News

If you’re able to get to London by January 25th, or to Dublin in February, you can still get yourself a seat to see Dr. Strangelove, adapted for the stage by The Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci and starring Iannucci’s frequent star, Steve Coogan. If you’re not? All you need is a Hulu login to see Coogan’s next most recent performance.

In this week’s episode of What We Do in the Shadows, Coogan débuts as Roderick Cravensworth, father to Matt Berry’s Laszlo — or, to be more precise, his ghost, Roderick having died more than a century ago. It’s reductive to say Roderick is the kind of father who would drive his son to rebel by embracing vampirism, but it might also be true: He’s pompous, he weasels his way into relationships far too quickly and he’s lightly emotionally abusive to...

Bron Media Corp. has finalized a strategic investment and partnership with Turbine Studios, home to Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology series.

Turbine is a UK-based film and television production outfit headed by “The Crown” producer Andrew Eaton, “Small Axe” producers Tracey Scoffield and David Tanner and “The Fall” producer Justin Thomson.

Under the deal, unveiled Thursday, Turbine Studios will work closely with Bron to develop, package, and produce original IP driven from the UK and Europe. Turbine will also be a strategic partner to Bron, supporting some of the company’s film and television productions across Europe.

The companies said the investment allows Bron to have greater influence in the UK market for UK commissions due to Turbine’s deep knowledge of UK and European marketplace, commissioning systems and buyers, the British production community, crew, locations, regional financial schemes, studios, creative talent, agencies and management companies.

Bron is best...

“The Trip” helmer Michael Winterbottom is set to direct a series depicting the U.K.’s muddled response to the coronavirus crisis under Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Producer-distributor Fremantle is partnering with “True Detective” executive producer Richard Brown’s nascent production outfit Passenger and Winterbottom’s Revolution Films on the project, which will have a keen focus on Johnson, who was admitted to intensive care with Covid-19 in late March and spent more than a week in hospital.

The Sunday Times political editor Tim Shipman will serve as a consultant on the series, which will tell the true story of one of the most grave national and personal crises to befall a government leader since World War II. It will detail Johnson’s appointment as Prime Minister, to the discovery of the first cases of Covid-19 in the U.K., through to Johnson’s hospitalization and recovery, which also coincided...

Altitude Films has debuted a new trailer for Simon Bird’s directorial debut ‘Days of the Bagnold Summer’ featuring Rob Brydon and Alice Lowe.

The film is an adaptation of Joff Winterhart’s graphic novel of the same name and follows a heavy-metal-loving teenager as his holiday plans fall through at the last minute, meaning he must spend the whole summer with the person who annoys him most in the world: his mum.

Related: Days of the Bagnold Summer – Lff 2019 Review

‘The Inbetweeners’ Simon Bird makes his directorial debut. BAFTA-winning actress Monica Dolan (Eye in the Sky, W1A), Earl Cave (True History of the Kelly Gang, The End of the F***ing World), Rob Brydon (The Trip, A Cock and Bull Story), Alice Lowe (Prevenge, Sightseers), Tamsin Greig (The Second Best Marigold Hotel, Green Wing), Tim Key (Greed, This Time with Alan Partridge) and Elliot Speller-Gillot (Uncle) all star in the film.

Armando Iannucci both respects and reinvents the novel in a wonderfully entertaining adaptation full to bursting with fantastic comic performances

Having found unexpected laughter in the historical horrors of The Death of Stalin, Armando Iannucci works comedic wonders with the labyrinthine twists and turns of Dickens’s endlessly reinterpretable Victorian narrative. Astutely amplifying the absurdist – and remarkably modernist – elements of his source, Iannucci and co-writer Simon Blackwell conjure a surreal cinematic odyssey that is as accessible as it is intelligent and unexpected. At its heart lies a theatrical journey of self-discovery, in which our narrator (superbly played by the endlessly versatile Dev Patel) sets out to determine whether he is “the hero of my own story”, struggling to make a name for himself (literally) as he strides through a vividly realised landscape of memory and invention.

We open with Copperfield on stage, commencing the recitation of his story before striding...

“Our gentleman was approximately fifty years old; his complexion was weathered, his flesh scrawny, his face gaunt, and he was a very early riser and a great lover of the hunt.” What the description lacks in flattery it redeems with comic affection. A few pages later, Cervantes’ Don Quixote (by way of Edith Grossman’s English translation) imagines describing himself, to a love interest, as “never sufficiently praised.” Can you picture Steve Coogan in the role? Gone bonkers from reading too many books, yearning for a campaign of romantic chivalry and publicly displayed valor, Quixote recruits his farmer neighbor Sancho Panza, “a good man…without much in the way of brains,” who, when promised an island, “left his wife and children and agreed to be his neighbor’s squire.” Here, how about Rob Brydon? Assuming you even know who he is.It was Brydon, in 2010’s The Trip, who wryly...

It’s been four years since The Trip To Italy. Now comes IFC’s third film in the series, The Trip To Spain, from director Michael Winterbottom.

After jaunts through northern England and Italy, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon embark on another deliciously deadpan culinary road trip. This time around, the guys head to Spain to sample the best of the country’s gastronomic offerings in between rounds of their hilariously off-the-cuff banter. Over plates of pintxos and paella, the pair exchange barbs and their patented celebrity impressions, as well as more serious reflections on what it means to settle into middle age. As always, the locales are breathtaking, the cuisine to die for, and the humor delightfully devilish.

The film opens in theaters August 11, 2017.

Steve’s film career includes five films with Michael Winterbottom.

The Trip To Spain is the third in an occasional series that began with 2011’s The Trip,...

Philomena producer is to join Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow Productions.

Christine Langan is set to step down as head of BBC Films and replace Henry Normal as CEO of Baby Cow Productions.

A spokesperson for BBC Films told Screen the organisation “could not comment on speculation” but Screen sources have subsequently confirmed the departure, which was first revealed by Screen’s sister publication Broadcast.

Langan’s contract and a timetable for the exit are currently being ironed out but Screen sources have indicated that a late October departure is possible.

Langan, producer of Oscar winners The Queen and Philomena, will work closely with Baby Cow co-founder and actor Steve Coogan to shepherd the company through its next phase of growth.

Baby Cow co-produced Philomena, in which Coogan starred and co-wrote, as well as other Coogan vehicles including Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, 24 Hour Party People and A Cock And Bull Story.

At the company...

It’s a prequel and a sequel! It’s got girl powerrr and lady-hating! It’s a mashup of Lord of the Rings and Frozen! It’s all these things, and less. I’m “biast” (pro): love the cast

I’m “biast” (con): wasn’t crazy about the first film

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

It’s a prequel and a sequel! It’s full of girl powerrr and reflexive lady-hating! It’s a parody mashup of Lord of the Rings with Frozen and it’s a longform conceptual fashion shoot! The Huntsman: Winter’s War is all these things, and more, and sometimes less. It’s a story about the horror of child soldiers without the horror. It’s a love-conquers-all story with almost no genuine emotional content at all. It’s a comedy without any actual humor. It’s a movie in which,...

Josh Gad has signed on to portray Roger Ebert in Russ & Roger, opposite Will Ferrell as Russ Meyers. The wild comedy will focus on the making of the pair’s legendary exploitation film Beyond The Valley of The Dolls, one of the first X-rated films. Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story) is directing from a script by Christopher Cluess, with polishing by Winterbottom, Neil Gibbons and Rob Gibbons. Sobini Films and Permut…...

Michael Winterbottom disappoints with an unconvincing thriller inspired by the murder of Meredith Kercher

“You were commissioned to make a true crime thriller. Are you really saying you’re trying to write a medieval morality tale?” In the past Michael Winterbottom has dealt brilliantly with the horrors of real-life murder (A Mighty Heart), the unpicking of a media myth (24 Hour Party People) and deconstructed the process of storytelling itself (A Cock and Bull Story). All these themes come together in his latest, a fictional work inspired by the murder of Meredith Kercher, to whom the film is dedicated. While the central thesis, that truth can only be told through fiction, is sound (“real truth and justice” having become “just a popularity contest”), this remains too clumsily schematic to get beneath the surface of its subject. Daniel Brühl is unconvincing as the self-obsessed film-maker with personal issues, struggling to tell a...

A contemplative film pondering the nature of the difference between reality and fiction, one with resonance beyond the true-crime story it’s kinda sorta about. I’m “biast” (pro): mostly love Michael Winterbottom’s movies

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Let’s be perfectly clear: The Face of an Angel is most definitely not the story of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, who was killed in Perugia, Italy, in 2007, or the story of her roommate, American student Amanda Knox, who was tried and convicted of the crime along with her then boyfriend. (And then they were acquitted on appeal.)

Well, it is that story. But it isn’t, either. It’s both and neither at the same time.

Okay, look: British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom (The Look of Love, Everyday) is...

Michael Winterbottom's new film is based on the true-crime book Angel Face: Sex, Murder and the Inside Story of Amanda Knox, in the same way that his 2005 comedy A Cock and Bull Story was based on Tristram Shandy. That's to say, it's got an evasive and recursive narrative, all about a film-maker failing to make a film about a murder case like the one covered by the book.

Gurinder Chadha’s hit film Bend It Like Beckham is being readied for the West End stage and following a host of auditions and workshops, the cast for the highly anticipated stage version Bend It Like Beckham the Musical has been formally announced.

Natalie Dew will play football crazy Jess with Lauren Samuels as Jules, a player with the Harriers, a local women’s football team, and Jamie Campbell Bower as their coach Joe. The three young leads will be supported by some familiar faces, including comedian Ronni Ancona who plays Paula, Jules’s Mum, with Jamal Andréas as Jess’ good friend Tony.

Preeya Kalidas who appeared in the original film as one of the cousins, will take on the role of Pinky, Jess’ sister and Tony Jayawardena andNatasha Jayetileke take on the all important roles of her parents, Mr and Mrs Bhamra.

Jess needs extra time. She is facing...

He’s faced off against many movie characters over the years, including an army of Orcs and James Bond, and soon prolific actor Sean Bean will face another formidable foe in The Frankenstein Chronicles, a six-part miniseries set to air on ITV Encore. Bean will play Inspector John Marlott in the 1800’s-set show, a man assigned to capture a killer who melds body parts together in a manner reminiscent of Victor Frankenstein.

Press Release - “ITV today confirmed commission of The Frankenstein Chronicles, a thrilling and terrifying re-imagining of the Frankenstein myth as a six-part period crime drama to be produced by Rainmark Films.

Incorporating elements from the investigative and horror genres with an extraordinary hero at its centre, Inspector John Marlott, played by multi-awarding winning leading actor Sean Bean (Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Accused) will be taken on a terrifying journey in pursuit of a chilling and diabolical foe.

This is no stuffy costume drama but a richly lived-in visit to early-19th-century England that is rough, bawdy, often funny, and more often unsettling. I’m “biast” (pro): I always expect greatness from Mike Leigh

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

I don’t know much about the painter J.M.W. Turner except that he was a precursor to the Impressionists, that his work, which we can see today was an early transitional sort of abstract, inspired future generations of artists to represent the world in ways that had never been imagined before.

Even this foundational basic is not the sort of thing that Mr. Turner cares to share with us. As grand as it is — the film frequently borrows the epic look and feel of Turner’s sweeping landscapes — history and scholarship are not its concerns. This...

A great actor once said “never work with children or animals.” This episode features both, and once again, the axiom proves true. The students of Coal Hill School have a sleepover in the museum of natural history, and wake up…

In The Forest Of The Night

By Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Directed by Sheree Folkson

London, and indeed the whole world, ha been engulfed by dense, fireproof forests overnight. The Doctor assumes it’s an act of aggression, but with the help of the kids of Coal Hill School, including one very sensitive girl, the real threat to Earth is identified. But are they too late to realize they’ve been attacking the wrong side?

This is another episode where the main plot and the threat of the week is almost overwhelmed by the staggering character work. Wonderful camera work from the director (the steadi-cam run around the top deck of the...

Doctor Who has unveiled a trailer for next weekend's episode 'In the Forest of the Night'.

The next series eight episode sees The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) venturing into a dangerous forest with Danny Pink and a group of precocious schoolchildren.

'In the Forest of the Night' was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce, who is making his Doctor Who debut.

The writer's notable work includes the Steve Coogan films 24 Hour Party People and Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, as well as the BAFTA Award-nominated movie Hilary and Jackie.

Doctor Who series 8 'Flatline' recap: A bumpy ride?

Doctor Who producer Steven Moffat has promised that Boyce's episode is "genius".

Harley Bird, Jenny Hill and Siwan Morris will be among the guest cast for 'In the Forest of the Night'.

Doctor Who airs on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the Us.

Watch our Geek TV review of...

Frank Cottrell Boyce has revealed that he is writing for the new series of Doctor Who.

The 24 Hour Party People screenwriter told the Liverpool Echo that the BBC sci-fi drama is "a great thing to be involved with".

"I grew up loving Doctor Who, and my teenage son was a big fan of it too," he said.

"It's a pleasure to write it and I'm looking forward to seeing Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor."

Cottrell Boyce is well-known for his work in children's fiction and for his collaborations with film director Michael Winterbottom, including 2002's 24 Hour Party People and 2005's A Cock and Bull Story.

He also worked with Danny Boyle in scripting the well-received Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.

Cottrell Boyce would appear to be the final confirmed writer for Doctor Who's eighth series and is expected to take the one remaining vacant...

It's being reported that 24 Hour Party People's Frank Cottrell Boyce has written an episode of Doctor Who series 8...

News

All but one of the writing slots for Doctor Who series eight have already been announced, with Steven Moffat joined by Phil Ford, Mark Gatiss, Steve Thompson, Gareth Roberts, Peter Harness and Jamie Mathieson for the new run. It now looks as though the last remaining place - for episode ten in the series - has gone to a particularly interesting writer: Frank Cottrell Boyce.

The Liverpool Echo reports that native son Boyce (24 Hour Party People, Tristram Shandy: A Cock And Bull Story, The Railway Man) has provided a script for series eight. The screenwriter is quoted as saying "It’s like joining a family. It’s a great thing to be involved with. I grew up loving Doctor Who, and my teenage son was a big fan of it too.

Over the course of his career, actor and comedian Steve Coogan has garnered fans for a wide variety of projects, from his various tv and movie appearances as Alan Partridge, to his performances in films such as Hamlet 2 and Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story. One such project was The Trip, in which he co-starred with fellow performer Rob Brydon. The announcement that the two of them would reunite on a sequel was met with excitement from many, with was increased with news that director Michael Winterbottom would also be returning to the project. A new trailer has now been released, and can be seen below.

(Source: The Playlist)

The post ‘The Trip To Italy’, with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, releases a new trailer appeared first on Sound On Sight.

l - r Filmmakers Aaron Katz, Megan Griffiths, Adam Rapp, Amy Berg and Stephen Belber with moderator Mark Adams Tribeca Talks: Adaptation & Creation Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

On a sunny afternoon during the Tribeca Film Festival, directors Megan Griffiths (Lucky Them, starring Toni Collette and Thomas Haden Church); Aaron Katz (Land Ho!); Amy Berg (Every Secret Thing with Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, Dakota Fanning and Nate Parker); Adam Rapp (Loitering With Intent with Marisa Tomei and Sam Rockwell) and Stephen Belber (Match, starring Patrick Stewart), gathered for a Tribeca Talks: Pen to Paper - Adaptation & Creation panel.

Sidney Lumet's Twelve Angry Men, Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, Uli Edel's Last Exit To Brooklyn, Michael Winterbottom's Tristram Shandy: A Cock And Bull Story and Dead Man Walking, directed by Tim Robbins, were cited as important adaptations of literary works to cinema. And Whit Stillman writing...

Almost entirely ignores the amazing aspect of this true story that makes it worth telling, and even the very good performances point us in another direction than the intended one. I’m “biast” (pro): like the cast; enjoy stories about WWII

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

The Railway Man starts out like a sweet little romance, when Colin Firth meets Nicole Kidman, somewhere near Edinburgh in 1980, on a train he’s only on because his encyclopedic knowledge of train schedules is allowing him to compensate for an unexpected delay in his travel plans. “I’m not a trainspotter,” he assures her — and us — not that most prototypical of British nerds; “I’m a railway enthusiast.” Later, he is able to contrive a second meeting with her because of his, yes, trainspotting superpower.

Michael Winterbottom's 2011 film "The Trip" pulled off a unique hybrid—part road movie, part bromance and travel show—from an absurdly simple formula. The feature film, edited down from a six-hour BBC sitcom of the same name, reunited the stars of Winterbottom's 2005 film "Tristram and Shady: A Cock and Bull Story," Steve Coogan ("Philomena") and Rob Brydon ("Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels") under the premise that Coogan had invited Brydon on a road trip to review restaurants in the Lake District for The Observer. Their routine never varied. Coogan and Brydon ordered high-concept dishes (like duckfat lollies) and competed for the best Michael Caine impersonations (among others) over lunch, visited the haunts of Coleridge and Wordsworth in the afternoons, and retired to separate rooms at posh inns at night. Late in the day, Brydon anxiously phoned his wife, a young mother, while Coogan sought the nearest moody cliff...

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 16 Jan 2014 - 06:20

Another 25 unsung greats come under the spotlight, as we provide our pick of the underappreciated films of 2005...

It's underappreciated films time again, and this week, we delve deep into the year 2005 - a collection of months dominated by the likes of Star Wars: Episode III, another Harry Potter, Steven Spielberg's War Of The Worlds, Peter Jackson's King Kong, and CG family movie Madagascar.

It was also the year Pierce Brosnan formally bowed out of his role as James Bond, and Martin Scorsese's The Aviator was hyped to win the director his first Oscar, but didn't. Still, the contents of this list received nothing like the acclaim of The Aviator, nor the financial pickings of a Star Wars or Harry Potter. As ever, we've focused on 25 films which we think deserve a bit more love.

So with apologies to...

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 9 Jan 2014 - 06:25

We head back a decade to look at a few films that deserve more attention. Here’s our list of 25 underappreciated movies of 2004...

Think back to 2004, and you might dredge up hazy memories of the computer-generated fairytale sequel Shrek 2, Alfonso’s Harry Potter installment, The Prisoner Of Azkaban, or maybe Mel Gibson’s phenomenally successful Passion Of The Christ.

It’s rather less likely that you’ll remember some of the films on this list. You’re probably aware of the drill by now: we’ve gone back into our distant, beer-addled memories to find 25 of the less commonly-lauded movies from the year 2004.

Some of them did reasonably well at the time, but appear to have been forgotten since (especially the one eclipsed by its own internet meme), while others were coolly received by the public or critics (and sometimes...

In the continued spirit of the holidays, this month's streaming recommendations will focus on travel (and often the misery of it).  From the woes of cancelled flights, to finding out how much your friendship really means when you're cooped up with people for extended amounts of time, the following films focus a lot on the transformative experience of a trip away, and what it means for life back home.  Even if you aren't traveling this holiday season, most of these movies also provide some lush and atmospheric backgrounds to fuel the fantasy of escaping to a far-off place (without the hassle of actual travel).  And as a reminder: if you don't currently have the streaming service paired with each film, search the one(s) you do have -- many of these titles are available on more than one online platform. Hit the jump for my recommendations, and click here for Streaming Recommendations,...

Steve Coogan passion project The Look of Love (2012) reunites the British actor and comic with longtime collaborator Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, A Cock and Bull Story, The Trip) for the real life story of the 'King of Soho', the legendary gentleman's club owner and pornographer Paul Raymond. To celebrate the DVD and Blu-ray release of Winterbottom's period dramedy, we've kindly been provided with Three DVD copies of the film to give away to our lucky readers, thanks to StudioCanal. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.

Charting his life from the late 1950s, the film follows Raymond as he progresses up the financial and social ladder, accumulating wealth and notoriety. In 1958 he opened London's first strip club, soon after taking over all of Soho...

★★☆☆☆ The first offering in a busy year for Steve Coogan - and newly released this week on DVD and Blu-ray - The Look of Love (2013) is the latest collaboration between the comedian and genre-hopping British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom. This fruitful creative partnership has, in the past, offered up such bounties as 24 Hour Party People, A Cock and Bull Story and hit BBC Two series The Trip. Unfortunately, not even 'WinterCoogan' can make a sympathetic protagonist out of Soho sleaze king Paul Raymond, a largely detestable figure who - according to this biopic, at least - drove those around him to despair and beyond.

Entering into a life of grime as a mind-reader in a cabaret act, Liverpudlian chancer Raymond (Coogan) hit upon the bright idea of performing with nude assistants. Struck by the sudden revelation that men enjoy being in the company of naked women, Raymond set about building an empire of gentleman's clubs,...

Alan Partridge, back in a new film, remains the actor's most memorable part, but much has changed since he first portrayed him – from Hollywood success to his presence at the Leveson inquiry

When Armando Iannucci finished work on the second series of I'm Alan Partridge in 2002, he told Observer readers that Steve Coogan's best-loved character had reached the end of the road. "I got a sense by the end of filming," he said, "that this was probably enough." By then, Coogan had developed a love/hate relationship with his Radio Norwich-presenting alter ego. The comedian wanted credibility and Hollywood stardom, but what he got was people shouting "a-ha!" at him in the street. A decade after Partridge's debut on the Radio 4 show On the Hour, it seemed like a good time to put Alan's sports casual suits into mothballs.

Eleven years on and Radio Norwich's finest is on the verge of movie stardom.

Alan Partridge, back in a new film, remains the actor's most memorable part, but much has changed since he first portrayed him – from Hollywood success to his presence at the Leveson inquiry

When Armando Iannucci finished work on the second series of I'm Alan Partridge in 2002, he told Observer readers that Steve Coogan's best-loved character had reached the end of the road. "I got a sense by the end of filming," he said, "that this was probably enough." By then, Coogan had developed a love/hate relationship with his Radio Norwich-presenting alter ego. The comedian wanted credibility and Hollywood stardom, but what he got was people shouting "a-ha!" at him in the street. A decade after Partridge's debut on the Radio 4 show On the Hour, it seemed like a good time to put Alan's sports casual suits into mothballs.

Eleven years on and Radio Norwich's finest is on the verge of movie stardom.

Feature Mark Harrison 5 Jul 2013 - 06:31

This Is The End doesn't have the monopoly on actors playing themselves in movies. Just check this lot out...

Last week saw the UK release of This Is The End, in which members of Judd Apatow's comedy troupe wind up trapped in James Franco's house, post-Rapture. Most of the world's population has been Raptured into the next life, or otherwise fallen into a great big hole in Franco's lawn.

The film is adapted from a 2007 sketch called Jay & Seth Vs The Apocalypse, which featured Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen squabbling with each other in a living room. Both reprise their roles here, as exaggerated versions of themselves. You know how Rogen is often criticised for playing himself in movies? Well, he literally plays himself in this one, to a certain degree. Elsewhere, Michael Cera plays a drug-addled dickhole, Emma Watson is a...

Michael Winterbottom has begun filming a sequel to The Trip, the road-trip comedy starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as semi-fictionalized versions of themselves, which was itself a sequel to 2006's A Cock and Bull Story. Like The Trip, The Trip to Italy will be shot for British television and then edited into a movie distributed by IFC Films, as Deadline reports. The premise, which is not dissimilar to the last film, finds our two British comedic frenemies driving around Italy, retracing the footsteps of the Romantics. Hopefully, as a twist, they'll meet Michael Caine and he'll do an impersonation of them.

From Being John Malkovich to Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Trip, actors increasingly find it liberating, even therapeutic, to play a version of themselves. This is the End is the latest film to mess around with movie star personas

The new comedy This is the End is less notable for its vision of Hollywood hit by the apocalypse than for the conceit of having its entire cast play themselves. It turns out that Jonah Hill is a prissy buffoon given to harping on about his Oscar nomination. Sweet, gentle Michael Cera is in fact a leering, cocaine-snorting lout who has toilet-stall threesomes with anyone who will oblige. Seth Rogen likes weed. And who on earth would have suspected that James Franco is gay?

Only the most credulous audience members will believe that the cast of This is the End are doing anything except performing, but there is still the tantalising...

More like an Avengers Assemble sequel than a tired third instalment, the reinvigorated action hero powers in at No 1

The winner

As Disney prepared Iron Man 3 for release, the question was always: would it perform like the first two instalments in the Tony Stark series, or could it fly close to the astonishing success of The Avengers last summer? Iron Man opened in May 2008 with £5.47m including £667,000 in previews. Iron Man 2 followed two years later with £7.66m including previews of £877,000, an increase of 40%. Then April 2012 saw The Avengers soar away with £15.78m, including £2.55m in previews – more than double the Iron Man 2 debut.

With £13.71m including £2.32m in previews, Iron Man 3 is 79% up on the opening of Iron Man 2 and just 13% down on the equivalent number for Avengers. In other words, the film has performed more like a sequel to Avengers than to the Iron Man movies.

Sean Ellis’ Metro Manila is, so far, most likely to snap up a distribution deal. It’s a thriller in the same vein as City of God; a faux-gritty depiction of indigent struggle that can’t help but give way to generic signposting and neat resolutions. A passable genre entry professing to be something more, the film takes matters seriously enough to be considered as a critique on exploitation and corruption, though its priority is to simply entertain.

The film dives headfirst into its conceit in the opening minutes. Oscar Ramirez (Jake Macapagal) and his wife Mai (Althea Vega) promptly decide they’ve had quite enough of poverty-stricken existence in the Philippine mountains, and set forth with their two children to Metro Manila in the hopes of starting anew. What awaits them there is a less-than-idyllic arrangement; Ramirez joins an armoured truck company and naively walks into a setup with violent repercussions,...

Review Paul Martinovic 26 Apr 2013 - 06:15

Steve Coogan stars inthe biopic of Soho publisher Paul Raymond, The Look Of Love. Here's Paul's review of a rather flaccid comedy drama...

Sex on film is a tricky business. Orson Welles once argued that the 'physical act of love' was the one of only two things (along with praying) that you could never accurately depict on screen: and it remains true, even if in recent years all manner of actual unsimulated sex acts have slipped past the watchful eyes of a BBFC board determined to disarm film geeks who grew up on banned nunchucks and video nasties. It remains true because, of course, Welles wasn’t referring to actually showing the fleshy mechanics of sex – his argument was that the heady emotional cocktail you actually experience when you're having sex just isn’t something that will translate adequately into another medium.

Paul Raymond,...

The Sundance London Film and Music Festival returns to the capital this weekend and the lineup of film and music events looks to build on the solid foundation established last year.

It’s an exciting time for Independent film with the trailblazing success of the Sundance festival in Utah sparking off dozens of initiatives, the Raindance festival is a notable and vibrant example, and Sundance London is looking to do more than replicating the success of its American cousin.

When we reported on the lineup we singled out Michael Winterbottom’s The Look of Love, a biopic of self-styled King of Soho Paul Raymond, and Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color, his highly anticipated follow-up film to 2004′s Primer. However there are many more excellent films playing across the various strands and we wanted to shine our spotlight on some of the films to look forward to.

All the films playing...

Steve Coogan reteams with director Michael Winterbottom - director of 24 Hour Party People, The Trip, A Cock And Bull Story, etc - for the upcoming The Look Of Love, a biopic of British pornographer Paul Raymond.After starting his show business career as a mind-reader in a cabaret act, Paul Raymond went on to become Britain's richest man and a modern King Midas. With an entrepreneurial eye and a realisation that sex sells, he began building his empire of gentleman's clubs, porn magazines and nude theatre - provoking outrage and titillation in equal measure. Raymond's personal life was as colourful as his revue shows. His marriage to Jean, a nude dancer and choreographer, ended in a difficult divorce when he met Fiona - a glamour...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Formerly marketed under the (far better) title The King of Soho, Michael Winterbottom’s fourth collaboration with Steve Coogan charts the life of the late Paul Raymond; at one point the richest man in Britain. Like the current holder of that title, Lakshmi Mittal, Raymond’s fortune grew from small beginnings to market dominance, but where Mittal’s success came with steel, Raymond’s empire was founded on sex.

Liverpool-born Raymond (Coogan) broke into showbiz as a mind reader on Clacton Pier (ooh, the glamour…) before starting a touring show with nude models posing as statues. After opening Britain’s first strip club – the Raymond Revuebar – as a means of circumventing government rules about decency in the theatre, Raymond’s porn portfolio grew with bestselling magazines – but his real power came in property. He landed his monarchical nickname after buying up half of Soho, all with an eye on handing...

The actor's attempt to play Soho sex king Paul Raymond should have worked on paper – they share a similar look and mannerisms – but there is only one role he can play

Steve Coogan looks a bit like Paul Raymond; the two men even share the same adenoidal tic. So Coogan ought to be better placed to play Raymond in a biopic than, say, Meryl Streep was, to play Thatcher. Yet during The Look of Love, it's not the legendary entrepreneur of erotica who fills the screen: it's Alan Partridge.

The character's gestures, mannerisms and intonation hail from the Norwich ring road, not Walker's Court. More importantly, so does his soul. The Look of Love seeks to portray its protagonist as a libertine tragically confounded by doomed paternal love. Coogan's Raymond meets his daughter's demise with an agonised show of remorse; yet his pained expression doesn't have you reaching for your hanky.

Everyday (2012), the potent latest film from acclaimed British director Michael Winterbottom (of 24 Hour Party People, In This World, A Cock and Bull Story and The Trip fame) is a compelling story of a family apart, as well as the celebration of the small, minute pleasures of everyday life. To celebrate the film's DVD release this coming Monday (25 March), we've been handed Three DVD copies of Winterbottom's touching, moving film to offer our valued readers, courtesy of the team at UK distributors Soda Pictures. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.

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The Look of Love has debuted a new poster depicting Steve Coogan as porn baron Paul Raymond.

Anna Friel, Imogen Poots and Tamsin Egerton, who will co-star in the Michael Winterbottom-directed film, also appear in the promo.

Coogan and Winterbottom also worked together on 24 Hour Party People, A Cock and Bull Story, and television series The Trip.

The I'm Alan Partridge star said of the film: "Like 24 Hour Party People, it's a very British story about an eccentric character at the centre of pivotal events in British culture.

"I love the film. It has that strange combination of comedy and tragedy that Michael Winterbottom manages to pull off with a real deftness of touch. Like very few films these days it's actually about something without being portentous. Oh and there's lots of naked ladies in it too!"

Coogan is currently filming The Alan Partridge Movie around Norfolk. Stills from...

One never knows what to expect from director Michael Winterbottom, which is why it’s always so exciting to hear he has a new film. Will it be science fiction, like the marvelous Code 46? Will it be historical drama, like the magnificent The Claim? Will it be a documentary, like the brutal Road to Guantanamo? Will it transcend genres, like the hilarious The Trip or the mind-rattling A Cock and Bull Story? Will it be the rare crushing disappointment, like The Killer Inside Me? Anticipation goes to a whole new delicious level when it comes to Winterbottom’s work, and I didn’t need to know anything about Everyday to know that I could not miss it at the London Film Festival last autumn. (It didn’t hurt, though, to learn that John Simm and Shirley Henderson were starring in it.) So I had no idea what I was...

We all have visions that we hold dear, ideas and ideals that we keep close to our hearts, ready to share in that moment when we absolutely must go forth and claim our stake in the world. As German author Henirich von Kleist stated: "A free thinking man is not trapped where Destiny puts him."Aron Lehmann's feature debut is and isn't an adaptation of Kleist's novel Kohlhaas. The best supporting example I can give of this is how Michael Winterbottom's Tristram Shandy: A Cock And Bull Story is and isn't an adaptation of Laurence Stern's 18th century meta novel. While Winterbottom's film is full of snark, focusing on the petty, excessive and narcissistic ailments  of the film industry, Lehmann's film, by turn, is a celebration...

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It didn't take long for Steve Coogan and Michael Winterbottom's fourth collaboration The Look of Love , based on the life of London club owner and porn publisher Paul Raymond, known as "The King of Soho," to get scooped up by IFC Films who bought the North American rights on Sunday night. Previously Coogan starred in Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People about Factory Records owner Tony Wilson, and then teamed with Winterbottom and Rob Brydon for Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story and 2011's The Trip . This will be Winterbottom's fourth film in a row to be distributed by IFC Films following The Killer Inside Me , The Trip and last year's Trishna . In between, Winterbottom finished his five-year dramatic project Everyday , which premiered at the Telluride...

Prolific jack-of-all-genres Michael Winterbottom is consistently inconsistent. For my money, he does best with real world verite ("In this World," "A Mighty Heart," "The Road to Guantanamo") but he also has a flair for British comedy, often starring his go-to man Steve Coogan ("Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story," "The Trip"). The movie that "The Look of Love," which Winterbottom debuted at Sundance Saturday, most resembles is "24 Hour Party People," also starring Coogan, but it isn't nearly as entertaining, despite the surfeit of swinging sex and drugs that a biopic of Brit billionaire pornographer, strip club impresario and real estate mogul Paul Raymond demands. Coogan wanted to play Raymond, who was declared by the Sunday Times as Britain's richest man in 1992--the same year that his 36-year-old daughter (Imogen Poots) died of a heroin overdose. But Coogan does not pull us inside this crass...

The Railway Man

Director: Jonathan Teplitzky

Writer(s): Frank Cottrell Boyce (Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story) and Andy Paterson

Producer(s): Archer Street Productions’ Andy Paterson, Chris Brown and Bill Curbishley

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Jeremy Irvine, Hiroyuki Sanada

Teplitzky got the type of career jump start with 2011′s Tiff preemed Burning Man (read our review) which would then land him this meatier, dramatically charged, set to be a tear-jerker tale that is based on an autobiography which was the source material for a television drama. Co-written with Frank Cottrell Boyce, The Railway Man features the top tier fivesome of Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Jeremy Irvine and Hiroyuki Sanada, and could be an awards contender for all the right reasons if executed with button pushing restraint and top notch perfs.

Gist: During World War II, Eric Lomax...

IFC Films has closed a deal for North American rights to Michael Winterbottom's The Look of Love, according to sources. The film stars longtime Winterbottom collaborator Steve Coogan (The Trip, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story) in his first dramatic role as British adult magazine publisher and entrepreneur Paul Raymond. As a modern-day King Midas, Raymond became the richest man in Britain but lost everyone closest to him. The film co-stars Anna Friel, Imogen Poots and Tamsin Egerton. The Look of Love bowed at Eccles Theatre on Jan. 19 as part of Sundance's Premieres category. THR critic

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Stellar performances continue to outweigh flimsy storytelling in BBC drama The Hour, while the final series of The Killing looks like a return to form

The Hour (BBC2) | iPlayer

Everyday (C4) | 4oD

The Killing (BBC4) | iPlayer

Falcón (Sky Atlantic)

A BBC current affairs programme is caught up in a crisis. There are internal machinations, a star presenter gone off-message, an editor undermined from above, government pressure and a gathering scandal involving establishment figures and sexual abuse; if it were not for the 1950s costumes, The Hour could almost be mistaken for a behind-the-scenes look at Newsnight in 2012.

With so much of the BBC's news coverage devoted to the meltdown at the BBC, it's a kind of relief to be transported back to a time before Twitter, before Jimmy Savile and before the Beeb became a self‑consuming behemoth.

The problem with The Hour is that, far from being unmanageably large,...