Cinema
Better than expected (but my expectations were low): Back to Black reviewed
When the trailer for Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic of Amy Winehouse, Back to Black, first landed, her fans were gracious. ‘This,’…
Why intellectuals love Disney
This month marks the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney’s company. The first cartoons it was founded to produce – the…
Immaterial world
VR ‘immersion’ is everywhere in London this autumn, but is it of any value? Stuart Jeffries takes the plunge
To die for
Seventy-five years after its release, Powell and Pressburger’s dazzling, much-loved classic is more timely than ever, says Robin Ashenden
Going to the dogs
Based on the poster showing two cute dogs – a border terrier and a Boston terrier – I had assumed…
Barbie deserves the backlash
Being the CEO of a massive corporation isn’t easy. You’re expected to grow the company, increase profits and boost the…
Fine but forgettable
Catherine Called Birdy is written and directed by Lena Dunham and it’s a medieval comedy about a 14-year-old girl resisting…
The beautiful and damned
The Forgiven is based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne and stars Ralph Fiennes (terrific) and Jessica Chastain (ditto) as…
Less than meets the eye
Beast is, the blurb tells us, a ‘pulse-pounding thriller about a father and his daughters who find themselves hunted by…
Some like it hot
Mary Wakefield on Katia and Maurice Krafft, who loved volcanoes and each other
A sentimental surrealist
We’re doing multiverses now. Last weekend, a friend dragged me to see Marvel’s latest product, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse…
The head in the bed
Fifty years since The Godfather’s release, Thomas W. Hodgkinson revisits the film’s most unforgettable scene
Diary
After my Unapologetic Diaries were published recently, I was apparently accused of offending several people. At a lavish Christmas lunch…
‘I am not able to answer your question’
Hermione Eyre talks to an irascible Paolo Sorrentino about therapy, Vesuvius and why he kept things simple and easy for his latest film
Absurd plots à la Bond
So James Bond is back, doing exactly what he always does, inviting the audience into a fantasy world for the…
The silence of the critics
A world without criticism is just advertising
Comic genius
A global pandemic is no match for the Marvel multiverse, says Rosie Millard
Time trial
Why do films have to go on for so long?
Out of the picture
The inevitable listlessness of this year’s awards season
Supernatural power
The triumph of Korean cinema
His own best creation
Cary Grant was a hoax so sublime his creator struggled to escape him. He was a metaphor, too, for the…
Why I won’t mourn the death of the cinema
You could smell the stale popcorn and rancid carpet from the other end of the high street but that unmistakable…
Riveting twosome
This week, two electrifying performances in two excellent films rather than two mediocre performances in the one mediocre film —…
