By Ray Bennett
LONDON – I went to London to see the Queen and met the Happy Hooker, who led me astray.
In June of 1973, Queen Elizabeth II, who turns 90 today, made a tour of Canada and The Windsor Star newspaper sent me to cover it at the nearest city in Southern Ontario where she would be seen – London. Continue reading
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 was when the “To Kill a Mockingbird” Oscar-winner was aged 66. He was born 100 years ago today and he died on June 12, 2003. Among the hundreds of entertainment figures I have interviewed over the years, Peck (pictured above right with David Niven in “The Guns of Navarone”) is still the one who stands out, not least because we shared the same birthday nearly 30 years apart. Continue reading
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”. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Jessica Swale’s thoroughly entertaining play “Nell Gwynn”, about the strumpet turned actress who beguiled a king of England and became a queen of the London stage, is filled with laughter and music and a few tears and best of all Gemma Arterton in the title role. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – The Natural History Museum’s exhibition “Otherworlds: Visions of Our Solar System”, on show now through May 15, is as good as a movie as it takes visitors on a journey through space with spectacular still images and clever dialogue, and it even has a terrific score by Brian Eno. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
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 database I could find only one Latin American (Benicio Del Toro) nominated for 70 acting spots and only two black men (America’s Lee Daniels and the U.K.’s Steve McQueen) and two female directors (Sophia Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow) were among the 70 nominees for best director. Continue reading
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 and enthusiastically when Kate Winslet, as she accepted the award for best supporting actress for “Steve Jobs”, said tearfully that it seemed odd to celebrate in a week that had seen the loss of her co-star and director. The applause was loud and sustained. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – On Oct. 8 1972, a new young artist from England played his sixth U.S. concert in Detroit at the Fisher Theatre. This is what I wrote in The Windsor Star newspaper two days later: Remember the name. In rock ‘n’ roll there was Elvis Presley and the Beatles and now there is David Bowie. Forty-three years on and that hasn’t changed.
After an extraordinary career, Bowie has died of cancer aged 69. I was lucky enough to see him perform several times in Detroit but I’ll always remember that first revelation.
My review continued: Continue reading
Six things we learned from the 88th Academy Awards
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. Continue reading →