Graeme Robertson on six great performances which deserved to be Oscar-nominated… The Oscars are almost upon us in what will surely be, given the state of the world, a very unusual ceremony. The acting nominations for this year are a strong line-up of Oscar veterans, first-time nominees and, of course, the late great Chadwick Boseman […]
60th BFI London Film Festival – A United Kingdom Press Conference Report
A look at the trailer for A United Kingdom, the opener at this year’s London Film Festival, might give the impression that its star, David Oyelowo, is in serious danger of being typecast. After his star-making turn as Martin Luther King in Selma, he’s delivering more inspiring speeches as future ruler of Botswana, Seretse Khama. […]
Interview: Carmen Ejogo talks Selma, meeting Coretta King and black actresses in Hollywood
Amon Warmann sits down with Selma’s Carmen Ejogo for the home entertainment release… Though the focus of Ava Duvernay’s Oscar-nominated Selma is rightfully on Martin Luther King, throughout there is a great emphasis on how a collective group can accomplish great change. Just as King was surrounded by a host of great men and women, […]
Fifty Shades of Grey shatters records at the UK box office
UK box office top ten and analysis for the weekend of Friday 13th February to Sunday 15th February 2015… Well, given its colossal worldwide opening, this won’t come as a surprise at all, but Fifty Shades of Grey has shattered records here in the UK with its debut weekend of £13,550,290 giving it the biggest […]
Second Opinion – Selma (2015)
Selma, 2015. Directed by Ava DuVernay. Starring David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, Giovanni Ribisi, Carmen Ejogo, Cuba Gooding Jr, Oprah Winfrey, Common and Tim Roth. SYNOPSIS: A chronicle of Martin Luther King’s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965. Watching a film like Selma is […]
Big Hero 6 retains top spot at the UK box office
UK box office top ten and analysis for the weekend of Friday 6th February to Sunday 8th February 2015… Despite four new entries cracking the top ten this week, Disney’s Big Hero 6 and Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service held firm in first and second place this past weekend, with Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep […]
David Oyelowo calls the reaction to Benedict Cumberbatch’s ‘coloured’ slip “ridiculous”
Benedict Cumberbatch came under fire this week after accidentally referring to black actors as “coloured” during a radio interview. The actor has since apologised for this gaffe. However Selma actor David Oyelowo has spoken out about this apology and called the negative reaction Cumberbacth received, “ridiculous”. “When you look at what he was actually saying […]
The Selma Solution: Boycott the Academy Awards
Anghus Houvouras calls for a boycott of the Academy Awards… I’m frustrated. Another year, another round of Oscar nominations, and another outpouring of anger about the lack of female and minority nominees. Right now a legion of entertainment bloggers are hammering keys like monkeys trying to write Shakespeare to tell me the world ain’t fair. […]
US BOX OFFICE – American Sniper blows away competition with $90 million
Your US BOX OFFICE report for 16th – 18th January Last week, it was Taken 3 that was breaking new barriers, becoming the second biggest January opening in history. But this week, American Sniper blew that away. Taking a whopping $90.2 million, American Sniper has shattered the record for biggest January opening. This is the biggest […]
Taken 3 opens to $91.8 million worldwide
Your US box office report for January 9th – 11th… Despite the mediocre reviews (read our review here) with some critics outright calling the film “Die Hard 5 bad” (Den of Geek’s Ryan Lambie), Taken 3 has opened to the second-biggest January weekend in the US with $40.4 million. Just falling shy of Ride Along‘s […]
