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Writer: Frank Cottrell Boyce Director: Carl Hunter Reviewer: Maryam Philpott Screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce really likes to write about fathers and sons; last year his movie Goodbye Christopher Robin examined the relationship between the shell-shocked A.A. Milne and his son, woven into the magical landscape that inspired Winnie-the-Pooh. More modestly this year Cottrell Boyce’s new film Sometimes, Always, Never, premiered at ...

Writers: Matt Bai, Jason Carson and Jason Reitman Director: Jason Reitman Reviewer: Maryam Philpott Personal indiscretions have the power to end political careers but that hasn’t always been the case. In the UK it was the Profumo affair of 1961 that permanently altered the relationship between the press and Parliament, while in America after Watergate in the 1970s corruption and ...

Writer and Director: David Lowery Reviewer: Maryam Philpott The gentleman thief is one of cinema’s oldest tropes, men charming their way through a series of audacious crimes while seemingly protected by their unsuspecting demeanour. Often, these go hand-in-hand with a love story, pulling the hero back towards the straight-and-narrow, think Peter O’Toole forced to turn suave cat burglar in How ...

Writer: Che Walker Director: Tinge Krishnan Reviewer: Maryam Philpott There are plenty of big films and big stars at the London Film Festival but often it’s the low-budget homegrown movies that are the most satisfying. Once in a while one of them really sticks, capturing the essence of London life the way we all really live it; in 2014 it ...

Writer and Director: Ben Wheatley Reviewer: Maryam Philpott The country house drama is a British staple, the often-unexpected gathering of people resulting in secrets being unearthed and sometimes even murder most foul. Over the years writers and directors have given it a different twist including Robert Altman’s precursor to Downton Abbey, Gosford Park, a piercing examination of class and social ...

Writer: Gillian Flynn Director: Steve McQueen Reviewer: Maryam Philpott There are still only a handful of directors who can open a movie with their name alone, and with only three previous films, Steve McQueen is one of them, a rare film-maker whose every release is a major event. McQueen has a long relationship with the London Film Festival premiering Hunger in ...

Writer: Bernard Pomerance Director: Ron Canada Reviewer: Adrienne Sowers One doesn't expect to write a negative review about a posthumous world premiere written by a Tony Award-winning playwright, but it’s 2018 and if we’ve learned anything, it’s that that which seems outside the realm of possibility is more plausible than previously imagined. Bernard Pomerance’s Spin Off shows promise in its ...

Following sold-out seasons in Manchester and London, the award-winning and critically acclaimed 50th-anniversary production of Hair produced by Hope Mill Theatre and Aria Entertainment is to tour next year from March. A newly imagined production, produced by Hope Mill Theatre, Aria Entertainment and Senbla directed by Jonathan O’Boyle will open at The New Wimbledon Theatre on 22 March 2019. Hair will then tour to Cheltenham, Manchester, ...