MARIA DUARTE, JAMES WALSH and ANDY HEDGECOCK review The Invite, My Father’s Island, Nirvanna: the Band, the Show, the Movie, and Oh My Goodness!
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Bonanza time for biopics and ballads
MARIA DUARTE picks her top 10 films of the year
PAUL DONOVAN is chilled by the contemporary resonance of Harper Lee’s coming of age tale amidst racism and white supremacy in this excellent production
GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends the unashamedly light-hearted escapism on offer in this stage version of the 1963 film
Full of mysterious religious references and radical sound design, the Scottish duo’s new offering is candidate for album of the year, suggests SIMON DUFF
MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
The musical which wowed both critics and film fans alike during the year was Tom Hooper's stunning film adaptation of the stage musical Les Miserables which won three Oscars. It included one for Anne Hathaway who stole the film with her gut-wrenching rendition of I Dreamed A Dream.
Top of the biopics was Ron Howard's riveting and nail-biting Rush which explores the merciless rivalry between racing drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, played magnificently by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl.
It was closely followed by Stephen Frears's heart-breaking Philomena, based on the true story of an elderly Catholic Irish woman (Judi Dench), who enlisted the help of a former BBC journalist (Steve Coogan) to find the son the nuns stole from her as a teenage girl.
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MARIA DUARTE, JAMES WALSH and ANDY HEDGECOCK review The Invite, My Father’s Island, Nirvanna: the Band, the Show, the Movie, and Oh My Goodness!
LEO BOIX, ANGUS REID and MARIA DUARTE review Night Stage, Two Women, Kim Novak’s Vertigo, and Fuze
Although this production was in rehearsal before the playwright’s death, it allows us to pay homage to his life, suggests MARY CONWAY
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