Official Secrets movie review: blow all the whistles
Not a spy thriller but a story of emotional and intellectual suspense wrangling with matters of patriotism and of conscience, and of just how far journalism’s watchdog role can and should take it.
Ralph Fiennes
I’m on BBC World Service’s “The Arts Hour” again this Sunday Saturday, March 30th
Unlike previous episodes of “The Arts Hour,” I’m the only in-studio guest. So you might hear a bit more from me this time.
The White Crow movie review: nothing to crow about
Elegant but dull, and so subtle it’s downright diffuse. If you don’t know much about Rudolf Nureyev going in, you won’t know much coming out, either. Weirdly, it doesn’t even feature much dancing.
movies for the resistance: Schindler’s List
The devastating cultural experience Spielberg’s masterpiece presented to us 25 years ago felt then like a piece of history. Today, from the bowels of 2018, it feels like a warning, a premonition, a harbinger.
Kubo and the Two Strings movie review: quest for family
Magic, music, and monsters come together to create a marvelous fairy tale that’s scary, sweet, and full of tough emotions that kids’ movies often avoid.
Spectre movie review: Bond goes backward
After a truly spectacular and fresh opening sequence, everyone might as well be enacting a Bond puppet show, which is sometimes unpleasantly retro-icky.
The Grand Budapest Hotel movie review: best exotic nonsense
A grownup storybook of a movie spun out of candy-colored nonsense that challenges you to embrace its falseness and deny its romance.
The Invisible Woman review: sometimes it’s hard to be a woman
The story of Charles Dickens and his secret mistress is no romance, and no modest costume drama, either.
2014 preview: only movies left underived
Here are the few films coming in 2014 that are not sequels, remakes, reboots, or based on a stage show, the Bible, young-adult novels, comic books, cartoons, or — someone make it stop — toy lines.
The Invisible Woman trailer: Ralph Fiennes *is* Charles Dickens!
If I’d seen this trailer before I saw the film (at this year’s London Film Festival), I’m not sure I’d be all that impressed with it.
