Ostensibly a kid’s movie based on a prize-winning novel by Madeleine L’Engle. As a science fiction piece, many said it would be impossible to film and certainly the end result here is pretty inconsistent. What works is the acting of the lead, Storm Reid
as Meg, a sort of nerd who is struggling to overcome her father’s disappearance. Deric Mc Cabe as her younger brother Charles Wallace is less successful
and Levi Miller as the crush interest Calvin has positive and not so wow moments. The trio of Mrs who guide the children are better and Both Oprah Winfrey
and Reese Witherspoon work.
Some of the scenes are gorgeous especially when Mrs Whatsit turns herself into a giant flying rhubarb leaf. 
But there is a strange lack of continuity, scenes that in the book presumably made sense and there is also a rather trite message of learning to love oneself, rather overdone. Ava Du Vernay has clearly tried to bring the film up-to-date and made it as screen-worthy as she can
but by the end I really felt that its rambling inconsistencies meant that it pales alongside similar fare.
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But Anne Fontaine, the director, basing her work on a true story manages to produce a beautiful movie in which all the questions, doubts and dilemmas are present without any preaching or dogma. The need to find solutions, whether it be die to the war or this particular situation is constant in life. Some cope better than others. Lou de Laage plays Mathilde, the French medic who is surreptitiously taken to the convent to help one woman
and then discovers the real truth, not long before her own near rape experience. For this young actress with a touch of Marion Cotillard, this role is a great opportunity to shine and she does so. Agata Buzek as Maria
, her main contact, is excellent in her role as the nun with some practicality having lived outside the convent as an adult before entering. Agata Kulezsa as the Reverend Mother also turns in an excellent performance
, austere and much less vocal than in Ida. Vincent Macaigne as Mathilde’s workmate doctor, a world-weary Jew and part-time lover completes a very capable front line of actors. 
But it is also Caroline Champetier’s beautiful images of a snowy bleak Poland that are a constant presence.
Caught between invasions, attacks and the forthcoming Communist government, the country is a desolate place, hostile to the church in some aspects and committed to survival. Perhaps this film does not have the academic layer of thought that Ida had but it’s clash of values and the need to resolve not just spiritual but also physical issues make it a thoughtful and very well executed work. Highly recommended.
on a train from Belgium to Paris. They were given the Legion of Honour by the French President. Clint Eastwood decided to dedicate a film to them and instead of making a documentary, made a fictional version but, wait for it, starring the real heroes! Considering they are not actors it is actually not as bad as it could have been. The problem is that the only decent part of the film is the terrorist attack in the last 15 minutes
and the rest, which is a leisurely trail through their early lives,
their military training 
and their European holiday,
is bereft of any interest. It is not bad, just lacking in interest. Why Eastwood bothered is hard to say but sadly the finished product is neither good cinema nor the greatest homage to these heroes.
who is bringing up his niece Mary following the suicide of her mother. Mary, like her mother and grandmother is brilliantly gifted at Maths. Diane, her mother, made her brother promise that she would bring Mary up as normally as possible so now they live in a trailer camp in Georgia by the sea while Frank repairs boats.
Onto the scene comes the grandmother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) who wants custody of the child with the intention of making her a child prodigy
and getting her to complete the unfinished work of the deceased mother. Court cases, foster families and the like follow with an interesting debate ensuing on the responsibilities of parents of gifted kids: maximise their potential or let them live like normal kids. The film is a little simplistic in parts and the grandmother overly harsh but McKenna Grace
as the seven year-old Mary is quite charming and believable and support from neighbour (Octavia Spencer)
and teacher (Jenny Slate)
turn the film into a remarkably equable experience given the rather nasty tug of war. Seen against the backdrop of the current separation of families in the US, the movie shows just how traumatic this can be and how our reasons to do can be so dubious. A good wet afternoon film.
and the background to the raid as plotted by Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres provides an interesting look at Israeli debate.
But most of the rest of the film is boring/preachy/senseless in equal parts. The tension dissipates quickly
and I found that much of the dialogue was so forced. Some of the best bits had no part being in the film at all: the scene when the German terrorist Brigitte (Rosamund Pike)
rings her boyfriend and the whole modern dance performance 
which is spliced into the rescue. Daniel Bruhl,
Eddie Marsan and Lior Ashkenazi 
all do their bit but mostly this film seems more of a paint-by-numbers effort than a look at an exciting moment of recent history.
There are historical errors but the set design, etc seems to be one of the most authentic things about it.
She can’t keep a job and is holed up in a purple coloured motel in Kissimee, Florida, a stone’s throw away from Orlando’s theme parks but definitely the other side of the street as it were. She has a six-year-old daughter Moonee and does her best to make the weekly rent, sometimes reselling dubiously acquired perfume,
or entries to the Disney parks, or later on in the movie, selling her heavily-tattooed body. She is serious about her role as mother but lacks the maturity and the economic base to do it well and sometimes Moonee seems more astute than her mother. The film however focuses on Moonee’s life with her friends Scooty and Jancey, running to visit each other along the freeway, spitting on cars, exploring abandoned buildings, going on safaris to see cows,
dancing in the rain or getting up to all sorts of mischief.
These episodes are at once charming and seem very authentic in a way seldom seen in movies and yet they also carry the foreboding that something will go wrong because the parenting is poor and the future unsure. Her friends are also living precariously in similar circumstances: some mothers have jobs, in one case it is the solo grandma bringing up the kids. Bobby, the manager of the motel is trying to help and contain them while aware of his employer’s demands that people should not take up residency and that there should be no prostitution on the premises. The irony is ever present and yet never shouted out; over the road in Disney World, the middle classes and above pay plenty for their “once-in-a-lifetime” holiday, while right next door, the underbelly struggle to keep afloat and eat badly, smoke and take drugs to survive, excluded as they are from mainstream society. 
They are not necessarily worse off in some aspects, Moonee and her friends invent games and play act all day long and Moonee is a keen student of human behaviour, often shouting out comments to the public about life that no one cares to see. She and her mother are difficult, often disrespectful people but they also have a point. Bobby understands this and tries to protect the children and let them have a childhood but it is not easy.
The minor characters do well too, especially the kids. The camera is another star, picking up the tropical Florida light, the often lurid coloured buildings, the sun and the humidity. And director Sean Bell, intersperses the kid’s play, the heavier moments of selling, stealing and scrounging with small scenes like the arrival of a flock of cranes in the motel courtyard,
ushered away by Bobby as he would an unwelcome human guest. And there is humour too and a lot of it, like Bobby trying to cover up Gloria, an older guest who likes to sunbathe topless.
finally starts to be honest to himself and comes out as gay. Same sorts of issues, geeky friends, family in the background and the usual pressures of living up to a teenage image. Seems to be one of THE themes of US films this year. Daniel Doheny
holds the film together well as Alex and Madeleine Weinstein is especially good as Clare.
Antonio Marziale plays the love interest
and Daniel Zolghadri is an effective loud mouth friend. Craig Johnson directs this competent but not especially original film 
with a tiny bit less feelgood factor than Simon.
, a nice kid who has a big secret. He’s gay. And afraid to reveal this to family
and friends. The film is basically about him transiting this stage with all its complexities, the support of some fellows and not of others, the mistaken steps, the unrequited loves,
the uncertainties…. And yet for all it’s obviousness, it comes across as a caring film with well cast and believable characters and loads of humour. 
Sure, it avoids the real dark side with only one rather unpleasant bullying type of incident but in other ways it is an open validation of same-sex relationships in High School.
Some say it is like a John Waters movie, for me it is more Glee without music and with more laughs. Greg Berlanti does a very polished job on this which could have been very clichéd or unrealistic. 
So, don’t expect anything new but do enjoy the ride.
are killed in a nail bomb attack on his office. 
The police think it has to do with his past as a drugs dealer
but Katja correctly ascribes it to a Neo-Nazi group. We experience her sheer grief and then the trial which has some interesting scenes.
The third part, which brings the film down a lot is Katja’s revenge against the killers
and takes place in Greece. 
Fatih Akin is a very capable director but this is an uneven film. The plot has definite holes in it and the ending while understandable is not entirely convincing. What stands out is a riveting performance by Diane Kruger as Katya.
Despite a lack of content at times as to her motives, her portrayal of a grieving mother is a masterclass in acting. See the film for that.
The plot is triggered by a fight between a council worker trying to fix a drainpipe and a recalcitrant house owner. 
They insult each other, the conflict escalates and they end up in court with a case that polarises the nation.
the angry Christian flat owner with his own skeletons, Rita Hayek is great as his long-suffering wife. Kamel El Basho
has a less shiny role as his Palestinian adversary but performs well. Another great performance is from Camille Salameh as Wajdi, the prosecution lawyer,
a real star turn in the courtroom with his opponent represented by Diamand Bou Abboud playing his daughter. 
Good photography but rather intrusive music.
passionfilm 