James Marsh (The Theory of Everything) directs the true story of an audacious amateur sailor in The Mercy. The year is 1968 and the sailor is Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth). With his business and home on the line, Crowhurst decides to leave his wife, Clare (Rachel Weisz), and their children behind to take on an epic…
– Finding Your Feet – Only in cinemas from 22 February 2018 We have 10 double in-season passes thanks to eOne Films. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE Featuring an acclaimed British cast led by Imelda Staunton, Celia Imrie, Timothy Spall and Joanna Lumley, Finding Your Feet is a hilarious and heartwarming comedy proving…
Darkest Hour is a kind of backgrounder on Winston Churchill’s “never surrender” speech. It also touches on the flotilla dispatched to fetch the British troops from the beach at Dunkirk (as to which, see Dunkirk). But this showy biopic has too much emphasis on levity. Joe Wright (Atonement) directs from a screenplay by Anthony McCarten (The…
Andrew Garfield’s representation of a severely disabled polio victim in Breathe reminded me of Eddie Redmayne’s Oscar-winning portrayal of Stephen Hawking in 2014’s The Theory of Everything. Andy Serkis’s directorial debut tells the true story of Robin Cavendish (Andrew Garfield) and his wife Diana (Claire Foy), starting in 1957. This is a couple that refuses to give…
The worldwide hit Paddington became the most successful non-US studio family film of all time. The sequel (predictably, Paddington 2) continues the story of the young Peruvian bear who came to London in search of a home. Having found that home with the Browns in Windsor Gardens, life is set for Paddington. While searching for the…
I thoroughly enjoyed Winnie-the-Pooh as a child, and the movie behind the creation of the characters is equally satisfying. Goodbye Christopher Robin provides a rare glimpse into the relationship between beloved children’s author Alan Alexander Milne (played here by Domhnall Gleeson) and his son Christopher Robin (Will Tilston). After returning from the First World War, Milne was left…
Birdland is a British play written in 2014 by Simon Stephens. He generally writes from a ‘working class’ perspective (the provincial English city of Stockport is the usual location) and focuses on the struggles of particular ordinary individuals dealing with the social and materialistic difficulties that the ‘progress’ of the world throws at them. Mr…
As a critic, I learned long ago to lower my expectations. When you expect greatness, that is when you get burnt. The same goes about expecting a poop emoji. If you go into a record thinking it is going to suck…most likely it will. That is why music is subjective. I say all of that…
The Australian premiere of actor Andy Serkis’ directorial debut, Breathe will open the 2017 Cunard British Film Festival. Coming straight from opening the 61st BFI London Film Festival, the film stars Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge) and Claire Foy (The Crown), in the inspiring true story of a couple who refuse to give up in the face…
A New Map of Love by Abi Oliver* brings readers an old-fashioned life-in-an-English-village story about George, who leads a predictable but comfortable life until his wife, Win, dies. Life is suddenly a whole lot less predictable but a whole lot more exciting, especially widow Sylvia arrives on the scene with her heaving bosom and fluttering…
