’Breakfast at Tiffany’s’

Loosely based on the 1958 novella by Truman Capote, party girl and Manhattan socialite Holly Golightly is drawn to new neighbour and wannabe writer, Paul Varjak.

Cinderella-like figure steps out of a taxi on to the deserted streets of New York at dawn, her image reflected in the plate glass of Tiffany’s nibbling a croissant from a paper bag. Givenchy clad, the aspiring Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) flirts, fizzes and charms her way into the hearts of many men, including kept-man Paul Varjak (George Peppard). But beneath that superficial party girl surface is a much deeper Holly with her own secrets.

It’s a loose and gentle adaptation of Truman Capote’s hard-hitting novella with a deliciously intoxicating Hepburn truly memorable. A mix of drama and comedy from screenwriter George Axelrod and a lightness of touch from director Blake Edwards (with the exception of the deeply offensive racist portrayal of Holly’s neighbour I.Y. Yunioshi, played by Mickey Rooney) combine to create a feature of enduring, fashionable charm. And it also introduced Henry Mancini’s Moon River to the world.

Nominated for 5 Oscars in 1962 including best actress, adapted script, art direction – won 2 for original score and original song.

Rating: 81%

Director: Blake Edwards (The Pink Panther, Victor/Victoria)

Writer: George Axelrod (The Manchurian Candidate, The Seven Year Itch) – adapted from the novella by Truman Capote

Main cast: Audrey Hepburn (Roman Holiday, The Nun’s Story), George Peppard (The Blue Max, The Carpetbaggers), Patricia Neal (Hud, The Subject Was Roses)

‘The Equalizer 3’

Violent and bloody, The Equalizer 3 continues to see ex-DIA special ops Robert McCall right wrongs, following the money trail of one of his Boston taxi passengers being defrauded of his life savings.

A vineyard in Sicily is littered with dead bodies, millions of Euros and vast quantities of Fenethylline, McCall (Denzel Washington) leaving his calling card from the off. But shot in the process, he escapes to the Italian mainland where he’s helped, no questions asked, by local doctor Enzo Arisio (Remo Girone) in the coastal village of Altamonte. Slowly recuperating, McCall puts an anonymous call into CIA agent Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning), tipping her off about Sicily. But the idyll of the Amalfi coast is soon tested as the Naples-based Vincent Quaranta (Andrea Scarduzio), head of the local Camorra, looks to commercial development along the coast, forcing locals out of town. But McCall is not the man to sit idly by as gangs of henchmen terrorise the town.

Moral justice is dished out by the bucketload as McCall looks to support the town he’s been made to feel so welcome. As with previous storylines, it’s bloody and it’s violent – but, the final film in the trilogy, it’s also full of style, energy and, in the relationships within the town, a warm humanity.

Rating: 68%

Director: Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer, Emancipation)

Writer: Richard Wenk (The Equalizer, The Mechanic)

Main cast: Denzel Washington (The Equalizer, Fences), Dakota Fanning (Ocean’s Eight, American Pastoral), Gaia Scodellaro (State of Consciousness, Promises)

The Equalizer

The Equalizer 2

‘Hitchcock’

Enjoyable if, considering the cast, underwhelming as the marriage between Alfred Hitchcock and screenwriter/editor Alma Reville is explored whilst struggling to get the financial backing for the making of Psycho.

Loved by critics but not always the box-office, Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) struggles to secure funding for his next film, the adaptation of a lurid, best selling horror novel. Not only the studio but also the censors have considerable concern. Self-financing and casting the unknown Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson) as lead adds extra strain – especially when Alma (Helen Mirren) tires of her husband’s manipulation of his actresses and decides to collaborate with Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston) on a project of her own.

It’s a good old-fashioned storytelling but, in spite of the strong presence of an empathic Helen Mirren, Sacha Gervasi’s film never quite achieves its full potential. Hitchcock took a huge gamble with Psycho, the full tension of which never fully comes across in this safe, under-developed story.

Nominated for 2013 Oscar for best make-up and hair

Rating: 60%

Director: Sacha Gervasi (Anvil, November Criminals)

Writer: John J. McLaughlin (Black Swan, Parker) – based on the book by Stephen Rebello

Main cast: Anthony Hopkins (The Father, The Two Popes), Helen Mirren (The Queen, Gosford Park), Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Marriage Story)

‘Black Swan’

A powerful central performance by Natalie Portman as the stress of being selected to dance the lead in Swan Lake sees an already unstable young ballerina pushed to breaking point.

Living at home with an ambitious mother (Barbara Hershey), Nina (Portman) is pushing for a break in the highly competitive New York Ballet. Technically perfect and an easy choice for the White Swan, artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) demands more grit and passion from Nina for the dual role of the Black Swan. Pushed to the edge, terrified of being replaced by newcomer Lily (Mila Kunis), Nina loses her grip on the world around her.

A riveting, full-on melodrama, lurid in its ambition, intense in its presentation as Nina ultimately battles with herself in director Darren Aronofsky’s powerful and obsessive psychosexual thriller.

Nominated for 5 Oscars in 2011 including best film, director, cinematography – won 1 (best actress)

Rating: 80%

Director: Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, The Whale)

Writer: Mark Heyman (The Wrestler, The Skeleton Twins), Andres Heinz, John J. McLaughlin (Hitchcock, Parker)

Main cast: Natalie Portman (Thor, Jackie), Mila Kunis (Bad Moms, Luckiest Girl Alive), Vincent Cassel (La haine, Gauguin)

‘Barbie’

Pastel-coloured Barbie World sees women in control and men decorative irrelevance. But when Stereotypical Barbie develops flat feet and cellulite, she must travel to the Human World to find out who’s responsible – and is shocked by what she sees.

An idyllic world of Barbies of different body shapes and colour in charge of their destiny. Popular Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) and a love of pink drives along the seafront, tallks to her friends, puts up with the Kens and organises all singing, all dancing choreographed parties. But flat feet and cellulite sends her via Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) to Mattel in the real world of LA – and Beach Ken (Ryan Gosling) has stowed away to accompany her. It’s not what she expects as she hightails it back to Barbie World.

Director Greta Gerwig takes on patriarchy in a quirky, Come on Barbie, Let’s go party comic fantasy world of plastic imagination. It’s difficult not to argue with the socio-political premise (the speech from America Ferrara as the owner of the doll causing the problem for Stereotypical Barbie nails it) and the film is fun. But for the most part it’s fragmented and borders on lollypop superficial. The snubbing of director Greta Gerwig and production design come awards time, however, is unexplainable.

Nominated for 8 Oscars in 2024 including best film, supporting actor, supporting actress, adapted screenplay, production design – won 1 for best song (What Was I Made For? – Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell)

Rating: 59%

Director: Greta Gerwig (Little Women, Lady Bird)

Writer: Greta Gerwig (Little Women, Lady Bird), Noah Baumbach (The Squid & the Whale, Marriage Story)

Main cast: Margot Robbie (Babylon, I Tonya), Ryan Gosling (La La Land, Drive), America Ferrara (End of Watch, TV’s Ugly Betty)

‘Marshall’

Representing NAACP, Thurgood Marshall, a young, up-and-coming Black lawyer in the 1940s, defends African-Americans across the country unjustly charged of crimes they did not commit. In Bridgeport, Connecticut a chauffeur is accused of raping the society wife of his wealthy employer.

A career defining case for Marshall (Chadwick Boseman), later to become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, Marshall sees insurance lawyer Sam Friedman (Josh Gad) as lead counsellor for Marshall’s client in court. Judge Foster (James Cromwell) reluctantly accepts Marshall into the local Bar – but then refuses to allow him to speak. Inexperienced, Friedman is way out of his depth – and, as a Jew, experiences the same level of race hatred inside and outside the courtroom as Marshall. The case is not helped by the continued lying of the accused, Joseph Spell (Sterling K. Brown), to his legal team in relation to what happened with Eleanor Strubing (Kate Hudson) on the night in question.

Compelling as a courtroom drama, directed by Reginald Hudlin, Marshall expertly plays on a sense of justice – race and gender are the victims in this narrative. Interspersing snippets of events from the night into proceedings along with Gad’s home life outside of court, Hudlin creates an engaging and empathic telling – if a little clean and lacking grit.

Nominated for best original song Oscar in 2018 (song by Common, written by Diane Warren)

Rating: 68%

Director: Reginald Hudlin (The Black Godfather, Sidney)

Writer: Michael Koskoff, Jacob Koskoff (The Marc Pease Experience, Macbeth)

Main cast: Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther, Get On Up), Josh Gad (21, Jobs), Kate Hudson (Almost Famous, Bride Wars)

‘Allied’

A straight forward, somewhat stolid tale of a London-based Canadian intelligence officer dealing with accusations that his new wife, a member of the French Resistance, is a German spy.

Shipped into Morocco, Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) makes contact with his ‘wife’ Marianne Beauséjour (Marion Cotillard) where the assassination of high ranking Nazi officials is the mission. Intimacy leads to romance and, on his return to London, Vatan awaits her clearance to join him. Marriage, suburban bliss and a child follow – until friend and commanding officer Frank Heslop (Jared Harris) informs Vatan there are suspicions Marianne is a spy. He needs to disprove the suspicions.

With its mix of war time adventure and romance, Allied as directed by Robert Zemeckis is as solid as it comes in its storytelling. But there’s limited suspense, resulting in sluggishness. The zip of the opening adventure becomes bogged down in a strange domesticity in spite of the levels Pitt goes to prove his wife’s innocence.

Nominated for best costume Oscar in 2017 (Joanna Johnston)

Rating: 48%

Director: Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, The Walk)

Writer: Steven Knight (Locke, Eastern Promises)

Main cast: Brad Pitt (Thelma & Louise, Bullet Train), Marion Cotillard (La vie en rose, Inception), Jared Harris (TV’s Chernobyl, Mad Men)

‘Torn Curtain’

A surprisingly pallid espionage thriller from late-in-his-career Hitchcock where an American physicist defects to East Germany, followed by a disbelieving assisant and fiancée.

Attending a conference in Copenhagen, the usually cool and calm Professor Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman) is somewhat nervy, much to the concern of his assistant and fiancée Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews). She’s even more concerned when, having instructed her to return to the US, Sarah discovers he is flying to Berlin. The cancellation of his research project by the US government is reason for Armstrong’s defection along with his want to work with the world-renowned Professor Gustav Lindt (Ludwig Donath) in Leipzig. But, having followed him, Sarah discovers not everything is how it appears.

Dull, overlong and lacking any sense of thrill, Torn Curtain is an uninspiring feature yet, because of its leads, was one of Hitchcock’s few major box-office successes.

Rating: 40%

Director: Alfred Hitchcock (Lifeboat, Rebecca)

Writer: Brian Moore (Black Robe, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne)

Main cast: Paul Newman (Hud, Road to Perdition), Julie Andrews (Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Sound of Music), Lila Kedrova (Zorba the Greek, The Kremlin Letter)

‘C’mon, C’mon’

A deeply felt, heartwarming feature as, disconnected from his sister in LA since the death of their mother, a New York radio journalist makes the commitment to look after his nephew.

Emotionally distant, Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) struggles to connect, losing himself in his work interviewing a variety of kids about their thoughts concerning their world and their future. But when sister Viv (Gaby Hoffman) needs to spend time with bipolar husband (Scoot McNair) in San Francisco, Johnny volunteers to look after the precocious Jesse (Woody Norman).

Travelling between LA, New York and New Orleans, C’mon, C’mon is a poetic narrative of the process of parenting, the mistakes made, the unconditional love provided as, via phone, Viv talks Johnny through his responsibilities. The chemistry between Phoenix and Norman is beautiful to behold. Add the voiced opinions of the kids interviewed woven into the unfolding tale and we are left with a delicious, intelligent, visceral tale of the world as seen from a child’s perspective and the expectations they have and need.

Rating: 84%

Director: Mike Mills (Beginners, 20th Century Women)

Writer: Mike Mills (Beginners, 20th Century Women)

Main cast: Joaquin Phoenix (Joker, Her), Woody Norman (The Current War, Bruno), Gaby Hoffman (Wild, Everyone Says I Love You)

’Rebel Moon – Part 1: A Child of Fire’

On a distant moon, a peaceful agrarian settlement is threatened by the dominant violent rulers of the known universe. A woman not from their village becomes the best hope for survival.

With the ruling forces arriving on the moon under the leadership of the terrifyingly cruel Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein), he demands from the local residents some 80% of their yet-to-harvested crops. Knowing they cannot provide without starving, Kora (Sofia Boutella), a stranger living in their midst, kills the troops left behind. She convinces her adopted family that she must travel and round-up trained fighters to protect them and take on the might of the Mother World.

A visual, imaginative feast from Zack Snyder as Kora and village local, Gunnar (Michiel Huisman), travel the galaxy collecting waifs, strays and insurgents – but all brilliant warriors. Battles are fought but with the band returning ‘home’ the scene is set for the ultimate showdown in part two.

But so derivative is the narrative, so predictable, so uninvolving that who cares what happens in part two. We may have Kora’s backstory but it’s Atticus Noble who is, sadly, the most interesting aspect of Rebel Moon.

Rating: 30%

Director: Zack Snyder (Justice League, 300)

Writer: Zack Snyder (Justice League, Sucker Punch), Kurt Johnstad (Atomic Blonde, 300), Shay Hatten (John Wick 4, Army of Thieves)

Main cast: Sofia Boutella (Argylle, Kingsman: The Secret Service), Ed Skrein (Deadpool, Midway), Michiel Huisman (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Age of Adaline)