Brenda Blethyn

Brenda Blethyn

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Brenda Blethyn at the BFI London Film Festival premiere of 'Ethel & Ernest' held at Curzon Mayfair, London, United Kingdom - Saturday 15th October 2016

Brenda Blethyn
Brenda Blethyn
Brenda Blethyn

Dead Man Running Review


Weak
Yet another retread of the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, this London crime caper at least creates its setting well and has some colourful characters. But we've seen it all before.

Nick (Hassan) is an ex-criminal trying go straight so he can care for his wheelchair-bound mum (Blethyn). But New York gangster Thigo (Jackson), in the grip of the economic crisis, is calling in his loans. Now Nick has 24 hours to come up with ú100,000, or Thigo's goon (Davis) will kill both Nick and his mother. Nick's pal Bing (Dyer) offers to help, and they embark on an odyssey of underground fight clubs, fixed track-betting and drug deals in increasing desperation to round up the cash.

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Dead Man Running Trailer


Watch the trailer for Dead Man Running

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Piccadilly Jim Review


Weak
A rather hysterical oddity that can't decide what era it's set in or what mood to play, Piccadilly Jim just chucks it all at the screen and hopes that some wit will come through and generate some laughs. Fortunately for the audience, some of it does - unfortunately for the film, not nearly enough.

Based on P.G. Wodehouse's novel, the film concerns the exploits of one Jim Crocker (Sam Rockwell), a young wastrel whose social-climbing American mother (Allison Janney, sharp as a tack) has forced him and his father (Tom Wilkinson), a failed British actor, to live in London and try and impress the swells there. She does this just to tick off her competitive sister, Nesta (Brenda Blethyn), a fact not wasted on the men of the family. Spoiling his mother's plans is Jim's penchant to booze it up all over town, getting into fistfights and leaving flappers scattered about the house and in his bed. Jim decides to ostensibly reform his wayward ways when he meets Nesta's step-niece Anne (Frances O'Connor), who won't have anything to do with him unless he pretends to be someone else - Jim once wrote a gossip column under the name "Piccadilly Jim", and once someone else writing the column (he hasn't worked on it for years) gave a negative review to a collection of Anne's poems. Jim thusly does the only sensible thing a fellow could do: He pretends to be a teetotaler Christian named Algernon Bayliss. Somehow, along the way, a German spy and some scientific secrets come into play, but one would be well-served to not wonder how.

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A River Runs Through It Review


Very Good
Of the six movies Robert Redford has directed to date, A River Runs Through It is his second best, following behind the searing, unforgettable Ordinary People. A specialist in bringing books to life as movies, Redford has a knack for finding what matters in the text and making sure it ends up on screen.

That's vital here because Norman Maclean, on whose novella-length memoir the film is based, was a writer of exceptional grace and economy. This is a simple story that must be told the way he wrote it, and Redford delivers, even using excerpts as the narration he reads. Smart move, Bob.

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Little Voice Review


Excellent
Surprisingly powerful despite its cute premise, Horrocks shines as a timid young woman (known as Little Voice) who has the uncanny ability to unerringly reproduce the voice of dozens of great female vocalists (eg. Garland, Bassey, even Marilyn Monroe). Smarmy promoter Caine puts her onstage, where her neurosis only worsens, but not before a few sparkling hours before the crowds.

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Pumpkin Review


Bad
We're all different. But when someone's handicap makes their uniqueness especially noticeable, what is the acceptable reaction? Most of us would simply acknowledge the differences and move on. The makers of Pumpkin however find plenty of dark humor in the subject matter. Some of their jokes work, but most fail miserably and in the end, Pumpkin is far more offensive than it is funny.

The ignorant Carolyn (Christina Ricci) leads the perfect life of a college senior -- she's an officer in her sorority and dates Kent (Sam Ball), the tennis team stud. Everything is going well until it's decided that her sorority will mentor the handicapped adults of the Challenged Games (think Special Olympics). Carolyn is against the charity selection, but the sorority president (Marisa Coughlan) believes helping these special athletes train will give the sorority enough points to win Sorority of the Year.

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Beyond The Sea Review


Good

This Bobby Darin biopic reportedly spent about 20 years going through various drafts by many different screenwriters -- including James Toback and Paul Schrader -- before Kevin Spacey grabbed it and made it all his own.

Borrowing more than just a little from Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz," the co-writer, director and star sets his film in a kind of flashback/dream structure in which Darin (Spacey) talks with himself as a little kid. This non-reality also allows for the 45 year-old actor to play Darin, who died at age 37, throughout his career.

Spacey's Darin thinks very highly of himself; when he snatches up teen heartthrob Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth) as his wife, it feels more like trophy gathering than romance. Yet Spacey's own gigantic hubris fits the part perfectly, and when Darin grouses about not winning the Oscar for "Captain Newman, M.D.," you can feel Spacey going through the same thing. When Spacey sings in Darin's voice, it's an act of supreme ego; he's as sure of his Darin impersonation as he is of his own greatness, and it works.

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Brenda Blethyn

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Actor


Brenda Blethyn Movies

Dead Man Running Movie Review

Dead Man Running Movie Review

Yet another retread of the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, this London crime caper...

Dead Man Running Trailer

Dead Man Running Trailer

Watch the trailer for Dead Man Running Mr Thigo is a man you don't want...

Pumpkin Movie Review

Pumpkin Movie Review

We're all different. But when someone's handicap makes their uniqueness especially noticeable, what is...

Beyond The Sea Movie Review

Beyond The Sea Movie Review

This Bobby Darin biopic reportedly spent about 20 years going through various drafts by...

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