The Divine Order is a crowd-pleasing light drama from Switzerland. A bit like Pride and Made in Dagenham, it explores how a social movement can bring about change and alter entrenched attitudes. In 1971, women in Switzerland were still denied the right to vote – one of the last countries in the industrialised world to…
Many of us have pondered the meaning of life … whether we are here for a reason. The dogs featured in A Dog’s Purpose are asking the same questions. From director Lasse Hallström (The Hundred Foot Journey) comes the heartwarming story of one devoted dog – Bailey (the voice of Josh Gad). He finds the meaning…
A time of change, discovery and shock. That is what confronts Abbie (Ayesha Harris-Westman), a high school student who meets her bff in the most unlikely place. Abbie is in the bathroom at school when she has her first period and doesn’t have the necessary female hygiene product with her to deal with the situation in which she finds…
This is Hugh Jackman’s swansong as Wolverine, after eight films in 17 years of playing the Marvel superhero. And what a great way to go out! He has saved the best till last. Not only is Logan the best film in the Wolverine franchise to date but it is also one of the best comic…
Symbolic contrasts abound within The Curators’ stylish production of Angela Betzien’s Children of the Black Skirt, starting from its initial folly of youthful frolic and then soon-after stark at-attention responses of children in-fear. This establishes both the aesthetic sophistication and the narrative premise of the now-iconic work which is set in an abandoned orphanage that…
Rocketing towards certain destruction, Katherine and Lily are two women that have little in common and nothing that they are willing to share. Precious You examines the bitter and bloody path of female conflict that is born in the workplace but inevitably extends far beyond into the outer lives of its contenders. Katherine is a…
Francis Lee follows up his well-received debut feature, God’s Own Country (2017), by mixing fact and fiction in Ammonite*. This finely constructed drama explores a real-life relationship, but takes it in directions not necessarily supported by the historical record. As in God’s Own Country, Ammonite delves into a same-sex relationship in a somewhat remote location….
For too long, stories of rebellious youth have tended to focus on boys in popular media. The troubled teenager, always misunderstood by parents and police, provides plenty of dramatic material for a good story. In Girls In Boys’ Cars, a female version of angst during those all too important adolescent years gets a thorough airing….
Emily St John Mandel came to prominence with her fourth book, the pandemic post-apocalypse Station Eleven. That book gained a second wind when the COVID pandemic hit, and was turned into an HBO series. Some of the craziness of that success, and of the pandemic itself, is captured in St John Mandel’s latest book Sea…
In the vein of Black Hawk Down (2001), 13 Hours is a war thriller based upon fact dealing with events in Libya leading up to and on 11 September 2012 – the eleventh anniversary of 9/11. Directed by Michael Bay, it focuses upon a crack security team of six who fight to defend the American…
