The credentials of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others (2006)) were enough to get me to this 189 minute German epic at its first session. Fortified with a strong coffee and a stash of dark chocolate and mandarins, I felt confident that I could stay the course.
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JRR Tolkien was my first major literary crush. Watership Down was a first love and paved the way for 17 years as a vegetarian and refusal to ever eat rabbit but reading The Lord of the Rings in my teens began a long-lasting love of epic fantasy. I read and reread it many times in my teens and 20s and owned pretty much every published book by or about Tolkien until his estate began churning out unpublished, and unfinished works.
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Charming and mostly predictable, Poms is like spending a cosy afternoon with wine and a good friend.
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Rose-Lynn Harlan (Jessie Buckley) is a largely unlikable hero but we can’t help hoping she finds her way to success.
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Only the first feature of Marcelo Martinessi, this is an assured exploration of a difficult and contemporary topic.
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This is a heartwarming romcom about falling in love with Country, culture and family.
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There have been a few decent British biopics of late (I wrote this in 2019). Well-crafted, character-driven and largely sympathetic toward the subject – The Chaperone (2018) and Red Joan (2018) come to mind.
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Like tragic little rich boy Tully (Dominic Sessa), Alexander Payne traps us in a weirdly quaint version of 1970s white America with little contemporary insight.
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