Hilarious plot twists

The Roses – would The hilarious Roses smell as sweet by any other name? – At a cinema near you now! 1 hr and 45 mins Couples and relationships especially marriages, can lead a merry path of love, trials and tribulations, jealousy, loathing, laughter, difficult times and ultimately may end up with a counselling service! What better way to start a story than on the couch then where the audience soon discovers why Theo and Ivy are there. The saga moves quickly on from the opening scene to “get down to brass tacks”. This is a tongue in cheek comedy … Continue reading Hilarious plot twists

Trapped inside an impermeable windowless concrete room

In the 33rd Raindance Film Festival, The Lonely Musketeer won the Best U.K. cinematography, Bruce Jackson, shot in monochrome in one claustrophobic main location, a low-budget film, is a taut, stripped-back mystery thriller. The film also won the Best Performance in a UK Feature, Edward Hogg, for his role in unique closed room Thriller, The Lonely Musketeer. There is only one actor on screen for the most part of Nicolai Schumann’smesmerising debut feature, The Lonely Musketeer. It is an entirelyfictitious story which I would term essentially as “Film Noir”. Themusical score accompanying the drama is original. It is a dark, unpleasant,though gripping … Continue reading Trapped inside an impermeable windowless concrete room

Raindance festival London: The Palestine Comedy Club

THE PALESTINE COMEDY CLUB – RAINDANCE 33 RD LONDON FILMFESTIVAL VUE CINEMA LOWER REGENT STREET 18-27 JUNE 2025 Charlotte Knowles is the Producer of this meaningful film and her sisterLibby edited it. Charlotte has worked in Hebron, Palestine and she hasmade seven films in all. One of the comedy club – Aliabdallah who is alsothe Director, has an account called regashots – he could not come toRaindance due to visa restrictions. There is much coverage of theproblems encountered by the club in travelling around and checkpointswhich they must pass through to continue their shows. Referred to as“unbelievable logistical feats” the … Continue reading Raindance festival London: The Palestine Comedy Club

Raindance Festival 2025: The Last Grail Hunter

Dystopian and dark, the story of this saga cemented to Lee in a dream. He talked to John Altman ( remember Eastenders fame Nick) and the film took a mere four days to film on an iPhone and a drone using the film app Black Magic. Lee is in a band called The Pocket Gods and atmospheric angry music accompanies the story of this “esoteric road trip which is a bit fucked up” adding gravitas from the band. Guerrilla-style filming and work was intrinsic. The book Holy Blood And Holy Grail which apparently inspired some of the writings in The … Continue reading Raindance Festival 2025: The Last Grail Hunter

Turtle Walker: Discovery of Turtles nesting and habitats

Raindance 33 Film Festival- The Vue, Lower Regent Street, London. UK Taira Malaney’s Turtle Walker, a 2024 heartwarming documentary film produced over seven years, presenting a  lovely portrait life of a curious conservationist, Satish Bhaskar, who lived alongside rare sea turtles for 19 years to unravel the mysteries that surround them in the late 1970s. The life of Satish Bhaskar born in Vypeen, Kochi, Kerala, southern India, is addressed following his conservationist investigation, when he ventured to the spectacular Andaman and Nicobar Islands and other surrounding islands for turtle surveys which actually saved these sea turtles from extinction, as most turtle’s … Continue reading Turtle Walker: Discovery of Turtles nesting and habitats

A penguin rescued from oil pollution

THE PENGUIN LESSONS cert 12 in UK cinemas now Adapted from a novel by Jeff Pope about Tom Michell’s post as a teacher in anupmarket boarding school in Argentina, in 1976, Steve Coogan plays the part ofthe teacher and adopter of a penguin to enchanting effect.Director of this film – Peter Cattaneo is already acclaimed for several verypopular movies including The Full Monty and Military Wives.Acclaimed actor Jonathan Pryce plays the Headmaster of the school where abomb goes off just as the new teacher is arriving. Argentina is an unstableplace to live in the times documented with politically motivated wars … Continue reading A penguin rescued from oil pollution

Emilia Pérez takes 13 Oscar Nominations

Only one of the 10 films nominated for best picture was directed by a woman- Coralie Fargeat’s controversial horror  The Substance, and Fargeat was also the only female screenwriter with solo credit across the 10 scripts in contention. Brady Corbet’s three-and-half hour epic, The Brutalist, about a Hungarian Holocaust survivor of second world war played by Adrien Brody coming to post war America to be an architect, took 10 nominations, as did Wicked, the hit adaptation of the Broadway show. James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, came away with eight nominations, as did Edward Berger’s papal thriller Conclave, starring … Continue reading Emilia Pérez takes 13 Oscar Nominations

Revelatory biography of a surprising and complex man

Dive into the pages and Celebrate one of the REAL stars of the USA! There are 24 chapters in four parts in this very readable book.  The book contains many black and white illustrations and photographs showing Redford as a star with other actors, pictures of his family, his youth  and some of his personally executed artworks. Redford originally studied Art at higher education level and then travelled Europe where he lived on a shoestring taking in the galleries and the beauty of the landscape and architecture.  When he returned to the USA he worked as a set designer and decorator  for films.  While he … Continue reading Revelatory biography of a surprising and complex man

Conclave

CONCLAVE – ADAPTATION OF A ROBERT HARRIS NOVEL (2016) BASED SOLELY IN THE VATICAN, ROME. Award winning actor Ralph Fiennes takes on the lead in this interesting saga about voting in a new Pope in Rome’s Vatican where there is a conclave of eminent Catholic clergy from around the world. Playing Cardinal Lawrence, he is one of the people who could be voted in to be the next Pope. He plays an Englishman which is a different nationality to the one itemised in the original book.In a fictional story, 72 hours are featured in this film directed by Academy Award … Continue reading Conclave

Pylon

A young boy and his sister wander through a field on a hazy summer’s day wherethey are confronted by a gang of older boys who force the child up an electricitypylon — with earth-shattering ramifications. Barnaby Blackburn’s devastating short British drama PYLON is a poignant exploration of fractious family relationships, the horrors siblings subject each other to, and the indelible marks they leave. The film was made with Ken Loach’s production company Sixteen Films and has qualified for the 2025 BAFTAs.Barnaby Blackburn is an award winning writer/director. At the age of 26 he won aBAFTA for writing promos for the BBC’s Winter … Continue reading Pylon