The Life of Chuck review – unmoving Stephen King schmaltz

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Tom Hiddleston plays a man who might be the centre of the universe in a film of often effective parts that never really come together As prestigious as it might sound to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes or the Golden Lion at Venice, the surest indicator of Oscar recognition has become victory at the far less fancy, far more mainstream Toronto film festival. There isn’t a jury-based award, instead there’s one decided by an audience vote and, far more often than not, their picks have lined up with those of the Academy. Since 2008, only one People’s Choice award winner hasn’t then gone on to either take home or be nominated for the best picture Oscar, and while the picks haven’t always been the greatest (hello, Jojo Rabbit, Belfast and Three Billboards), they’ve indicated a broad, crowd-rousing appeal. Last year, despite predictions that Anora or Conclave might triumph, out of nowhere the far less buzzy, and, at that point, distribution-less Stephen King adaptation The Life of Chuck triu...
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Lineup announced for UK’s inaugural Muslim international film festival

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Featuring stars including Riz Ahmed and Nabhaan Rizwan, the event aims to celebrate the ‘rich tapestry of Muslim experiences via the medium of film’

A major new UK film festival dedicated to Muslim cinema announced its inaugural lineup on Tuesday, with a slew of award-winning films featuring the likes of Riz Ahmed and Informer’s Nabhaan Rizwan.

Ahmed, winner of an Oscar for best live action short film, will appear in Dammi, a short film directed by Yann Demange, the French film-maker best known for Top Boy and Northern Ireland-set drama ’71. Ahmed co-stars with Isabelle Adjani in a story about a man confronting his French and Algerian heritage on a trip to Paris. Rizwan plays the lead in In Camera, a British feature directed by Naqqash Khalid that screened at the London film festival, as an actor struggling to make a career in the film industry in the face of repeated rejections.

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