagey The hit musical Hamilton rarely gets a mention in the media without the words ‘hit musical’ before it. Since it opened on Broadway in August 2015, it’s been the hottest ticket in every town it has played in, including London, which caused a rather sweet flurry of excitement in the … Read more