Posts

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F review – fish-out-of-water Eddie Murphy chases past glories

-
Murphy’s maverick cop – and his theme music – are back to fight corruption, but four decades on there’s little energy to enliven their formulaic reunion Eddie Murphy isn’t finished yet – as he proved with his barnstormer of a performance as Blaxploitation pioneer Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name . But there’s something a bit tired and formulaic about this further go-around for his iconic Detroit cop Axel Foley from the Beverly Hills Cop action-comedy franchise which 40 years ago made Murphy an explosive Hollywood star – and whose catchy Axel F theme became an 80s anthem, duly revived here. He’s back for the fourth film, yet again leaving his Detroit turf to be a scruffy fish-out-of-water in the hilariously chi-chi world of Beverly Hills, yet again wryly noticing from the wheel of his car, on the way in, a montage of all the crazy California stuff, including a car registration plate reading: PRE-NUP. Axel’s grownup lawyer daughter Jane (Taylour Paige) is in Beverly Hills, menace
Post a Comment
Read more

Band Four review – Hong Kong goes indie as musical family get the band back together

-
Three generations of a talented family reunite unexpectedly, but there’s little surprising about their subsequent journey, despite its undeniable charms You’d have to have a heart of brick to take against this earnest musical drama from Hong Kong about a single parent in an indie band dealing with her failed rocker dad suddenly walking back into her life (after leaving 20 years ago when she was little). It’s a warm and watchable valentine to music and starting afresh. But I did find something a bit make-believe and naive in its feelgood message about the power of music to heal old wounds; the idea that a sentimental chord or two could strum away the kind of pain and resentment it can take years of therapy to work through. Cantopop star Kay Tse plays Cat, lead singer of Band Four, and single mum to pint-sized drumming prodigy Riley (Rondi Chan). Cat nursed her own mum through years of illness, and it’s at the funeral that her dad King makes an appearance – all of five foot nothing, a
Post a Comment
Read more

Best films of 2023 in the UK: No 10 – Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

-
This whimsical, lovable movie features cinema’s bromance of the year – between a human and a seashell as the latter goes looking for his family • More on the best films of 2023 • More on the best culture of 2023 The movies are going through a phase in which franchised or generic material – or anything at all – is becoming ever more soullessly produced as “content”. And yet there is at the same time a reaction, a yearning for something real and organic in the movies, something with the handcrafted imperfection and waywardness that can’t be nurtured in the corporate environment. A kind of “real ale” movement. Superhero movies are beginning to pall and Pixar animations are starting to seem too programmatic. This wildly popular stop-motion animation is the ultimate beneficiary of this new hunger: Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate’s film Marcel the Shell With Shoes On is so airy, so tiny, so eccentric, so exotic, that it appears to break every rule of instant relatability. It whimsica
Post a Comment
Read more

Gérard Depardieu: actor Hélène Darras files complaint of sexual assault

-
Allegations French star actor groped Darras on set is second official complaint after Charlotte Arnould accused the actor of rape in 2018 A second actor has filed an official complaint against Gérard Depardieu, claiming the French star sexually assaulted her on the set of the 2007 film Disco. Full details of Hélène Darras’s allegations against the French star will air on the French investigative news show Complément d’Enquête on Thursday evening. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/IzaEwZq via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Jonathan Glazer on his holocaust film The Zone of Interest: ‘This is not about the past, it’s about now’

-
The British director’s acclaimed, audacious new film about the family life of Auschwitz’s commandant was 10 years in the making. He explains how it was made – and the importance of finding light in the darkness Jonathan Glazer grew up in Hadley Wood, close to Barnet on the northern outskirts of London, where his family were part of a thriving Jewish community. “There were all these fantastic characters, who were in and out of my house when I was a little boy,” he says. “Many of them were East End Jews who had moved to the suburbs for a better quality of life, not super-intellectual people, but incredible entertainers – vaudeville musicians, writers and the like. As a child, I loved and absorbed the richness of that culture.” The Holocaust, he says, was never openly talked about in his home, but “it was always present”. When his late father found out years ago that he was making a film about Rudolf Höss, the Nazi commandant of Auschwitz, his reaction was anger mixed with dismay. “He s
Post a Comment
Read more

Ryan O’Neal, Hollywood actor and star of Love Story, dies aged 82

-
Death of star of Paper Moon, What’s Up, Doc? and Barry Lyndon announced by his son Patrick O’Neal Ryan O’Neal, a leading star in the Hollywood in the 1970s known for iconic films such as Love Story and Paper Moon, has died, according to a series of emotional posts from his son. He was 82. On Friday, Patrick O’Neal shared on Instagram that his father had died “with his loving team by his side supporting him and loving him as he would us”. He went on to “share some feelings to give you an idea of how great a man he is”. Patrick described his father as “my hero. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/K6aNFu5 via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Streaming: Past Lives and the best immigrant stories on film

-
One of the year’s best films, Celine Song’s Korean-American love story, now on streaming and DVD, continues cinema’s rich tradition of immigrant stories, from Chaplin to Persepolis Awards season often tends to benefit the newer, shinier end-of-year releases that are freshest in voters’ memories, but Celine Song ’s lovely, low-key Past Lives appears to be quietly staying the course. Having premiered way back in January, hit cinemas in the summer and since become available to stream – with the DVD out last week for physical media loyalists – it is now routinely popping up on best-of-2023 lists, and scooped best feature at the Gotham awards in the US. Something sticks in the mind and heart about Song’s melancholic, gentle but emotionally acute tale of a rekindled relationship between a Korean-American immigrant and the childhood friend she left behind in Seoul. Anyone whose life has been split across countries can relate to its study of the split identities and frayed possibilities of
Post a Comment
Read more

Nuremberg: Russell Crowe and Rami Malek to star in film about Nazi trials

-
Historical drama will focus on US psychiatrist tasked with deciding if Hermann Göring and others were sane enough to face justice Russell Crowe, Rami Malek and Michael Shannon will lead James Vanderbilt’s historical drama Nuremberg, which is set in post-war Germany. The film will follow the Oscar-winner Malek as the American psychiatrist Douglas Kelley, who was tasked with deciding whether Nazi prisoners were fit to stand trial for their war crimes. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/5xmGD9B via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

The 50 best films of 2023 in the UK – 50 to 31

-
Ridley Scott conquers Europe and Almodóvar saddles up a sizzling queer cowboy yarn – as our countdown of the year’s best films in the UK continues • More on the best films of 2023 • More on the best culture of 2023 Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/txVH5YD via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

The Portrait review – knotty psychodrama with a dark, menacing power

-
Despite the odd cliche, a thriller with an unnerving picture at its core is coated with unsettling energy and a standout performance from Mexican actor Natalia Córdova-Buckley Simon Ross’s capable debut can be hung in a gallery of films featuring unnerving paintings, from The Picture of Dorian Gray to Ghostbusters 2 and In the Mouth of Madness. Wife turned carer Sofia (Natalia Córdova-Buckley) stumbles across an uncanny canvas in the attic of the mansion to which she has brought her catatonic husband Alex (Ryan Kwanten); it is supposedly a self-portrait of his great-grandfather, but she is startled to find that it is a spitting image of Alex. While this gothic chestnut, and the psychodrama that follows – with Sofia unsure how much is the product of her own under-siege mind – feel familiar, Ross injects them with a troubling inner turbulence that bodes well for him. Apparently a doting, endlessly patient spouse, Sofia hides a guilty secret: she was the one responsible for Alex’s brain
Post a Comment
Read more

FIGHTER: Anil Kapoor captivates as Group Captain Rakesh Jai Singh on the poster

-
The much-anticipated film of 2024, Fighter, continues to stir excitement as the veil is lifted on Anil Kapoor's portrayal as Group Captain Rakesh Jai Singh, famously known by his call sign 'Rocky.' Anil Kapoor's portrayal of the Commanding Officer in Fighter is a masterclass in-depth and gravitas, infusing life into a character that encapsulates integrity, strength, dedication, and commitment. His transformation into 'Rocky' elevates the essence of leadership, perfectly capturing the spirit of a Fighter, promising audiences an engrossing cinematic experience. While sharing the exclusive look on his social media, Anil Kapoor wrote, "Group Captain Rakesh Jai Singh Call Sign: Rocky Designation: Commanding Officer Unit: Air Dragons Fighter Forever."   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by anilskapoor (@anilskapoor) Fighter, under the direction of Siddharth Anand and presented by the collaboration of Viacom18 Studios and Marflix Pictures, is a
Post a Comment
Read more