I recently asked people a question: if you’re in a sad mood, is there a film that makes you feel instantly better? Chef came up again and again, and it made me wonder how on earth I’d never watched it before. I love shows and films about food, but here’s the thing this film isn’t…
“It is not as sad as you think though. It’s not like we don’t love each other and whatever happens, whether we are together or not… the exact relationships may change and people may fall in and out of touch, but the love that connects us all will never break. We built it and it…
While audiences remember the performances they see on screen, there’s an entire team working behind the scenes to help bring those moments to life. Among them are stand-ins and doubles, whose work ensures everything from lighting and camera positions to continuity is ready before the cameras roll. Actor Caitlin Florence Rose experienced that first-hand while…
One of the best romance films of the last five years, and without question the best romantic movie I’ve seen this year. Romance has become a genre where we’ve had more quantity than quality over the past decade. So many films come and go without leaving much of an impression. Voicemails for Isabelle is different. This is…
Not every Harlan Coben adaptation hooks me from the very first episode, but I always give them a chance because I know there is usually a twist around the corner that changes everything. I Will Find You takes its time getting there, but if you stick with it, you’re rewarded with an intriguing mystery, strong performances and…
‘Have you ever used anal beads while playing chess?’ This ridiculous question was asked by Piers Morgan to chess wonder kid Hans Niemann who found himself caught up in a cheating scandal. So begins the fascinating documentary ‘Chess Mates’ out now on Netflix. For many, chess was seen as a game reserved for intellectuals and…
Caroline Muirhead is an extraordinary woman though not in the way most stories would lead you to expect. This three-part limited series on Netflix (each episode running around an hour) begins like a modern love story before quickly descending into something far darker and more unsettling. At 29, Caroline meets Scottish farmer Sandy McKellar on Tinder, just…
“I have to betray them to save them.” Those words, spoken by Christine Marie, sit at the heart of this compelling and deeply upsetting four-part Netflix documentary series about the continued abuse within Utah’s Fundamentalist Church of Latter-day Saints community. Christine and her husband, Tolga Katas, move slowly and carefully into the heart of the…
From 2013 to 2022, Peaky Blinders, created by Steven Knight, dominated TV’s crime drama landscape with its distinctive style and unforgettable characters. At the heart of it all was Birmingham’s Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), a war-scarred anti-hero who rose from the trauma of the First World War trenches to lead his family’s Romani-traveller crime empire. Despite his…
I normally love a Louis Theroux documentary. His interview style is usually brilliant: he asks a quiet question, gives someone just enough rope, and then waits while they slowly tie themselves in knots on camera. It’s awkward, patient, and oddly polite and more often than not it works. Part of the frustration with Louis Theroux: Inside…
