Hollywood
‘Do black movies really not sell?’: Don Cheadle on Miles Ahead
Don Cheadle talks to Jasper Rees about the long, hard road to bringing Miles Davis’s life to the big screen
A film that dares to suggest that paedophile priests may be capable of holiness
Damian Thompson admires a Chilean film about paedophile priests which, unlike Spotlight, dares to explore social and psychological complexities
Are the Coen Brothers taking us for a ride? Hail, Caesar! reviewed
The latest film from the Coen brothers is a comedy set during the ‘golden age’ of Hollywood and in some…
Was Klaus Mann all Thomas Mann's fault?
Thomas Mann, despite strong homosexual emotions, had six children. The two eldest, Erika and Klaus, born in 1905 and 1906…
Moguls and other Hollywood monsters
This collection of Hollywood tittle-tattle is moderately interesting, unpleasantly salacious and largely unsourced, says Philip Hensher
Miserable libretto, music to match: Andrea Chénier reviewed
Opera North continues to be the most reliable, inspiring, resourceful and enterprising opera company in the United Kingdom, and all…
The Oscars surrender to the golden age of protest
Are we living in a golden age of protest? A bunch of aggrieved citizens only has to raise a murmur…
I hate to admit it, but Spike Lee is right about the Oscars and racism
In 2017 it will be exactly 50 years since a dapper Sidney Poitier announced to Rod Steiger, in the excellent…
Homage to awesome Welles on his centenary
One day in May 1948 in the Frascati hills southeast of Rome, Orson Welles took his new secretary, Rita Ribolla,…
Darth Vader is dirty and it’s not just me that thinks so
Star Wars taught Hollywood how to make children’s films for adults, says Tanya Gold
Tricycle’s Ben Hur is magnificent in its superficiality - a masterpiece of nothing
It’s the target that makes the satire as well as the satirist. Is the subject powerful, active, relevant and menacing?…
How Technicolor conquered cinema
Peter Hoskin celebrates Technicolor’s 100th birthday
N.M. Gwynne’s diary: Old names worth dropping
As I get older (and my 74th birthday is now close), I get deeper and deeper into nostalgia. I do…
Don’t believe Orson Welles, says his biographer Simon Callow — especially when he calls himself a failure
Orson Welles would have been 100 this month. When he died in 1985, aged 70, the wonder was that he…
Why Bette Davis loathed theatre
It was called Frankly Speaking and by golly it was. The great screen actress Bette Davis was being interviewed by…
The Heckler: down with the actor-commentariat!
I’ve never been terribly keen on actors. I prefer hairdressers and accountants. And teachers and builders and lawyers. I may…
No man ever wanted a dumb broad for a wife
As I was flipping through some television garbage trying to induce sleep, I came upon an old western starring Kirk…
How Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic, Blade Runner, foresaw the way we live today
How Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, made 33 years ago, foresaw the way we live today, by William Cook
The King Kong of the thriller: the phenomenal output of Edgar Wallace, once the world’s most popular author
At the time of his death in 1932 Edgar Wallace had published some 200 books, 25 plays, 45 collections of…
Shirley Williams: Saving my mother from the scriptwriters
Jasper Rees talks to Shirley Williams about the forthcoming screen portrayal of her mother
Birdman: plenty to see, little to feel
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, which stars Michael Keaton as a one-time superhero movie star (just like Keaton himself), is audacious…
St. Vincent: too much lovability and not enough roguishness from Bill Murray
Is Bill Murray fit for sainthood? Certainly his fans have him figure as some sort of lesser divinity, maybe one…
The battle for decency has been lost
An intelligent letter from a reader, Stanislas Yassukovich CBE, warms my heart. It’s nice to know there are others as…
The accidental wit and wisdom of Samuel Goldwyn
For some of you younger readers the name Schmuel Gelbfisz will not ring a bell. Yet back in the Thirties…
The lefty liberals may be losing their hold over the arts world
If you happen to be reading this column at breakfast, I’d recommend you skip to something more agreeable like Dear…
