Tag Archive: Helen Mirren


Steve McQueen’s empowered but flawed Widows

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November 28, 2018

WIDOWS directed by Steve McQueen (UK,USA 2018)

widows_282018_movie_poster29There are many reasons why the best TV series are more rewarding and creative than most current movies and Steve McQueen’s latest feature film illustrates why.

There’s something deeply unsatisfying and frustrating about seeing a complex, multi-layered plot condensed into just over two hours. A story divided into one hour episodes can take its time building nuanced characters and the twists, when they come, they don’t feel forced or rushed.

‘Widows’ is based on Lynda La Plante’s ITV series broadcast in the UK in the early 1980s. La Plante had previously written the peerless ‘Prime Suspect’ starring Helen Mirren which proved that ball-breaking women make compelling protagonists. Continue reading →

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TOLSTOY’S TERMINAL

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October 3, 2012

THE LAST STATION  directed by Michael Hoffman (2009)

The prominence given to the image of Helen Mirren in this poster says a lot about where the real focus of this movie lies. Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy is reduced to little more than a supporting role.

This film is based on Jay Parini’s work of faction about the last year of Leo Tolstoy’s life in 1910.

The title refers to Astapovo railway station where Tolstoy died after a misguided, and belated, bid for peace and freedom from his claustrophobic marriage.

He was married to Sofya for 48 years and she bore him 13 children. The movie in part seems to want to show that, although their relationship deteriorated into a bitter feud, there was still a great deal of affection between the couple.

His wife is presented as manipulative, money grabbing and intolerant yet because she is played by Helen Mirren she also comes over as the most honest and likeable character in the movie. Continue reading →

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PLOT HOLES IN THE SNOW

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April 10, 2012

SMILLA’S SENSE OF SNOW directed by Bille August (1997)

Despite the cool title this is strange and ultimately stupid film. 

The MacGuffin surrounds an energy producing meteorite which we see coming to earth in 19th Century Greenland at the start.

In the present day, white-haired Richard Harris is the enigmatic chief baddie of a secretive organisation which is planning to harness this power as a first step to world domination. Continue reading →

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BEST OF BRITISH CULT MOVIES: 30 – 21

Filed under: Books, Movies, Music — 1 Comment
November 3, 2011

Continuing my list of the fifty Greatest British Cult Movies, here is my selection from 30 -21:

30. THE BELLES OF ST TRINIAN’S Frank Launder (1954)

The first and best of the five movies in the series based on the cartoons of Ronald Searle. There are great comic turns by Alistair Sim (in two roles as headmistress and her scheming brother), Joyce Grenfell (as the games teacher) and George Cole (as Flash Harry). This, plus numerous assorted nubiles in gymslips – what’s not to like?

 29. GOLDFINGER Terence Young (1964)

You can’t have a list like this without a Bond movie and it has to be one with Sean Connery as 007. Goldfinger is my favourite because it has the best villains Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) and Oddjob (Harold Sakata) , great Bond girls Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) and Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) as well as having the usual  ridiculous action scenes. Continue reading →

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HELEN MIRREN – AN INSTINCTIVE FEMINIST

Filed under: Gender, Television — Leave a comment
September 25, 2011

Enjoyed reading the interview with the regal Helen Mirren in today’s Guardian in which she describes herself as an instinctive feminist.

It is rare for an actress to stay at the top for so long and with such dignity.

The TV interview with the instinctively sexist Michael Parkinson in 1975 when she was 30 shows vividly her intelligence and unwillingness to accept bullshit, a model that all actresses would do well to follow :

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