A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
British Films, North American Films
Sam Mendes, “SPECTRE” (2015) As James Bond films go, “Spectre” looks gritty and stylishly in a minimal way all at once, but that’s as much as…
Simon Napier-Bell, “George Michael: Portrait of an Artist” (2022) For a documentary whose narrative is based completely on interviews with people who knew or were acquainted…
Oliver Hermanus, “Living” (2022) A gentle if sad and understated film, Oliver Hermanus’s “Living” is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 “Ikiru (“To Live”), this time…
Stephen Frears, “The Lost King” (2022) A breezy and light film, “The Lost King” depends very largely on its lead actor Sally Hawkins’s energetic and impassioned…
British Films, French and French-language Films
Ruben Östlund, “Triangle of Sadness” (2022) Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip … er, sorry, this won’t…
Faye Fillingham, “The Simulation” (2021) Initially this short seems light-hearted and amusing but on repeated viewings its dark heart is gradually revealed. A young woman, Agatha…
Anthony Fabian, “Mrs Harris Goes to Paris” (2022) A light and lively film harking nostalgically back to an idealised vision of post-WWII Paris, “Mrs Harris Goes…
British Films, North American Films
Tom George, “See How They Run” (2022) Here is a fun and light-hearted comedy mystery crime caper which pays homage to Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” and…
Rudolph Cartier, “The News-Benders” (1968) Entertaining yet troubling and provocative, “The News-Benders” was one of nearly 300 episodes of a BBC television series “Thirty-Minute Theatre” that…
Daniel Vernon, “House of Maxwell (Episode 3)” (2022) Finally we reach the third and last episode of this sorry series supposedly investigating the scandals surrounding past…