Women Talking

A film by Sarah Polley which palpably does what it says on the tin. The challenge here is obvious. How do you make a bunch of women in a static location, quietly debating their futures, remotely cinematic? Well first you have to make sure you assemble a very high quality cast, extract from them optimal…

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

In an alternative universe far far away I’m raving about this. But unfortunately, here and now, I’m deeply regretting the time wasted watching it. Nothing, Nowhere, Never – as I subconsciously retitled it (It’s more accurate but I can see why it wouldn’t appeal to the distributors) is a seriously terrible film and on so…

All Quiet on the Western Front

War correspondents are reporting this week that opposing forces in the Donbas have defaulted to trench warfare. In some places the front line is as close as 200 metres. It doesn’t bear thinking about. So the release of this remake of Lewis Milestone’s ground breaking Great War epic from 1930, was especially timely. For the…

Till

A restrained retelling of an important story which rings contemporary bells for the US in its current turmoil and acts as a reminder of the terrible sickness with which it remains infected. When Bob Dylan wrote the Ballad of Emmett Till in 1962, it provided a timely impetus to the Civil Rights movement. He revisited…

The Fablemans

Steven Spielberg lost both parents in quick succession relatively recently. I heard him talking about them on Desert Island Discs and it was clear to me that this film was as much a homage to them as it was an autobiography of his own early years. When he had the family’s original home in Arizona…