Nonsensical enjoyable entertainment, with Bruce Willis owning this weird time travel alternate reality film from the outset. 7/10
Author: Jonathan Turton
Some absolutely brutally violent scenes in this otherwise fairly humdrum gangster flick. 6/10
Broody Bale still the best Batman, but mumbling Bane – oh dear oh dear. Promised much but underdelivers. 7/10
Good coming of age film – surprised it’s not better known. Check out a young Dennis Quaid and Daniel “voice of The Wonder Years” Stern. It’s even better when watched outdoor on a screen powered by cyclists! 7/10
Made before life for Woody got even more uncomfortable – but hardcore fans will enjoy. 8/10
Wes “Whimsy” Anderson keeps the story going strongly here helped by great leads. Tilda Swinton less so. 8/10
One of my all-time favourites. Nicholson is absolutely outstanding – anyone who knows him only from his later films should watch this (or many other films from early in his career) to see why he’s so fêted). It’s such an unlikely plot for a gripping film, which makes it even better. 10/10
How can you not love this film? Great reboot (even under Disney) for our furry friends. Maybe a bit saccharine for some, but even this ol’ cynic enjoyed it greatly. Maybe you have to be an original muppet fan. 8/10
Pleasant, but not worth a cinema ticket. Worth sticking with though. 6/10
Think I enjoyed it at the time, but forgettable some time later. 5/10
Stunning performance from Di Caprio (oddly not even Oscar nominated) in insightful and surprisingly pacy biopic of the former director of the FBI directed by Clint Eastwood. 8/10
Very hyped, but totally delivers. Definitely a cinema film. I held off going to see this for a while, because I was sure I’d be disappointed. I was not. Even the poster is beautiful. 10/10
I know we’re all supposed to be down on this film now, but it’s still a classic. You can make your own mind up about divorcing the artist from his art (though Allen doesn’t make that easy when the art is all about the artist). And this was before so many of Woody’s films copied… Read More
Tom Cruise runs… and we all know what that looks like. To be fair, the Dubai tower scaling scene is impressive. It’s not the worst M:i film *cough* number two *cough*, but nor is it the best. 6/10
Easy-to-watch film about statistics and baseball. But with Brad Pitt. You with me? I liked it, but it may help if you’ve read the book or know the story, or indeed know anything about baseball. It’s a shame the film didn’t really get much into Billy Bean’s backstory, because that’s one of the strengths of… Read More
No Naughty Bits at Hampstead Theatre
Steve Thompson’s play is about Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam’s trip to the US in 1975 to challenge ABC’s edit of the fourth series of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. What seems superficially to be a simple tale of plucky Palin and honorary Brit Gilliam taking on the Goliath figure of the culturally bland American network,… Read More
Stylish but baffling, especially if you’ve not read the book. Not the best Le Carré adaptation despite the all-star cast. 7/10
Drive is an exceedingly stylish film that startles you out of an appreciative smile with several shockingly violent scenes. I don’t think I’m squeamish, but there was one sequence I couldn’t watch. Ryan Gosling plays the Driver – an American movie hero in the footsteps of many a Clint Eastwood character. Carey Mulligan plays the… Read More
Am getting out of order – I saw this back in July. Loyalty, by Sarah Helm, is set during the run-up to the Iraq war, and around the period of the inquiry into it. Helm is the wife of Tony Blair’s chief-of-staff, Jonathan Powell. Maxine Peake plays Laura a staunchly anti-war journalist with experience in… Read More
As we’ve established, I’m no classical music expert, but was excited for my first ever visit to the Royal Albert Hall (surprisingly comfortable). The programme was Brahms’ 2nd piano concerto, with Emanuel Ax at the piano, and then Brahms’ 4th symphony. Both were played by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and (82 year-old!) Bernard Haitink… Read More