films

‘We are stuck like chicken feathers to tar’: Elizabeth Taylor’s description of the fabled romance

21 October 2023 9:00 am

The Burton-Taylor relationship was either one of the greatest love stories of all time or a suicide pact carried out in relentless slow motion

Letters

9 September 2023 9:00 am

Complicated and slightly creepy: the Bogart-Bacall romance

19 August 2023 9:00 am

Lauren Bacall was 25 years younger than Humphrey Bogart. Unlike his previous wives, she stayed – though Roger Lewis finds something creepy about their relationship

A stunning work of art: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One reviewed

15 July 2023 9:00 am

Blockbuster action movies are designed to stun the audience into submissive acceptance. Complexity, humanity, emotion and beauty are reduced to…

Evil geniuses

20 May 2023 9:00 am

Does knowledge of the wrongs committed by Caravaggio, Picasso, Roman Polanski and other ‘monsters’ condition our response to their art, wonders Claire Dederer

How to save the Oscars

26 March 2022 9:00 am

This Sunday’s Academy Awards will be a litmus test of whether Hollywood can uncouple itself from the political agenda of…

The time is up for long films

2 October 2021 9:00 am

Why do films have to go on for so long?

No Time to Die is a compelling mess

29 September 2021 7:15 pm

Times being what they are, James Bond can no longer just be the main character in the Bond films. He’s…

Insane and fascinating: BBC World Service's Lazarus Heist reviewed

22 May 2021 9:00 am

The narrative podcast remains a form in search of a genre. The template set by the hit show Serial —…

Alfred Brendel the Dadaist

16 January 2021 9:00 am

How many people are celebrating the fact that, last week, one of Europe’s most inspired writers about music, modern art…

The Venus de Marlene

12 December 2020 9:00 am

Tanjil Rashid on the legend of Dietrich

Not nul points but it’s no Spinal Tap: Eurovision Song Contest – The Story of Fire Saga reviewed

27 June 2020 9:00 am

This comedy stars Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams as an Icelandic duo whose biggest dream is to represent their country…

There’s no point in bishops – Covid has shown us so

6 June 2020 9:00 am

It is a relief to parents that young children are allowed out a bit now as the length of the…

In the Covid era, age isn’t just a number

9 May 2020 9:00 am

When I told my seven-year-old granddaughter, over Zoom, how much I missed being with her, I added: ‘Maybe it won’t…

Now is the time for comfort reads

24 April 2020 11:00 pm

It all started on the day after the Brexit referendum. People who do not get the result they voted for…

‘I feel compelled to be disgraceful’: Miriam Margolyes interviewed

7 March 2020 9:00 am

Miriam Margolyes chews the fat with Tanya Gold about mother love, anti-Zionism and too much shagging

How could any woman fail to be won over by my new cinema room?

14 December 2019 9:00 am

As Christmas approaches, fighting has broken out in the Young household. No, I’m not talking about my three boys, aged…

David Hare’s notebook: The National Theatre belongs to taxpayers, not corporate sponsors

13 December 2014 9:00 am

The nicest day of the year was spent at Charleston in May. The Sussex farmhouse shared by Duncan Grant and…

My fury at Fury, a film only a vampire could love

25 October 2014 9:00 am

I have always believed that the mission of most movies made after the Fred & Ginger era has been to…