David R. Walker

Took Place on Sunday 7th January 2024 in Los Angeles and hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the Beverly Hilton Hotel – 

Here are the 2024 Golden Globe Winners in the Film Categories:

Best Film Drama: Oppenheimer

Best Film Musical or Comedy: Poor Things

Best Director: Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer

Best Actor Drama: Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer

Best Actress Drama: Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Actor Musical or Comedy: Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers

Best Actress Musical or Comedy: Emma Stone – Poor Things

Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jnr – Oppenheimer

Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers

Best Original Score: Ludwig Goransson – Oppenheimer

Best Screenplay: Justine Triet – Anatomy of a Fall

Best International Feature Film: Anatomy of a Fall directed by Justine Triet

Anyone But You

Director: Will Gluck

Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, Bryan Brown, Michelle Hurd, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Bonello, Joe Davidson, Rachel Griffiths, Alexandra Shipp

Running Time: 1 hour 43 minutes

Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Friends with Benefits and Easy A director Will Gluck delivers another light weight romantic comedy this time set in Sydney, Australia and starring Sydney Sweeney as aspiring law student Bea who accidentally meets the perfect hunk, Ben wonderfully played by rising star Glen Powell (Top Gun Maverick) in Anyone But You which is set in Boston and Sydney, Australia.

Sydney Sweeney rose to fame in creator Mike White’s wild satirical series The White Lotus as the spoilt manipulative daughter of a wealthy couple on holiday in Hawaii and learnt her comic timing in this award winning series. In Anyone But You, she battles with her male counterpart Ben as they both pretend to be in love with each other at a destination wedding of Bea’s sister Halle played by Hadley Robinson and her fiancée Claudia played by Alexandra Shipp (Tick, Tick… Boom!; Barbie).

Ben is friends with Claudia and her brother Pete played by GaTa, whose parents Carol and Roger played by Michelle Hurd and Bryan Brown (Cocktail, Australia) live on a sprawling estate on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia.

It is refreshing to see this famous Australian city used as a primary film location and in a way, Sydney and its famous Opera House overlooking the harbour become characters in this funny and rather rude comedy in which the two main lovers oscillate between love and hate, friendship and rivalry in a bid to convince the wedding party that all is well with the pair, similar to William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

As Ben and Bea fight and make up again, they slowly learn some interesting facts about each other such as Ben’s fear of flying and Bea’s fear of commitment.

Anyone But You is a sunny, fun filled romantic comedy, nothing too dramatic and will leave audiences feeling happy and fulfilled. The cast including Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding, August: Osage County) and Rachel Griffiths (Muriel’s Wedding) as Bea’s parents create a bubbly if slightly awkward ensemble while the two main stars Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell are the perfect eye candy as eventually their characters meet at the Australian city’s most iconic location.

Add some nude scenes to spice up a fun romantic comedy and Anyone But You is a hilariously silly romantic comedy which is perfect for a date night film filled with love and laughter.

The sexy chemistry between Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell makes this film work, although the script and sound editing could have been vastly improved. Anyone But You gets a film rating of 6.5 out of 10 and is an enjoyable chance to watch a love story set in a beautiful city. It’s nothing deeper than a splash in the Pacific.

Ferrari

Director: Michael Mann

Cast: Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Sarah Gadon, Patrick Dempsey, Jack O’Connell, Agnese Brighitini, Leonardo Caimi, Gabriel Leone

Running Time: 2 hours and 10 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

Film Editor Pietro Scalia deserves an Oscar nomination for Best Editing for director Michael Mann’s latest biopic about the founder of luxury car brand Ferrari, Enzo Ferrari superbly played with complete brutal dexterity by Oscar nominee Adam Driver (Marriage Story, BlackKklansman) who deserves to be nominated for Best Actor for Ferrari.

Counterbalancing Enzo Ferrari’s sleek business operation of manufacturing sports cars and racing cars is Enzo’s wife Laura Ferrari expertly played with the right degree of bitterness and scorn by Oscar winner Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona). The scenes between Enzo and Laura are electrifying and required two really talented actors to make this complex marriage which was more like a business arrangement believable and toxic.

Enzo Ferrari has a mistress and a child from another woman, Lina Landi played by Shailene Woodley (The Descendants), whose insistence that Enzo recognizes the paternity of the little boy is just one of the problems that skilled tough business man Enzo has to figure out as he needs his international drivers to win the formidable and highly dangerous Italian race Mille Miglia which occurred with relentless loss of life.

American director Michael Mann kept a low profile in the 2010’s after huge critically acclaimed successes with Collateral, Public Enemies and Miami Vice. So its great news that Michael Mann has returned to the director’s chair with Ferrari a stylish, brutal and atmospheric film about the founder of Ferrari capturing in minute detail the Italian society of 1957 filled with machismo, racing drivers that would die like flies and most of all the glamour that Italian car brands like Ferrari and Maserati brought back to Italy after the gloom of the post War years of the late 1940’s which gave birth to the film movement Italian Neo-realism.

In actual fact Michael Mann incorporates some of those Neo-realist film techniques into Ferrari particularly Enzo’s scenes with the fickle but pushy Italian press and those scenes in the Barber shop and on the Italian street.

Ferrari’s international cast includes Patrick Dempsey as racing car driver Piero Taruffi, British actor Jack O’Connell as racing car driver Peter Collins along with Italian stars Gabriel Leone as Alfonso de Portago and Leonardo Caimi as Brusoni.

The emotional crux of Ferrari is the difficult and complex relationship between Enzo and his volatile wife Laura, beautifully played out on screen by Driver and Cruz. Laura held all the financial power for Ferrari while Enzo dreamed big but needed to take the luxury car manufacturing company to a new international market with an urgent cash injection.

From the devastating car crashes to the glamour around fast cars and luxury, Ferrari is a fascinating and authentic tale of an ambitious, hardnosed businessman that would not be known outside the Italian world.

Enzo Ferrari created those red sleek sports cars which are now synonymous with speed, luxury and affluence. As a film, Ferrari plays on that primal fascination that men have with competitive driving often at the cost of looking after their own families, a deadly passion which has to be sought to protect their egos, reputation and virility.

Ferrari is a highly recommended biopic, beautifully directed by Michael Mann and expertly acted by the two main leads with sumptuous cinematography and cutting edge editing.

Michael Mann returns to form in Ferrari which gets a film rating of 8 out of 10 and is definitely worth seeing for those that enjoyed such excellent films as Ford v Ferrari and All the Money in the World.

Read more about Enzo Ferrari here – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzo_Ferrari

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Director: James Wan

Cast: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren, Randall Park, Martin Short, Temuera Morrison

Running Time: 2 hours and 4 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Director James Wan’s highly anticipated sequel to the 2018 smash hit Aquaman is finally here with all the cast reprising their roles including Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Patrick Wilson as King Om, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Mantra, Amber Heard as Mera and Nicole Kidman as mother of both Aquaman and King Om, the luminous Atlanna.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is a fitting farewell film for this last phase of the DC Universe and closing the chapter on the current set of stars in the Justice League. From 2025, there will be a completely reimagined DC Comics Universe with the new Superman film.

The popularity of superhero films have waned after the peak of 2019 with Avengers: End Game and 2022’s excellent Wakanda Forever. Black Adam failed to be impressionable in 2022 but perhaps a reinvention is required in the wake of the new technologically advanced decade of the 2020’s.

Nevertheless, Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson are excellent as half-brothers, fighting each other while also protecting each other as they battle the evil Black Mantra played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II who plays a convincing villain up until the point when he steals Aquaman’s baby son, Arthur Junior.

Randall Park is brilliant as Dr Stephen Shin who facilitates between being loyal to Black Mantra and then trying to appease Aquaman and the Atlanteans upon first glimpse.

With an overarching theme of ocean conservation, and global warming, James Wan keeps Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom visually splendid with dazzling special effects and light in tone, punctuating the narrative with some perfect humour especially between the two brothers. This superhero film is really about Aquaman rekindling his relationship with his supposedly evil half-brother, which Patrick Wilson plays perfectly.

Amber Heard is back as Mira with bright red hair and Dolph Lundgren plays King Nereus while comic actor Martin Short voices the Kingfish.

With the seven Kingdoms of Atlantis battling each other including the evil lost kingdom, eventually Aquaman as leader learns that kings need to build bridges and not destroys relationships. Even the undersea creatures eventually decide to negotiate with the surface dwellers in a bid to save the planet.

As a fluorescent fantasy adventure film and a fitting end to the narrative arc which started with the Justice League, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is funny, entertaining and action packed showing that Jason Momoa relished the chance to play a lesser known super hero, whose muscular powers were amphibiously flexed.

Entertaining and pure fantasy, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is recommended viewing for those that enjoy one last impressive adventure from the receding age of big budget superhero films.

Maestro

Director: Bradley Cooper

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Sarah Silverman, Vincenzo Amato, Maya Hawke, Matt Bomer

Running Time: 2 hours and 9 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

Please note this film is only available on Netflix

With acclaimed directors Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg acting as executive producers, Bradley Cooper’s Maestro about the extraordinary life of American composer Leonard Bernstein features a deftly performed triple act with multiple Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper (American Sniper, A Star is Born, Silver Linings Playbook) acting as director, writer and as the leading man, ably assisted with Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan (An Education, Promising Young Woman) as Bernstein’s long suffering wife Felicia Montealegre.

Both Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan are absolutely superb in Maestro, binding this film together as they perfectly portray the complex façade of a marriage that the Bernstein’s had, particularly Felicia’s artistic and sacrificial decision to turn a blind eye to her husband’s rampant homosexuality often bringing lover’s home and entertaining them in front of their children.

There is a particularly brilliant scene towards the end of Maestro whereby Leonard and Felicia have a terrible fight in a New York apartment which is overlooking the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, in which the marital veneer is cracked and all the resentment and anger boils over.

Bradley Cooper literally disappears into the role of Leonard Bernstein thanks to the extraordinary makeup by Japanese American prosthetic make up artist Kazo Hiro who won Oscars for Bombshell and Darkest Hour.

Mulligan is excellent as a broadway actress Felicia who takes a decision to put her career on hold while Leonard Bernstein’s musical career flourishes during the 1960’s as he is made musical director for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Leonard Bernstein is an icon in the classical and theatrical music world having penned the music for the Stephen Sondheim hit musical West Side Story and the film score for the Marlon Brando film On The Waterfront.

Bernstein’s sexual relationship with David Oppenheim flamboyantly played by out gay actor Matt Bomer (The Normal Heart, Boys in the Band, The Nice Guys) is comfortably portrayed in Maestro as Bernstein feels nothing at introducing his beloved wife Felicia to his starry eyed gay lover.

At the heart of this complex artistically compatible marriage is the toll that two creative and volatile parents have on their three children particularly their oldest daughter Jamie Bernstein played by the daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, Maya Hawke (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Asteroid City) who often has to discover through gossip the sexual indiscretions of her father, the world famous conductor Leonard Bernstein.

Essentially, Maestro is an art film and it is filled with beautiful music, talented people and a toweringly famous artistic conductor who was passionate about classical music, conducting and leaving an indelible mark on the canon of America’s 20^th century contribution to the history of music.

Maestro shot in black and white and colour, is a complex and slightly off kilter biopic about an extremely charismatic conductor whose sexual proclivities detonated the marriage in which Felicia was the main casualty. Fortunately, Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan are both excellent as husband and wife in a film which re-examines their relationship in the context of Bernstein’s massive fame and creative contribution, which was both controversial and significant.

Maestro is Bradley Cooper’s languid love letter to Leonard Bernstein, a formidable task to encapsulate in a unconventional biopic which should have been released in theatrical cinemas to attain the full effect.

Featuring highly skilled acting, cinematography and direction, Maestro gets a film rating of 8 out of 10 and is recommended for viewers that love the music of Leonard Bernstein.

Source material: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Bernstein

Wonka

Director: Paul King

Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant, Rowan Atkinson, Keegan-Michael Key, Jim Carter, Sally Hawkins, Matt Lucas, Tom Davis, Calah Lane, Paterson Joseph, Matthew Baynton, Freya Parker, Natasha Rothwell

Running Time: 1 hour 56 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Director Paul King’s very 21^st century remake of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) starring Gene Wilder gets a Christmas shine for the new 2023 version, with the hot young star Timothee Chalamet (Dune, Little Women, The French Dispatch) taking on the part of Willy Wonka in this fantastic remake simply titled Wonka.

Chalamet, who rose to fame in his Oscar nominated role in the gorgeous 2017 film Call Me By Your Name, takes on the hapless, illiterate but slightly naïve Willy Wonka as he journeys as a young man to a magical new city to attempt to start up a Chocolate shop. This Wonka version is pristine with no kinks or crazy mania hidden beneath the depths unlike Johnny Depp’s truly sociopathic portrait of the character and also without the comedic panache of the legendary Gene Wilder.

Wonka is supported by a varied cast including Oscar winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite) as the ruthless landlady Mrs Scrubitt, Calah Lane as the hopeful orphan Noodle and Keegan-Michael Key (Get Out, The Disaster Artist) as the corrupt Chief of police who secretly aids the evil and malignant chocolate cartel comprising of Slugworth played by Paterson Joseph, Prodnose played by Matt Lucas and a wonderful Mathew Baynton as the snobbish Fickelgruber, who absolutely hates the poor.

Wonka starts off beautifully with gorgeous costumes and sets but doesn’t quite sparkle enough until the fortunate arrival of the comedic genius of Hugh Grant (Florence Foster Jenkins, Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral) as the chocolate stealing green and orange Oompa-Loompa who is absolutely terrific as the cocktail swirling, suitcase carrying diminutive man who becomes an unlikely ally of Willy Wonka and his delicious dreams.

Hugh Grant with years of cinematic experience literally saves Wonka the film from becoming ordinary, by making that Oompa-Loompa sophisticated, shrewd and witty. A performance which elevates the film so much that the distributors for Warner Brothers had to rework the trailer for Wonka to include the precious scenes between Wonka and the lofty Oompa-Loompa.

Unfortunately, Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine, The Shape of Water) does not have sufficient screen time as Wonka’s beloved mother, which would have created the emotional pull that this film desperately needed.

Calah Lane is enlightening as Noodle the orphan girl who Wonka befriends as she desperately tries to discover her birth mother’s identity while the talented Olivia Colman is suitably hideous as the unscrupulous Mrs Scrubbitt whose performance mirrors that of Helena Bonham Carter as Madame Thenardier in Les Miserables.

Paddington director Paul King ticks all the confectionary boxes to make a highly conventional Wonka which will makes for joyous holiday entertainment but it won’t be remembered as an exceptional musical.

Wonka is a recommended family film and audiences should see it purely for the delightful Hugh Grant who literally saves this fantasy musical from suffering the same fate as Cats.

As a mock Victorian musical Wonka gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is light hearted family entertainment.

May December

Director: Todd Haynes

Cast: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton, Corey Michael Smith, Andrea Frankle, Gabriel Chung, Elizabeth Yu, D. W. Moffett, Kelvin Han Yee

Running Time: 1 hour 57 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

Scandal in all its intimacy is what binds a community together in auteur director Todd Haynes fabulous new film May December starring Oscar winners Natalie Portman (Black Swan) and Julianne Moore (Still Alice).

Far From Heaven and Carol director Todd Haynes makes cinema an art form in this stylized and lush melodrama about a Southern tabloid queen Gracie, wonderfully played by Julianne Moore, who becomes the subject matter for a TV film after the sexually adventurous actress Elizabeth comes to interview Gracie and her complicated history.

In a syrupy and toxic screenplay by Samy Burch, which would make Tennessee Williams proud and Truman Capote salivate at the salacious details, May December is gorgeously set in Savannah, Georgia in 2015, twenty years after a tawdry scandal erupted when Gracie a 35 year old married woman slept with and got herself pregnant by a 13 year old boy and then went onto marry him when he was of age. Gracie and Joe’s scandalous affair started in the back store room of a rundown pet shop in a strip mall in Savannah and after a bout in prison for sleeping with a minor, Gracie and Joe now twenty years on are welcoming their children back home to Savannah for graduation.

The handsome, strong and silent Joe is beautifully played by Charles Melton who definitely deserves an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor as Melton perfectly encapsulates the psychological state of a man child, a man at 36, but inside still a child, bewildered and confused that he fathered children while he was still a teenage and to a woman almost three times his age.

Joe acts more like a big brother to his three children than a father, while Julianne Moore’s Gracie acts as the scheming and manipulative mother figure micromanaging not only her  young husband but also the wreckage of her past life, as she expertly manoeuvres herself around the penetrating gaze of the ambitious but provocative Elizabeth, a star turn by Natalie Portman who has the acting ability to portray psychologically complex characters as she did in her Oscar winning performance in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan.

Todd Haynes relishes having two powerful female stars as the two opposing main characters, sniping at each with a bitchy relish as they mockingly try to remain friends while both planning ways of exacting revenge on one another. Portman and Moore are superb in this dynamic, eating up men in their way and manipulating both their circumstances to their own maximum and sometimes lustful benefit, like the captivating monarch butterflies that are released into the humid Savannah air.  

Corey Michael Smith (Carol) is electrifying in a few brief scenes as Gracie’s damaged oldest son from her first marriage Georgie who uses the power dynamic between his mother as the subject and Elizabeth as her observer to best serve his own creepy agenda.

Bizarre and strangely uncomfortable, Todd Haynes creates a garish melodrama on contemporary sexual power dynamics in this fascinating film May December whose title in American English is a term which refers to a much older person taking a much younger lover, as tawdry and exhilarating as that can be.

May December is a provocative film, sexy in a slightly off kilter sort of way and gets a film rating of 8 out of 10. Not every viewer will enjoy this film, but those that do will appreciate its compelling originality and its deliberate sneer at the conventional expectations of socially acceptable sexual interactions.

Napoleon

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Rupert Everett, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Tahar Rahim, Sinead Cusack, Ben Miles, Paul Rhys, Ludivine Sagnier, Jannis Niewohner, Julian Wadham, Miles Jupp, Edouard Philipponat

Running Time: 2 hours and 38 minutes

Film Review: 9 out of 10

Oscar nominated veteran director Ridley Scott (Thelma and Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) helms this meaty historical drama Napoleon, which is magnificent held together by two multifaceted performances by Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) as Napoleon and Oscar nominee Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman) as his wife, lover and soul mate Josephine.

Napoleon is a monumental film starting off with the bloody execution of the last Queen of France Marie Antoinette in 1793 and ending with the completely mind-blowingly epic Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Amidst this vast historical backdrop of war and political intrigue is the scandalous romance of the 19^th century the gorgeous and tragic love story of Napoleon and Josephine.

Napoleon a tough, charismatic military general from Corsica in post-revolutionary France proves his military ingenuity and his strategic thinking in securing France’s position in an unstable Europe post the shocking and bloody French Revolution. That Corsican ruffian who skilfully eyed an historic opportunity to seize power in the confusion of the last days of the Reign of Tower by Robespierre, swiftly and efficiently rises to power to crown himself Emperor of France. With ruthless decisiveness, Napoleon seizes power through a military coup, compensating for his abandonment of the Egyptian campaign running from 1798 to 1801, in which France tried to conquer Egypt and Syria against the Ottomans to secure trade interests.

There is a macabre scene in Napoleon when he confronts a mummy in Egypt, with the pyramids shimmering in the Mediterranean heat, whereby he takes off the shroud and reveals the skull sitting defiant staring at the Tyrant symbolically revealing to the French Emperor how much death he will eventually cause.

Amidst massive battles at Austerlitz, Waterloo and the failed attack against the wily and clever Russian Tsar Alexander I wonderfully played by French-Finnish actor Edouard Philipponat, Napoleon’s tumultuous relationship with Josephine is intricately explored through his frustration at not being able to father a child with her.

From Josephine’s viewpoint she has chosen a ruffian, a stubborn brutish man who has changed her destiny and made her an Empress who she simultaneously adores and despises. Kirby and Phoenix are a perfect onscreen couple, their prickly energy is sexually attractive and equally complicated. Like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in Cleopatra, Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby portray a complicated and powerful onscreen couple, allowing audiences to watch their fascinating love affair unravel in spectacular fashion playing out on a world stage in which even 19^th century gossip columnists could not get enough of Napoleon and Josephine’s salacious love life, complicated by infidelity and infertility, neglect and sexual desire, divorce and estrangement.

Besides the talents of Phoenix and Kirby the rest of the cast is superbly chosen from British actress Sinead Cusack playing Napoleon’s mother Letizia Bonaparte (because let’s face it even tyrants have mothers) to Julian Rhind-Tutt (Blithe Spirit, Rush) as Sieyes and Ben Miles (Woman in Gold, Red Joan) as French politician Caulaincourt.

Others in the cast include Tahar Rahim (The Mauritanian) as Paul Barras to the talented Rupert Everett (The Comfort of Strangers, A Royal Night Out, The Madness of King George) perfectly cast as the pompous but clever Duke of Wellington, the one adversary who Napoleon cannot defeat despite his best military efforts at the crucial battle of Waterloo in 1815.

As a cinematic epic, Napoleon is elevated by a tonally balanced screenplay by David Scarpa who captures the bizarre and brutal zeitgeist of the first heady years of the Napoleonic wars from 1800-18h15. Scarpa deserves an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay.

Napoleon is gorgeously shot with expert cinematography by Oscar nominated Polish cinematography Dariusz Wolski (News of the World) and superbly directed by Ridley Scott who captures the chaos of war, the brutality of one man’s ego and the glamour of ambition combined with the lust to control everything. Napoleon ends off with the battle of Waterloo and a brilliant scene between Joaquin Phoenix and Rupert Everett discussing Napoleon’s untimely exile to St Helena in the South Atlantic.

On every level, Napoleon is a charismatic historical film, a multifaceted and brutal epic, a diatribe on man’s bloodthirsty ambition to create empires and his lust for celebrity status on a world stage.

Napoleon is a historical epic made with a European flair and in the hands of a veteran director like Ridley Scott this film is superb and robust, held together by two extremely powerful performances by a charismatic Joaquin Phoenix and the beautiful Vanessa Kirby as the dynamic and ruthless power couple who elegantly presided over one of the bloodiest periods of European history at the start of the 19th century.

Visually impressive and beautifully acted, Napoleon deserves recognition at the 2024 Oscars and gets a film rating of 9 out of 10. Utterly astounding and highly recommended viewing but only for those that enjoy grand cinema in the tradition of such Oscar winning films as A Passage to India, The Last Emperor and Amadeus.

The Miracle Club

Director: Thaddeus O’Sullivan

Cast: Oscar winner Maggie Smith (California Suite, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), Oscar winner Kathy Bates (Misery), Oscar nominee Laura Linney (The Savages, Kinsey) , Stephen Rea, Mark O’Halloran, Mark McKenna, Oscar winner Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot), Agnes O’Casey

Running Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Irish film and TV director Thaddeus O’Sullivan assembles an all-star female cast for his film The Miracle Club which had its world premiere at the less glitzy predominantly independent Tribeca Film Festival in New York early in 2023.

The Miracle Club focuses on three women from Ballygar in Dublin, Ireland in 1967 who after entering a talent show by coincidence manage to win a trip to Lourdes in France, the holy place where it is rumoured that the Virgin Mary performed miracles on the sick and vulnerable making it an attractive Catholic pilgrimage site.

The ladies in question are Lily Fox wonderfully played by double Oscar winner and veteran Hollywood and British star Maggie Smith (Gosforth Park, California Suite, A Room with a View); Chrissie Ahern expertly played by American actress and Oscar nominee Laura Linney who returns to Ireland after a long exile in Boston in America and the fast witted but wicked Eileen Dunne superbly played complete with an Irish accent by Oscar winner Kathy Bates (Misery).

As the women of Ballygar leave their men at home to fend for themselves, their holy pilgrimage to Lourdes start revealing some dark secrets about their past particularly the relationship between Chrissie and Lily’s dead son Declan, providing some brilliant scenes between Laura Linney and Maggie Smith and also between Chrissie and Eileen. The lighter moments are provided by a younger woman Dolly Hennessey played by Agnes O’Casey who brings her mute little son with her in the hopes that he will be able to talk once touched by the divine waters at Lourdes.

The Miracle Club is a light comedy drama with brilliant performances by the three main leading actresses and the funnier moments are provided by some of the male actors including Oscar nominated star Stephen Rea (The Crying Game) as Eileen’s forlorn husband Frank and Dolly’s young husband George played by Mark McKenna who has to deal with a young daughter while he hopes his wife and young son return safely from France.

As secrets are revealed and past grudges are dealt with in true Irish fashion, The Miracle Club is a rewarding and interesting film about three women who find forgiveness, independence and the strength to continue in the light of pressing health issues, chauvinism and family demands.

While not as comedic as one expected, The Miracle Club delivers a concise and entertaining film about female community, divine intervention and redemption.

Director Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s lovely Irish drama The Miracle Club gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is set in Dublin and Lourdes in France. Recommended viewing for those that enjoy a relaxing comedy drama.

57 Seconds

Director: Rusty Cundieff

Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Morgan Freeman, Greg Germann, Lovie Simone, Bevin Bru, Mark Jacobson

Running Time: 1 hour 39 minutes

Film Rating: 6 out of 10

It’s comforting to see a supporting actor Josh Hutcherson who rose to fame in the Hunger Games franchise and starred in such Oscar nominated films as The Kids are Alright, taking on the leading man role in the new sci-fi thriller 57 seconds starring as tech health writer Franklin Fox opposite Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) who is a bit bewildered in such a B grade film.

Josh Hutcherson has also got two new films coming out, the horror film Five Nights at Freddy’s and the Jason Statham action film The Beekeeper.

In 57 Seconds, director Rusty Cundieff sets up an alternative world in which humans and their health are dictated to by their technology and Hutcherson stars as an ambitious yet broke tech blogger Franklin Fox who discovers a ring which if worn could take a person back in time 57 seconds which is pretty neat considering how this opportunistic device can assist Franklin in getting a girlfriend, the gorgeous Jala played by Lovie Simone and in sorting out his finances or lack thereof.

After his car gets repossessed, Franklin hits the local casinos of this unnamed American city and starts using the ring to win big at roulette, in which he amasses a quick and vast fortune. Franklin’s instant wealth dissolves all doubts about his capability and he confidently sets in motion a disingenuous plan to take down a dodgy pharmaceutical CEO.

Soon Franklin sets his sights on the villain and Sackleresque pharmaceutical CEO Sig Thorenson badly played with loads of cliché by Greg Germann along with his side kick Renee played by Bevin Bru.

Despite the poor story line and questionable direction, 57 Seconds is a fun sci fi thriller which unfortunately could have been so much better with stronger casting choices and more effort by the director to make this film look slicker and more detailed.

Josh Hutcherson holds his own as the less than perfect Franklin Fox, an ambitious young man who eventually seeks justice for his dead sister from an opioid overdose from the big pharma company owned by Thorenson.

Despite all the appeal of pre-emptive health tech, Franklin and his fiancée Jala cast off the lure of working for the dubious Tech billionaire Anton Burell played by Morgan Freeman. The talents of Morgan Freeman are wasted on such a bad script.

57 Seconds is a mediocre contemporary thriller, enjoyable but just not that brilliant. Josh Hutcherson is the best in the film and let’s hope his next film choice is in a more substantial role because he is a talented young actor whose star needs to shine brighter with more talented directors.

Flashy and badly written, 57 Seconds gets a film rating of 6 out of 10, it’s enjoyable but the audience won’t really invest in the characters or what happens to them. This thriller is entertaining and light on details but the perfect way to spend just over 90 minutes. So basically watch it on a lazy Saturday afternoon like I did.