Senna (2011) Documentary charting the rise and tragic demise of Ayrton Senna, Brazilian Formula 1 racing superstar and "the best driver who ever lived". Rating: MMMM Director: Asif Kapadia Starring: Ayrton Senna,...
Whip It (2010) Coming of age sports movie Whip It is the directorial debut of actress turned producer Drew Barrymore. Rating: MMMM Director: Drew Barrymore Starring: Ellen Page, Kristen Wiig, Marcia Gay Harden,...
Invictus (2010) Rating: MMMMM Clint Eastwood’s latest film, Invictus tells the story of the true events that followed the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa, and Mandela’s subsequent...
Avatar (2009) Rating: MM Review of James Cameron's uber-blockbuster and long anticipated space adventure epic, Avatar. Director: James Cameron Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Zoe Saldana,...
Me & Orson Welles (2009) Rating: MMMM Review of Richard Linklater's 1930s set period piece about the great Orson Welles' theatrical triumph - his version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Director: Richard Linklater Starring:...
Rating: MMMM
Review of Julie & Julia, the meeting of two true stories about love, cooking and the love of cooking.
Director: Nora Ephron
Starring: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina
Running time: 123 mins
Rating: MMMM
Reposting of my review of the new Disney-Pixar film Up, which I saw in June at Glastonbury Festival in the Pilton Palais cinema tent.
Director: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Starring: (voices) Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai
Running time: 96mins
Rating: MMM+
Review of Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film, Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos), starring his current screen muse Penélope Cruz.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Starring: Penélope Cruz, Lluis Homar, Blanca Portillo, Tamar Noves, José Luis Gómez
Running time: 127 mins
Rating: MMM
Review of Brüno, the latest character-driven film from Sacha Baron Cohen.
Director: Larry Charles
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen
Running time: 83 mins
Watching last week’s Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, I was struck by the eponymous host interviewing Hollywood screen actress Sandra Bullock, promoting her new film The Proposal. In their conversation, Ross and Bullock briefly discussed the romantic comedy genre (to which The Proposal supposedly belongs) and how the name has morphed into the word ‘rom-com’ which Ms. Bullock suggested refers to how these types of films cannot be called ‘romantic comedies’ anymore as they are neither romantic or funny – therefore ‘rom-com’ can be used to categorise them as it represents “a little bit of what they have”.
Rating: MMMM
Review of the new Disney-Pixar film Up, not released in cinemas until October this year but screened at Glastonbury Festival in the Pilton Palais cinema tent.
Director: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Starring: (voices) Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai
Running time: 96mins
Rating: MMM
Review of Bolt first published in a February 2009 issue Spark*, the newspaper of Reading University Students’ Union.
Director: Byron Howard, Chris Williams
Starring: (voices) John Travolta, Miley Cyrus
Running Time: 96mins
Rating: MMMMM
Review of British television show ‘Gavin and Stacey’ first published in a January 2009 issue of Spark*, the newspaper of Reading University Students’ Union.