REVIEWS

For a time, in the world of cinema, Richard Burton was practically a God. After reaching the height of his film career in the mid-1960s, his fortunes began to decline. A series of commercial disappointments and changing audience tastes diminished his standing as one of Hollywood's leading stars. Although still capable of delivering powerful performances, his career never fully regained the momentum of its earlier peak. It was during this period of professional uncertainty t

Olivia Wilde's directing career has been anything but predictable. She burst onto the scene with the acclaimed ‘Booksmart’ in 2019, before the underwhelming ‘Don't Worry Darling’ became better known for its off-screen drama than its on-screen ambitions. Nevertheless, Wilde remains an intriguing filmmaker, continuing to explore different genres while taking creative risks. She returns to the director's chair with ‘The Invite’, an adaptation of Cesc Gay’s 2020 black comedy ‘Sen

Sonny Chiba is a legend. The action superstar began acting in the early 60s, rapidly making a name for himself as a charismatic, martial arts madman. By the 1970s, he was one of Japan's biggest stars, spearheading a wave of brutally violent action flicks, influencing generations of filmmakers, including Takashi Miike and Quentin Tarantino. From ‘The Street Fighter’ to ‘The Killing Machine,’ ‘Kill Bill Vol. 1’ and ‘The Storm Riders,’ Chiba showcased his talents across martial

Some of cinema's most unforgettable performers have been those willing to put themselves in harm's way. Buster Keaton transformed gravity into comedy through astonishing physical stunts, while Jean-Paul Belmondo was cut from the same cloth, performing daring feats with a grin suggesting he enjoyed every second of it. His charismatic screen presence would inspire stars such as Chow Yun-fat, while Jackie Chan would blend Keaton's gift for visual comedy with Belmondo's physical

The tale of Robin Hood has endured for centuries, with its titular kind-hearted bandit one of the most recognisable figures in English folklore. Over the years, the outlaw of Sherwood Forest has been reimagined countless times on screen, from the delightfully camp swashbuckling charm of Errol Flynn’s ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’, to Kevin Costner’s bombastic ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’, and, inarguably the most beloved interpretation, Disney’s 1973 animated classic, ‘Ro

Throughout his career, J. M. Coetzee has shown an obsession with questions of colonialism, power and violence. From the brutal encounters of ‘Dusklands’ and ‘Age of Iron’, to the haunting isolation of ‘Life & Times of Michael K’, as well as the moral reckoning of post-apartheid South Africa in ‘Disgrace’, Coetzee has repeatedly examined the ethical consequences of oppression and the fragility of civilisation. His works rarely offer simple resolutions, instead challenging read