Michael Gambon

Page Eight

Bill Nighy, Rachel Weisz, Michael Gambon and the sainted David Hare, all working together? Marvellous. Page Eight rises above its dreadful trailer to provide a vivid and sensitively nuanced peek into the reality of modern intelligence-gathering.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Blimey. It’s all over. Fourteen years after the first book came out, ten years on from the first film and eight months since Deathly Hallows Part 1 rather cheekily claimed that ‘It All Ends Here’, the extraordinary cultural juggernaut that is the Harry Potter book series has finally completed its transition onto the screen. A better swansong than this film could scarcely be imagined.

Top 10 Films we Hate to Love… and Love to Hate

From time to time we are presented with films so bad that they rattle our cages till they can rattle no more. Sometimes we shamefully have to bury our heads in the sand because the powers that be force us to enjoy them. So without further ado, may we present you with the top ten films we hate to love and love to hate

The King’s Speech

In the wake of critical and commercial successes such as The Queen and The Young Victoria, director Tom Hooper has taken on one of the most obscure dramas in recent British royal history – the titanic struggle which King George VI faced whenever he was called upon to speak in public. In doing so, he has categorically made the best film of both his own and Colin Firth’s career. The King’s Speech is perfect.

Top 30 Films of the Decade

Ten years of film all neatly rolled into one awesomely epic list of greats! Feast your eyes on the Top 30 Films of the Decade.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

It All Ends Here. Almost. As the decade-spanning juggernaut that is the Harry Potter film franchise rumbles ponderously towards that massively unsatisfying last chapter, we skipped the queues for a preview of what we expected to be a film reminiscent of its predecessors – pretty, but ultimately as disappointing as pulling Neville’s broom keys out of a bowl at a wizarding swingers’ party. We were wrong. If Part 2 is this good, the last two films may just vindicate the entire series.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

We join Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and the gang in the sixth instalment of J. K Rowling’s seven part story of sorcerers and spells. Lord Voldermort has returned in full glory and both the wizarding world and the muggle world are in turmoil.

The Book Of Eli

It’s always a risk when film-makers decide to try and attach heavily religious messages to blockbusters, and it doesn’t get more heavy-handed than in The Book Of Eli. Overall, though Eli is willing to trek across the world to save a story, we’re not sure we’d do this same with this one. It’s The Road with a book instead of a kid, and frankly, that’s not enough of a reason to spend your money.

Cinema Preview: 15th – 22nd January

From Brit-grit gangsters in 44 Inch Chest to hard-hitting drama in Brothers, Best For Film looks at all the upcoming releases and lets you know what’s worth the price of admission. Also up this month we’ve got the hotly anticipated crime drama A Prophet, rom-coms from Sandra Bullock, The Book of Eli, Up in the Air and heist action in Armored.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

“Fantastic by name, fantastic by nature.” This is the tagline used on the Fantastic Mr. Fox posters currently lining every tube station for the film’s opening week. Much has been made of the remake of Roald Dahl’s much-loved children’s book, with indie director Wes Anderson, of Royal Tenenbaums fame, at the helm. If anyone could recreate Dahl’s bizarre, fantastic literary flight of fancy, he could (exhibit A, The Darjeeling Limited).