Results tagged “spiral notebook”
SCREEN
A Dangerous Method
(15) 100mins
★★★✩✩
IN A NUTSHELL
An impeccable ensemble talk to each other in pretty rooms about sex and Keira gets spanked in David Cronenberg's drama of ideas.
SCREEN
The Woman In Black
(12A) 105mins
★★★✩✩
IN A NUTSHELL
As creaky, traditional and scary as a ghost train, The Woman In Black is watched impassively by its star, Daniel Radcliffe.
SCREEN
Man On A Ledge
(15) 102mins
3/5
IN A NUTSHELL
This distraction heist thriller is corny and ridiculous but high up there in the entertainment stakes.
SCREEN
Martha Marcy May Marlene
(15) 102mins
3/5
IN A NUTSHELL
Plenty to fill the "ones to watch" column in a disturbing study of life after a cult brainwashing.
By Giles Broadbent
Taciturn executive mayor Lutfur Rahman's unfortunate timing continues. Each time he was asked a question at last week's Tower Hamlets Borough Council meeting he had his mouth full of the jellied fruits he received from his aunt over Christmas (for that, surely, is the only reason for his studied reluctance to speak).
SCREEN
The Grey
(15) 117mins
4/5
IN A NUTSHELL
Bear Grylls meets Moby Dick in the snow of Alaska. What's not to like?
SCREEN
The Descendants
(15) 115mins
3/5
IN A NUTSHELL
George Clooney goes drab in Alexander Payne's bitter-sweet family drama marked out by some beautiful performances.
By Giles Broadbent
Harry Hill used to tell a joke the amusing nature of which I will utterly fail to convey.
However, this shaggy dog story - that possessed a nugget of profound truth at its heart - involved two scoops of mash.
As a child little Hal was restricted by his mother to two scoops of mash, something which riled a big-collared kid with grand ambitions.
Stephen Hawking: His Life And Work
by Kitty Ferguson
Bantam Press
4/5
When Stephen Hawking became Luciasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge he was conveniently associated with his predecessor in the post - the irascible and unlikable genius Isaac Newton.
By Giles Broadbent
David Cameron calls for more commercial movie-making. And as if by magic, following this grand utterance, a giant light bulb illuminates above the head of the directors of Hedgehogs At Dawn and Munchbubble The Shoemaker and they down tools and make The Young Wizard and The Young Wizard II: Dance-Off At T'Pithead instead.
SCREEN
Haywire
(15) 93mins
3/5
IN A NUTSHELL
Slick and stylish, this very European action flick is pure entertainment and introduces us to a new martial arts hero.
By Giles Broadbent
The most famous of Arthur C Clarke's Three Laws of Prediction is the last one: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Most often the law makes for good entertainment. A knight is handed a Wii controller to thwart an armoured Mii or a Chaucerian peasant prods perplexed at a plasma screen to reach a frothing brew.
SCREEN
War Horse
(12A) 146mins
4/5
IN A NUTSHELL
Steven Spielberg's sentimental re-telling of a children's story is flawed but full of sweeping and memorable scenes.
By Giles Broadbent
Difficult, without the summary removal of the human heart, to be unmoved by the Military Wives Choir and their Christmas No.1 Wherever You Are.
A flutter not caused by the unkempt melody or the sub-par caterwauling, but because of the sincerity which, in a season when we were softened by mince pies and nostalgia, landed with a homely thud, like a charging child into a voluminous parental jumper.
REVIEW
Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol
(12A) 133mins
4/5
IN A NUTSHELL
Palms will sweat watching this slick on-the-button thriller as Tom Cruise zips around the world in search of the next impossible challenge to overcome.
By Giles Broadbent
There are the precious few who still write at Christmas, pen and ink and entreaties for news.
How to respond? It's always a dilemma. A quick gobbet of an update circling the pre-printed sentiments in the card is the best bet, with its implication of a crowded life and an agenda so packed that reams of Basildon Bond would never quite do the job.
STAGE
Haunted Child
Royal Court
3/5
IN A NUTSHELL
The return of a father, full of strange spiritual zeal, destabilises mother and son in Joe Penhall's exploration of family and philosophy.
SCREEN
Another Earth
(12A) 92mins
4/5
IN A NUTSHELL
An indie vibe and two strong central performances mark out this Sundance winner as an interesting twist on genre conventions.
By Giles Broadbent
The younger generation, we are reliably informed, don't expect to pay for things any more.
Their news, music, films and stuff arrive via the magic of the internet without rubbing grubby shoulders with lucre.
FILM
Hugo
(U) 122mins
3/5
IN A NUTSHELL
Martin Scorsese's dabble into 3D and family films is a (flawed) love letter to the movies.
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