-
Elf (2003) Review
Elf (2003) Director: Jon Favreau Screenwriter: David Berenbaum Starring: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Zooey Deschanel, Ed Asner, Mary Steenburgen Heart-warming, joyful and kind, Elf has become a timeless Christmas classic. The premise of a fully grown man dressed as an elf wandering around New York City in search of his birth father is…
-
West Side Story (2021) Review
West Side Story (2021) Director: Steven Spielberg Screenwriter: Tony Kushner Starring: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, Rita Moreno, Brian d’Arcy James, Corey Stoll It was one heck of a challenge to attempt to match Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ 1961 film adaptation of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s stage musical…
-
House of Gucci (2021) Review
House of Gucci (2021) Director: Ridley Scott Screenwriters: Becky Johnston, Roberto Bentivegna Starring: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek, Jack Huston, Reeve Carney, Camille Cottin, Vincent Riotta, Youssef Kerkour Ridley Scott’s second film of 2021 is based on Sara Gay Forden’s “The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of…
-
Home Sweet Home Alone (2021) Review
Home Sweet Home Alone (2021) Director: Dan Mazer Screenplay: Mikey Day, Streeter Seidell Starring: Archie Yates, Aisling Bea, Ellie Kemper, Rob Delaney, Kenan Thompson, Timothy Simons, Ally Maki, Pete Holmes, Chris Parnell, Devin Ratray When Disney purchased Fox in 2019, the House of Mouse – already on course to milk every possible cash cow they…
-
‘Beauty and the Beast’ at 30 – Review
Beauty and the Beast (1991) Directors: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise Screenwriters: Linda Woolverton, Brenda Chapman, Chris Sanders Starring: Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Jesse Corti, Rex Everhart, Bradley Pierce 18th Century French fairy tale “La Belle et la Bête” is one of the best-known, most influential and…
-
Ali and Ava (2021) Review
Ali & Ava (2021) Director: Clio Barnard Screenwriter: Clio Barnard Starring: Adeel Akhtar, Claire Rushbrook, Ellora Torchia, Shaun Thomas, Natalie Gavin The latest film from one-woman Northern Powerhouse Clio Barnard, following performative documentary The Arbor, urban fable The Selfish Giant and traumatic arable drama Dark River, is a love letter to connection. Like all of…
-
Petite Maman (2021) Review
Petite Maman (2021) Director: Céline Sciamma Screenwriter: Céline Sciamma Starring: Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne For anyone suffering from a monumental loss or undergoing a life-changing shift in perspective, Céline Sciamma’s French-language drama Petite Maman is likely to hit as hard as any film released in 2021. The Queer Palm winner’s follow-up to her…
-
Mothering Sunday (2021) Review
Mothering Sunday (2021) Director: Eva Husson Screenwriter: Alice Birch Starring: Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Olivia Colman, Sope Dirisu ‘Normal People’ and Lady Macbeth screenwriter Alice Birch has teamed with Girls of the Sun director Eva Husson to adapt Graham Swift’s “Mothering Sunday” novel for the big screen, a wholly British post-war drama filled with…
-
The Souvenir: Part II (2021) Review
The Souvenir: Part II (2021) Director: Joanna Hogg Screenwriter: Joanna Hogg Starring: Honor Swinton Byrne, Tilda Swinton, Charlie Heaton, Jaygann Ayeh, Richard Ayoade In 2019, highly influential British director Joanna Hogg deconstructed the genesis of her own filmmaking career and tackled real-life tragedy in the magnetic and subtly roaring autobiography The Souvenir; a film with…
-
Last Night in Soho (2021) Review
Last Night in Soho (2021) Director: Edgar Wright Screenwriters: Edgar Wright, Krysty Wilson-Cairns Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Terrence Stamp, Diana Rigg, Rita Tushingham Edgar Wright has long been interested in the horror genre, of course paying homage to and sending it up with his feature film debut, 2004’s Shaun of the Dead. He…