By John H. Foote (****) Eli Cross, as portrayed by the astonishing Peter O’Toole, never seems to touch the earth. The first time we encounter him he is shooting a scene for his film in a helicopter, his intense blue eyes locked on the escaped convict who has just ruined his shot. Even when walking…
By Alan Hurst Agatha and the Truth of Murder (2018) is currently streaming on Netflix. It’s an entertaining and speculative look at the real-life Christie’s 11-day disappearance in 1926 that sparked one of the largest manhunts in British history and became a tabloid sensation. When Christie was found she had no recollection of the previous…
By John H. Foote (**) Despite beautiful, lavish visual effects, the very presence of the sanctimonious #MeToo zealot Brie Larson made this a very difficult film to like. The hypocrisy of Larson taking on a super hero film, then making clear her disdain for the fanboys who will make her film a hit, was hard…
By John H. Foote (****) Watching this film filled me with revulsion, it disgusted and sickened me to the extent I thought I was going to be physically ill. It is an exceptional film, but one I will see just once. It explores the darkest side of one of the most gifted pop stars of…
By Alan Hurst Women directors in Hollywood are increasing in number, power and acclaim but that wasn’t always the case. If you take the Academy Awards as a bellwether, only five women have made the final five list of nominees over the last 90+ years – and only one of those women has won (Kathryn…
By Clarisse Tenreiro Twenty two years ago, the world saw director Anthony Minghella release what would become a monumental piece of cinematic artistry : the romantic war drama The English Patient (1996). Adapted from Michael Ondaatje’s novel, the film starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche and Kristin Scott Thomas, amongst other exceptional actors, experienced an incredibly…
By John H. Foote (**) Let me be clear, this film does not, in my world, exist. I am writing this at the request of a few loyal readers curious as to why I loathe the film entirely and have chosen to erase it from existence in my world. Michael Corelone’s fate is what we…
By John H. Foote (**) Isabelle Huppert is to French cinema what Meryl Streep is to North American film, a god of acting. Oddly, she might be best known to some of us for her work in Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate (1980), but to others she is known for her array of truly brilliant performances through…
By Alan Hurst It’s never listed near the top of Bette Davis’ film achievements but The Star (1952) is nonetheless one of the unsung (albeit campy) gems from a period when Hollywood was really starting to turn the focus on itself with a series of films showing the highs and lows of the movie business.…
By John H. Foote (****) On film, by 1986 Vietnam had become a comic book war won single-handedly by action heroes John Rambo or Chuck Norris. The searing truth seen in Coming Home (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979) had given way to the macho swaggering of Rambo: First Blood II (1985), Missing in Action – Part 1and 2 (1986-87) and…