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Articles by Tim Robey
Christopher Nolan's ‘woke' odyssey is actually a conservative fever dream
Long before it was a world-conquering blockbuster well on its way to a billion-dollar gross, Christopher Nolan 's The Odyssey was pre-emptively criticised, based on casting announcements and the trailer, as a woke-ified adaptation of Homer. They said it would fail. The most prominent of the slammers was Elon Musk , who particularly bridled against the casting of Lupita Nyong'o as Helen, claiming that Nolan had kowtowed to Hollywood diversity quotas and “lost his integrity”.
Can a new staging of Cats overcome the trauma of the zero-star film?
This summer, London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is venturing where no venue has dared to tread this decade – to attempt a revival of Cats. The cause for trepidation is not the British weather (even Grizabella can handle a little drizzle). Nor is it the stage history of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-adored musical, which ran in the West End for 21 years and on Broadway for 18. The problem is, rather, the legendarily abysmal 2019 film.
This Animal Farm is so bad, it’s enough to turn George Orwell fascist
Mr Jones’s farm is now a ramshackle smallholding in America’s heartland Converting Animal Farm into a shudder-worthy nightmare is certainly one way to go with it. The misjudgments of the new animated film, directed by Andy Serkis, are so legion that it’s hard to know where to start. Perhaps the bouncy musical montages to grating chart pop, while the pigs go on shopping sprees? The hideous character designs?
Where Nolan stays true to The Odyssey – and where he takes liberties
To adapt TheOdyssey for film is one heck of a massive ask, given its scale and complexity as storytelling, not to mention that we’re dealing with one of the great foundational epics of Western literature. Christopher Nolan, characteristically, is undaunted. His film is nothing if not an ingenious feat of adaptation, compressing 24 books of Homeric epic (which I pored over for my Classics degree) into just shy of three hours.
Sam Neill's best roles, from Jurassic Park to Dead Calm
Tim Robey Sam Neill looked like a politician, yet earned our trust by excelling in so many roles as a voice of reason – supremely empathetic and wise. His voice was magical (it's unsurprising that he played Merlin for a 1998 miniseries) and his exterior so composed that it became a thrill any time we saw him get ruffled. There was something wizard-like, too, about his ability to blur lines: between leading men and character roles, heroes and villains.
Sam Neill’s best roles, from Jurassic Park to Dead Calm
Neill was best known for playing Dr Alan Grant in the 1993 film Jurassic Park - Murray Close Sam Neill looked like a politician, yet earned our trust by excelling in so many roles as a voice of reason – supremely empathetic and wise. His voice was magical (it’s unsurprising that he played Merlin for a 1998 miniseries) and his exterior so composed that it became a thrill any time we saw him get ruffled.
Did Pamela Anderson join this incest-obsessed film as a dare?
Pamela Anderson plays the matriarch of a dysfunctional American family living in Catalonia - Mubi A rich clan of absolute weirdos make eyes at each other – and worse – in Rosebush Pruning, an impressively self-indulgent, effortfully kinky black comedy about a dysfunctional American family living in Catalonia.
The battle to save Burton and Taylor's ‘dirty movie' from the censors
In October 1962, a depressed Mike Nichols went to see the play everyone was talking about on Broadway, Edward Albee 's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He was blown away, and felt “enormously jealous” as he watched it – partly because a play starring him had just capsized spectacularly.
America's 25 greatest gifts to culture (and five we wish we could send back)
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From rock 'n' roll to Ross and Rachel, superheroes to skyscrapers, over the past two and a half centuries America has arguably had a greater influence than any other nation on how our lives look and sound.
By Dominic Cavendish Verified, Robbie Collin Verified, Ivan Hewett Verified, Neil McCormick, Cal Revely-Calder Verified, Tim Robey Verified, Anita Singh Verified, Alastair Sooke Verified, Lucy Thynne
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MSN UK
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Sherlock’s know-it-all sister has forgotten the art of deduction
Millie Bobby Brown’s once-irresistible young sleuth has lost her way - John Wilson/Netflix Third time is regrettably not the charm for Enola Holmes. This latest outing for Sherlock’s supposedly brilliant younger sister suggests that sleuthing is all very well, but, when you’re a young woman, it must eventually take a back seat to marrying a floppy-haired viscount. Millie Bobby Brown bolstered her huge fan following on Netflix when she bounced from Stranger Things into the role in 2020.
The 30 best films on Netflix to watch in July
The Untouchables established Kevin Costner as a bankable leading man - Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo It’s a brave soul who would play pot luck with Netflix’s film selection: you could easily wind up with a particularly tatty Netflix Original Movie and rue the day you subscribed. Watch out for Tyler Perry’s turgidly worthy war drama The Six Triple Eight, which could send whole battalions to the Land of Nod.
Audrey Hepburn’s secret sadness
Charade, the 1963 film where the character Audrey Hepburn plays is perhaps closest to who she really was, has just been reissued by the Criterion Collection, the DVD company that specialises in restoring the classics. An image persists of Hepburn as a poised glamour puss – well-behaved if a trifle aloof. Porcelain. Unattainable. But that self-containment may itself have been something of a charade. Perhaps, the pair of planned biopics currently in the offing will achieve their own insights.
Every Pixar film, ranked from worst to best
As Toy Story 5 gallops and jet-boosts its way into cinemas , Pixar finds itself in an unusual position: the studio is now old enough to have a history, yet still young enough for it to have not quite been settled yet. Is the pioneering animation house the 21st-century keeper of the values its parent studio Disney was built on a century beforehand? Or is it the embodiment of a self-obsessed, inward-looking contemporary Hollywood that has lost touch with its wider public?
A delightful night at the cinema with Virginia Woolf – and Lily Allen
Haley Bennett as Katharine Hilbery fights to avoid marriage and gain a place in the world of astronomy - Tom Trambow Virginia Woolf, 85 years since she took her own life, is experiencing a cinematic renaissance. Two retellings of Mrs Dalloway have recently premiered; now, one of her most obscure novels gets a light, loose, diverting treatment.
Richard E Grant is rancid fun in this rotten period satire
Even the combined star power of Claire Foy and Richard E Grant, as Sir Chauncey and Lady Savage, isn't enough to save this film from ruin - Dean Rogers Richard E Grant and Claire Foy rule the roost in Savage House, playing rancid 18th-century aristocrats fixing up their manor for a VIP dinner party. The stars could hardly have done a better job – Grant especially, in a rare leading role as a powdered, poisonous social climber plummeting into ruin.
The exploitation of Nastassja Kinski
No one in their right mind would wish for Nastassja Kinski's childhood. She was eight when her father, the infamously terrifying German actor Klaus Kinski, walked out, leaving her mother, Ruth Brigitte Tocki, essentially in nouveau poor circumstances. Klaus had already been repeatedly abusing Nastassja's older half-sister, Pola, since the age of five. In Nastassja's case, Klaus stopped short of raping her, but she had often been embraced "in a sexual manner" at around the same age.
Clint Eastwood’s 10 greatest films
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Clint Eastwood’s 10 greatest films
If his son is to be believed, Clint Eastwood has made his final film. “I have many fond memories of working with him,” musician Kyle Eastwood said in a recently unearthed interview given to a French outlet last year. “Now he’s retired, he’s 95 years old. But I was very lucky to be able to work with him on quite a few films.” Eastwood, now 96, has had a giant career. Sixty-odd films as an actor, 40 as a director, with hefty overlap, and an escalating seriousness in both modes.
The story behind Kate Moss’s nude portrait makes for a seductive biopic
Ellie Bamber gives a strong rendition of a 20-something Moss - Sean Gleeson When Kate Moss first met Lucian Freud to discuss posing for him in 2002, she had no idea that it would take nine months of intensely private sittings. She was pregnant when he painted her and the nudity was her choice.
The 30 best films on Disney+ to watch now
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The 30 best films on Disney+ to watch now
With Disney+, the clue is very much in the name: there’s a lot more on there than just the classic catalogue we’d usually call Disney. Following their acquisitions of Pixar (2006), Marvel (2009), Lucasfilm (2012), and – biggest of all – 20th Century Fox (2019), the service went live with all of those separate coffers jam-packed. Many families own it chiefly for animated favourites old and new, so I’ve devoted about half of this list to cherry-picking those.
This freaky horror is the extension to hell we never knew we needed
Backrooms turns the empty aisles and stale carpets of a discount furniture store into a deeply unsettling production - A24/Backrooms As bizarre as it is terrifying, Backrooms may not be a revolution in horror, but it’s a beyond-freaky remapping of the genre. This evilly hypnotic A24 smash, about the inexplicable recesses of a discount furniture store, leads us into a sickly yellow maze that has no business being back there.
This British romcom charmed me to pieces
Spike Fearn and Angourie Rice in Finding Emily, the story of a hapless musician’s quest for his dream girl - Matt Squire/Focus Features Finding Emily is a bright and truly funny reinvention of the British romcom from none other than Working Title, the production company that dominated the genre a generation ago, thanks above all to Richard Curtis and Hugh Grant. Forget about Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, though – can Gen Z even do romance?
Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender as never seen before
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Watch Jean Moulin’s blood-curdling encounter with the Butcher of Lyon
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The 30 best films on Netflix to watch now
It’s a brave soul who would play pot luck with Netflix’s film selection: you could easily wind up with a particularly tatty Netflix Original Movie and rue the day you subscribed. Watch out for Tyler Perry’s turgidly worthy war drama The Six Triple Eight, which could send whole battalions to the Land of Nod. How we selected this list Luckily, we’ve set about sorting the wheat from the chaff.
Kristen Stewart eats until Woody Harrelson bursts in the mad Full Phil
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This crass documentary is the last thing John Lennon would have wanted
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Even Ian McKellen can’t make this feeble script fly
Ian McKellen stars as Julian Sklar, a retired artist, and has about three quarters of the dialogue The Christophers, Steven Soderbergh’s new film set in the London art world, feels more like half a film; the details just don’t add up.
Fatherland is a bracingly intense portrait of post-war Germany
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I can’t say I enjoyed watching Barry Keoghan make jam out of butterflies
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Cannes kicks off with a charming romcom – please let it come to Britain
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The best films to watch in cinemas this week, from The Sheep Detectives to The Devil Wears Prada 2
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The 28 best films on Amazon Prime to watch now
Watching films on Amazon has always been a case of hunting for freebies, while mostly resigning oneself to coughing up the price of a coffee: thousands of movies can be rented, by anyone, for £3.49 (or less). Yet, for subscribers to Amazon Prime, a much more limited, ever-changing selection comes free. You just have to look out for the “Included with Prime” blue tick beside a film’s title – then catch it before it disappears.
The 28 best films on Amazon Prime to watch now
Watching films on Amazon has always been a case of hunting for freebies, while mostly resigning oneself to coughing up the price of a coffee: thousands of movies can be rented, by anyone, for £3.49 (or less). Yet, for subscribers to Amazon Prime, a much more limited, ever-changing selection comes free. You just have to look out for the “Included with Prime” blue tick beside a film’s title – then catch it before it disappears.
‘Amazon don't know what to do with it': What's going on with James Bond?
Tim Robey It's more than a year since Amazon gained creative control over theJames Bondfranchise. What this has seemingly granted to the world's most popular superspy is a licence to… wait. We're shaping up – easily, at this point – for the longest gap between Bond films since the series began.
What’s going on with James Bond?
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‘Amazon don’t know what to do with it’: What’s going on with James Bond? Original
It’s more than a year since Amazon gained creative control over the James Bond franchise. What this has seemingly granted to the world’s most popular superspy is a licence to… wait. We’re shaping up – easily, at this point – for the longest gap between Bond films since the series began.
The shocking and heartbreaking life of Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness split image Right after Alec Guinness’s death in August 2000, he was outed. In three biographies, published in 2001, 2002 and 2003 – the last of those being the authorised version – the great actor’s bisexuality was brought to light. Though close friends and family had always known, he’d managed to keep the secret from the public.
J-Lo’s fantastic moves can’t save her biggest box-office flop in two decades
Diego Luna as Armando and Jennifer Lopez as Ingrid Luna Kiss of the Spider Woman is Jennifer Lopez’s biggest box-office bomb since 2003’s Gigli, grossing just $2m (£1.5m) since its release in the US last October. It trickles to our screens six months later, and though poor J-Lo is blameless, it will justifiably meet the same fate here.
Films have lost the art of suspense – take us back to Carrie and Jaws
Tim Robey When was the last time a new film held you in unbearable suspense? You may be thinking back donkey's years. Suspense – that tool of cinema which obsessedHitchcock, straddles most genres, and has shredded so many cuticles in the best thrillers – has lately been thrown in the bin. It's a casualty of impatience and the bottom line. A generation ago, suspense thrillers were Hollywood's bread and butter.
Films have lost the art of suspense – take us back to Carrie and Jaws
When was the last time a new film held you in unbearable suspense? You may be thinking back donkey’s years. Suspense – that tool of cinema which obsessed Hitchcock, straddles most genres, and has shredded so many cuticles in the best thrillers – has lately been thrown in the bin. It’s a casualty of impatience and the bottom line. A generation ago, suspense thrillers were Hollywood’s bread and butter.
The best films to watch in cinemas this week, from The Stranger to California Schemin’
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The White House says George Clooney is a terrible actor. They have a point
George Clooney said Donald Trump’s pledge that ‘an entire civilisation would die’ was a war crime - Frazer Harrison/Getty Today brings us George Clooney versus the White House, each accusing the other of “war crimes”. Who is correct? Arguably, both. Donald Trump has done many atrocious things, but starring in Batman & Robin is not one of them. Threatening to end an entire civilisation, however? Pretty bad. Clooney and Trump have a long history of enmity.
All 52 Hitchcock films, ranked from worst to best
Tippi Hedren in The Birds, who endured live birds being flung at her for days - Alamy Half a century on from the release of his final film, The Family Plot, on April 9, 1976, London-born Alfred Hitchcock is recognised as perhaps the finest film-maker this country has ever produced.
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