Film

By Sam Inglis Among the new releases this Friday is The Case For Christ, a biopic of Christian writer Lee Strobel. Like other films from US studio Pureflix, it's made to preach to the choir, with Christian audiences specifically in mind. I'm not the audience for this (though I would recommend the episode of the God Awful Movies podcast on it), but there have been many great and fascinating films made that, from a variety of angles, take Christianity as their...

Harry Dean Stanton, the gaunt actor of many cult films and TV shows including Paris Texas, Cool Hand Luke, Repo Man and Twin Peaks has died aged 91. Born in Irvine, Kentucky on 14 July 1926, son of a tobacco farmer and hairdresser, he grew up in a musical family. He could sing and play country songs on guitar. "I had to decide if I wanted to be a singer or an actor. I was always singing. I thought if...

The story has emerged of the real-life Saving Private Ryan - four brothers who went to war 100 years ago and only ONE. came home. Privates William, George, Ernest and Harry Rea all went to the front line of the Great War - but only Harry survived. William, of the Bedfordshire Regiment, lost his life in the Battle of Passchendaele on September 14, 1917. His two siblings George and Ernest were killed shortly before him, while his other brother Harry...

By Michael McNulty Peter Bogdanovich, who had made a career as a film critic and historian, first dipped his toe into the filmmaking pool when he joined forces with B-movie master, Roger Corman, helping him to script The Wild Angels. But it wasn’t until 1971, after first taking the director’s chair for the 1968 feature, Targets, that Bogdanovich produced the finest film of his filmmaking career, The Last Picture Show. After the success of Easy Rider, BBS Productions, who had...

Set in the latter years of Queen Victoria’s (Judi Dench) reign, Victoria & Abdul tells the story of her unexpected friendship with an Indian servant. Originally only meant to participate in the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, Abdul (Ali Fazal) quickly becomes a devoted servant and friend of the monarch. The extended Royal Family and government are reluctant to accept the relationship, believing that it sends out the wrong message to the Empire, and do all they can to send Abdul back...

By Jim Mackney Like all good folk songs, there is darkness at the heart of Rolando Colla's new film" Seven Days" (Sette Giorni). It is set on an idyllic Sicilian island and a pair of middle-aged dreamers act like a couple of horny teenagers, with predictable complications. Throughout the film the lead characters, Ivan (Bruno Todeschini) and Chiara (Alessia Barela), attempt to figure out their feelings with a quiet determinism that remains throughout the film. Although only 97 minutes long,...

Darren Aronofsky is angry; in fact, he’s furious! Those worried that one of contemporary cinema’s foremost provoc-auteurs would be forced to temper his uncompromising artistic vision following the vitriolic outrage many levelled at his previous feature – 2014’s unfairly maligned biblical blockbuster, Noah - had nothing to fear. Indeed, if the initial reactions from the press corps in Venice are any indication, mother! may well be Aronofsky’s most divisive film to date. It’s certainly, in this critic’s eyes, one of...

It may not have the glitz or sun-kissed glamour of Cannes or Venice, but there is arguably no other major film festival with a programme that’s as comprehensive as that presented to audiences in London each October. For British film fans, this is undoubtedly the highlight of the cinematic calendar – a chance to wholly immerse themselves in the magic of the movies. Trying to navigate the programme, however, can be an arduous task. With over 240 feature films playing,...

By Michael McNulty A beat up car barrels down a dusty road in the remote bad-lands of rural Pakistan, a group of sweaty men, armed to the teeth, sneer as they approach an isolated house. Standing tall, proud and brandishing a Kalashnikov of her own is the young, beautiful Noza (Suhaee Abro). The men pull up and pile out, weapons drawn. They’ve come to take the home. But, Noza won’t go easy; this is her family home, her land and...