Tag: power

The Wizard of the Kremlin
(Le Mage du Kremlin)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date April 15 2026
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(Le Mage du Kremlin)
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Director – Olivier Assayas – 2025 – France – Cert. 15 – 137m ***** Starting in 1990s Russia, an avant-garde theatre director morphs into first a TV producer then the mastermind behind the rise and rule of Vladimir Putin – out in UK cinemas on Friday, April 17th 2019. Roland (Jeffrey Wright) writing a book on a prominent Russian […]

Tags 1990s, a centred, adaptation, Alicia Vikander, anarchy, and right-hand man, artist, avant-garde theatre, biopic, Boris Yeltsin, calm, city, control, convoy, creative arts, cultural storm, dark arts, declining health, despot, devoted father to his young daughter, dog performer, drama. TV news footage, election, election broadcast, entrepreneur, explodsion, France, Giuliano da Empoli, Gorbachov, gunfire, hardliner, individuals, influence, institutions, Jeffrey Wright, Jude Law, luxury yacht, maelstrom, manipulation, novel, official, Olivier Assayas, outskirts, party, Paul Dano, planning, political thriller, politics, power, power base, power struggles, private house, puppet ruler, Rasputin, ride the storm and only disappears from view when he himself decides the time is right. He is the eponymous, rise and fall, Russian Oligarch, secret police, singer, social collapse, social gathering, Soviet Union, spaghetti junction, SUV, taken down, the masses, Tom Sturridge, tough leadership, Tsar, TV producer, violence, vision, visionary, Vladimir Putin’s arch-manipulator, wealth, Will Keen, Wizard of the Kremlin, woodland, writing a book, zeitgeist

Animation Features Movies

Scarlet
(Hateshinaki Sukaretto,
果てしなきスカーレット,
lit. Endless Scarlet)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date March 13 2026
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(Hateshinaki Sukaretto,
果てしなきスカーレット,
lit. Endless Scarlet)
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Director – Mamoru Hosoda – 2025 – Japan – Cert. 15 – 111m **** Trapped in the Otherworld, a limbo preceding the afterlife, Princess Scarlet seeks revenge on her uncle who has killed her father the King – anime reimagining of Hamlet is out in UK cinemas on Friday, March 13th Walking across a vast desert and dying […]

Features Live Action Movies Music

Control

Director – Anton Corbijn – 2007 – UK – Cert. 15 – 122m ***** UK release date 05/10/2007 The story of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis: his disintegrating marriage, struggles with epilepsy and eventual suicide – review originally published in Third Way magazine, September 2007 For the uninitiated, post-punk Mancunian band Joy Division formed […]

Tags 1977, 1980, adultery, affair, American tour, Annik Honoré, Anton Corbijn, band, bass, Belgian, biography, black and white, bleakness, ceiling airer, church, cult status, cultural icon, death, Deborah Curtis, destruction, drama, drums, epilepsy, extra-martial affair, Factory Records, focus, four-piece, Granada TV, guitar, hanging, health issues, husbands and wives, Ian Curtis, journalist, Joy Division, lead singer, loner, Love Will Tear Us Apart, Manchester, Mancunian band, marriage, marriage issues, May 1980, new order, ominous, post-punk, power, punctuation, recording session, repeating double aerosol can squirt, rock music, rock photographer, Sam Morton, Sam Riley, She’s Lost Control, singer, solemnising the marriage, songwriter. Recordings, struggle, suicide, survivors, talent, three-piece, Tony Wilson, torment, Touching From A Distance, Transmission, U2, UK, unable to cope, wife

Art Documentary Exhibitions Features Live Action Movies

Exhibition on Screen
Michelangelo
Love and Death

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date May 20 2025
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Michelangelo
Love and Death
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Director – David Bickerstaff – 2017 – UK – Cert. U – 91m ***** Sixteenth Century Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo remains one of the greatest artists of all time, yet his overreaching ambition frequently proved his undoing – back out in UK cinemas to tie in with the 550th anniversary of Michelangelo’s birth from Tuesday, May […]

Tags 1475, 1530, 15th Century, 16th century, acolyte, Alessandro Cecchi, ambition, anatomy, ancient ruins, and Martin Clayton, architect, architecture, Arnold Nesselrath, Art Critic, art historian, artist academy, artists’ workshop, assistants, attack, author, Bacchus, Battle of the Centaurs, Bertoldo, Bible, biographer, biographies, block of marble, burning at the stake, cadavers, Carrara, Casa Buonarotti, Casa Buonorotti, Christ in judgement, Christian redemption, church, Clinical Anatomy, closed access, Colosseum, columns, commission, committee of artists, Condivi, Conservator, control freak, Cosimo de Medici, Creation of Adam, creative genius, crucifixion, cupola, David, David Bickerstaff, David Rintoul, Dawn and Dusk, dead Christ, decorative, delegate, design, Divinity, Donatello, Duomo, end of the world, engineering, English, Exhibition On Screen, eyes, facade, family, Florence, Florence Cathedral, flow, football, fortifications, frame, France, Francesca Nicoli, gay, gay sexuality, Genesis, German, God’s finger, grief, hands, Heaven, hiding, higher spiritual realm, Holly Trusted, imagination, impart life, interview, irrationality, Italian, Italy, James Faulkner, Jennifer Sliwka. Art, Jonathan Jones, Laboratoire Artistici Nicoli, language of architecture, Laurentian library, lava, Lawrence Kennedy, Leonardo da Vinci, library, London, Lorenzo di Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent, male world, marble, Marco Ambrosini, Martin Gayford, Mary, medical science, Medici, Michelangelo, military fortifications, mother, motifs, motion, movement, muscular nude body, Neo-Platonist, New Testament, night and day, nudity, Office of Works, Old Testament, painter, painting, papal court, patrons, peace deal, Peter Abrahams, Phil Grabsky, Phillippa Abrahams, physical agony, physical beauty, Picasso, picture frame, pietà, poet, poetry, Pope Clement VII, Pope Julius II, Pope Leo X, Pope Paul II, power, Prints and Drawings, problem-solving, professor, punishment, quarry, religious art, Rembrandt, Renaissance, Rome, Royal Collection Trust, sacristy, San Lorenzo, San Lorenzo monastery, Santa Croce church, Santo Spiritu, sculptor, sculpture, self-portrait, Senior Curator, Sistine Chapel, Sistine Chapel altar wall, Sistine Chapel ceiling, sodomy, St. Peter’s Rome, staircase, studio, studying cadavers, tactile, Tania Kovats, teenage angst, The Battle of Cascina, the Divine, The Last Judgement, tomb, torment, touch, trams, turn convention on its head, UK, upbringing, V&A, Vasari, Vatican Museums, Virgin Mary, vision, volcano, wall of flesh, Warwick Medical School

Features Live Action Movies

The Devils

Director – Ken Russell – 1971 – UK – Cert. 18 – 106m 41s (cut) ***** UK DVD release date 19/03/2012, cert. 18, 107 mins plus extras, £19.99. Reviewed for Third Way 40 years after its 1971 theatrical release, the late Ken Russell’s key work reaches UK DVD in its original UK X Certificate version […]

Tags artistic quality, audio commentary, BBFC, BFI, blasphemy, British cinema, British Film Institute, Cardinal Richelieu, Catholic Church, Christian spirituality, Christopher Logue, church history, city walls, concession, convent, Craig Lapper, decadent, demon-possessed, Derek Jarman, Director of Devils, director's cut exists, distributor, diversion, editor, eerie, experimental, father, France, Graham Armitage, gratuitous, home movie, John Trevelyan, Ken Russell, knock down walls, Loudun, Louis XIII, Mark Kermode, Michael Bradsell, modern city, Monarch, mother superior, nation, nudity, nun, nunsploitation, Oliver Reed, orgy, Paul Joyce, Peter Maxwell Davies, Pinewood, political history, politics, power, power base, priest, promiscuity, protector, public lavatory, rape, Rape of Christ, religion, score, self-governing entities, seventeenth century, sex, sexuality, sister, statue of Jesus, torture, total freedom, UK, UK censor, Vanessa Redgrave, Warner Bros., X Certificate

Animation Features Movies

Watership Down
(new 4K restoration)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date October 12 2024
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(new 4K restoration)
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Director – Martin Rosen – 1978 – UK – Cert. PG – 92m ***** When a young rabbit visionary foresees doom for those who remain, some of the rabbits leave their warren in search of a safer home, encountering many life-threatening perils along the way – new 4K restoration of animated feature is out in […]

Tags 2D animation, adaptation, animal tales, animated storytelling, animation, anthropomorphism, background, Black Rabbit of Death, British, cage, cat, children's film, children’s book, climate crisis, codified Disney style, coloured lines, countryside, creation myths, D.H. Lawrence, darkness, death, decadence, Denholm Elliot, despot, destination, dog, doom, drawing, drawn animation, English countryside, family film, fantasy, fresh food, God, Harry Andrews, hawk, illustration, in search of home, injury, intelligent creatures, John Bennett, John Hubley, John Hurt, journey, kingdom, leader, leave, leave home, lethal, LFF, LFF 2024, life and death, life crisis, life-threatening, London, London Film Festival, London Film Festival 2024, Martin Rosen, Michael Graham Cox, militarism, myth, mythology, natural history illustration, naturalism, nature, nature red in tooth and claw, non-naturalism, novel, painting, perils, power, predator, primitive drawings, rabbit, rabbitkind, Ralph Richardson, resistance, Richard Adams, Richard Briers, safe haven, seagull, sentimentality, snare, societal collapse, storytelling, sun, totalitarian regime, trauma, UK, violence, visionary, warren, watercolour, Watership Down, woods, Zero Mostel

Animation Features Movies

Dragonkeeper
(Gardiana de Dragones)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date September 25 2024
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(Gardiana de Dragones)
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Director – Li Jianping, Salvador Simó – 2023 – Spain, China – Cert. PG – 98m **** Faced by powerful forces of empire and a ruthless traitor, a girl must accompany an old dragon to ensure the survival of its egg – out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 27th Ancient China. As revealed in […]

Tags 3D animation, abandoned baby, ancient China, Andrew Leung, animation, Anthony Howell, Arturo Cardelús, Australian, author, basket of food, Beth Chambers, bets, Bill Bailey, Bill Nighy, cage, captain, Captain of the Guard, Carole Wilkinson, cave, CG, CG animation, China, climb, collapse, computer animation, confidence, cross-country, dragon, dungeon, dying of old age, egg, Emperor, empire, English language version, flight, forces of empire, Honoured Guests, hunt, immortal, immortality, Imperial Court, Imperial Guard, independence, insect, Jacqueline Chan, Jonathan David Mellors, landscape, Li Jianping, longevity, Mayalinee Griffith, mother, mountain ranges, necromancer, necromancy, orphan, Paul McEwan, pearl, pet, power, Qi, rat, rescue, road movie, rooftop, rope, rope bridge, ruthless, Salvador Simo, Sarah Lam, scroll, small town, Spain, survival, telepathy, Tony Jayawardena, trader, trading post, traitor, travel, vast plains, walls, wing

Features Live Action Movies

Pharaoh
(Faraon)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date September 15 2024
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(Faraon)
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Director – Jerzy Kawalerowicz – 1966 – Poland – Cert. 12 – 152m ***** The reformist zeal of a youthful heir to the Ancient Egyptian throne confronts the immovable conservative tradition of the priesthood of the god Osiris – on Blu-ray from Monday, September 16th There is nothing else in cinema quite like Pharaoh. That […]

Tags 1960s, affairs of state, Ancient Egypt, Andrzej Gertier, army, ball of dung, banker, beetles, Biblical epics, Boleslaw Prus, burning torch, camp, campy, Chang’e, class system, commoners, conservative tradition, corridor, crook, deity, desert, double, eclipse, Edward Raczkowski, Egypt, epic, financial exploitation, flail, freedom, God, hanging, head priest, heart of darkness, heat, heir, irrigation, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Jerzy Zeinik, Jew, Jewish, Krastyna Mickolajewska, labyrinth, Leszek Herdegen, love interest, male-dominated society, manipulation, manual labourers, Michal Oleszczyk, Monarch, monarch’s double, mourner, oppressive, orgy, Osiris, Osiris-Ramses XII, pecking order, personality cult, personification of a god, pharaoh, Phoenician, Piotr Pawlowski, poison, Poland, political agenda, political wrangling, politics, power, priest, priesthood, Ramses, Ramses XIII, reform, regime, religion, ritual, rogue priest, sacking, sacred animals, sacred beetles, sacred objects, Scarab Beetles, seductress, slave, slavery, social manipulation, social system, socio-political-religious system, soldiers, Stanislaw Milski, status quo, stratification, sword and sandal, temple, the state, throne, treasure, tunnel, Uzbekistan, watercourse, wealth, Wieslawa Mazurkiewicz, zeal

Features Live Action Movies

Firebrand

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date September 3 2024
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Director – Karim Ainouz – 2023 – UK – Cert. 15 – 121m ***** Henry VIII’s sixth wife Katherine Parr must navigate the increasingly treacherous waters between her desire for religious tolerance and Henry’s more authoritarian take on Christianity – out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 6th With her husband Henry VIII away fighting […]

Tags Alicia Vikander, Anne Askew, archbishop, Archbishop Stephen Gardiner, ascendency, authoritarian, Bible, Bible translation, brutality, Burn!, chambers, childbirth, childbirth death, Christian faith, Christianity, common people, costume drama, court. Scheming, death, Eddie Marsan, Edward Seymour, Elizabeth I, English, Erin Doherty, faithful, finance, forest, free thinking, gathering, gift, glade, guard, Henry VIII, history, Jane Seymour, jewel, Jude Law, Junia Rees, Karim Ainouz, Katherine Parr religious tolerance, king, kingdom, kings and queens, kings and queens of England, ladies in waiting, lover, male and female, miscarriage, misogynist, misogyny, monarchy, monster, mothers and children, mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, Patrick Buckley, period, power, preacher, preaching, pregnancy, pregnant, queen, queen regent, rape, realm, reformer, regent, religion, religious shrine, religious tolerance, royal ascendency, royalist, Sam Riley, security, sex scenes, Simon Russell-Beale, Thomas Seymour, throne, torture, translation, Tudor, Tudors, UK, unfaithful, vulnerable, wife, wife abuse, wife abuser, women only

Features Live Action Movies

Firebrand

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date September 6 2024
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Directed by Karim AinouzCertificate 15121 minutesReleased 6 September Reviewed for Reform magazine. History. The Tudors. King Henry VIII wanted a male heir to the throne. His first wife failed to deliver, so he divorced her. When the Pope excommunicated him, Henry set up the new, Protestant, Church of England. He kept marrying new wives who […]

Tags Alicia Vikander, Anne Askew, archbishop, Archbishop Stephen Gardiner, ascendency, authoritarian, brutality, Burn!, Christian faith, Christianity, common people, costume drama, court, Divine Right Of Kings, Eddie Marsan, Edward Seymour, Elizabeth I, English, Erin Doherty, forest, free thinking, gathering, glade, guard, Henry VIII, history, Jane Seymour, Jude Law, Junia Rees, Karim Ainouz, Katherine Parr religious tolerance, king, kingdom, kings and queens, kings and queens of England, ladies in waiting, male and female, monarchy, mothers and children, mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, Patrick Buckley, period, power, preacher, preaching, queen, queen regent, realm, reformer, regent, religion, religious shrine, religious tolerance, royal ascendency, royalist, Sam Riley, scheming, sex scenes, Simon Russell-Beale, Thomas Seymour, throne, torture, Tudor, Tudors, UK, wife, women only