Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Saul Dibb Stars: Sam Claflin, Asa Butterfield, Paul Bettany, Toby Jones, Tom Sturridge, Stephen Graham, Rupert Wickham. A timely release sees this powerful and moving drama about the horrors of war, the senseless slaughter of a generation of young men, and the futility of it all, reach our screens to commemorate the centenary of the end of WWI, “the war to end all wars.” Journey’s End is an unflinchingly honest and raw look at the awful conditions of life in the trenches for the soldiers, and immerses audiences in the mud, the Continue reading
ADRIFT
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Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Baltasar Kormakur Stars: Shailene Woodley, Sam Claflin. There have been many great survival stories told on the screen, many of them set at sea like the recent Colin Firth drama The Mercy. Arguably amongst the best of these are films like Cast Away, with Tom Hanks stranded on a remote island, and J C Chandor’s superb All Is Lost, basically another one-hander with Robert Redford playing a sailor stranded at sea after his yacht was struck by a floating shipping container. Despite the fact that it Continue reading
MY COUSIN RACHEL
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Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Roger Michell Stars: Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Holliday Grainger, Iain Glen, Pierfrancesco Favino. The novels of British author Daphne Du Maurier have provided a great source of material for filmmakers with their deft mix of intrigue, mystery, murder, obsession, mistrust and romance. Alfred Hitchcock captured the gothic atmosphere of her novel Rebecca, while he brought a sense of unease and menace to his adaptation of The Birds, a tale in which nature seemed to take vengeance on mankind. Nicolas Roeg turned her story Don’t Look Continue reading
ME BEFORE YOU
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Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Thea Sharrock Stars: Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer, Charles Dance, Matthew Lewis, Vanessa Kirby, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Jenna Coleman, Stepehen Peacocke, Henri Charles, Samantha Spiro. A couple of years ago we saw the wonderful French comedy/drama The Intouchables which told of the unusual friendship that developed between a quadriplegic and his carer, a refugee from the wrong side of the tracks. It was a friendship that transformed both their lives. And similarly The Sessions told of the friendship that developed between a Continue reading
THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER’S WAR
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Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Cedrid Nicolas-Troyan Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron, Rob Brydon, Nick Frost, Sheridan Smith, Alexandra Roach, Sam Claflin, Colin Morgan, Ralph Ineson, Sam Hazeldine, voice of Liam Neeson. Only three months into the year and 2016 has already given us plenty of unnecessary and mostly inferior sequels. And here is another one! 2012's Snow White And The Huntsman provided a rather more fanciful and darker take on the familiar fairy tale, reinventing it for the Game Of Thrones and Twilight crowd. But Continue reading
