Is bullfighting a subject appropriate for children? I don’t think so. It’s an ancient and barbaric practice. Just why the producers of Ferdinand believed it was appropriate to turn this into a cutesy animated feature is puzzling, to say the least. I say that notwithstanding that the central character is a gentle giant. At one point he literally…
Tulip Fever is a melodramatic bodice-ripper set in Amsterdam in 1634. Tulips were highly prized and a source of great wealth. Playing out against this backdrop of an economic bubble is a more formulaic story of romance, deception and betrayal. Sophia (Alicia Vikander) has been raised in an orphanage. The pipe-smoking abbess (Judi Dench) seems to have…
High Fidelity is a musical of 2006, a famous Broadway flop (set in Brooklyn). It is based on the novel of 1995, by Nick Hornby (set in London), and the film of 2000, directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack (set in Chicago). It charts the growth of an emotionally stunted Rob (Toby Francis)….
Agatha Christie is the world’s best-selling author. Some 2 billion copies of her crime and mystery novels have been sold. She wrote 66 novels; 33 of which feature her famous creation, the arrogant but brilliant Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot. Many of her books have been filmed to varying degrees of success, although apparently Christie herself…
Violence abounds in American Assassin, a revenge flick which pits the CIA against the forces that instigate terror against the west. We are introduced to Mitch Rapp, a one-of-a-kind American assassin, who possesses savage skills and a ferocious drive for payback. This is the story of a 21st century counter-terrorist spymaster-in-the-making who, in a world of…
Passionate and affecting, Lady Macbeth is a tale full of lust and betrayal set in rural England in 1865. Katherine (Florence Pugh) is stifled by her loveless marriage. Her husband Boris (Christopher Fairbank) is a bitter man more than twice her age (she is 17 and he 40). His cold, unforgiving family only add to…
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, 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…
It is April 1984. Comrade 6079, Winston Smith (Tom Conroy), has a thought, starts a diary and falls in love, but Big Brother is watching his every move. You see, he is not allowed to think for himself. He has to tow the party line at all times and subversives are outed and disciplined for thought…
Intrigue is the currency of merit in the intelligent, slow-moving drama, The Sense of an Ending. Tony Webster is semi-retired. The Internet and mobile phones are foreign to him. He potters around in his small shop which sells expensive second-hand cameras. Although long divorced from his lawyer wife, the pair remain on friendly speaking terms, especially…
Released in 1975, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was arguably the most searing and memorable motion picture of my youth. The film starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, helmed by Milos Forman shone a light on mental illness and claimed five Oscars in the process. With a title drawn from a nursery rhyme, Ken Kesey’s…
