
Cath Clarke
Cath Clarke is Time Out London's film editor. Her career high is that time Gary Oldman left a giggling voicemail on her mobile. Or maybe when Julianne Moore's dog fell asleep on her foot.
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Cath Clarke is Time Out London's film editor. Her career high is that time Gary Oldman left a giggling voicemail on her mobile. Or maybe when Julianne Moore's dog fell asleep on her foot.
Itâs easy to make a funny movie. Making a classic comedy is an entirely different matter. Itâs one thing to make audiences laugh in the present, but to keep them laughing through the ensuing decades is one of the most difficult tricks in cinema. Because as society changes, so does our sense of humour. Whatâs hilarious in 1923 might bomb in 2023, and one generationâs laugh riot is anotherâs laugh riot is anotherâs âhuh?â. That makes ranking the best comedy films of all time particularly difficult. You first have to ask, what makes a comedy truly great? Thereâs many criteria, but one of the most important is durability. Can it withstand the test of time, and stay funny five, ten, 100 years down the road? Making that determination isnât easy. So we called in some help. To put together this list, we asked comedians like Diane Morgan and Russell Howard, actors such as John Boyega and Jodie Whittaker and a small army of Time Out writers about the movies that make them chuckle the hardest for the longest period of time. In doing so, we believe weâve found the 100 finest, most durable and most broadly appreciable laughers in history. No matter your sense of humour â silly or sophisticated, light or dark, surreal or broad â youâll find it represented here. Recommended: đ„ The 100 best movies of all-timeđ„° The greatest romantic comedies of all timeđ€Ż 33 great disaster moviesđŹ The best thriller films of all-timeđ The best foreign films of all-time
Who doesnât love a great romantic comedy? Sure, plenty of filmgoers stick their noses up at the genre, claiming theyâd never degrade their highfalutin sensibilities by sitting through an insipid âchick flickâ. In the privacy of their homes, though, those same snobs are surely drawing the blinds and silencing their phones whenever happening across a Nancy Meyers or Nora Ephron movie on cable during a lazy weekend afternoon. Do away with cinematic pretensions and itâs not hard to understand the enduring appeal of the romcom. Anyone whoâs ever been in love, or wished to be in love, knows the odd things it can do to a person â thereâs no emotion quite like it. But as they say, love is a many-splendoured thing, and so are romcoms. Some are sophisticated, others saccharine. Some are cynical, while others are just straight-up silly. We considered all of it when compiling this list of the best romcoms of all time. Even if youâre one of those people who pretends not to like romcoms, youâll surely find something to love here. Written by Dave Calhoun, Cath Clarke, Tom Huddleston, Kate Lloyd, Andy Kryza, Phil de Semlyen, Alim Kheraj & Matthew Singer Recommended: đ The 100 best romantic films of all-timeđ€Ł The 100 best comedy moviesđł The 101 best sex scenes of all timeđ„ The 100 best movies of all-time
At the moment, Hollywood appears to be a bit sexually frustrated. Whether itâs because of a general puritanical shift in pop culture or the recent debates over the merits of cinematic sex scenes, itâs been a while since weâve seen a sweaty, steamy, on-screen romp between the sheets in a major mainstream film. Itâs a shame, because lust is an important part of life â and thus should be an important part of movies. So letâs talk about sex, baby. This list should put to bed (ahem) the idea that sex on film is always about mere titillation. No doubt, sometimes, arousal is the whole point â and thereâs nothing wrong with that. But in the best examples, sex is storytelling. It tells us something about the characters. It can be a joke, or a source of fear, anxiety and frustration. In other words, sex communicates many emotions beyond sheer carnal desire. So slip into something more comfortable â these are the 101 best sex scenes of all time. Written by Dave Calhoun, Joshua Rothkopf, Cath Clarke, David Ehrlich, Phil de Semlyen, Daniel Walber, Trevor Johnston, Andy Kryza, Daniel Walber and Matthew Singer Recommended: đŻïž The 35 steamiest erotic thrillers ever madeđ„ The 100 best movies of all-time†The 100 best romantic films of all-timeđŹ The 50 most controversial movies ever madeđȘ The 100 best feminist films of all-time
In the movies, as in life, love very often comes with loss. Many of the greatest love stories in cinema donât have happy endings. Some end in sadness, others tragedy or, more simply, the recognition that relationships sometimes just donât work out. But acknowledging heartbreak does not dilute romance. In fact, itâs almost impossible â or at least disingenuous â to talk about love without mentioning the emotional brutality that often accompanies it. That explains why, if you check out our lists of the best romantic films and romcoms, youâll find a lot of the same movies that made this list of the most heartbreaking movies in history. But when your own heart is shattered, the last thing you want to watch is a movie where everyone winds up happy and satisfied in the end. If youâre looking to wallow in romantic misery for a while, these movies invite you to sink all the way in. Recommended: đ The 100 best romantic films of all-timeđ The 70 best romcoms of all-timeđ„ The 100 best movies of all-time
Young love is the greatest love. Sure, itâs often naive, misguided and fleeting, but romance never feels quite as thrilling and pure as when youâre a teenager. Hollywood, naturally, frequently mines those big feelings and puts them on screen. Of course, tapping into adolescent emotions when youâre many years removed from them isnât easy. And sometimes the results are inauthentic at best and downright embarrassing at worst. But every once in a while a movie gets it right â and it punches you right in the heart. These are those movies. On this list of the best teenage romances ever put on film, youâll experience love in all its messy, complicated glory. In some cases, itâs a coming-of-age tale featuring a significant age gap. Other times, itâs between two kids trying to figure the world out. Sometimes, thereâs a vampire involved. All of them, though, manage to capture the palpitations, the butterflies and especially the intense confusion of being in love for the first time. Itâs something we can all relate to â no matter how old we get. Recommended: đ The 100 best romantic films of all-timeđ€Ł The 70 best romantic comedies of all-timeđ The best breakup and heartbreak moviesđŻ The 100 best teen movies of all-time
Horror movies have rarely got the respect they deserve. Sometimes, itâs for good reason. Particularly in the 1970s and â80s, the genre became a magnet for hacks and hucksters looking to make a quick buck via the burgeoning VHS video by crapping out a script and dousing horny teens in gallons of stage blood. But that phenomenon had a generational trickle-down effect, staining even the smarter, more artful entries with the taint of schlock.  Only recently has that started to change. Visionary auteurs like Ari Aster and Jordan Peele, and leftfield hits like A Quiet Place, It Follows and Get Out have brought horror to a higher standing in the cinematic universe. But let this list of the greatest horror movies ever made repudiate the idea that the genre has ever been of lesser value than others. After all, every film exists to make an audience feel something â and what makes you feel more than a good horror movie? Among our picks, youâll find films that mine universal human fears, whether itâs the fear of death and disease or more specific phobias. Some stretch the boundaries of what can be shown on screen, but others can raise the hairs on your arms through mere suggestion. There is, after all, more than one way to scare someone â and these movies do it better than all others. Written by Tom Huddleston, Cath Clarke, Dave Calhoun, Nigel Floyd, Phil de Semlyen, David Ehrlich, Joshua Rothkopf, Nigel Floyd, Andy Kryza, Alim Kheraj and Matthew Singer Recommended: đ„ The 100 best mov
As far back as anyone can remember, cinemagoers have loved gangster movies. Itâs easy to understand why. Sure, in reality, life as a career criminal seems like a bum gig â always looking over your shoulder, never able to trust even your closest compatriots, and thatâs not to mention all the amoral behavior. But getting to live vicariously through the ones we see on screen is one of cinemaâs purest thrills, mostly because itâs a lifestyle the majority of us would never dream of adopting or even living adjacent to. But the truth is that the gangster movie isnât a monolith. It may involve cigar-munching mobsters maintaining vast criminal empires or street-level bosses presiding over a city block. It could be yakuza enforcers in operatic gunfights or hard-boiled mobsters indiscriminately spraying the competition with bullets. Some movie gangsters are loud and gregarious, others cold and calculating â and youâll find all of them on our definitive list of the best gangster movies of all-time. Recommended: đŹ The 100 best thriller movies of all-timeđŁ The 101 best action movies ever madeđȘ The 31 best serial killer moviesđ”ïž 40 murder mysteries to test your sleuthing skills to the max
No matter how snooty and highfalutin their taste in movies gets, every cineaste has to start somewhere. And weâre going to bet that, in most cases, it starts with a cartoon. Whether itâs a classic of Disneyâs Golden Age, a more recent Pixar heart-tugger for the youngâuns or something weirder that your parents thought was age-appropriate when they picked it off a video store shelf, most first cinematic loves are animated. Of course, that doesnât mean that animation is only a realm for children. On the contrary, the best animated movies work on multiple levels, for broad audiences. In composing this list, we polled Time Out writers and experts including Fantastic Mr Foxâs Wes Anderson and Wallace and Gromitâs Nick Park, and the results show just how expansive the genre can be. Our list incorporates everything from Disney to Studio Ghibli, stop-motion nightmares to psychedelic headtrips, illustrated documentaries to however-the-hell you classify the work of maverick Jan Ć vankmajer. Take a look and massage your nostalgia receptors â and maybe find something mindblowing youâve never seen before. Written by Trevor Johnston, David Ehrlich, Joshua Rothkoph, Tom Huddleston, Andy Kryza, Guy Lodge, Dave Calhoun, Keith Uhlich, Cath Clarke and Matthew Singer Recommended: đ The 50 best Disney moviesđŻđ” The 20 best anime movies of all-timeđ€Ł The best family comedy moviesđŠ The 50 best fantasy movies of all-time Â
Were the â90s the best decade for movies ever? Itâs a statement that feels more controversial than it should be. Think about it: it was an era where the indies went big and blockbusters got even bigger. International cinema experienced several new waves that both shocked and thrilled global audiences, while filmmakers in America and Britain explored stories and topics that had previously been taboo outside the arthouse. It felt, in many ways, like a collision of the groundbreaking New Hollywood ideals of the â70s and the crowdpleasing populism of the â80s. And if you werenât alive to experience it live, well, believe us when we say that it was quite an exciting time to be alive and going to the movies. But what movies for the decadeâs absolute best? Time Outâs writers put their Gen X and elder millennial heads together to suss it out. Grab that Game Boy out of storage and crack open a Surge - these are the 50 best â90s movies. Written by Cath Clarke, Gail Tolley, Chris Waywell, Dave Calhoun, Tom Huddleston, Kate Lloyd, James Manning & Matthew Singer Recommended: đ„ The 100 best movies of all-timeđ€Ł The 100 best comedies of all-timeđ The 50 best foreign films of all-timeđž The 50 best â90s songsÂ
Queer cinema has come a long way. Inasmuch as gay lives and issues were ever allowed to be addressed on screen without devolving into gross stereotypes, for much of the past century, the perspective was limited to that of white, cisgendered men. Over the last few decades or so, though, the scope of LGBTQ+ experiences depicted on film has expanded greatly. So, too, have the opportunities for queer stories written by and for the queer communities. In 2022, weâll see Billy Eichnerâs Bros, the first romantic comedy penned by an openly gay man for a major studio, while the great Billy Porter will make his directorial debut with a story about a trans high school student. Obviously, there are still many barriers left to breach, and much work to be done to achieve true equality in Hollywood. But the strides of the last half-century or so deserve to be celebrated. To that end, we enlisted some LGBTQ+ cultural pioneers, as well as Time Out writers to assist in assembling a list of the greatest gay films ever made â and the results show that queer life is far from a monolith. Written by Cath Clarke, Dave Calhoun, Tom Huddleston, Alim Kheraj, Guy Lodge, Ben Walters and Matthew Singer. RECOMMENDED: đ„ The 100 best movies of all-timeđ„ The 65 best documentaries of all-timeđ The 100 best romantic films of all-timeđ€Ł The 100 best comedies of all-time
These stuck-at-home times have us all pining for the freedoms of the big city: to hang out, see the sights, or just sip a pint and watch the world go by. We canât do it â at least, for the moment â so why not experience the big city vicariously and take a trip to its most glamorous nooks and seediest crannies as captured by some great filmmakers? From the silent era right up to the present day, Time Outâs list of the best London movies covers comedy, horror, sci-fi, romance, disaster movies, political dramas and psychedelic thrillers. But theyâre all united by one thing â theyâre set and shot in the greatest city in the known universe⊠RECOMMENDED: The 100 best British films of all time
Horror cinema is a monster. Mistreated, misunderstood and subjected to vicious critical attacks, somehow it keeps lumbering forward, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. For some, horror films are little better than pornography, focused purely on evoking a reaction â be it terror, disquiet or disgust â with little thought for 'higher' aspirations. For others, they're just a bit of fun: a chance to shriek and snigger at someone's second-hand nightmare. But look again, and the story of horror is also the story of innovation and non-conformity in cinema, a place where dangerous ideas can be expressed, radical techniques can be explored, and filmmakers outside the mainstream can still make a big cultural splash. If cinema itself has an unconscious, a dark little corner from which new ideas emerge, blinking and malformed, it must be horror. The question is â which are the best horror films? Time Out proudly presents the 100 best horror films, as chosen by those who write in, direct, star in and celebrate the genre. For more, check out our guides to the best comedy, rom coms, family and animated movies.
The âbreastaurantâ never caught on in the UK: that creepy American institution of family-friendly sports bars where waitresses wear push-up bras and not much else (a side of soft porn with your burger, sir?). With his easy-going workplace comedy, indie director Andrew Bujalski gives us a day in the life of the female manager of a Texas joint called Double Whammies, where the customers are wardrobe-sized construction dudes in bandanas ordering âbig ass beersâ. Regina Hall, who after âGirls Tripâ is finally getting the recognition she deserves, is terrific as Lisa, everyoneâs favourite boss â caring, kind, super-competent. But even Lisaâs patience is tested by the day from hell. When she arrives to open up the bar, a thief has broken in overnight. Lisa is also worrying about how to find bail money for a waitress whoâs been arrested for running over her dick boyfriend. Hall gives a natural, real performance; sheâs like someone youâve met. âSupport the Girlsâ is brilliant on zero-hours culture: companies requiring employees to give 110 percent in return for the minimum wage and no job security. What can make all difference is a boss like Lisa. Weirdly though, the film doesnât have a whole lot to say about the way restaurants like Double Whammies â the real-life national chain is Hooters â normalise the sexual objectification of women. Though one of the waitresses jokes about finding a bar where the waiters are hot guys in Speedos. âThey should call it Nut-Huggers,â she suggests.Â
This comedy-drama from Iceland asks some timely biggies about the climate change movement in its story about an ordinary woman with a secret double life as an environmental activist. The film has a bone-dry sense of humour, though the quirk level is turned up just a fraction too high. Itâs built around a cracking performance by HalldĂłra GeirharðsdĂłttir, playing 49-year-old choir teacher Halla, who spends her free time shooting a bow and arrow at electricity pylons in the countryside, causing major power cuts. The filmâs questions are important: is it acceptable to take direct action that disrupts ordinary peopleâs lives if you believe nothing is being done to prevent the ecological crisis? As a parent, is your biggest responsibility to keep your kids safe in the here and now, or to save the planet from impending climate breakdown? Halla, whoâs single, is plotting her most dangerous stunt yet when her long-standing application to adopt a Ukrainian baby is suddenly accepted. Sheâs to become the mother of a little girl. So too is her identical twin sister, Ăsa (also played by GeirharðsdĂłttir). Here the plot gets far-fetched, and the filmâs surreal touches make it hard to connect emotionally to Halla. Worst of all are the kooky musicians performing in the background of some scenes. They look like buskers at an organic farmersâ market â beardy, in vintage tweed. Iâd cross the road to dodge them in real life, but you just canât avoid them in a film.Â
Film review by Cath ClarkeA mushy-slushy romance about a pair of terminally ill teenagers who meet on a cystic fibrosis ward would ordinarily leave me in a puddle on the floor. (I speak as someone who once choked up watching a washing powder advert.) But âFive Feet Apartâ, with its phoney emotions and baloney contrivances â these love-struck kids canât even hold hands let alone get to first base because two people with cystic fibrosis arenât allowed to touch â just didnât do the job for me. Haley Lu Richardson almost gives you a reason to watch as Stella, who has cystic fibrosis and is super-positive about her chances of getting a lung transplant (itself not miracle cure â new lungs will only extend her life by five years). She fills her days in hospital writing life-affirming to-do lists and doing yoga. Down the hall, brooding bad boy Will (a charmless performance by Cole Sprouse) has stopped taking his meds. He agrees to start again only if Stella lets him draw her. Credit to the filmmakers for the unsqueamish illness details here, down to the stomach feeding tubes and bowls of spittle. Yet the script is weirdly coy about sex â Stella and Will risk passing infections with physical contact. But surely teenagers with smartphones can work out a way to bypass the no-touching rule? In the end âFive Feet Apartâ jerked not a single tear from me.
Este pesado romance sobre un par de adolescentes con enfermedades terminales, que se conocen en una sala de fibrosis quĂstica, normalmente me harĂa dejar un charco en el suelo, pero A dos metros de ti, con sus falsas emociones y las tonterĂas de niños enamorados (Stella y Will) que no pueden tomarse ni de las manos ây mucho menos llegar a la primera baseâsimplemente no me atrapĂł. Stella es muy positiva sobre sus posibilidades de recibir un trasplante de pulmĂłn, que no es una cura milagrosa; los nuevos pulmones solo le darĂĄn otros cinco años. Ella pasa sus dĂas en el hospital, escribiendo listas de tareas y haciendo yoga. Al final de un pasillo conoce a Will, un desamparado niño malo que ha dejado de tomar sus medicamentos. Ăl acepta volver a tomarlos, solo si Stella le permite dibujarla. Gracias a los cineastas por los detalles de la enfermedad, hasta los tubos de alimentaciĂłn del estĂłmago y los cuencos de saliva. Sin embargo, el guiĂłn es extrañamente tĂmido acerca del sexo: Stella y Will corren el riesgo de contraer infecciones con el contacto fĂsico. ÂżPero seguramente los adolescentes con telĂ©fonos inteligentes pueden encontrar una manera de evitar la regla de âno tocarâ? En el A dos metros de ti no derramĂł ni una sola lĂĄgrima.
Hereâs a harmless piece of Britcom silliness loosely based on the incredible rise of the Cornish sea-shanty group the Fishermanâs Friends. After being discovered singing on a quayside, the ten-man bunch of mates â all fishermen or coastguards whoâd been singing together for donkey's years down the pub â landed a deal with a major label, recorded a Top 10 album and played Glastonbury. Theirs is a tale of authenticity cutting through the PR and hype of the music industry, so what a shame this movie Cornish-ifies, âFull Montyâ-ifies and crowdpleaser-ifies the story until itâs as authentic as vegan fish and chips. The script throws in the fictional character of a flashy music exec played by Daniel Mays, a genuinely funny actor with not much to work with here as Danny, whoâs in Cornwall for a stag do when he spots the Fishermanâs Friends performing. At first, the idea of signing them is a joke, but then he begins to wonder⊠have these yokely locals got something to teach him about how to really live life? You can guess the rest. There are a couple of nice scenes â like one in London where the band find themselves on-trend in a Shoreditch pub, with their facial hair and navy tattoos. But otherwise this is all pretty groanworthy, with a distinct shortage of decent gags. As for the poor guys in the band â less characters, more a collection of beards and good knitwear â they play second fiddle to the numpty from London.
This documentary is about the awe-inspiring bravery of Nadia Murad, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Iraqi woman kidnapped by Isis as a sex slave aged 21 in 2014 â sheâs a member of the ancient Yazidi minority. Sold to Isis fighters, and repeatedly raped, Murad eventually escaped, arriving in Germany as a refugee with a group of female survivors. But she found it impossible to build a new life while Yazidi women and girls were still captive, so she went out and told her story. American documentary-maker Alexandria Bombach initially picks up Muradâs story in 2016. Sheâs in the spotlight after giving a speech to the UN about her ordeal and flying around the world, saying yes to every media request and invitation to speak to politicians. We see her sitting down in front of microphone after microphone, drained, traumatised, but focused, holding it together, while yet another journalist asks her: âHow many times were you raped?â, âHow did you escape?â With great sensitivity, Bombach refrains from quizzing Murad about what Isis did to her during the interviews. Why do we want to know the details? Instead, we hear Murad talk movingly about the parts of herself that have been robbed for ever. As a teenager she dreamt of opening a beauty salon or becoming a teacher. Thatâs all lost. âI never wanted people to know me as a victim of Isis terrorism.â Her only hope now is if the world acts on the genocide of the Yazidi. What a powerful and important film.Â
Este dĂ©jĂ vu de la exitosa comedia francesa Intouchables, cuenta la historia de una bromance entre un rico cuadriplĂ©jico y su cuidador afroamericano, solo que aquĂ recibe el clĂĄsico tratamiento de Hollywood. Esto realmente es un remake increĂblemente cursi, y el original ya era bastante cursi. Ahora, protagonizada por el protagonista de Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston y Kevin Hart, dan lo mejor de sĂ con un guiĂłn que resuelve todos los clichĂ©s de pelĂculas de parejas extrañas. Aunque bien actuado. Cranston interpreta al inversionista multimillonario Phillip, paralizado desde el cuello hacia abajo despuĂ©s de un accidente de parapente. Cuando su secretaria (Nicole Kidman) busca un cuidador, Phillip contrata al candidato menos calificado Dell (Hart). No mucho despuĂ©s de la cĂĄrcel, Dell solo va a la entrevista para mantener contento a su oficial de libertad condicional. ¿EstĂĄ Phillip encantado por su humor y realidad? ¿O porque sospecha que Dell no ignorarĂĄ su orden de âNo resucitarâ? Sigue una gran cantidad de comedia de amigos antes que nada, mientras Phillip introduce a Dell a la cultura intelectual, y este le da a su jefe un alto nivel de marihuana. El guiĂłn incluso presenta un fragmento de Mujer bonita en la que Julia Roberts llora en la Ăłpera. Eso no quiere decir que Amigos por siempre fue rescrita. Los dos actores rebotan entre sĂ como pelotas de ping pong. Cranston en particular, actuando solo con su cara, lleva a la humanidad y la inteligencia a una parte dĂ©bil, y es bast
Itâs dĂ©jĂ vu as the life-affirming hit French comedy-drama âThe Intouchablesâ, the true story of a bromance between a wealthy quadriplegic man and his black live-in carer from the projects (aka the American version of a council estate), gets the Hollywood treatment. This really is an incredibly cheesy remake â and the original was already pretty cheesy â starring âBreaking Badâ actor Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart, doing their best with a script that cracks out all the odd-couple movie clichĂ©s. Itâs nicely acted though. Cranston plays billionaire investor Phillip, paralysed from the neck down after a paragliding accident. When his secretary (Nicole Kidman) advertises for a carer, Phillip hires the least qualified candidate Dell (Hart). Not long out of prison, Dell only shows up at the interview to keep his parole officer sweet. Is Phillip charmed by his humour and realness? Or because he suspects that Dell wonât ignore his Do Not Resuscitate order? A good deal of seen-it-before buddy comedy follows, as Phillip introduces Dell to highbrow culture, while Dell gets his boss high on marijuana. The script even nicks that bit from âPretty Womanâ where Julia Roberts cries at the opera. Thatâs not to say The Upside is a complete write-off. The two actors bounce off each like ping-pong balls. Cranston in particular, acting only with his face, brings humanity and intelligence to a flimsy part â and itâs pretty funny in places. But thereâs no ignoring the fact that the characters are ba
A kind of âMad Maxâ for pre-teens, this mega-budget YA sci-fi fantasy opens with a barnstorming chase across a dystopian wasteland â only itâs not cars on the move but steampunk cities. The film, based on the first in a series of novels by Philip Reeve, is directed by Christian Rivers, an apprentice of Peter Jackson (who co-produces here and co-wrote this script). Like the âHobbitâ movies, âMortal Enginesâ is a relentless assault of CGI and earsplitting noise. Set 1,000 years after civilisation was blown to smithereens, the remains of cities have been rigged on to tank tracks. London, pimped out with St Paulâs Cathedral on top, is an aggressor city, roaming around hoovering up smaller towns. Robert Sheehan plays museum worker Tom. After a run-in with Londonâs sinister energy minister (Hugo Weaving, doing a nice shade of dastardly) he meets Hester (Hera Hilmar), whoâs seeking to avenge the murder of her mother. Raised in the dusty outlands, Hester is one tough cookie, though in time her rough edges will be smoothed off by friendship, and who knows, possibly more. âMortal Enginesâ really is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent slog, as characters leap unfeasibly out of planes on to bits of cities while a squad of rebel-fighter pilots straight out of âStar Warsâ buzz around. Its video-game aesthetic is awash with CGI dazzle â though if you had your fingers on the controls, you might have preferred to send them all under the tank treads after that spectacular opener.
Basada en la histoÌria real de lâescriptora francesa Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Keira Knightley), el director Wash Westmoreland ('Sempre Alice') ens capbussa en lâescena literaÌria del PariÌs de principis del segle XX. Lluny de parlar-nos dâuna ciutat vibrant, el que retrata la caÌmera eÌs un moÌn pretensioÌs i oportunista, lâhaÌbitat ideal per al marit de Colette (Dominic West), un trepa que sâemporta tot el meÌrit de les novel·les que ella escriu. Tota la pel·liÌcula tracta de la relacioÌ entre lâun i lâaltra. EÌs magniÌfic veure com el personatge femeniÌ va agafant confiança alhora que sâallibera del jou dâun home mediocre i aprofitat. Knightley broda aquesta evolucioÌ, sobretot a partir del moment en queÌ comença a explorar la seva identitat sexual. En lâaltre costat de lâespectre, West aborda el paper del marit dibuixant amb subtilesa el perfil psicoloÌgic dâun paio que intenta emmascarar amb fanfarroneria les seves inseguretats meÌs profundes. Sense absoldreâl de les seves faltes, aconsegueix generar-nos una certa simpatia.
Basada en la historia real de la escritora francesa Colette (Keira Knightley), el director Wash Westmoreland ('Siempre Alice') nos sumerge en la escena literaria del ParĂs de principios del siglo XX. Lejos de hablarnos de una ciudad vibrante, lo que retrata la cĂĄmara es un mundo pretencioso y oportunista, el hĂĄbitat ideal para el marido de Colette (Dominic West), un trepa que se lleva todo el mĂ©rito de las novelas que ella escribe. Toda la pelĂcula trata de la relaciĂłn entre ellos. Es magnĂfico ver cĂłmo el personaje femenino va cogiendo confianza al tiempo que se libera del yugo de un hombre mediocre y aprovechado. Knightley borda esta evoluciĂłn, sobre todo a partir del momento en que comienza a explorar su identidad sexual. En el otro lado del espectro, West aborda el papel del marido dibujando con sutileza el perfil psicolĂłgico de un tipo que intenta enmascarar con fanfarronerĂa sus inseguridades mĂĄs profundas. Sin absolverlo de sus faltas, consigue generarnos una cierta simpatĂa.
Tres anys enrere, Denis Villeneuve dirigia un narcothriller sobre agents de l'FBI de missiĂł a MĂšxic, on feia un retrat analĂtic i colpidor de les ambigĂŒitats morals de la guerra dâAmĂšrica contra les drogues. Ara ens arriba aquesta seqĂŒela, que Ă©s com veure un concert del teu grup de mĂșsica preferit, on nomĂ©s toquen el baix i el bateria: hi falten tres asos, lâactriu Emily Blunt, el director de fotografia Roger Deakins i Villeneuve, esclar. I potser per aixĂČ no Ă©s tan fascinant com lâoriginal, ni tan intel·ligent, tot i que es mantĂ© en unes quotes mĂ©s que notables. Tornem a la frontera mexicana, que els cĂ rtels utilitzen per traficar amb paperines i persones. El director Stefano Sollima, conegut per la sĂšrie 'Gomorra', recrea aquest ambient perillĂłs amb tot tipus de detalls, on ens trobem un Benicio del Toro que tĂ© set de venjança.
The Sundance Film Festival is back in London next weekend (June 1-4), with four days of the buzziest and best in new independent cinema. Sundance has been a discovery zone for genuinely original films and new talent for 40 years from its HQ in the snowy mountains of Utah â giving Wes Anderson, Ava DuVernay and Quentin Tarantino their big breaks. The London mini-fest next weekend is a line-up of 14 feature films first shown at the mother fest in January, together with shorts and filmmaker talks, all at the gorgeous Picturehouse Central. Here are five gems with tickets still available.  1. âThe Incredible Jessica Jamesâ If you havenât heard of Jessica Williams, thatâs about to change. The force-of-nature actress-comedian (and ex-âDaily Showâ reporter) owns this sweet, sharply written romcom.Saturday June 3, 9.30pm 2. âBitchâ A woman is pushed to the edge by her douchey husband in this low-budget feminist comedy-horror. Her response? She finally snaps and starts behaving like the dog he treats her as. âBitchâ is written, directed and stars the Scottish filmmaker Marianna Palka.Friday June 2, 3.30pm 3. Redford Recommends: âMan on Wireâ New this year is Redford Recommends â screenings of three films that made a splash at the festival over the years, handpicked by Sundance founder and acting legend Robert Redford. âMan on Wireâ is James Marshâs Oscar-winning doc about the 1974 wire walk between the Twin Towers by Frenchman Philippe Petit â with no safety net or harnesses.Fri
The air youâre inhaling might look clean, but it isnât. Atmospheric pollution is still a killer in London. And, believe it or not, youâre more exposed to it on a bus than on a bike. Cath Clarke finds out more. A classic complaint of newbie Londoners is sniffing out black snot at the end of the day. I stopped noticing it years ago and, until recently, assumed air pollution was one of those things that science fixed back in the â80s, like acid rain. Then my friend was rushed to A&E with pneumonia. She got better but when she left hospital, a doctor told her that if she moved out of London, the improvement in air quality would increase her life expectancy. Can that be true in 2017? Do we genuinely need to worry about the air we breathe? The short answer is yes. The facts are brutal: nearly 9,500 people in London die prematurely from conditions related to air pollution every year. Living here could shorten your life. London kids are growing up with smaller lungs. We all have an increased risk of respiratory illnesses like asthma and lung disease. One doctor told me that whenever thereâs a winter smog (more on those in a bit), exactly five days later A&E departments see a spike in strokes and heart attacks. London exceeded its annual pollution limits in the first five days of this year. Londoners are more health-obsessed than ever (or at least more obsessed with avocados and green juice), so why donât we know and care more about the filthy air weâre breathing and demand a cleaner
Itâs cinemas a-go-go in east London at the moment. In a few weeksâ time Clapton is getting a brand new cinema, The Castle, near Chatsworth Road (in an empty room above the Spar). Now we hear news of plans for an independent cinema in Bethnal Green. The idea is to reopen the old Rex on Bethnal Green Road as an affordable cinema for the community, alongside a cafĂ©/restaurant, around 150 hotel rooms and a rooftop garden. The decor will be in keeping with the Rexâs deco roots. The cinema originally opened as Smartâs Picture House in 1913. Its art deco facade was designed by legendary cinema architect George Coles in 1938, and the Rex finally closed in 1967. If youâre a Bethnal local, the organisers behind plans for the Rex have got two events coming up. Tonight, thereâs a formal public consultation for residents and council members to view plans and put questions to the architects and backers. And on Saturday, theyâre hosting a planting workshop, followed by short documentaries set in the East End.   Come and watch some short #films, eat some food, plant a seed and munch on some #propercorn this week. All to support the reopening of the old Rex #cinema on Bethnal Green Road. Drop-in and out as you wish, see you there. A photo posted by The Culpeper (@theculpeper) on Jan 18, 2017 at 2:48am PST  The Castle Cinema on Chatsworth Road is happening
No, itâs not strictly in the detox spirit of January. But if you love the taste of a good burger like Samuel L Jackson in âPulp Fictionâ, the Big Kahuna is now a reality, thanks to film-loving foodie YouTuber Andrew Rea. Everyone remembers Jacksonâs super-menacing appraisal of the Big Kahuna burger in the movie: âHamburgers, the cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast.' In fact, the Big Kahuna chain of Hawaiian-themed burger joints is fictional (though it does appear in other Tarantino films, âDeath Proofâ, âFour Roomsâ and âReservoir Dogsâ). In our food-obsessed times, Andrew Rea has gone a bit gourmet with his recipe for the burger. The original was pretty old-school, a beefy patty slapped between buns with a squirt of ketchup. Running with the Hawaiian theme, Rea adds caramelised pineapple and teriyaki sauce. Spot the difference?  YouTube/Andrew Rea   The Big Kahuna is the latest in Reaâs series, Binging with Babish, cooking up iconic dishes from the movies â including Monicaâs Thanksgiving sandwich from âFriendsâ. Now all we need is a $5 milkshake pop-up.    And here's the original:  Can't be arsed to cook? Sink your teeth into London's best burgers instead.
People sometimes ask: Who is the nicest person youâve interviewed? (Answer: Julianne Moore in New York; she invited me round to her house where her Labrador fell asleep on my foot). The nastiest? (A well-known British director who rolled his eyes at every question like I was asking: âWhatâs your favourite colour?â) And the funniest? Carrie Fisher.  It was summer 2014, and during a day off from filming âThe Force Awakensâ at the Star Wars bunker she chatted over Skype. Her French bulldog Gary sat on her lap, looking bored, tongue lolling like heâd just had a shot of anaesthetic for a sore tooth. Gary had recently won a prize for best doggie acting at a film festival, Fisher explained: âBut heâs still down to earth. He's very close to the ground.â Fame wasnât going to his head then? She shook her head. âNo, but the farting has got more intense.â  It may not always have been fun being Carrie Fisher. But by God, Carrie Fisher was always funny. In an age of celebrity blandness nothing was off the record for her. Not her bipolar disorder (âI just have too much personality for one personâ). Or Star Wars. (âGeorge Lucas ruined my life. And I mean that in the nicest possible wayâ). Her memoir âWishful Drinkingâ is wall-to-wall hilarious and uncensored anecdotes.   Carrie Fisher    First question. Why did you sign up to play Princess Leia again after all these years? âI liked the hair!â she answered, untruthfully as it turned out, since Leia ditched the Danish pastry buns for
I was in the library in Manchester writing my dissertation when I got a phone call from my mum saying that our landlord had decided to sell off our house in Epping, out towards the Essex end of the Central line. It had been our family home for 13 years. We tried to find somewhere else, but there was nothing we could afford because of the dramatic rise in rents in the area. So I came back from uni, and in between my finals and graduation we put all our stuff into boxes and moved into a hostel â me, my mum and my 13-year-old sister. Before it happened to me, I had preconceptions about who becomes homeless. Maybe I was a bit naive, but I didnât think you could go so quickly from such security to having nowhere to live. It was a big shock. The first hostel we moved into was a converted army barracks. It smelt stale and had really harsh unnatural light. It didnât feel homey at all. We were lucky enough to get two rooms, so we put all the contents of our house in one room and lived in the other one â all three of us sleeping in one room. We shared a bathroom and a kitchen with another family. There was no internet, so applying for jobs was difficult. All the normality of going to bed, having a bath â it all goes. We were living on top of each other. My mum loves cooking and a kitchen table is important to her â thatâs where we share our day. But in the hostel, her self-esteem was so low that she didnât cook any more. She was tired and stressed so sometimes we ended up just eating
Since the weekend, autumn fog has shrouded London in a gorgeous photogenic mist. Which, as it turns out, is terrible news for our lungs. Pollution monitors dotted around the city are pinging with harmful levels of air pollution. The high pollution is being caused by a double whammy of foggy weather (still winds allowing pollutants to build up under the mist) plus fireworks celebrating Diwali and Bonfire Night. One monitor in Harlington near Heathrow recorded it highest possible level, 10/10, on October 31. We spoke to Andrea Lee, a healthy air campaigner with ClientEarth, a charity of international environmental lawyers, who told us that high air pollution is a regular visitor to London in November: âAround this time of year, you can get pollution spikes because of bonfires. But this year the fog is exacerbating the problem and the calm weather is also allowing the usual source of pollution, road transport, to build up.â ClientEarth is currently suing the UK Government over air pollution levels. charlatan33    Pollution is a massive problem in London, causing nearly 9,500 premature deaths every year â thatâs 100 double-decker buses full of people dying early. But unlike the pea-soupers of the 1950s, we canât see the tiny particles that are killing us and are mostly caused by diesel engines. Sadiq Khan announced plans in August for air quality alerts at bus stop and tube stations. You can also keep track of air pollution levels with an app. Try City Air or Plume. Help cr
Forget about pervy old men in dirty macs. This sex cinema, billed as âLondonâs last peepshowâ, is the brainchild of supercool erotic magazine Baron & Baroness. Itâs called the Paradiso Cinema, has 30 seats and is open for three days only, this weekend at the Ditto gallery in Islington. Keeping our minds in the gutter and on art, Baron & Baroness has curated a highbrow series of shorts about sex and sexuality by artists and photographers. Films include âThe Last Peep Show in Sohoâ by Edith Bergfors, a lesbian romcom by Eori Wakakuwa and âAngelsâ by Sarah Baker, inspired by Jackie Collins novels. Talking to the Evening Standard, founder of Baron & Baroness Matthew Holroyd explained his thinking: âWeâre playing on the idea of a sex cinema⊠When we visualise sex and the moving image it is pornography that most people will think of, but sex can have a higher value than that.â Tickets cost ÂŁ10 and include a drink. The cinema will have its own sex shop and thereâs a kind of disturbing addition to the snack list: popcorn, beverages and handwipes. More entertainment news: â The 'Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life' trailer is finally here â and it's an absolute nostalgia-festâ 'The Great British Bake Off' star Selasi on Cronuts, London life and staying chilled on the tubeâ Benedict Cumberbatch isn't that happy about his face being on 'Doctor Strange' lunchboxes
We already knew that Sadiq Khan can tell a joke. He told us a rude one about the health secretary Jeremy Hunt when we interviewed him in September to launch Time Outâs Love London awards. Now comes news that the Mayor is making his first appearance in a sitcom, with a cameo in the new series of âCitizen Khanâ, the BBCâs cosily old-fashioned comedy about loud-mouthed, tight-fisted Birmingham community leader Mr Khan. Watch Sadiq Khan's rude joke about Jeremy Hunt  Personally, weâd have killed to see Sadiq in season two of âFleabagâ. (He could have played one of the customers Fleabag rips off £25 for a cheese sandwich). But weâll settle for the cameo in the season opener of âCitizen Khanâ, in which Mr Khan ends up sleeping in his car after forgetting his wedding anniversary. Sadiq tells Time Out: 'I don't want Fabric closing down. It's a great night out.'
Fans have launched an online petition to persuade Quentin Tarantino to sign-up to Marvelâs âDeadpool 2â, after the filmâs director Tim Miller consciously uncoupled with the project last week â reportedly over creative differences with Ryan Reynolds, who stars as the foul-mouthed anti-superhero.   So far the Change.org petition has over 3,000 signatures. It was started by Carl Champion Jr, who writes: âIf there was ever a chance to see Tarantino do a project almost guaranteed to make a billion dollars, this is it. We got a great taste of what this could be like in âKill Billâ, but imagine having a guy like Tarantino write dialogue for The Merc with the Mouth! It would be so glorious. Join me!â Tarantino might be a perfect fit for super-violent âDeadpoolâ â the black sheep of the Marvel-verse. But can you really imagine the motor-mouthed, massively ego-ed filmmaker directing a sequel? Nah. Us neither. Besides, Tarantino's heart belongs elsewhere in Marvel. Here he is talking to the Nerdist Podcast last year. âOne of the outside projects that I considered doing was a Luke Cage movie. Luke Cage was my hero when I was a kid collecting comic books. He was my favourite character.â âDeadpoolâ smashed box office records this year, becoming the highest earning X-rated movie of all time and making made $786 million worldwide. The sequel is expected in cinema in January 2018.  More entertainment news: â Selasi from 'The Great British Bake Off' is going to open a bakery in west Lond
Click your heels three times, or donate a few quid â time is running out to save Dorothyâs ruby red shoes. A museum in Washington has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $300,000 to rescue the fast deteriorating âWizard of Ozâ slippers using the hashtag #KeepThemRuby. The slippers, which took Judy Garlandâs Dorothy back to Kansas in the 1939 film, are 77 years old and they're showing their age â faded to a sad, dull red. After two days, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's campaign has already raised nearly $115,000, which suggests the future is already looking brighter. The money raised will also pay for a state-of-the-art case to preserve the slippers in a displayable condition for generations to come. You can help conserve Dorothy's Ruby Slippers. Why we need your help to display them for 20+ years: https://t.co/oYHBSCZqr7 #KeepThemRuby pic.twitter.com/9nBmfG3cgu â amhistorymuseum (@amhistorymuseum) October 18, 2016 The ruby shoes (which were silver in the 1900 novel by L Frank Baum) are actually one of four pairs worn in the film. They were discovered in 1970 at MGM's studios. One pair was stolen from The Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota in 2005 and has never been found. In 2012, Leonardo DiCaprio led a campaign to buy another for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Each pair is reported to be worth $3 million. More entertainment news: â Netflix's 'Watership Down' is 100% going to traumatise a new generation of childrenâ Choose⊠caref
It's one of the greatest soundtracks ever â a pure blast of â90s Britpop from the likes of Blur, Elastica and Pulp, alongside classics by Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. The one band weirdly missing from 'Trainspotting' is Oasis. Now we know why. The film's costume designer Rachel Fleming recently met Noel Gallagher, who admitted that he got completely the wrong end of the stick when Oasis were approached for the 1996 film. Here's Fleming, explaining: âHe said to me: âI would have done something, but honestly I thought it was about trainspotters. I didn't know.ââ    Fleming was talking at a twentieth anniversary screening of âTrainspottingâ alongside the filmâs producer Andrew Macdonald, who remembered how keen the film's director Danny Boyle was to get Oasis involved at the time. But, according to The Telegraph who reported the story, Macdonald mostly kept shtum about the upcoming 'Trainspotting' sequel: âIt's 20 years later and they have all moved on,' Macdonald shared. 'They are at different places in their lives and some of them may even have children.â We do know that all four lead actors will be back, Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle, with Boyle directing again. The plot is inspired by âPornoâ, Irvine Welshâs âTrainspottingâ sequel, and the film is out on January 27 2017. Watch the âTrainspotting 2â trailer Â