The Lost King, 2022. Directed by Stephen Frears. Starring Sally Hawkins, Steve Coogan, Harry Lloyd, Mark Addy, James Fleet, Lee Ingleby, Amanda Abbington, Lewis Macleod, Alison Peebles, Jenny Douglas, Helen Katamba, Shonagh Price, Benjamin Scanlan, Adam Robb, Robert Jack, Sarah MacGillivray, John-Paul Hurley, James Rottger, David Ireland, Bruce Fummey, Kern Falconer, Harvey Reid, Annie Griffin, […]
When Film and TV Collide: Acclaimed Directors on the Small Screen
Chris Connor on filmmakers venturing out onto the small screen… As television has come more and more into its own in recent years, the gaps between what we might have seen exclusively on the big screen and less so on TV has become less apparent. Certainly big budget TV series feel more cinematic and can […]
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bohemian Rhapsody would have been much more “outrageous”
Some eight years after it was first announced, the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody finally made it to the big screen this past weekend, with Mr. Robot star Rami Malek taking on the role of the iconic Queen frontman, and earning rave reviews for his performance. Long before Malek’s casting, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen spent […]
Blu-ray Review – The Grifters (1990)
The Grifters, 1990. Directed by Stephen Frears. Starring John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, Henry Jones, Sandy Baron, Michael Laskin, Pat Hingle, and Xander Berkeley. SYNOPSIS: A small-time con man is caught between his professional criminal mother and conniving girlfriend. Released as the first in 101 Films’ new Black Label range, highlighting cult movies from different […]
First trailer for The BBC’s A Very British Scandal starring Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw
The BBC has released a trailer for its three-part drama A Very English Scandal. Based on John Preston’s book of the same name, the series is directed by Stephen Frears and stars Hugh Grant as politician Jeremy Thorpe alongside Ben Whishaw, Monica Dolan, Alex Jennings, and Jonathan Hyde; watch it here… It is 1960s England, homosexuality […]
Second Opinion – Victoria and Abdul (2017)
Victoria and Abdul, 2017. Directed by Stephen Frears. Starring Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Eddie Izzard, Adeel Akhtar, Tim Piggott-Smith, Michael Gambon, and Olivia Williams. SYNOPSIS: Queen Victoria strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk named Abdul Karim. There’s a lewd, cheeky streak to Stephen Frears’ Victoria and Abdul, a prestige picture trying […]
Movie Review – Victoria and Abdul (2017)
Victoria And Abdul, 2017. Directed by Stephen Frears Starring Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Eddie Izzard, Tim Piggott-Smith, Michael Gambon, and Olivia Williams. SYNOPSIS: Queen Victoria is in her declining years when she forms a close friendship with Abdul Karim, a clerk from Agra in India. As well as being her confidante, he becomes her advisor, […]
Judi Dench to play Queen Victoria in Stephen Frears’ Victoria and Abdul
She was Oscar nominated for her portrayal in Mrs. Brown, and now Dame Judi Dench is set to reprise the role of Queen Victoria in Working Title Films’ Victoria and Abdul, which is being directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen). Based on Shrabani Basu’s book Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant […]
Movie Review – Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
Florence Foster Jenkins, 2016. Directed by Stephen Frears. Starring Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg and Rebecca Ferguson. SYNOPSIS: The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice. Are we to laugh with, or laugh at Florence Foster Jenkins, a question […]
Movie Review – The Program (2015)
The Program, 2015. Directed by Stephen Frears. Starring Ben Foster, Chris O’Dowd, Guillaume Canet, Jesse Plemons, Lee Pace, Denis Menochet and Dustin Hoffman. SYNOPSIS: An Irish sports journalist becomes convinced that Lance Armstrong’s performances during the Tour de France victories are fueled by banned substances. With this conviction, he starts hunting for evidence that will […]