Our resident critic Robert Chandler gives us his perspective on the latest entertaintment from the big and small screen.
Rapman's BLUE STORY lands on screens today (Fri 22 Nov) and it's very good. The film sprang from his web series, SHIRO'S STORY, which told of rival postcode gangs in South London. The web series racked up millions of viewers, enough to warrant Paramount and BBC Films getting behind the debut feature from the rapper/writer/director.
James Mangold's FORD VS FERRARI: LE MANS 66 is thrilling and moving, and not just about the race between two top motor companies to win Le Mans but also the battle on-screen between two acting styles... Matt Damon vs Christian Bale.
Robert Chandler reviews MALEFICENT, MISTRESS OF EVIL starring Angelina Jolie and he has some questions.
Read MoreRoland Emmerich's MIDWAY tells of four events leading up to the battle in the Pacific that was perhaps decisive in the war between the US and Japan in World War Two. It describes the chain that ran from Pearl Harbour through the Battle of the Coral Sea and the bombing raid on Tokyo by James Doolittle, to the Battle of Midway where three vital Japanese aircraft carriers were taken by surprise and sunk.
Read MoreDOCTOR SLEEP is a curate's egg of a film. Wonderful in places, odd in others, with one or two mis-steps that almost derail it but ultimately do not because it carries through its promise to tell the story of Danny Torrance all-grown-up.
Read MoreOne of the curses of the TERMINATOR franchise is that it surfs along the leading edge of movie-making technology. This ought to be a good thing, and apt, considering the nature of the films.
Read MoreZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP delivers what it promises: fun and zombie kills, and a reunion with a great cast, which, when we met them ten years ago in ZOMBIELAND, had become a new family.
Read MoreAD ASTRA follows the journey of a man with a singular intention to fulfil his purpose. Nothing will stand in his way.
Read MoreJOKER is here and it is terrific. Although set provisionally in Gotham in 1981, it is New York that is evoked. It made me nostalgic for the great, pre-clean-up NY films of the late 1970s; there are scenes that look and smell like they just spilled out of THE WARRIORS or DEATH WISH…
Read MoreREADY OR NOT is a perfect film, a blend of horror and black comedy. It’s based on a great premise - one you would greenlight if somebody pitched it to you and then hope the film-makers delivered.
Read MorePedro Almodóvar's DOLOR Y GLORIA is slow and contemplative and beautiful. Things happen which, in other Almodóvar films might have led to flights of fancy or colourful exploration, but here, in this reflective film about Almodóvar's own life and childhood, are allowed to go unremarked upon in pursuit of something greater... essentially the sadness and the majesty of life.
Read More
