Molly’s Game Review

The Plot

The true story of Molly Bloom an Olympic class skier who launched a multi-million dollar empire running the world’s most exclusive high stakes poker games, only to become the target of an FBI investigation.

The Good

Aaron Sorkin has spent years garnering acclaim and respect as one of Hollywood’s most distinctive and compelling screenwriters. Finally making an effortless transition to directing as well, he bring his own well-polished script to life with considerable style and technical skill. He has clearly learnt well from the long list of talent directors who have lined up to work on his brilliantly fast paced and intelligent material.

In particular Sorkin has developed a reputation for dealing well with the unique challenge of transforming biopics of famous figures into entertaining big screen experiences. In the past the one criticism made of his well-crafted scripts for The Social network or Steve Jobs has been the liberal use of fiction in retelling supposed autobiographical material. With Molly’s Game Sorkin offer more of a conventional narrative, relying a little less on copious poetic licence. Molly Bloom’s reluctant attorney may be an invention of Sorkin’s imagination, but the core facts of her remarkable story remain true to life.

Sorkin always writes with a uniquely dense and rapid fire dialogue, thankfully leads Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba are fully capable of handling the demands of the script, delivering brisk and compelling results. Elba lends some gruff gravitas to Molly’s sceptical attorney, providing a useful narrative vehicle for audiences making their own discovery of Molly’s extraordinary journey. However the lion’s share of praise must deservedly go to lead actress Jessica Chastain, her emphatic narration and nuanced performance gives Molly Bloom far more dimension and depth than the easy stereotypes Hollywood could so easily have made her.

The Bad

While Molly’s Game starts with a relentless pace the film does lose some of that exciting momentum as it moves through a lengthy two hour twenty minutes run time. Even armed with Aaron Sorkin’s bristling dialogue it’s difficult to inject sufficient suspense to carry the story through its final third. In truth stories such as Molly Bloom’s do traditionally struggle during a final act where they must seemingly choose between whether to be cautionary tales or statements of defiant celebration.

Although Jessica Chastain and the rest of the supporting cast are all well-chosen fits they can’t entirely obscure the fact that beneath a heavy layer of glitz and glamour Molly’s story is often actually easily predictable and lacking in the kind of sensational twists that pure fiction so readily supplies.

The Ugly Truth

Molly’s Game is an accomplished directing debut for Aaron Sorkin and showcases a truly masterful performance from Jessica Chastain. The film delves into a lot of familiar Hollywood territory but does so armed with a smart script that mostly voids clichés and offers plenty of entertainment.

Review by Russell Nelson

Pitch Perfect 3 Review

Pitch Perfect 3 Review

The Plot

Acapella singing superstars the Barden Bellas have grown up and grown apart, but a chance to reunite for one last chance to compete for musical glory on a European Tour might just put each of their individual lives back on track.

The Good

Pitch Perfect 3 will be a welcome return for those who have previously much enjoyed the Bellas’ endearingly daft musical shenanigans. Though the plot of this final chapter may feel like an obviously contrived excuse for a series of jaunty musical numbers, those acapella karaoke mashups are nonetheless still infectiously fun to watch.

Likewise the franchise’s astonishingly well assembled cast continues to pour a surprising amount of charm into otherwise one note characters. Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Hailee Steinfeld, Anna Camp and Rebel Wilson are among the returning stars that shine yet again. Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins also return to provide their usual scene stealing tongue in cheek commentary throughout proceedings.

Perhaps the biggest compliment that can be paid to Pitch Perfect 3 is that it seems entirely self-aware of the fact that it’s a final celebratory farewell tour nothing more. The plot of the film oddly mirrors real life, with plenty of in jokes about the need to move on and the inherent comedy of performers so unashamedly desperate for that final piece of the spotlight.

Luckily the film manages to resist the temptation to pull a Fast and The Furious style genre switch, utterly reimagining the characters or throwing them into too many implausibly new situations. This is perhaps the worst and most common crime of ill-advised sequels but thankfully Pitch Perfect 3 doesn’t quite fall into this trap, even if it does knowingly flirt with the idea during its opening scenes and later stages.

Overall a talented cast and the winning formula of slapstick humour, one liners and musical set pieces blends to form a pleasing harmony easily capable of raising a smile for 90 minutes.

The Bad

The original Pitch Perfect was a fun novelty act but didn’t obviously lend itself to sequels thanks to a largely self-contained plot that had been neatly brought to a close. Instead box office success and apparent audience enthusiasm swiftly prompted a follow up that made the most of a talented cast to squeeze even more musical comedy from the niche world of competitive acapella singing. Unfortunately for some audiences stretching the franchise now into a full blown trilogy may feel a little unnecessary and greedy.

For anyone who felt their enthusiasm damper by the end of the last sequel, this time may feel even more like a lazy repeat combined with at least one embarrassingly farfetched subplot. In particular the film comes dangerously close to ‘jumping the shark’ during its desperate efforts to inject action into its final act. Hollywood so often mistakes bigger for better and adding martial arts and explosions to acapella singing is never really a sensible idea.

Even if the final Bellas adventure does its very best to milk more laughs out of the increasingly familiar characters, it’s hard to entirely avoid feeling like you’re watching performers taking a superfluous curtain call after the applause has already started to fade out.

The Ugly Truth

Pitch Perfect 3 ends the unlikely trilogy of musical comedy on a mostly satisfying note giving fans of the series a final farewell performance. Stars like Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson have just enough musical and comedic appeal to make it feel like easy watching fun.

Review by Russell Nelson

London Critics’ Circle Awards Nominations

Martin McDonagh’s drama earned seven nominations from UK critics, who also singled out smaller films like Lady Macbeth, God’s Own Country, Phantom Thread and Call Me By Your Name, alongside Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and Paul King’s Paddington 2.

Martin McDonagh’s drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was out front with seven nominations, including Film, Director, Screenwriter, Actress for Frances McDormand, and Supporting Actor for both Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. In addition, as a British production the film is nominated for British/Irish Film of the Year.

Following close behind with six nominations each are William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread. Four films earned five nominations each: Luca Guagadino’s Call Me By Your Name, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, Paul King’s Paddington 2, and Francis Lee’s God’s Own Country. The 10 films contending for Film of the Year are Call Me By Your Name, Dunkirk, The Florida Project, Get Out, God’s Own Country, Lady Bird, Loveless, Phantom Thread, The Shape of Water, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

The winners will be announced at a gala ceremony on Sunday, 28th January at The May Fair Hotel. Actor-filmmakers Alice Lowe and Steve Oram will return to host the ceremony, at which Kate Winslet will receive the critics’ highest honour, The Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film.

Full List of Nominations:

FILM OF THE YEAR
Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
The Florida Project
Get Out
God’s Own Country
Lady Bird
Loveless
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Aquarius
Elle
The Handmaiden
Loveless
Raw

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
78/52
Human Flow
I Am Not Your Negro
Jane
The Work

BRITISH/IRISH FILM OF THE YEAR: The Attenborough Award
Dunkirk
God’s Own Country
Lady Macbeth
Paddington 2
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Sean Baker – The Florida Project
Guillermo Del Toro – The Shape of Water
Luca Guadagnino – Call Me By Your Name
Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Nolan – Dunkirk

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Paul Thomas Anderson – Phantom Thread
Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird
James Ivory – Call Me By Your Name
Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Jordan Peele – Get Out

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Annette Bening – Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water
Isabelle Huppert – Elle
Frances McDormand – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Florence Pugh – Lady Macbeth

ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Timothée Chalamet – Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread
James Franco – The Disaster Artist
Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out
Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour

SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Lily Gladstone – Certain Women
Holly Hunter – The Big Sick
Allison Janney – I, Tonya
Lesley Manville – Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf – Lady Bird

SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Willem Dafoe – The Florida Project
Hugh Grant – Paddington 2
Woody Harrelson – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Sam Rockwell – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Michael Stuhlbarg – Call Me By Your Name

BRITISH/IRISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Emily Beecham – Daphne
Judi Dench – Victoria & Abdul/Murder on the Orient Express
Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water/Maudie/Paddington 2
Florence Pugh – Lady Macbeth
Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird/Loving Vincent

BRITISH/IRISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread
Colin Farrell – The Killing of a Sacred Deer/The Beguiled
Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out
Josh O’Connor – God’s Own Country
Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour/The Space Between Us

YOUNG BRITISH/IRISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Harris Dickinson – Beach Rats
Tom Holland – The Lost City of Z/Spider-Man: Homecoming
Noah Jupe – Suburbicon/Wonder/The Man With the Iron Heart
Dafne Keen – Logan
Fionn Whitehead – Dunkirk

BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH/IRISH FILMMAKER: The Philip French Award
Alice Birch – Lady Macbeth
Simon Farnaby – Paddington 2/Mindhorn
Francis Lee – God’s Own Country
Rungano Nyoni – I Am Not a Witch
William Oldroyd – Lady Macbeth

BRITISH/IRISH SHORT FILM OF THE YEAR
The Cloud of Unknowing – Mike Hannon
The Dog and the Elephant – Mike Sharpe
Tuesday – Charlotte Wells
We Love Moses – Dionne Edwards
Your Mother and I – Anna Maguire

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Baby Driver – Darrin Prescott, stunts
Blade Runner 2049 – Dennis Gassner, production design
Dunkirk – Hans Zimmer, music
God’s Own Country – Joshua James Richards, cinematography
Lady Macbeth – Holly Waddington, costumes
The Lost City of Z – Darius Khondji, cinematography
The Love Witch – Emma Willis, hair & makeup
Paddington 2 – Pablo Grillo, visual effects
Phantom Thread – Mark Bridges, costumes
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Ben Morris, visual effects

EXCELLENCE IN FILM: The Dilys Powell Award
Kate Winslet

Winners will be announced Sunday, 28th January 2018

British Independent Film Awards 2017 Winners

The British Independent Film Awards took place last night with acclaimed drama God’s Own Country proving to be the night’s biggest winner. The film won multiple awards, including best British independent film, best actor for Josh O’Connor, and best debut screenwriter for Director Francis Lee.

Also picking up multiple awards was Lady MacBeth with rising star Florence Pugh winning best actress. Meanwhile satire The Death of Stalin took home four, including best supporting actor for Simon Russell Beale and best production design.

The British-French drama I Am Not A Witch won three awards, with Rungano Nyoni taking home best director. Get Out starring British actor Daniel Kaluuya won best international independent film. See below for exclusive interviews and the full list of winners:

Best British Independent Film

God’s Own Country

Best Director

Rungano Nyoni, I Am Not a Witch

Best Screenplay

Alice Birch, Lady Macbeth

Best Actress

Florence Pugh, Lady Macbeth

Best Actor

Josh O’Connor, God’s Own Country

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Clarkson, The Party

Best Supporting Actor

Simon Russell Beale, The Death of Stalin

Most Promising Newcomer

Naomi Ackie, Lady Macbeth

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director)

Rungano Nyoni, I Am Not a Witch

Debut Screenwriter

Francis Lee, God’s Own Country

Breakthrough Producer

Emily Morgan, I Am Not a Witch

The Discovery Award

In Another Life

Best Documentary

Almost Heaven, Carol Salter

Best British Short Film

Fish Story

Best Cinematography

Ari Wegner, Lady Macbeth

Best Casting

Sarah Crowe, The Death of Stalin

Best Costume Design

Holly Waddington, Lady Macbeth

Best Editing

Jon Gregory, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Effects

Nick Allder, Ben White, The Ritual

Best Make Up & Hair Design

Nicole Stafford, The Death of Stalin

Best Music

Carter Burwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Production Design

Cristina Casali, The Death of Stalin

Best Sound

Anna Bertmark, God’s Own Country

Best International Independent Film

Get Out

Sachin Tendulkar Documentary & Cricket Icons

Cricket fans will be able to celebrate the life and career of legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar by watching new feature length film SACHIN: A BILLION DREAMS, which will be available on DVD and Digital HD from 4th December 2017. This insightful sports documentary from director James Erskine tells  Tendulkar’s story from his career debut at the age of 15, to the amazing achievement at becoming the highest runs scorer in the history of Test and ODI cricket.

 

Ahead of the film’s release next month, we’ve taken a look back at some of  the most iconic cricketers of all time.

Sachin Tendulkar

The former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar had his international debut in 1989, which introduced him as the “one to watch” in the world of cricket. Since then, he has had more than 30,000 international runs and accumulated numerous records setting him aside as one of the biggest names in sport. Sachin is also credited for championing the sport in his own country – leading India to be one of the most influential countries in the world of cricket. Nicknamed “God of cricket” and “Master Blaster”, Sachin has definitely made an important mark in the sport and established himself as not only a household name, but an icon to many cricket fans on a global scale.

Sir Don Bradman

Hailing from Australia, Sir Don Bradman, also known as “The Don”, was once recognised as the greatest batsman of all time. Until Sachin Tendulkar came into the world of cricket and swept away multiple records, Bradman was the ultimate icon with a batting average of 99.94. With a career spanning two decades through the 1930s and 1940s, “The Don” amassed multiple records and is still known to this day for being coined one of the greatest sporting legends of the 20th century.

Gary Sobers

Sir Garfield Sobers is a former cricketer, and was considered to be the sport’s greatest all-rounder. Starting his amazing career at 16, Sobers saw himself playing for the West Indies for two decades between 1954 and 1974 – ultimately being the team’s captain in 1965. Sobers was named one of the five most prominent cricket players of the 20th century and was awarded multiple titles. Not only was he named one of the ten National Heroes of Barbados, he also received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 1975.

Jack Hobbs

With a career spanning almost three decades, Sir John Berry Hobbs was an English cricketer known for his incredible batting skills. His nickname “The Master”, shows how much respect and admiration he had amongst cricket fans for his skills on the field. Furthermore, Hobbs had the honor of being the first professional cricketer to be knighted, in 1953. There is no doubt that during his career, Hobbs was one of the leading names in this supreme sport.

Shane Warne

The former Australian cricketer is commonly known for being one of the greatest bowlers in the game. Officially retiring from international cricket in 2008, Warne couldn’t let go and was signed as the captain for the Rajasthan Royals, and later represented the Melbourne Stars. Nowadays, he tends to make up his time commentating on the sport. Warner, or Warnie as some refer to him, is iconic for his mastery of leg spin to which some fans even consider as art. There is no doubt that Shane Warner is one of the biggest names in the modern world of cricket.

SACHIN: A BILLION DREAMS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON DVD AND DIGITAL HD FROM 4TH DECEMBER 2017

Amazon pre-order link: http://amzn.eu/37drqeL