-
Cinema’s greatest gamblers
Throughout Hollywood history, there’s been a lot of characters who love a flutter in one form or another. Whether slick professionals, hopeless addicts, or a mixture of the two, their stories can make for hard watching at times – in keeping with the visceral nature of their chosen pastime. These individuals are often highly charismatic,…
-
Film Review: On a Magical Night
★★★☆☆ Magical realism is the order of the day in Christophe Honoré’s surreal, high concept sex dramedy On a Magical Night. After her husband, Richard (Benjamin Biolay), catches her cheating, Maria’s (Chiara Mastroianni) past physically manifests in the form of her old lovers, leading both Richard and Maria to reflect on the could-have-beens, never-weres and…
-
The best actors to have appeared around a poker table
Poker scenes have been cropping up in movies and on TV since the industries began. The game is incredibly versatile, depicting everything from a fun evening with friends, the glamour of casinos, and heightened tension over games where the price of losing isn’t worth thinking about. It’s the secretive nature of the game, as well…
-
Film Review: Da 5 Bloods
★★★★★ Four surviving members of a squad calling themselves the ‘5 Bloods’ return to Vietnam to recover their fallen brother’s remains and retrieve a sizeable bounty of lost gold bullion into the bargain. Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods is not only his best recent film, but also one of the most vital of the year.…
-
Full house! The best bingo scenes in film and TV
Although bingo was initially a popular game in retirement villages and community centres, it is gradually becoming the favourite of young men and women in the online bingo game community. Because of its growing popularity among young people, many online gaming platforms have included bingo games on their list. For those passionate about playing online…
-
Film Review: The Australian Dream
★★★★☆ In the febrile context of the #BlackLivesMatter protests arrives The Australian Dream, Daniel Gordon’s study of the appalling treatment of Aboriginal AFL star Adam Goodes by racist fans. The ensuing controversy exposed the structural racism at the heart of Australian society and is a timely exemplar of the endemic racism of the Global North. On…
-
The rising popularity of Netflix during lockdown
When it was founded in 1997, Netflix first started as a DVD rental-by-mail service. But it is now one of the largest media streaming services worldwide. After realising the potential of video streaming technology in 2007, the company decided to shift to the video-on-demand subscription model. Since then, the revenue and number of subscribers is…
-
Film Review: Guest of Honour
★★★☆☆ Canadian director Atom Egoyan’s Guest of Honour is an intriguing, but misshapen and sometimes bizarre family melodrama. After her father Jim’s (David Thewlis) death, Veronica (Laysla De Oliveira) reflects on the key traumatic moments of their fraught relationship. Messy, convoluted, tiring: adjectives that describe Veronica’s near 30-year relationship with her father as well as…
-
Film Review: A Rainy Day in New York
★★★☆☆ Woody Allen returns with his 49th film, A Rainy Day in New York, as two young lovers decide to spend a couple of days in New York City – although scattered showers are expected. Stephen Sondheim once said that he couldn’t write a bad song. His boast meant that he had achieved a mastery…
-
Film Review: Only the Animals
★★★★☆ Adapted from Colin Niel’s 2017 novel Seules les bêtes, German director Dominik Moll’s Only the Animals is a grippingly-realised mystery-thriller. Centring around the apparent murder of Evelyne Ducat (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) and the five people connected by her death, Moll spins a yarn of deceit, ferocious attachment and guilt. Though it is primarily set…
VENICE 2026
