This is a beautifully-made documentary that carries us close beside the mayor of the Palestinian city of Ramallah, Musa Hadid, as he goes about his day, dealing with everything from fountains to Israeli aggression.
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With a run-time of 14 hours, this is a documentary to own so that you can dip in and out when you have the time. I was expecting a chronological exploration of female directors but this is something much more universal. Breaking the art of film-making down into 41 chapters, each technique and approach is illustrated only by clips from films made by women.
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At first, this look at the inherent bias of algorithms in our daily lives made me uneasy and tempted to ditch all my technology. I stuck with it, though it nearly had me nodding off with its ambling pace, and was rewarded with some third act gems,
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There is nothing epic about this film; it tells a small story of a teenage girl struggling to survive abandonment but it feels real and universal.
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The definition of guilty pleasure is “something that one enjoys despite feeling that it is not generally held in high regard.” I have a trousseau of romcoms that would fit this brief and one of my favourites is this British gem starring Kelly Macdonald and David Tennant.
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As a teen, I loved Grease (1978), Star Wars (1977) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) but at age 11, I discovered cinema and my life was never the same.
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I went in expecting an over-sugared gingerbread house of a romantic comedy but forgot this was British and written by Emma Thompson and partner Greg Wise. It’s fun and witty and the Christmas theme is front and centre, as is the always delightful music of George Michael that weaves a spell throughout. Continue reading
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I resisted seeing this Best Picture Oscar nominee because it is a war film (not my favourite genre) and promos had made it seem a bit epic and action-heavy rather than introspective. Boy was I wrong. Continue reading
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Don’t forget the full stop. Emma is my least favourite of Jane Austen’s novels (other than the superlative adaptation Clueless (1995). This remake by Autumn de Wilde is nicely staged with beautiful sets, clothes and a humorous thread of caricature and it mostly surmounts the biggest challenge of the story – that the eponymous character is not very likeable. Continue reading
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My comfort food is mashed potato and gravy, which is not a bad analogy for (Full Monty (1997)) Peter Cattaneo’s choir-based feel-good movie. It’s warm and predictable with just enough flavour to keep it interesting. The beats are predictable, the ending assured, the tissues needed, but the performances of leads Sharon Horgan and Kristin Scott Thomas elevate it to something more. Continue reading
