Love is the subject of many films, but the intriguing question here is, what deems it impossible? 

At the start of the film we see luminously beautiful shy Rachel (Virgine Efira) being seduced by intriguing handsome Philippe (Niels Schneider), an intellectual narcissist who tries to control her from the very start, giving her Nietzsche to read.  Haven’t […]

I saw this at a BAFTA preview some weeks ago, and I was underwhelmed. So I am surprised to read some of the other reviews claiming this as a ‘glamourous gritty biopic’ and the wide applause for Keira Knightley’s performance in the title role. I guess I am just not a Knightley fan – her […]

The main theme in Alfonso Cuaròn’s epic Romais that life is shit. Especially if you are a woman. From the title sequence where water is being sloshed over a floor, to the recurring metaphor of piles of dog turds that the maid Cleo has to constantly clear up, the message is clear.

It is 1971 in Mexico and […]

The Favouriteis ‘loosely based’ on history. So what of the film is true I wonder? Was Queen Anne really a lesbian? Did the rivalry between Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough and her cousin Abigail really exist? Before writing this, I realised I knew nothing of Queen Anne, save that she was the daughter of James II, […]

We saw this Oscar-nominated documentary in an open-air cinema, perched on the Fort Canning hillside in Singapore.  It was a magical way to see an, at times, heart-stopping film about the gorillas in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In 2007 we had the privilege of visiting their cousins round the mountain in […]

This cannot be an objective review. Amy and our daughter. Louise, died within a few months of each, both from drugs. Her poison was alcohol, Louise’s was ketamine. They used to hang out in Camden together, playing pool at The Good Mixer. There is even a scene in the film with one of Louise’s friends. […]

After a rather gruelling week, we decide we need some lightening up.  So what better than Kingsman,which ticks all the boxes: star-studded cast (Colin Firth, Michael Caine and Samuel L Jackson); comedy (British); spy thriller (James Bond spoof) and a main character who shares my name – Unwin. What more could you want?

It’s a rather old–fashioned concept, […]

Sequels are always tricky and normally flops.  John Madden has managed to pull off anything but second-best in his return to Jaipur and our jolly geriatrics living out their twilight years in Sonny’s Marigold hotel. With the engagement and impending marriage of proprietor Sonny (Dev Patel) to Sunaina (Tina Desai) as the main event in a […]

Tim Burton returns to earth in his latest collaboration with Ed Woodscreenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. After his recent horrors – I didn’t see Frankenweenieas I foundAlice in Wonderlandsimply grotesque (read my review here) – he returns to the subject of a much-misunderstood artist, in this case Margaret Keane.

The film is based on the strange-but-true story of […]

In a year when movie-makers were challenged by declining viewing figures and were taking no chances with experimental or risky ventures, Inherent Viceshines out as an exception. Paul Thomas Anderson has faithfully adapted Thomas Pynchon’s novel, which has won him a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. For a stoner novel to morph into a stoner movie is […]