Hercule Poirot step aside; for Chief Inspector Jules Maigret is on the case. In director Patrice Leconte’s Maigret, Gerard Depardieu takes on the title role as an ageing, unwell cop trying to track down a murderer. It’s Paris, 1953 and a young woman has been found dead. The victim, Louise Louviere (Clara Antoons), is no…
Horror isn’t a sub-genre I spend a lot of time reading, so Painted, being a mystery with a horror overlay, wasn’t a book that came with much in the way of preconceptions or expectations. The premise is that when an extremely reclusive artist instructs a law firm on the manner in which is vast art…
His appearances, disappearances and reappearances are captivating. Michael Boyd is an illusionist whose top line acts are slick and seamless. Two sold out shows at the Palms at Crown (the only two he put on) are testament to his popularity. He draws people of all ages. The couple of volunteers he calls up on stage are children, but adults…
A classic crime thriller, this is the story of Britain’s most notorious gangsters, Reggie and Ronnie Kray (both played by Tom Hardy), as they have the time of their lives, ruling over London in the midst of the Swinging Sixties. With Ronnie fresh out of prison, the brothers set about consolidating their power in the…
Etta James’ sassy soul anthem Tell Mama may reassure listeners to ‘tell mamma about it’, but when Vika Bull begins Act One of the smash hit show At Last: The Etta James Story with the funky, high-spirited number, it is the audience who has desire to hear more. Bull’s love for James is clear and…
When I wrote about Burning earlier this year, I mentioned that East Asian cinema was having something of a “moment”. Well, that “moment” continues with Joon Ho Bong’s Palme d’Or (2019) winner, Parasite. A veteran of Korean cinema, Bong is probably best known here for 2013’s Snowpiercer. Sci-fi has been his forte, so Parasite is…
British filmmaker Andrea Arnold has given us a sometimes bleak view on listless British youth with films like Fish Tank, but with her latest film she has turns her discerning view on America. We are introduced to a motley crew of youngsters who travel around America’s Midwest selling magazine subscriptions door to door. It is…
Not to be confused with the 2014 Australian comedy of the same name, The Mule is the latest from prolific filmmaker Clint Eastwood. The Mule tells the semi-fictional account of a 90-year old man who ran drugs for a powerful Mexican cartel. The film was inspired by the New York Times article “The Sinaloa Cartel’s…
In Harry Macqueen’s Supernova, Sam (Colin Firth) is a classical pianist, and his partner Tusker (Stanley Tucci) is a writer. Now middle-aged, the couple have been together for decades. They know how to press each other’s buttons, but are still very much in love. One day they decide to dust off the old camper van…
After 2011’s The King of Limbs, Radiohead have finally returned! With them, they have brought their 9th LP entitled A Moon Shaped Pool. Now I could go into the groups almost 32 year history together and share all the innovations and artistic changes that they’ve brought with them but, if you are a fan of…
