A Private War (2018)
★★★☆☆
Rosamund Pike in Matthew Heineman’s A Private War is a perfect incarnation of the legendarily fearless war reporter Marie Colvin.
★★★☆☆
Rosamund Pike in Matthew Heineman’s A Private War is a perfect incarnation of the legendarily fearless war reporter Marie Colvin.
★★★★☆
The career of notorious US Vice-President Dick Cheney is given The Big Short treatment by Adam McKay in dark satire Vice.
★★★★☆
As French cultural icon Colette, Keira Knightley charms and shocks in 19th century Paris in Wash Westmoreland’s intriguing biopic.
★★★★☆
Steve Coogan and John C Reilly excel as Stan & Ollie in Jon S Baird’s bittersweet biopic of the end of a comedy duo – and an era.
★★★★☆
Chloe Sevigny strikes her axe blows against an oppressive patriarchy in Craig William Macneill’s Lizzie – with superb support from Kristen Stewart.
★★★★☆
3 Days in Quiberon by Emily Atef is a compelling slice of a few days in the life of actress Romy Schneider as she gives her last interview.
★★★☆☆
Art and politics are uneasy bedfellows in The White Crow, David Hare’s story of ballet and defection, a directorial debut for Ralph Fiennes.
★★★★☆
Keira Knightley dons a corset again to portray France’s greatest woman author Colette from country girlhood to scandalous adulthood in Wash Westmoreland’s Colette.
★★★☆☆
In a timely release for the anniversary of the May 1968 almost-revolution in Paris, Michel Hazanavicius wickedly funny re-invention of Jean-Luc Godard in Redoubtable, as seen though the eyes of Anne Wiazemsky, his second wife.
★★★☆☆
Alexey German Jr’s character study of a great Russian writer in Dovlatovencapsulates its time period superbly, but fails to go beyond that.
★★★★☆
Stronger, directed by David Gordon Green, stars Jake Gyllenhaal in a gruelling but inspirational portrait of a man rebuilding his life after the Boston Marathon bombing.
★★★★☆
Serving well-rounded feminist statements while expertly juggling three intertwining stories, Battle of the Sexes is an outwardly reaching argument encapsulated in a tennis match.
★★★★☆
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool by Paul McGuigan is a beautifully made adaptation of a true story that’s stranger than fiction
★★★☆☆
Opening the BFI London Film Festival, Andy Serkis’s debut as a director is the inspiring drama Breathe, a very moving true story.