Picture This review – Bridgerton star can’t save tinny romcom

-
Simone Ashley tries her best in Amazon’s gimmicky romantic comedy but it’s too flimsy and forgettable to demand our attention I am generally wary of streaming platform originals, so often do they feel like the fast fashion of the film world: cheap, disposable, chasing ephemeral interests and brittle with repeat use. But I will give Netflix, Amazon and co props for this: for nearing a decade now, they have attempted to fill a void left by the theatrical box office, whose hollowed-out market rarely supports the mid-budget adult films – particularly romcoms and erotic thrillers – that routinely entertained non-franchise audiences in decades past. Only occasionally do they succeed, as in the case of Netflix’s Do Revenge or Players , but the mission remains worthwhile. Picture This, a new romcom from Amazon Prime Video, has promising elements suggesting it could be one of the better entries. Namely: the presence of Simone Ashley, the always luminous breakout star of the Netflix confectio...
Post a Comment

‘I’ve failed, badly – and I’m good with it’: James McAvoy on class, comfort and carnage

-

He says that acting is a gamble – but is a dead cert to terrify audiences with new film Speak No Evil. The Scottish actor talks about marriage, therapy – and why Ken Loach would never cast him

He is a funny character, James McAvoy. I meet him in one of those fancy Soho hotels where the cast of films that are about to be massive assemble so they can all be interviewed on the same day. And McAvoy’s new psychological thriller, Speak No Evil, will be massive. A remake of the 2022 Danish original, it is just as terrifying, with one difference.

McAvoy, 45, is personable and urbane. He is wearing a suit, but looks like a guy who changes into cargo shorts as soon as he gets home. “I’m really lucky in a lot of ways, mainly that my granny’s all over me,” he says. “I’ve definitely got a large dose of what she has.” His parents divorced when he was 11, and his mother was ill, so he went to live with his grandparents in Drumchapel, Glasgow. Later, considering class, he describes his childhood tangentially, talking about why Ken Loach would never cast him. “I’m too much of an actor. And I’m, like: ‘I grew up on the council estate you shot half your films on!’ But I’m too much of an actor.”

Continue reading...

from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/G1C2xso
via IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘I lied to get the part’: Melvyn Hayes on his ‘angry young man’ beginnings – and It Ain’t Half Hot Mum

-
He was tipped to be the next Richard Burton – but ended up as crossdressing Gunner Gloria in the now controversial sitcom. As his breakthrough classic returns to the screen, Hayes looks back One day in 1957, Melvyn Hayes was on the set of a film called Woman in a Dressing Gown when a man sat down next to him. “I was getting paid £5 a day and I’d been on location for three days,” the actor recalls. “All I had to do was walk up to a house and put a newspaper through a letterbox. That was my part. Finished. I said to this bloke, ‘I can’t believe the waste of money on this film. Take me. You could have got a newspaper boy on £1 a day to do what I’m doing.’ Then I said, ‘What do you do then, you lazy bugger?’ And he said, ‘I’m the producer.’” Hayes, now 89, giggles at the memory of the cheek of himself at 23. Back then, £5 a day was a decent whack. His first job in showbiz, in the early 1950s, was as assistant to The Great Masoni, a magician who tasked Hayes with “disappearing twice daily...
Read more

The Human Surge 3 review – hopeful odyssey of globe-trotting twentysomethings

-
Eduardo Williams’ opaque sequel follows a group of twentysomethings in Sri Lanka, Peru and Taiwan with a 360-degree VR camera Following his Locarno festival-winning experimental film The Human Surge in 2016 , Argentinian director Eduardo Williams apparently couldn’t be bothered with part two – which doesn’t exist – and skips straight to number three. That’s also the opaque MO with which he operates in this similarly continent-hopping odyssey; a bleary trail of hopeful and restless peregrinations and chat from three groups of twentysomethings in Sri Lanka, Peru and Taiwan, who often stray without warning into each other’s segments while declaring things like: “I want to see maps of nearby regions and listen to the dreams of my crazy friends.” Filmed with a 360-degree VR camera that orbits around these pilgrims, a full-blown digital-age existential crisis seems to be in force here. People bemoan bullshit jobs, parse language disparities, contemplate post-tsunami building methods in Sri...
Read more

Oscar-winners Hans Zimmer, AR Rahman to team up for Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana: Report

-
Director Nitesh Tiwari's highly anticipated Ramayana trilogy has reportedly secured the musical talents of two Oscar-winning composers - Hans Zimmer and AR Rahman. The film, which reportedly began shooting on April 2, 2024, boasts a star-studded cast featuring Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Sunny Deol as Hanuman, and Yash as Raavana. According to a report by PinkVilla, producer Namit Malhotra and director Nitesh Tiwari have long envisioned Ramayana as a film with global appeal. Bringing Hans Zimmer, a renowned Hollywood composer known for scores like The Lion King and Inception, on board reflects this ambition. Hans is fascinated by the project's vision and is slated to compose the film's score. Sources reveal that the Ramayana project represents years of meticulous planning, including extensive research and pre-visualization. The makers are committed to presenting the epic tale with grandeur and sensitivity, recognizing its significance as a cultural tou...
Read more