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(BFI London Film Festival, Titane, Saturday 09 October 2021 21:30, Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall) "Titane" "Titane" is a.very complex puzzle, with dense matter that we clearly needed to simplify. The central character is Vincent (Vincent Lindon). and his fantasy; this idea that through a lie, you can bring love and humanity to life. The character required a range of emotions that, in our eyes, only he's capable of, at once scary and vulnerable, childlike and dark, deeply human yet monstrous, especially with that impressive hulk of a body. The film initially seem unlovable because of it's violence, but then we grow deeply attached to the characters, and ultimately we receive the film as a love story. Or rather, a story about the birth of love because here, everything is a question of election. The character reminding us of Harvey Keitel’s massiveness in Abel Ferrara’s "Bad Lieutenant". It's the idea of surrendering to the character without necessarily holding all the keys to cinema. The sequence shot following the title introduces Alexia (Agathe Rousselle) as an adult. That sequence is there to impose a certain vision of Alexia, or more accurately, who others want her to be. This vision idealizes her, forcefully iconizes and sexualizes her, makes her obey a whole series of clichés. We've to see it as a decoy; we’re exploring a surface layer that hints at the ocean we’re about to plunge into, where we’ll discover a femininity with very blurry contours. This sequence is both extremely organic and totally disconnected from reality. The Alexia presented to us here does not align with the truth of the character. She has an unknown face. As she goes through her mutations. People watching the transformation of a physically familiar character. Someone the audience project any expectations onto. Someone they watch transform as the story plays out without being conscious of the artifice. A face that make us believe anything. Alexia is practically mute. It's a femininity with blurry contours. We've to use the word malfunction to evoke the film ’s transformations. 'Derailmenttoo' too, because the story is peppered with machines and metal. How to do something graphic without losing the characters in the process? When it comes to lighting, the film works a lot within a cold/hot dichotomy. "Titane" is concerned with metal and fire, so the cold/hot relationship has to be ever-present. It's a a deep dive into contrast. The film constantly flirts with the limit, the limit being the cartoon; one step further and we fall into cartoonish. Push the shadow/light envelope as far as you can, without getting lost in an ultra-stylization that sucks the blood out of the characters and the action. The film focuses more on pictorial references than film references, the paintings of 'Caravaggio' in particular. "Titane" is inspired by Winslow Homer's 'Summer Night' and "The Empire Of Light" series by René Magritte. The light springs from the shadows in the same way emotion gushes after an initial shock. A lots of colors break with the darkness of the story and avoid an impression of inescapable sordidness. For the many nude scenes, the film uses lighting to reinvent the skin each time. The work with color makes it possible to bring new textures, meanings and emotions to the skin itself. "Titane" incorporates metal into the score. The music sounds metallic while still being melodic. As with 'RAW', it's a memorable recurring theme that's vary according to the characters’ trajectories. "Titane" goes from animal to impulsive to sacred. To help us feel that progression, the music must also fluctuate, hybridize, transform. We go from percussion to bells to electric guitar and sometimes everything combined. Then voices come in, bringing a liturgical dimension to the film. "Titane" creates a momentum towards the sacred. It's like bursts of light in the shadows. A metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion, with high tensile strength alloys, often used in medical prostheses due to it's pronounced; biocompatibility.

(BFI London Film Festival, Nitram, Tuesday 12 October 2021 18:00, BFI Southbank, NFT1) https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp "Nitram" Nitram (Caleb Landry Jones).lives with his mother (Judy Davis) and father (Anthony LaPaglia) in suburban 'Australia' in 'The Mid 1990s'. He lives a life of isolation and frustration, never being able to fit in. That's until he unexpectedly finds a close friend in a reclusive heiress, Helen (Essie Davis). However, when that relationship meets a tragic end and Nitram's loneliness and anger grow, he begins a slow descent that leads to disaster. There's a spirit and resilience unlike any other. In winter the storms from 'The Antarctic' batter the coasts and in a strange way. 'Tasmania' comes alive with energy, a.curiosity, a need to explore, to understand this place and it’s past. The forensic unpeeling of the character in the weeks leading up to the shooting is as vivid as it's elusive that it reached beyond the monster echoes and confronts us with someone who we feel we've known, walked past, ignored, would see but then forget. The portrait he invents, the family he creates, the street they live on all feel conversant and familiar. This step-bystep unpeeling of a character, their dismantling and isolation, dared us to consider how someone could evolve into a leviathan. His past has ghosts, terrible unresolved tragedies, which haunt and have settled like a constant fog over it's exquisite beauty. This reflection is complex and cautious; there are things best not talked about, a darkness to evade. We've to understand why these young men search for answers in such extreme violence. Is there a cultural void, which starves these human beings of a tribe, an absence of belonging? When there's no church, no sense of origin, no connection to land and country, what becomes their compass, what corrupts them towards this apathetic and senseless need to destroy life? "Nitram" is a narrative portrait about the troubled person behind 'Australia’s' worst mass-shooting, to shed a light on how these incidents could have come to pass and in turn, perhaps understand what we might do to prevent them. In providing an artistic exploration of the issues and events that led to the person committing the shooting, the film aims to bring to the fore a range of themes that challenge modern-day society including; isolation, family support interventions, mental health and gun control. This is a difficult film for a lot of people, none more so than the survivors, the victims families and friends. In addition, there's a school of thought that believes that in naming perpetrators of such acts, one may be offering up the precise notoriety they're seeking in undertaking their violence. It's after all simply the actual gunman’s name reversed. But it's much more than this. It's established as a term of derision in the film. It's the label given to an outsider, to someone who didn’t fit, who isn't’t quite right. It's a name he didn’t want or like; the polar opposite of the notoriety he would seek. Beyond this, Nitram talks to the point of view in this film, without ever seeking to give the actual perpetrator any satisfaction whatsoever. There are no answers but the legacy of 'Port Arthur' is our albatross around our necks, it's part of our history and it warns the future of it's perils. 2018. In Los Angeles two broadcasters start arguing about gun laws. There have been two senseless mass shootings in 'America' within the space of ten days and a former-athlete is defending his right to bear arms and hunt with his semi-automatic rifle. There are certain catastrophic events that stay with you, events where you will forever recall when and where you heard the news. For 'Australia' it's the news of the 'The Port Arthur Massacre' on Apr 28, 1996. Thirty-five people were killed and 23 wounded at the hands of a lone gunman. At the time, it was history’s worst ever mass shooting. Viewing the harrowing images on 'TV' screen on that fateful day we keep asking ourself the same question. A quarter of a century later, that very question remains; Who would do such a thing? We learn that some gun laws in 'Australia' had been relaxed since the introduction of 'The National Firearms Agreement' in 1996 and that many of it's suggestions were never even implemented. There are more weapons in 'Australia' now than in 1996. Whenever such a heinous act occurs the perpetrators are quickly labelled evil and crazy, for this makes the news easier to digest. But we believe this to be dangerous, as we as a society stand to never learn anything from the tragedy. Instead, we choose to look closer. Not in any attempt to sympathise with the killer but rather to try and better understand what leads an individual to carry out such a crime. We understand a community’s wish to forget the man’s name, but to forget the event risks it repeating itself and we would much prefer our reminder to be a scripted narrative film than another news report. While we realise it's hard for any nation to examine the ghosts of it's past, we also believe it to be necessary. It's what art does so very well. An attempt to try and bring sense to the senseless. Yes, we should have films that celebrate Australia, it's sporting triumphs, it's natural beauty, it's good-natured humour. But we should not shy away from the uncomfortable if there's some good that can come from it and we're not merely referring to our history of colonisation but our contemporary history as well. Currently we feel western society is in a war with it's self, where senseless random acts of violence are being carried out daily. Our intention is not to give exposure to the perpetrator but the issue. Art gives us the tools to confront the darkest of events. As a form of artistic expression, the film has the ability and, we believe, a responsibility to facilitate thought-provoking, productive and responsible dialogue and, in some cases, action around the issues that matter to us as a nation and world, so that we always strive to protect and preserve the things we cherish as a civil society. At it's core, "Nitram" exists for this purpose.

(London Fri 22 Oct/Sat 23 Oct/Sun 24 Oct/Mon 25 Oct/Tue 26 Oct/Wed 27 Oct/Thu 28 Oct/Picturehouse Central, 600 m·Piccadilly Circus, 13 Coventry Street, LONDON W1D 7DH, United Kingdom, 13:15 • 15:45 • 18:20 • 20:50) https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/000/HO00011075/the-french-dispatch "The French Dispatch" From the visionary mind of Wes Anderson, "The French Dispatch" brings to life a collection of stories from the final issue of an 'American' magazine published in a fictional '20th-century' 'French' city. Arthur Howitzer, Jr. (Bill Murray), the revered founder and editor of 'The French Dispatch Of The Liberty', 'Kansas Evening Sun', died of an apparent heart attack in his offices located in 'The Printer’s District, Ennui-sur-Blasé', France. On the occasion of the death of it's beloved Kansas-born editor, the staff of 'The French Dispatch', convenes to write his obituary. His hand-picked staff, including 'The Cartoonist' Hermes Jones (Jason Schwartzman), 'The Story Editor' (Griffin Dunne), 'The Legal Advisor' (Fisher Stevens), 'The Copy Editor' Alumna (Elisabeth Moss), 'The Proofreader' (Anjelica Bette Fellini) and a cheery Writer (Wallace Wolodarsky), who has haunted 'The French Dispatch' offices for years but never written a single word, assembles over the body to collaborate on an obituary. They're led by Howitzer’s beloved writers, who he coddled and encouraged, and dressed down and built up, earning him their devotion and their love: There’s Herbsaint Sazerac (Owen Wilson), the intrepid 'Cycling Reporter', drawn to the most unsettling and unsavory aspects of the far-flung cities he visits. J.K.L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton), the critic and chronicler on intimate terms with every side of the modern art world. Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand), the solitary essayist who guards her journalistic integrity as closely as her private passions and Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright), the lonely expatriate polymath with a typographic memory, discovered and rescued by Howitzer under humiliating circumstances. Four surprising, complex, immaculately crafted, richly detailed, unexpectedly funny and even more unexpectedly moving stories collected within the pages of the lovingly crafted magazine. Memories of Howitzer flow into the creation of four stories: a travelogue of the seediest sections of the city itself from'The Cycling Reporter', 'The Concrete Masterpiece', about a criminally insane painter, his guard and muse, and his ravenous dealers; 'Revisions To A Manifesto', a chronicle of love and death on the barricades at the height of student revolt; and 'The Private Dining Room Of The Police Commissioner', a suspenseful tale of drugs, kidnapping and fine dining. Sazerac’s tour through 'Ennui-sur-Blasé' itself, an aging city on a hill with it's ancient cathedral towers, it's narrow-cobbled streets winding through rows of aging stone structures, it's charms and it's degradations, with it's nightlife and it's lowlife, where all eras seem to dissolve into the timeless essence of France, flowing like the waters of the nearby 'Blasé River'. Berenson’s 'The Concrete Masterpiece', in which the work of criminally insane painter Moses Rosenthaler (Benicio del Toro) is discovered, ruthlessly promoted and sold for increasingly astronomical prices by art dealer Julian Cadazio (Adrien Brody) and his uncles Nick (Bob Balaban) and Joe (Henry Winkler), and whose breathlessly anticipated, years-in-the-making masterpiece, inspired by his prison guard and muse Simone (Léa Seydoux), is unveiled with great fanfare to an impatient art world, including renowned Kansas art collector and likely buyer Upshur Clampette (Lois Smith). Lucinda Krementz’s 'Revisions To A Manifesto', a first-hand account of the grievances and the passions, political and sexual, that drive the romantically disenchanted youth of Ennui (Antonia Desplat) to go to war with their adult masters and initiate a tumultuous general strike that leads to the shutdown of the entire country. Krementz’s charismatic hero and heroine are the star-crossed leaders of the movement, the dreamy Zeffirelli (Timothée Chalamet) and the hard-nosed Juliette (Lyna Khoudri). Roebuck-Wright’s 'The Private Dining Room Of The Police Commissioner' is an assigned portrait of the legendary chef Nescaffier (Stephen Park), who serves at the pleasure of 'Ennui-sur-Blasé’s Commissaire' (Mathieu Amalric), that unexpectedly explodes into a nail-biting, ticking-clock suspense story when a group of thugs led by 'The Chauffeur' (Edward Norton) kidnap the Commissaire’s beloved son and crime-solving protégé Gigi (Winsen Ait Hellal) and threaten to kill him unless the local crime syndicates recently arrested accountant Albert, the Albacus (Willem Dafoe) is released from jail. The official name of 'The New Yorker'-inspired magazine is, 'The French Dispatch Of The Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun', a publication inspired by the history of 'The New Yorker' and the origins of two of the people who made it what it's: Harold Ross, the magazine’s co-founder, and William Shawn, his successor, both inspirations for the Arthur Howitzer, Jr. character and both born in 'The Midwest'. Herbsaint Sazerac, who takes his readers on a tour of 'Ennui-sur-Blasé', a fictional town that seems to embody the poetic heart of France itself, is in the spirit of writers like Joseph Mitchell, whose pieces were collected in the book 'Up In The Old Hotel', and 'Luc Sante'. The character of Rosenthaler is inspired by one particular film by Renoir called "Boudu Saved From Drowning", Rosenthaler’s magnum opus, a series of abstract frescoes painted on the prison walls, were done by the artist Sandro Kopp. 'Revisions To A Manifesto” is a refracted version of one of the central events in '20th Century' 'French' history, the events of 'May ’68', when student protests led to a massive movement that shut down the entire country. The storyline is loosely inspired by student leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit’s call for sexual freedom at 'The French University' in Nanterre, but it really begins less than a block away from the apartment in Paris, near 'Montparnasse' where Mavis Gallant lived,” referring to 'The Canadian' writer who inspired the character of Lucinda Krementz. The film uses an 'Arabian Nights'-like structure of stories within stories, by way of a play based on the memoirs of a youth who becomes radicalized and deserts the army. While set in the 1960s, it’s impossible not to see similarities to other protests throughout history and especially those happening today, led largely by the nation’s youth. The film juxtaposes the perspectives of old and young through Juliette and Lucinda’s characters as they argue over Zeffirelli’s role in 'The Chess Board Revolution', while Lucinda does her best to maintain journalistic neutrality. The third and perhaps most densely packed section, 'The Private Dining Room Of The Police Commissioner', is framed within the recitation of the story by it's author Roebuck Wright on a Dick Cavett/David Susskind-style talk show hosted by Liev Schreiber. The story proper, about a brilliant police commissioner and his renowned personal chef, which takes an unexpected turn when the commissioner’s son Gigi is kidnapped, carries strong overtones of 'French' crime dramas of the '30s', '40s' and '50s'. At a crucial juncture the story shifts to animation reminiscent of 'French' comic books. French cinema begins when cinema begins, with 'The Lumière Brothers" and Georges Méliès. "The French Dispatch" is many things, a bounty of stories within stories within memories within frameworks that converges into one organic whole, a cabinet of cinematic wonders of all shapes and sizes in constant dynamic motion, a love letter to the printed word in general, to France and to 'French' movies; a moving meditation on living far from home. And it's never just one of those elements at a time, but usually all at once. It’s about the type of magazine article that you would read that would bring you somewhere, before 'Google' and live streaming. It gives you a sense of place, the smells and the taste and the character, through the words of somebody with this ability to evoke images in your mind. In "The French Dispatch", the visuals might shift suddenly from black and white to color or from widescreen to 'Academy' ratio, subtitles might arrive in any corner of the frame and the emotional register can turn on a dime from comedy to lyricism to the deepest yearning. It's always full of changing colors, and it always stops and starts at the most unpredictable moments. There's much vivid detail within the frame and there’s much attention to not only language and words but also the specificity of composition that each frame is in and of itself a story within the story. It’s a film that celebrates the written word in a way that’s a healthy thing for our country now, when we’ve lost an appreciation for language and for intelligence as expressed through language. It’s a love letter to internationalism, culture and the blessed art of independent journalism.

(Antlers • 2021 ‧ Horror/Thriller ‧ 1h 39m • London • Fri 29 Oct • Sat 30 Oct • Sun 31 Oct • Mon 1 Nov • Tue 2 Nov • Wed 3 Nov • Thu 4 Nov • Nova Cinema , Peacocks Centre, WOKING GU21 6GQ, United Kingdom • 20:45) https://www.novacinema.com/movie/antlers "Antlers" In an isolated Oregon town, Julia Meadows (Keri Russell), a middle-school teacher and her sheriff brother Paul (Jesse Plemons) become embroiled with her enigmatic student Lucas Weaver (Jeremy T. Thomas) whose dark secrets lead to terrifying encounters with a legendary ancestral creature who came before them. Based on the short story 'The Quiet Boy by Nick Antosca'. Julia Meadows returns after 15 years away to the small, economically depressed 'Northwest' town 'Cispus Falls, Oregon', in which she grew up, in large part to help repair her relationship with her brother. There's a dark family history between them, hinting at the abuse that Julia and her brother Paul both suffered as children. The character of Julia has much private, lingering pain. Maybe as a distraction from all of this, she becomes intrigued, then obsessed, with a troubled student of hers. There are a lot of small towns in America that have been affected by the opioid crisis like this one. The monster in "Antlers" is an analogy for the distraction of families, whether from drug use, alcoholism or the loss of jobs. The character of Julia sees quite a bit of herself in Lucas Weaver, who's quite a special young boy. They both have younger siblings, difficult relationships with their father and their mothers both died when they were young. She connects with this child as kindred spirits over the trying obstacles they’ve both had to overcome. The character of Lucas is dirty and scruffy because of his home life, but also because he probably gets cuts, scrapes and bruises all the time. You wouldn’t necessarily know if he got hurt riding his bike or if something else was going on. So, this plays a lot with that backstory throughout the film. He mostly keeps to himself and is bullied by a character named Clint (Cody Davis). So, the movie starts with him being hurt, mentally and physically. After Clint faces a brutal demise, the real-life parts of this movie, like bullying and his not having a mother give the character his perspective of the world. At first Aiden (Sawyer Jones), Lucas younger brother, is a normal, kind of happy kid. But later he becomes sadder and turns into a monster. We find Frank Weaver (Scott Haze), Lucas father, in a situation in which many find themselves in today’s society; people caught up in the world of drugs. Whether they’re making or selling drugs, people like Frank are just trying to survive. He’s also raising two boys on his own. 'The Wendigo' (also spelled ‘Windigo’ and ‘Wetiko’) is generally known as a mythological deer-like creature and/or evil spirit in the mythology of the 'Native American Algonquian' tribes, based in the northern forests of 'Nova Scotia', 'The East Coast Of Canada', and 'Great Lakes Region Of Canada'. 'The Wendigo' is widely accepted as a destructive, cannibalistic creature associated with winter, coldness and starvation, and is present in the traditional belief system of many 'Algonquin' speaking peoples, including 'The Ojibwe', 'The Saulteaux', 'The Cree', 'The Naspapi' and 'The Innu'. The creature at the heart of "Antlers" draws accurately and respectfully from 'The Native' lore from which it came. And much like the legendary 'Sasquatch' creature of 'The Pacific Northwest' (a.k.a 'Bigfoot'), 'The Wendigo' is as much rooted in regional storytelling as it's ensuing place in the imaginations of folklore fans. They live together as villages and are constantly sharing, so any form of excessiveness is seen as a heinous thing. 'Wendigo' can also be the fierce winds that come off of Lake Superior and damage the common pot of the community. ' The Wendigo' can enter into any kind of consciousness, manifesting as animals or humans. 'The Wendigo' legend feels like a natural fit for this place because it's a monster that reflects our own demons and feeds off of our worst potential. It's the spirit of lonely places. In a town like 'Cispus Falls' 'The Wendigo' comes to be a stand-in for the issues people would rather not confront. 'The Wendigo' is a particularly poignant metaphor for the fractious relationship humans now have with the land. 'The Wendigo' brings a message that you’ve encroached upon territory you’re not allowed to encroach upon, and 'The Wendigo' will set it right. The larger message is that the earth has been here for millions of years. But we can never destroy the earth; she will destroy us. She doesn’t need us to go on. It literally comes out of us. It can manifest in many ways, but it's first and foremost always a spirit..'The Wendigo' is the pain and misery that lives in all of us, and it comes out eventually. It lives everywhere, and you can’t get away from it. What's happening in America today and somehow draw those themes into horror? If you’re skinny, but still have some muscular tones and can avoid feeling claustrophobic, you can do creature work. The best of those films shares elements of social commentary, while also delving into the fears and weaknesses that haunt so many of us. "Antlers" is an artful exploration of the human condition. It's a story about examining cultures within a host of genres. From the underside of addiction in the country music world, to the intense familial drama, to the journey of 'Native Americans', the film redefines the expectations of classic genre norms. The film explores the underlying social issues in filmmaking, eye-catching cinematography and intricate sound design. "Antlers" tackles the genre of classic horror. It's not horror-for-horror’s sake. The film tackles a narrative that allows to employ the classic horror genre as a vehicle for telling a terrifying story of one family’s journey into darkness, steeped in the intimacy of a small northwestern seaside town. The result is an emotionally-charged horror feature that blended 'Native American' lore with family drama, and plenty of requisite scary moments. A mythical creature who embodies the fears and weaknesses of a small town decimated by the.societal issues that so many towns encounter. But the mythology didn’t just come from the story. It's a movie about rage, hatred and what happens when we destroy the earth. Whether the rage happens in a family, in a country or to the environment, it’s all an invocation for this creature. The rage is what summons him. Yes, "Antlers" is a horror movie, but it’s also a really dark, poignant and emotional social drama. "Antlers" offered a narrative framework within which urgent socio-cultural commentary could thrive. 'The Wendigo' represents the enduring historical trauma faced by 'Native' people; cultural cannibalism, if you will, in the form of capitalism that has unfortunately taken place ever since the English, French and others arrived on the shores of 'North America'. This is why it’s such crucial part of their mythology. In a way, "Antlers" is essentially about the ultimate vindication of nature.

(Spencer • 2021 ‧ Drama/Historical film ‧ 1h 51m • Showtimes London, Fri 5 Nov • Sat 6 Nov • Sun 7 Nov • Mon 8 Nov • Tue 9 Nov • Wed 10 Nov • Thu 11 Nov • Curzon Soho, 99 Shaftesbury Avenue, LONDON W1D 5DY, United Kingdom, 21:00 • Curzon Mayfair, Mayfair, 38 Curzon Street, LONDON W1J 7TY, United Kingdom, 18:10 • 21:00, Curzon Bloomsbury, The Brunswick, LONDON WC1N 1AW, United Kingdom, 18:00, Curzon Victoria 58 Victoria Street, LONDON SW1E 6QW, United Kingdom, 18:40 • 21:00, Curzon Sea Containers, At Sea Containers - 20 Upper Ground, LONDON SE1 9PD, United Kingdom, 18:00 • 20:40, Curzon Camden, Dockray Place, LONDON NW1 8QD, United Kingdom, 18:00 • 21:00) "Spencer" December 1991; the 'British' royal family spends the 'Christmas' holidays at their 'Sandringham Estate' in Norfolk. There's eating and drinking, shooting and hunting. Diana (Kristin Stewart) knows the game. But this year, things will be a whole lot different. Something is rotten in Queen Elizabeth’s (Stella Gonet) 'Sandringham Estate', and it may have something to do with a tardy princess. The embers of Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) and Lady Diana’s marriage have long been extinguished and rumours are afoot about the prince's infidelities and an imminent divorce. The marriage has long since grown cold. "Spencer" follows the 'Princess Of Wales' as she navigates a precarious 'Christmas' holiday with the 'Royal Family', a moment that will set Diana on a path to independence, however tragically short-lived. The Prince’s infidelities with Camilla Parker Bowles (Emma Darwall-Smith) have become public knowledge. The fairy-tale façade of Charles and Diana’s marriage has crumbled. At 'Sandringham' tardy and alone, Diana is expected to adhere to a series of soul-draining exercises in empty propriety, routinely changing outfits and posing for photos. She savours whatever hours she can secure with her sons, William (Jack Nielen) and Harry (Freddy Spry), but her sole confidant is her personal attendant Maggie (Sally Hawkins). As Diana begins to disobey decorum, her every indulgence is tracked by a former 'Black Watch' officer Major Alister Gregory (Timothy Spall) newly employed by the 'Queen' to keep paparazzi at bay; and the 'Princess' on a tight leash. While the astute staff finalize preparations for the 'Christmas' holiday, Diana, is nowhere to be found. Diana’s last attempts to get fresh air before succumbing to a suffocating, silent evening with her embarrassed husband and unforgiving mother-in-law will become a common disturbance for the stiff royals. It doesn’t help that Anne Boleyn (Amy Manson), a famous axed-wife of 'Henry VIII' appears to haunt the vast corridors of the estate with vague warnings of doom and gloom. Only her cherubic sons, William and Harry, and her personal dresser Maggie seem to bring the 'People’s Princess' joy anymore. As her confining surroundings squeeze out every last gasp for air, Diana must face the truth that maybe her fairytale won’t end happily ever after. But now peace must reign, as royal protocol demands. Soon, opulent dinners are being dished up, but this time without Diana’s presence. She wants to be free again, and revert to using her maiden name, Spencer. The film depicts in masterful tableaux the loneliness of a world-famous woman trapped in a gilded cage and her alienation from the influential royals. "Spencer" is an imagining of what might have happened during those few fateful days. We all grew up understanding what a fairytale is, but Diana Spencer changed the paradigm, and the idealised icons that pop culture creates, forever. This is the story of a 'Princess' who decided not to become a 'Queen', but chose to build her identity by herself. We've always been very surprised by her decision and thought it must have been very hard. That's the heart of the movie. The film explores Diana’s process, as she oscillates between doubt and determination, finally making a bid for freedom, not just for herself but for her children too. It's a decision that would define her legacy; one of honesty and humanity that remains unparalleled. The film discovers.the intimate personalities of women who changed the face of the '20th' century. Diana built their identity by herselve, not necessarily connected with the man she's married to. Both understood how to use the media of their times to convey certain versions of themselves to the outside world, though they did so in very different ways. When Diana decides to leave Charles, the family, and the life that comes with it, it's a decision she takes for herself, realizing that her own identity matters more to her than that of the 'Royal' family or the nation. But there's no idleness about that; she does it because she needs to. She's living in an environment that's crushing her, diminishing her, so she must protect herself and her children. Diana’s process, between doubt and determination, over the very condensed time of the 'Christmas' holidays in 'Sandringham' may just be a small glimpse at her life, yet it can say so much more than that. It's a life reflected in a few days. A lot has been written about Diana, in newspapers, books and magazines. The stories are endless; some can be proven, some cannot. Yet the 'Royal' family is notoriously discrete. They may appear publicly on some occasions, but at some point, the doors close, and once they're, you don’t know what's happening behind them. That gives a lot to fiction. It's not a docudrama, the film creates something by taking elements of the real, and then using imagination, to tell the life of a woman with the tools of cinema. That why cinema is so fantastic; there's always space for imagination. Of course, for a character-driven film like this, actors are of the utmost importance. A good relationship between the main actress, the camera, and myself is key to build a character everybody thinks they already know. Building the character of Diana, the film creates a replicated image of her, using cinema and it's tools, like time, space, and silence, to create an internal world that struck the right balance between the mystery and fragility of her character. Both these sides of her are very visible in the scenes that have supernatural elements. Everything Diana sees is a reflection of her memories, her fears and desires, and maybe even her illusions. Brimming with exquisite costumes and sets, the film succeeds in injecting the often stale biopic with an anarchic perspective on characters on the precipice of sanity, going beyond behind the myriad of paparazzi photos and rumors to find the complex, distraught, and beloved woman who continues to inspire the world today. "Spencer" balances history and conjecture, while the films uniquely atmospheric, intimate approach slides seamlessly between internal strife and external strain. Diana, meanwhile, is nothing less than a revelation, merging a meticulous evocation of a mercilessly scrutinized public figure with affecting hints of the vulnerable private woman gasping for breath beneath the mask of monarchy.

(The French Dispatch • 2021 ‧ Romance/Comedy ‧ 1h 43m • Showtimes • London • Thu 4 Nov • Fri • 5 Nov • Sat 6 Nov • Sun • 7 Nov • Mon • 8 Nov Tue • 9 Nov • Wed • 10 Nov • Institute of Contemporary Arts, 260 m·The Mall, Institute of Contemporary Arts, LONDON SW1Y 5AH, United Kingdom; 16:15 • 21:00 Leicester Square; 400 m·Leicester Square, LONDON WC2H 7NA, United Kingdom; 13:10 • 20:50 Vue Cinema London - West End (Leicester Square); 500 m·Leicester Square, 3 Cranbourn Street, LONDON WC2H 7AL, United Kingdom; 12:10 • 16:00 • 20:30 Picturehouse Central; 600 m·Piccadilly Circus, 13 Coventry Street, LONDON W1D 7DH, United Kingdom; 18:10 • 21:00 Curzon Soho; 650 m·99 Shaftesbury Avenue, LONDON W1D 5DY, United Kingdom; 12:50 • 15:20 • 17:40 • 20:50 BFI Southbank; 900 m·South Bank, Belvedere Road, LONDON SE1 8XT, United Kingdom; 14:30 • 20:45) "The French Dispatch" From the visionary mind of Wes Anderson, "The French Dispatch" brings to life a collection of stories from the final issue of an 'American' magazine published in a fictional '20th-century' 'French' city. Arthur Howitzer, Jr. (Bill Murray), the revered founder and editor of 'The French Dispatch Of The Liberty', 'Kansas Evening Sun', died of an apparent heart attack in his offices located in 'The Printer’s District, Ennui-sur-Blasé', France. On the occasion of the death of it's beloved Kansas-born editor, the staff of 'The French Dispatch', convenes to write his obituary. His hand-picked staff, including 'The Cartoonist' Hermes Jones (Jason Schwartzman), 'The Story Editor' (Griffin Dunne), 'The Legal Advisor' (Fisher Stevens), 'The Copy Editor' Alumna (Elisabeth Moss), 'The Proofreader' (Anjelica Bette Fellini) and a cheery Writer (Wallace Wolodarsky), who has haunted 'The French Dispatch' offices for years but never written a single word, assembles over the body to collaborate on an obituary. They're led by Howitzer’s beloved writers, who he coddled and encouraged, and dressed down and built up, earning him their devotion and their love: There’s Herbsaint Sazerac (Owen Wilson), the intrepid 'Cycling Reporter', drawn to the most unsettling and unsavory aspects of the far-flung cities he visits. J.K.L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton), the critic and chronicler on intimate terms with every side of the modern art world. Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand), the solitary essayist who guards her journalistic integrity as closely as her private passions and Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright), the lonely expatriate polymath with a typographic memory, discovered and rescued by Howitzer under humiliating circumstances. Four surprising, complex, immaculately crafted, richly detailed, unexpectedly funny and even more unexpectedly moving stories collected within the pages of the lovingly crafted magazine. Memories of Howitzer flow into the creation of four stories: a travelogue of the seediest sections of the city itself from'The Cycling Reporter', 'The Concrete Masterpiece', about a criminally insane painter, his guard and muse, and his ravenous dealers; 'Revisions To A Manifesto', a chronicle of love and death on the barricades at the height of student revolt; and 'The Private Dining Room Of The Police Commissioner', a suspenseful tale of drugs, kidnapping and fine dining. Sazerac’s tour through 'Ennui-sur-Blasé' itself, an aging city on a hill with it's ancient cathedral towers, it's narrow-cobbled streets winding through rows of aging stone structures, it's charms and it's degradations, with it's nightlife and it's lowlife, where all eras seem to dissolve into the timeless essence of France, flowing like the waters of the nearby 'Blasé River'. Berenson’s 'The Concrete Masterpiece', in which the work of criminally insane painter Moses Rosenthaler (Benicio del Toro) is discovered, ruthlessly promoted and sold for increasingly astronomical prices by art dealer Julian Cadazio (Adrien Brody) and his uncles Nick (Bob Balaban) and Joe (Henry Winkler), and whose breathlessly anticipated, years-in-the-making masterpiece, inspired by his prison guard and muse Simone (Léa Seydoux), is unveiled with great fanfare to an impatient art world, including renowned Kansas art collector and likely buyer Upshur Clampette (Lois Smith). Lucinda Krementz’s 'Revisions To A Manifesto', a first-hand account of the grievances and the passions, political and sexual, that drive the romantically disenchanted youth of Ennui (Antonia Desplat) to go to war with their adult masters and initiate a tumultuous general strike that leads to the shutdown of the entire country. Krementz’s charismatic hero and heroine are the star-crossed leaders of the movement, the dreamy Zeffirelli (Timothée Chalamet) and the hard-nosed Juliette (Lyna Khoudri). Roebuck-Wright’s 'The Private Dining Room Of The Police Commissioner' is an assigned portrait of the legendary chef Nescaffier (Stephen Park), who serves at the pleasure of 'Ennui-sur-Blasé’s Commissaire' (Mathieu Amalric), that unexpectedly explodes into a nail-biting, ticking-clock suspense story when a group of thugs led by 'The Chauffeur' (Edward Norton) kidnap the Commissaire’s beloved son and crime-solving protégé Gigi (Winsen Ait Hellal) and threaten to kill him unless the local crime syndicates recently arrested accountant Albert, the Albacus (Willem Dafoe) is released from jail. The official name of 'The New Yorker'-inspired magazine is, 'The French Dispatch Of The Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun', a publication inspired by the history of 'The New Yorker' and the origins of two of the people who made it what it's: Harold Ross, the magazine’s co-founder, and William Shawn, his successor, both inspirations for the Arthur Howitzer, Jr. character and both born in 'The Midwest'. Herbsaint Sazerac, who takes his readers on a tour of 'Ennui-sur-Blasé', a fictional town that seems to embody the poetic heart of France itself, is in the spirit of writers like Joseph Mitchell, whose pieces were collected in the book 'Up In The Old Hotel', and 'Luc Sante'. The character of Rosenthaler is inspired by one particular film by Renoir called "Boudu Saved From Drowning", Rosenthaler’s magnum opus, a series of abstract frescoes painted on the prison walls, were done by the artist Sandro Kopp. 'Revisions To A Manifesto” is a refracted version of one of the central events in '20th Century' 'French' history, the events of 'May ’68', when student protests led to a massive movement that shut down the entire country. The storyline is loosely inspired by student leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit’s call for sexual freedom at 'The French University' in Nanterre, but it really begins less than a block away from the apartment in Paris, near 'Montparnasse' where Mavis Gallant lived,” referring to 'The Canadian' writer who inspired the character of Lucinda Krementz. The film uses an 'Arabian Nights'-like structure of stories within stories, by way of a play based on the memoirs of a youth who becomes radicalized and deserts the army. While set in the 1960s, it’s impossible not to see similarities to other protests throughout history and especially those happening today, led largely by the nation’s youth. The film juxtaposes the perspectives of old and young through Juliette and Lucinda’s characters as they argue over Zeffirelli’s role in 'The Chess Board Revolution', while Lucinda does her best to maintain journalistic neutrality. The third and perhaps most densely packed section, 'The Private Dining Room Of The Police Commissioner', is framed within the recitation of the story by it's author Roebuck Wright on a Dick Cavett/David Susskind-style talk show hosted by Liev Schreiber. The story proper, about a brilliant police commissioner and his renowned personal chef, which takes an unexpected turn when the commissioner’s son Gigi is kidnapped, carries strong overtones of 'French' crime dramas of the '30s', '40s' and '50s'. At a crucial juncture the story shifts to animation reminiscent of 'French' comic books. French cinema begins when cinema begins, with 'The Lumière Brothers" and Georges Méliès. "The French Dispatch" is many things, a bounty of stories within stories within memories within frameworks that converges into one organic whole, a cabinet of cinematic wonders of all shapes and sizes in constant dynamic motion, a love letter to the printed word in general, to France and to 'French' movies; a moving meditation on living far from home. And it's never just one of those elements at a time, but usually all at once. It’s about the type of magazine article that you would read that would bring you somewhere, before 'Google' and live streaming. It gives you a sense of place, the smells and the taste and the character, through the words of somebody with this ability to evoke images in your mind. In "The French Dispatch", the visuals might shift suddenly from black and white to color or from widescreen to 'Academy' ratio, subtitles might arrive in any corner of the frame and the emotional register can turn on a dime from comedy to lyricism to the deepest yearning. It's always full of changing colors, and it always stops and starts at the most unpredictable moments. There's much vivid detail within the frame and there’s much attention to not only language and words but also the specificity of composition that each frame is in and of itself a story within the story. It’s a film that celebrates the written word in a way that’s a healthy thing for our country now, when we’ve lost an appreciation for language and for intelligence as expressed through language. It’s a love letter to internationalism, culture and the blessed art of independent journalism.

(Release Info UK schedule; Aldeburgh Cinema Trust 51 High Street, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, IP15 5AU, Sunday 14 Nov 2021, 14:30) https://aldeburghcinema.co.uk/AldeburghCinema.dll/Booking?Booking=TSelectItems.waSelectItemsPrompt.TcsWebMenuItem_0.TcsWebTab_0.TcsPerformance_140079.TcsSection_644 "Writing With Fire" Armed with smartphones and tenacity, a fearless group of journalists from India's only women-led news outlet confront social injustice while fighting for marginalized voices in the world’s largest democracy. The women of Khabar Lahariya, all from the Dalit caste, prepare to transition the newspaper from print to digital even though many of their reporters don’t have access to electricity at home. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her team of investigative journalists confront some of India’s biggest issues, exposing the relentless discrimination against women and amplifying the voices of those who suffer from the oppressive caste system. "Writing With Fire" is set in the heart of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state , also a state known for its notorious levels of corruption, violence against women and the brutal oppression of its minorities. What complicates matters further are that many parts of Uttar Pradesh continue to remain media dark regions. It's against this backdrop that we're introduced to the work of Khabar Lahariya, India’s only digital news agency run by Dalit women, who belong to the lowest. Thirty-two-year-old Meera is investigating a brutal rape case and as the story unfolds, the endemic violence and complexities of being a Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh are brought to the fore. Born into an impoverished Dalit family and married at 14, Meera went against her conservative culture to study and become a journalist. In their fifteenth year of print, we see the paper deciding to increase their reach by shifting to digital news. Meera is entrusted with this move and leads her team of 28 semi-literate, professionally trained reporters, to transform the newspaper into a regional digital news force. As her team experiences its first taste of digital democracy, their video stories on corruption, violence against women, broken roads and inadequate public healthcare begin to become popular, unsettling bigger news agencies that are run by men. In the film, we see this journey, fraught with threats, danger, hopes and sacrifice, through the eyes of our central protagonist Meera and her feisty protégé, Suneeta. Twenty-year-old Suneeta who grew up working as a child laborer in an illegal mine, possesses a passion and bravado she brings directly to her work, that creates many risky situations for her, we see her working as the only woman crime reporter in the region, investigating the region’s lucrative illegal mining businesses and the corrupt nexus between the mining mafia and politicians. Her news reporting is incisive, bold and impactful. Meera talks about the great potential she sees in Suneeta the next level of leadership, a hope for the organization’s future expansion plans. From a few thousand views on 'YouTube', Meera’s new stories are about to cross 150 million views and have created massive impact on ground. As the organisation evolves, we witness Meera’s challenge in honing an impetuous Suneeta into an able leader. On a macro-level, the last six years have seen India hurtle from a vibrant democracy towards right-wing Hindu authoritarianism. For those who've chosen to keep their independent voice, the consequences are drastic. As the risk around their work intensifies, Meera and her team face threats that are reflected in more democracies across the world, making their work even more significant. In this climate of fear, we observe Meera beginning to follow the political rise of 21-year-old Satyam, an upcoming youth leader with a popular Hindu vigilante organisation. At grave risk to herself, Meera gains Satyam’s trust and through his story, begins work on a long form journalistic piece that investigates the changing moral and social fabric of India and what it's consequences are. We see her follow him into his village, where he wields significant political clout; we witness her calmly engaging with him as he reveals his deepest prejudices; as he shrewdly begins to prepare the grounds for his own ambitions to contest in the national elections. For Meera, Satyam’s story is as offensive as tragic and represents the broken dreams of India’s youth, as they get sucked into a political discourse of hate and violence, a story that is, yet again, missing from India’s mainstream media. Between doing her risky work and negotiating the editorial hurdles, Meera’s personal life is continually challenged. The inherent violence of caste which Meera fights vehemently through her work, is ever-present in her own life. Landlords rarely want to rent to a Dalit woman, let alone a Dalit woman journalist who works late nights. How does Meera continue to negotiate such systemic inequity and what do we discover about her as we see her raising two young daughters? On the other hand, Suneeta grows in stature and becomes the first reporter to travel internationally to deliver a speech at a journalism conclave. She also begins hosting her own crime show on 'YouTube', which soon becomes wildly popular. But at home, the pressure to get married intensifies. Suneeta knows that marriage will be a death-blow to her professional ambitions because prospective grooms do not want a working wife. Will Suneeta fight for her dreams or compromise for her family? With exclusive access to the personal and rapidly changing professional worlds of Meera and her journalists, we see them negotiate obstacles and inch closer to their dream of becoming a relevant independent regional news agency. But how will Meera re-wire the traditional mindsets of a society that has never experienced the power of a Dalit woman with a smartphone? And with Suneeta at the cusp of making a critical choice, how will Meera raise a next line of leadership? "Writing With Fire" is a story of our times. It's the first time modern Dalit women will be seen on screen, not as victims of their circumstances but as writers of their own destiny. As India now stands at a pivotal crossroad, the choices we make will define our future as a nation. And Meera and her team have their mobile phones trained on us, interpreting this precious moment in our history as powerful witnesses. In bringing together these different but deeply connected layers, "Writing With Fire" stays close to it's characters while exploring a country’s deep, complex wounds, the story lies in how our characters are treating these wounds; with compassion and persistence. This film is about Dalit women running a newsroom. They’re unfettered rural women who are aware of the limitations of print and want to grow their impact to draw in more women. Using digital in a smart way and making it their own feels like just the right story. It's a story about outliers, people who are outside the system and chipping away at it on their own in powerful ways. We love an unlikely protagonist who has something to offer that the world is not expecting from them. Uttar Pradesh, like much of the country, is a media landscape that's male-dominated, typically upper caste. For context, 'The Editors Guild Of India', which is the most powerful representative body for journalists in the country, has only one Dalit journalist on the panel and that’s a Khabar Lahariya woman journalist. Uttar Pradesh, specifically the regions that they work in, the profile of journalists is primarily upper caste men. There are no independent women journalists working there, except the women at Khabar Lahariya. In that sense, that really makes their presence quite prolific because the lens with which they are viewing stories is very, very different from how mainstream media is reporting it. Before the shift from print to digital they're printing about five thousand papers every two weeks, so they calculated their readership to be roughly fifteen thousand a month. Now they’re growing exponentially in the millions month by month. It speaks for the power of their journalism and the fact that the demographic has expanded. The question is about the lens. They're questioning what's considered newsworthy? What's news? Who's counted? Who decides that this story should be told? And that’s at the forefront of all the reporting that they've done consistently. The feminist lens is what completely distinguishes them from the clutter that news is at the moment. Having a diversified newsroom is a global conversation right now. In the west you've middle-aged white men who are essentially leading all decisions around what considered news and newsworthy or not. But what happens when you let in people of color into positions of organizational leadership? Khabar Lahariya is a unique model because it’s entirely led by women. And these are not just women. These are women who are literally at the bottom of India’s social pyramid. It ranges from curiosity to mansplaining and derision, as you see in the film, to respect. It’s a wide spectrum because people are not used to seeing Dalit women with a camera, asking intelligent question, negotiating smartly, following up on stories and calling out for accountability. That’s never happened, and to do it in the most non-violent way, stumps them. That’s the range that we’ve seen amongst their peers. Or the dynamics between women within an organization and how it plays out. These are visuals that are missing from India’s mainstream narrative around the Dalit identity. India is a deeply complex country. For over 3,000 years, we’ve a social hierarchy in place that divides Indian society into four distinct groups of people, known as the caste system. Like racism, it's a system of exclusion but only worse, because caste is invisible. A person is considered a member of the caste they're born into and remains within that caste till their death, caste sticks to the deepest part of your being; your identity. Perhaps the world’s longest surviving social hierarchy, this discriminatory practice is officially banned under Indian law but is still strictly practiced in many parts of India. Dalits are a section of Indian society who are considered so dirty, that they're not given a place within the caste system. And they continue to endure some of the most brutal forms of oppression and violence witnessed anywhere in the country, a Dalit person can be lynched simply for crossing paths with an upper caste. Now imagine what it might mean to be a Dalit woman; you’re literally at the bottom of India’s social pyramid, you've no agency, you’re absolutely invisible. This is what interested in Meera’s work, especially when she saw transitioning her newspaper from print to digital. The film is interested in seeing how Dalit women would employ technology and the internet to amplify their voice; when most print broadsheets in the world are uneasily adapting to the digital medium, we're witnessing rural women strategise to grow in a highly competitive upper-caste, male-dominated news landscape; and in their work for justice, they began redefining how Dalit women are perceived in Indian society. All this is playing out in the backdrop of an India that's transitioning from a secular democracy to right-wing nationalism, led by a Hindu majoritarian party that's trying to reinforce the caste system in every aspect of life. So the work of Meera and her journalists becomes even more phenomenal, almost a 'David versus Goliath' narrative, because they're challenging forces much larger than her, where the pen becomes mightier than the sword. In telling this story, the documentary creates a narrative that allows the viewer to see Meera’s world from within, intimately and respectfully, and experience a story that's as unique, as it's universal. "Writing With Fire" chronicles the astonishing determination of these local reporters as they empower each other and hold those responsible for injustice to account. Reaching new audiences through their growing platform, the women of Khabar Lahariya redefine what it means to be powerful in this timely and inspiring documentary. The changing political atmosphere has an effect on press freedom in the countryǃ It’s a global conversation. It’s something that you've witnessed from the Philippines, all the way to the U.S. and Trump. It’s a challenge the world now faces, the shrinking space for free press. It's a challenging time in India and in any other part of the world to be an independent journalist. Also, there’s this whole idea of how the media has been monetized, how big money has been pumped in where there's little space for independent journalism.

Following on from the wildly popular ‘Venom’, Andy Serkis’ directorial debut improves on the first in many ways, features much of what previously worked, including the endearing relationship between the symbiotic protagonists, makes some welcome additions to the ‘Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters’, via way of Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady, but does fall behind its predecessor in other aspects. Overall, ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ presents a concise, well-structured, understandable narrative, better written than the first. Clocking in at just 97 minutes, I was glad that the sequel chose to adopt only one storyline, and for the most part, the duration served it well. The viewers are also treated to believable performances, as both Hardy and Harrelson play off each other to perfection, with a surprisingly good performance coming from Woody Harrelson – I was expecting a typical Harrelson performance. The sequel makes sure to embrace what audiences adored in the former. However, the most glaring issue that presented itself was the repetition of the same conflicts from the previous instalment – it would have been better for Eddie and Venom to be performing at their best, until their match is met via way of Carnage, whose victory over the pair catalyses their inevitable conflict. Just as Riz Ahmed in the first, Naomie Harris’ inclusion for a character of little impact was a true shame. Despite an ensemble of strong talent, some of the franchise’s best performers aren’t properly utilised, being given characters that ultimately amount to very little. I wish the writers in both movies had a little more time to construct the characters and insert them into the story in a meaningful way. Despite both films earning a ‘15’ rating in the UK (the same as ‘Deadpool’), I still get the sense that with the comedy used, the movies are being made for younger audiences. The feature would have truly benefited from an R-Rating and a more serious approach: take time to delve into who Eddie and Venom truly are and what makes them tick. A comedically fun relationship is fine, but it only works once. After that, you should deconstruct the characters and make audiences truly connect with them. On the matter of seriousness, the film can’t seem to decide whether it wants to be taken seriously, or be goofy, so does both; this ultimately makes it feel disjointed and overall, less enjoyable than the last, which wasn’t as well written, but was consistent in its tone. This consistency made it feel more natural and thus, it was easier to immerse myself in the experience. The film is at a crossroads, fragmented between the genres of body horror, romantic comedy, or buddy cop – just pick one. The movie also does slightly reinterpret the character of Cletus Kasady, featuring a scene where he makes puns while beating people to death. While this was no issue for me, a more casual fan with less attachment to the character, this was acceptable, especially when compared to Venom’s more child-like personality, and actually worked to the strengths of Woody Harrelson’s casting. However, this may serve as frustration for many fans of the Marvel comics, considering the high regard Carnage is held to, alongside the years-long anticipation for his debut. If what was teased does come to fruition, I do hope a more serious interpretation of the pair is taken. I wish to see Venom bring out the worst in Eddie’s personality, making Eddie feel conflicted with a quick resolution to his long-term problems, but at the expense of who he is. I also want the third instalment to move away from another symbiote antagonist and instead take a more serious approach. Let Venom spend a movie fighting real crime and making his own choices, rather than stumbling into grand alien conspiracies each movie. To conclude, this movie shares many of the criticisms I declared with the first: the PG-13 age rating holds it back and attempting to appeal to everyone via poorly replicating Marvel Studios’ secret formula ultimately prevents it from truly connecting with anyone. While the movie is a fun ride, filled with enjoyable moments and a sense that the actors are having the time of their lives, and an enjoyable night out, it isn’t something to be deeply thought about or dissected post-viewing. Whichever you want out of your movie-going experience should inform your decision to watch the sequel. If you are a Marvel fan, or enjoyed the first Venom movie, I would recommend this feature, although I don’t see it being as popular among the general audiences as the first, particularly in such a cluttered quarter with such movies as ‘Dune: Part One’ and ‘Marvel’s Eternals’ right around the corner. ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ isn’t a must-see, but if you have no qualms with the theatrical ticket costs of this number of movies, please do see it for yourself, although I imagine many casual viewers will be reserving their viewing for the television screen.

An extension of the Wizarding World into Roaring Twenties New York. Perhaps the first and most important any moviegoer may ask is 'Is Harry Potter in this?'. This can be swiftly answered with a firm no - and that is the best decision made in the film. 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them did what no Harry Potter film has done; it gave us the real-world view of all the wizarding conflicts, while still appreciating the historical era in which it is set. Of course, the film must respect the lore the Harry Potter movies have set in place, and it does so in a way that does not hold back the film but propels it forwards. We are presented with a charming yet humble lead brought to life by Eddie Redmayne, while the rest of the characters are played by smaller, but talented names. The film is largely structured as a buddy-adventure movie featuring Scamander and Kowalski (Dan Fogler), with compelling leads such as Queenie and Tina Goldstein (Alison Sudol and Katherine Waterston, respectively) joining at various points. The film does well not to simply stand on its own, but launch the next four films in the 'Fantastic Beasts' genre by introducing some pivotal characters from the 'Harry Potter' mythos. There are many riveting directions the series could take the story and whether you're a general cinema-goer who is only interested in a good film or someone who is searching for the next multiple-movie journey, I strongly recommend you to see this film. ★★★★☆

Alas! The culmination of the 'Worlds of DC' is finally upon us! The crossover hot of the heels of the critically acclaimed 'Wonder Woman' introduces new threats to the Earth which our heroes must unite to battle. The standout star of this movie, a decision perhaps pushed by Warner Bros. after the success of her standalone adventure, is Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). She is the only hero with a true sense of purpose in this film; Batman is lost after the death of Superman, Superman is, well dead, and the other heroes are on their own. Perhaps what this feature does best is introduce us to new characters, reintroduce the trinity and get underway with its plot all in two hours - with a longer runtime this movie would have thrived. 'Justice League' monumentally changes the tone of this movie universe with less serious plots and personalities - the introduction of Barry Allen primes the quirkiness of the universe. Ezra Miller's Flash is the youthful, energetic 'child' of the group that draws in many laughs from the audience. Yet many are discrediting the movie due to the apparent loss of Zack Snyder's unique vision set up through 'Man of Steel' and 'Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice'. While true, his vision has been traded for a much more enjoyable and comic-accurate representation of all the heroes. The plot of this movie is by no means a cinematic masterpiece, but the movie itself is an engaging battle between six vastly differing heroes with unique and incompatible personalities (Aquaman and Cyborg would certainly create a unique 'bro-duo' in the sequel). I recommend it to any big fans of the DC brand. ★★★☆☆