Cinema
Uphill struggle
The biopic Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom is a timely tribute, and an earnest and respectful and well-meaning one,…
Saint and sinner
Will Gore talks to Naomie Harris about playing Winnie Mandela
Women only
Powder Room is a small British film all about women and starring only women — boo-hoo, men; my heart bleeds…
The odd couple
Saving Mr Banks tells ‘the untold true story’ of the making of the Disney classic Mary Poppins via the stand-offs…
Cultural touchstone
Next month marks the 30th anniversary of the release of what is, in my opinion, one of the funniest films…
The killing fields
In the future, everyone will have silly names. Some people will be called Haymitch Abernathy. Others will be Effie Trinket…
Poor service
The Butler tells the story of an African–American butler at the White House who served eight American presidents over three…
Money and movies
Seduced and Abandoned is both a satire on film-making and a love letter to film-making and a joy. A documentary…
Mother courage
Philomena is based on the true story of an Irish woman searching for the son stolen from her by the…
Two little boys
The Selfish Giant is a British social-realism film in the tradition of all such films from Kes onwards, so it…
Through the wringer
The main thing you should know about Captain Phillips is that it really puts you through the wringer. It’s based…
Going nowhere
Just how interesting you find The Fifth Estate may entirely depend on how interested you are in the whistle-blowing site…
Dirty work
People are generally saying Filth fully fulfils the promise of its title and is not for the faint of heart…
Woody’s return to form
Blue Jasmine is the latest film from Woody Allen who, at various stages of his career, has been declared on-form,…
Platitude in pearls
Someone who knows their Dianaology will have to fill me in – did this actually happen? The late Princess Di…
Explosive fun
Just do it, quoth the Nike advert — and these men just did it. Grass, asphalt, fear, pain, doubt and…
Sweet and sour
The easiest thing would be to sneer at Richard Curtis’s new film About Time, and so I will a little,…
The grace of childhood
What Maisie Knew is an adaptation of the Henry James 1897 novel, updated to Manhattan in the now, and is…
Secrets and lies
Mid-August is a hopeless time for films; so hopeless, useless and bleak, if I don’t use three words when one…
Love is blind
The thing is, I love the character of Alan Partridge so much it may well be that, when it came…
Complete opposites
Sandra Bullock is a highly watchable actress and she seems like she’d be fun to hang out with — I…
Character study
Frances Ha will make many spit ‘Frances…Bah!’ but I won’t be among them. Yes, it is rather kooky, and highly…
Riding high
Wadjda is the first feature-length film to come out of Saudi Arabia, and was shot by the country’s first female…
One man and his cows
Pacific Rim is a giant monsters v. giant robots film and although written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, who…
Celebrity watch
Sofia Coppola’s latest film is not an action adventure, or a supernatural horror, or a stoner comedy, just so you…
