Tag Archives: Historical Drama

Review in Brief: The Nightingale (2018/19)

Posted on January 8, 2020 by

THE NIGHTINGALE is a gruelling and relentlessly bleak watch, but it’s compelling stuff nonetheless. Jennifer Kent followed up her fascinatingly unique genre debut THE BABADOOK with a dark, raw and grounded historical epic. There’s a captivating core relationship dynamic: an … Continue reading →

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Chernobyl: Audience Adulation vs Critical Consenus

Posted on July 5, 2019 by

According to the IMDb, HBO/Sky’s miniseries CHERNOBYL is now the most critically acclaimed TV show of all time. It’s in all the trailers now: “9.6/10”. This does not matter. I’m not one of those “who cares what the critics think?” … Continue reading →

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Review: The Favourite (2018)

Posted on January 23, 2019 by

Queen Anne is a British monarch often overlooked, dismissed, forgotten. I’m into my history and I would have struggled to tell you much about her reign before watching THE FAVOURITE. The film isn’t a history lesson, that’s not what writer-director … Continue reading →

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Review in Brief: Outlaw King (2018)

Posted on December 2, 2018 by

Don’t compare OUTLAW KING to BRAVEHEART, compare it to IRONCLAD. This is brutal, dirty history, and there’s not a kilt in sight. Chris Pine is a softly spoken and dignified Robert the Bruce, Florence Pugh is a fiery counterpoint to … Continue reading →

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Review: Peterloo (2018)

Posted on November 14, 2018 by

I’m fully behind everything PETERLOO as a film stands for, and with individual liberties under threat ever more stories like this have become vital. Unfortunately I found the the manner in which Mike Leigh tells this story deeply frustrating. Lancashire, … Continue reading →

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Review in Brief: Churchill (2017)

Posted on June 26, 2018 by

Trading showiness for human connection, CHURCHILL is far superior to DARKEST HOUR. The dialogue might range from poetic bluster (“My job is not to fight, not to die…I must exist”) to rather cumbersome exposition (“We’ve only a three day window … Continue reading →

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Review in Brief: Their Finest (2016/17)

Posted on March 15, 2018 by

Yes, it’s probably destined to be a perennial Sunday afternoon favourite along with all the other cosy feelgood historical fare, but THEIR FINEST has a fair bit of bite to it as well. It has what SUFFRAGETTE (dignified as it … Continue reading →

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Review: Darkest Hour (2017)

Posted on February 10, 2018 by

DARKEST HOUR left me cold. Yes, Gary Oldman will probably win the Oscar for portraying Winston Churchill. Yes, he probably should. And yet, something about the presentation of the film around him left me feeling pretty empty and disconnected. May … Continue reading →

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Review in Brief: The Limehouse Golem (2016/17)

Posted on January 30, 2018 by

THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM is an odd, inconsistent beast. I liked that this murder-mystery takes place in a gritty, nasty vision of Victorian London: children being sold and horrifically abused, seedy backstreet businesses, no desirable place in society unless you’re lucky … Continue reading →

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Review: Dunkirk (2017)

Posted on August 2, 2017 by

Some directors just need to get a film out of their systems. For Steven Spielberg it was SCHINDLER’S LIST, for Christopher Nolan it is surely DUNKIRK. The French coastline, May 1940. With the Allied army surrounded and with the sea … Continue reading →

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