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You gotta speed it up And then you gotta slow it down The idea of a film about Eurovision seems like it’ll provoke the same reaction as the contest itself. Some will give it a miss and some will go all-in because they’ve got their reasons: people love Eurovision ironically or they love to study the whole form—not just the night itself, but the entire build-up. There’s also the semi-patriotic rooting for your home song, which is not a good idea in most of Europe and specifically not Great Britain. ’Cause if you believe that our love can hit the top You gotta play around But soon you will find that there comes a time For making your mind up And this movie is for everyone except those people who avoid Eurovision. Whatever reason you have for watching the contest, you’re going to enjoy this film. It’s the story of a contemporary Icelandic entry written by Eurovision obsessive Lars Erikssong ( Will Ferrel ) and genuine aspiring musician Sigrid Eriksdottir ( Rachel McAdams ). Lars’...

This is a tense air drama of the kind you don’t see these days. Airport 75 may be a classic of sorts but real-life hijackings and disasters happened between that date and now, and now every drama of its kind is compared to United 93 : a film that was based on the greatest tragedy of our century, and was so apparently authentic as to make anything else seem less of a movie. And it’s good, in a way. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is on top form in a serious dramatic role as a pilot who’s in control of an airliner flying from Berlin to Paris. He’s American, and doesn’t speak German: just one of the few details that we learn at the top of the movie which helps propel the human drama. Another set-up: the screen that allows the people in the cockpit to see who is at the door so they can decide whether to unlock it or not. When the pilots are being served their food, hijackers make their way into the cockpit and that’s when it becomes a taut psychological drama. This isn’t about politics: the hij...

Pioneering radiological scientist Marie Curie’s life is nicely summarised in this Amazon movie, a brisk and very traditional science-movie that’s very similar to The Current War : a period piece about a scientist who has to battle through in order to be recognised. Curie fared rather better than Nikola Tesla, but Radioactive has to deal immediately with a standard trope that’s certainly true: Marie Curie née Skłodowska ( Rosamund Pike ) has to battle against a sexist establishment and comes across as a supremely confident and fiery character whose self-belief sometimes seems to be everything.  Skłodowska is introduced to Pierre Curie ( Sam Riley —who was so fantastic in Control as Ian Curtis, and whose beard here is spectacular) who she initially rebuffs. He is genuinely interested in her science and works hard to persuade her that he’s a kindred spirit. The two work together and engage in a romance that’s beautifully summarised in a sunlit almost soft-focus that contrasts the d...

The stories of Christopher Robin in Hundred Acre Wood with Winnie-the-Pooh and the others is woven into the fabric of many childhoods, and this film tells the story of A. A. Milne and the boy, C. R. Milne, who is born not long after A. A. has come back from the First World War, severely traumatised by his experience—and determined to write something to help prevent another war from breaking out. In contrast to Milne’s ( Domhnall Gleeson ) sadness and torment, his wife Daphne ( Margot Robbie ) is flighty and very stiff-upper lipped. Only the men who’ve survived along with Milne understand how noises and lights can set off episodes of “shell shock”. However Daphne doesn’t have a good time giving birth, and the Milnes bring in a nanny, Olive ( Kelly Macdonald ), to look after the boy and keep him away from his father—who is supposed to be writing. The point where Milne is brought out of his torpor by Christopher Robin are where the film is at its most charming and beautiful. The golde...

After accepting his Academy Award for the screenplay of BlackKklansman, Spike Lee went to Thailand to begin filming this modern epic Vietnam war movie, which in any era would be a powerful and important political film. That it falls onto Netflix now—and I think it was always going to—seems like perfect timing. The film is set in the present day, with four African-American veterans Paul ( Delroy Lindo ), Otis ( Clarke Peters ), Eddie ( Norm Lewis ), and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) intending to go and recover a buried comrade, Norman, who was an important figure in their young lives. The film is partly a political history lesson from Spike Lee, with a script that wasn’t developed for him and was once in the hands of Oliver Stone. Lee begins with Muhammad Ali denouncing the war before getting into these guys: one has become a Trump guy (because there are African-American Trump guys); one of them has a daughter in Vietnam. Lee paints a rich story of veterans who’ve stayed bonded by the...

In 1992 when JFK was released, Spike Lee presented Malcolm X , and Lee and Oliver Stone, the firebrand director of JFK had a sporting rivalry over two political biopics. What those two films have in common is a spectacular visual flourish which is not often seen these days in cinemas: a visual style that can be unfussy but can also soar to remarkable visual statements which make films worth going to see. Neither director gets entirely credited for being experts at their craft because of the politics, but both have made films which set hell-raising aside. In the case of Spike Lee, Inside Man is really the only kind of heist movie that should be made. BlacKkKlansman has that sort of ‘thriller-movie’ tension, but it is—as the title card says—“based on some fo’ real fo’ real sh-t”. It’s the story of how a black Colorado Springs cop infiltrates the white supremacist terrorist organisation the Ku Klux Klan . Spike Lee doesn’t have any punches to pull throughout the entire film. The film...