Category Archives: Film

Kraków Film Music Festival: Wars & Kaper: Deconstruction

Posted on May 28, 2016 by admin

By Ray Bennett KRAKÓW – The annual Kraków Film Music Festival showed its adventurous side on May 26 with a fascinating programme of jazz interpretations of film music by treasured Polish composers Henryk Wars and Bronisław Kaper by the Audiofeeling … Continue reading →

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Memories of Gregory Peck, born 100 years ago today

Posted on April 5, 2016 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – “It all goes by so quickly,” Gregory Peck told me. “It’s like a flash. Suddenly, one is in the home stretch and where did it all go? How did it flash by so fast?” That … Continue reading →

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FILM REVIEW: ‘The Railway Children’ on stage

Posted on March 27, 2016 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – There’s a perfect family treat available at 400 cinemas across the UK and Ireland on Easter Monday with the first screenings of a film of York Theatre Royal’s acclaimed stage presentation of “The Railway Children”.

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Six things we learned from the 88th Academy Awards

Posted on February 29, 2016 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – There were not many surprises at the 88th Academy Awards on Sunday but we did discover a few things about Oscar, predictions, balloting, marketing, music, and sentimental choices. 1/ Hollywood will always protect the brand.

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FILM REVIEW: Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren in ‘Trumbo’

Posted on February 5, 2016 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – The infamous treatment of filmmakers in Hollywood during the communist witch hunt of the 1940s and 1950s should have made for a powerful movie but Jay Roach’s “Trumbo” misses the target.

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Academy Awards diversity: a look at the numbers

Posted on January 29, 2016 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – In the discussion about diversity in the top prizes of the Academy Awards, the depth of the problem for the Academy is clear as in the 14 awards from 2001 to last year, on the AMPAS … Continue reading →

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London Critics’ Circle film awards: Ovation for Alan Rickman

Posted on January 18, 2016 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON  – There was only one standing ovation at the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards Sunday night and it was for someone who was not there: Alan Rickman, who died on January 14. The audience responded immediately … Continue reading →

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FILM REVIEW: Quentin Tarantino’s ‘The Hateful Eight’

Posted on January 8, 2016 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Quentin Tarantino’s western “The Hateful Eight” reveals him as a horrible sham who relies on the skills of talented filmmakers to make his pictures look and sound great despite his absence of talent as a … Continue reading →

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Composers Williams, Morricone up for Bafta film awards

Posted on January 8, 2016 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – The nominees for original music in the Bafta Film Awards announced this morning are Thomas Newman for “Bridge of Spies”, Ennio Morricone for “The Hateful Eight”, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Carsten Nicolai for “The Revenant”, Jóhann Jóhannsson for … Continue reading →

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FILM REVIEW: Saoirse Ronan in John Crowley’s ‘Brooklyn’

Posted on December 12, 2015 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – A finely nuanced performance by Saoirse Ronan as a young Irish ex-pat in New York is one of the many pleasures of John Crowley’s warm and entertaining “Brooklyn”.

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