Tag: 3.5 StarsPage 2 of 4

The Beguiled

Review © Jane Freebury Like so much, it all depends on point of view. Is it the male of the species or is it the female who is…

I am Heath Ledger

  Review by © Jane Freebury Who was Heath Ledger? His take on the Joker, Batman’s nemesis in The Dark Knight, was transfixing, with a vicious malevolence that…

The Country Doctor

    Reviewed by Jane Freebury If Irreplaceable, the original title of this genial tale seems a bit over-stated, the title for English speaking audiences, The Country Doctor,…

Silence

  review by © Jane Freebury Here’s one from a director we can expect to throw us a curve ball. Silence is the story of two Jesuit priests…

shortcuts

       My Cousin Rachel Handsome, lush, gorgeous to look at and not nearly as over the top as the trailer suggests. Romantic obsession has been plausibly updated,…

Elle

  Review by Jane Freebury © This graphic and unsettling film from an arch provocateur known for Hollywood blockbusters is not without its director’s signature high-level sex and…

Embrace of the Serpent

  © by Jane Freebury Against expectations, this journey set in the Amazonian wilderness is almost entirely told in black and white. The filmmaker, young Colombian Ciro Guerras,…

A Bigger Splash

  © Jane Freebury Sipping daiquiris, feasting on seafood, skinny dipping in the pool, away from it all on a remote Sicilian island. Just perfetto. Director Luca Guadagnino…

The Daughter

Review by © Jane Freebury A forest of tall timbers. Valleys strewn with mist. How readily a Henrik Ibsen classic has been transposed to the wilds of Tasmania,…

Looking for Grace

        Review by © Jane Freebury In the three feature films that Sue Brooks has made so far, we have driven into the wide, open spaces of the…

Carol

        Review © by Jane Freebury It’s good to be reminded of why we said goodbye to all that in the 1950s. When advertising had women appear in…

The Revenant

         Review by Jane Freebury An epic about survival against all odds is timeless and borderless. How fascinating that both The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road, each…

Truth

Review @ Jane Freebury Movies featuring journalists have a way of looking at the best or the worst of the profession with little shading in between. It makes…

The Martian

Review by Jane Freebury A mission on Mars is aborted during a wild storm. One crew member is left behind, presumed killed by flying debris, but the rest…

Ricki and the Flash

Review © Jane Freebury As the mum who didn’t show up for her daughter’s wedding then arrived in time for the divorce, Ricki Randazzo (Meryl Streep) could expect…

Spy

© Jane Freebury If you’ve got it, flaunt it. As CIA agent Susan Cooper, Melissa McCarthy does. Just last year we saw her in St Vincent as a…

The Age of Adaline

Review by © Jane Freebury So, being tall, willowy and perfectly proportioned, with lustrous hair and perfect skin is not always the distinct advantage you might think it…

Unbroken

Review by © Jane Freebury One of the ironies of this WWII film whose director’s name precedes it, is that the young American airman at the centre of…

Exodus: Gods and Kings

Review by Jane Freebury For the second time this year, a blockbuster about the miraculous deeds of a man ‘chosen by god’ has arrived on screen, courtesy of…

The Hundred-Foot Journey

Review by Jane Freebury In bringing the popular novel by Richard C Morais to the screen, Swedish director Lasse Hallström and the enthusiastic producers of The Hundred-Foot Journey…