Monkey Man is a new departure for Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel: he co-wrote, directed and stars in the film inspired by Indian mythology and reality, which plays homage to the action movies he adores. The title and the film are inspired by the Hindu monkey-faced demigod Hanuman. The film does share themes with both … Continue reading “Monkey Man: Indian Mythology Meets Action Movie”
If you happen to be in Cambridge between now and the end of the summer, don’t miss the University Library’s exhibition about 20th century crime fiction with artefacts and first editions from the likes of Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle and Wilkie Collins. Crime fiction is by far the most popular form of fiction in … Continue reading “Murder by the Book”
Dick Turpin was a highway robber in early 18th-century England. Unlike Robin Hood, he didn’t rob the rich to give to the poor. But he became a legend thanks to early “tabloid media”: broadsheets and penny dreadfuls. A new TV series takes a humorous look at the historic criminal. Dick Turpin could be considered as … Continue reading “Your Money or Your Life!”
Lyon’s Quais du Polar festival is celebrating its 20th edition from 5 to 7 April. It has grown and grown and this year will welcome 135 authors from 15 countries. As far as the Anglophone contingent is concerned, you will no doubt recognise some stars like John Grisham and his legal mysteries; Donna Leon, specialised … Continue reading “Quais du Polar Lyon is 20”
A hundred years ago, a Scotsman became famous for NOT running a race at the Paris 1924 Olympic Games. Eric Liddell’s story was immortalised in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire. And a play about his life is coming to Paris for two performances on 23 March. Liddell was an excellent sportsman who played rugby … Continue reading “Chariot of Fire: The Eric Liddell Story”
British choreographer Matthew Bourne and his company New Adventures pride themselves in finding new ways of “telling stories without words”. In Romeo and Juliet, Bourne has taken one of the best-known words in the English language and transformed the familiar story in a reinvention which plays on the dystopian elements of the original script. Bourne … Continue reading “Romeo and Juliet Without Words”
Definitely not one to show your pupils! Wicked Little Letters is a delicious comedy with Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, set in a 1920s English seaside town, where the population starts receiving defamatory letters full of profanities. An Irish migrant with a good stock of swear words in her vocabulary, Rose Gooding is accused of … Continue reading “Rumours, Rumours”
2023 was the year “Barbenheimer” revived cinema attendance around the world. But despite leading the box office, Barbie received only one Oscar, for best song, while Oppenheimer dominated this years Awards, taking home seven statuettes. Oppenheimer took best picture, best director for Christopher Nolan, and best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr. (amazingly his first … Continue reading “And the Oscar Goes to”
Siegfried Sassoon was one of the most famous of the British World War I poets but unlike Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke or Edward Thomas, Sassoon survived the war he had despised while serving brilliantly. Terence Davies’ final film traces both the war service and the long life looking for meaning which followed, with Jack Lowden … Continue reading “Benediction: Siegfried Sassoon Biopic”
Most people would feel proud of saving hundreds of mainly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia just before the outbreak of World War II. But Sir Nicholas Winton was haunted by all the children he couldn’t save. Until a surprise 50 years later on a TV programme showed him all the good he had done. A new … Continue reading “Doing the Right Thing”
