Reviewed by GREG KING Director: David Yarovesky Stars: Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A Dunn, Matt Jones, Emma Hunter, Becky Wahlstrom, Meredith Hagner, Gregory Allen Williams. A mix of superhero movie, sci-fi and horror, Brightburn cleverly inverts the Superman myth. The film takes the familiar elements of the Superman story and inverts them, giving the material a more cynical and darker edge. Make no mistake this is fairly bleak stuff at times, with a downbeat ending. A spacecraft crashes to earth, landing near the farm of Tori (Elizabeth Banks, Continue reading
RED JOAN
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Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Trevor Nunn Stars: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Ben Miles, Stephen Campbell Moore, Tereza Srbova, Tom Hughes, Kevin Fuller, Ciaran Owens. We first meet octogenarian widow Joan Stanley (played by Judi Dench) when MI5 agents arrest her in her own home and charge her with treason. An elderly retired librarian she is the last person one would suspect of being a spy. As she is interrogated and tries to defend her choice, Joan’s story unfolds in a series of lengthy flashback sequences. In 1938 Joan (played by Sophie Cookson, from Continue reading
TOLKIEN
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Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Dome Karukoski Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Colm Meaney, Derek Jacobi, Tom Glynn-Carney, Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson, Harry Gilby, Craig Roberts, Laura Donnelly, Pam Ferris. One biopic to rule them all? This earnest biopic about John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and the sprawling epic and influential fantasy The Lord Of The Rings, gives some insights into the creative process but is also something of a pedestrian affair. Given the celebrated nature of his novels it is a little surprising to learn Continue reading
ALADDIN
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Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Guy Ritchie Stars: Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Namoi Scott, Marwan Kenzai, Navid Negahban, Billy Magnusson. Disney continues to plunder its back catalogue of animated classics to reinvent them as live action dramas. In recent years we have had the likes of live action remakes of 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, Cinderella, Beauty And The Beast and most recently Dumbo, with The Lion King on the way. The latest live action version of a beloved Disney animated film is Aladdin, a remake of the classic 1992 film. Aladdin itself was Continue reading
PETERLOO
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Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Mike Leigh Stars: Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, David Moorst, Pearce Quigley, Robert Wilfort, Karl Johnson, Alistair Mackenzie. Set in Manchester in 1819, after the Napoleonic Wars, this epic film tells of the infamous Peterloo massacre, a shameful but defining moment in British history about which little is known. A massed crowd of some 60,000 people who had gathered in St Peter’s Field to peacefully to protest, and to demand political reform and relief for increased poverty and unemployment. The crowd had also gathered to Continue reading
