Stephen Dillane

Stephen Dillane

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Darkest Hour Trailer


Given the legend that surrounds him, you might be surprised to know that Winston Churchill was by no means the government's first choice of Prime Minister during World War II. Still, he had many qualities that would make him perfect to lead the country at its most desperate hour of need; he lacked vanity, he was charismatic in many ways, and had a determination and forcefulness that few could hope to match. He was simply the country's last hope. But within days of being in office, he was faced with the biggest challenge of his career: the battle of Dunkirk.

Churchill knew what he was getting into from the start, with the War having already been waging for at least eight months. But with so many British and Allied soldiers stranded on the French beaches in 1940, surrounded by enemy planes at every turn, the probability of their evacuation seemed miniscule, the probability of German invasion extremely likely. While the people around him urged him to begin negotiating peace talks with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, Churchill knew that the only way they were going to survive was if they stood and fought to the end. Surrender was not an option.

With the might of his colleagues and the brave military behind him, not to mention his loving and devoted wife Clementine Hozier, Churchill led his country to one of its greatest victories.

Continue: Darkest Hour Trailer

'Game Of Thrones' Stuns Audiences With Season 5's Episode 9 [Spoilers]


George R. R. Martin David Benioff Stephen Dillane Iwan Rheon Carice Van Houten Emilia Clarke Game Of Thrones

HBO's 'Game Of Thrones' has been getting a lot of criticism this year for it's massively dramatic departures from the book series 'A Song of Ice and Fire', upon which the show is based. While series creator George R. R. Martin stated on his official blog "there has seldom been any TV series as faithful to its source material" and reiterated how the show and the books are entirely separate stories, albeit with the same intended ending.   

Kerry Ingram as Shireen Baratheon falls victim to the ninth episodeShireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram) falls victim to the ninth episode

That still doesn't excuse the sudden, unexpected (and rather brutal execution) of a young girl, in Sunday night's infamous Episode Nine 'The Dance of Dragons'. Written by show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the episode saw Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) hounded by Ramsey Bolton's (Iwan Rheon) guerrilla tactics, and offering his daughter Shireen (Kerry Ingram) to the priestess Melisandre (Carice Van Houten) as a sacrifice. Said sacrifice involved burning her alive to appease the Red God, with the hopes of turning their luck and winning him the Iron Throne once and for all. 

Continue reading: 'Game Of Thrones' Stuns Audiences With Season 5's Episode 9 [Spoilers]

Papadopoulos And Sons Review


Good

Some meaty themes and complex performances add badly needed weight to this somewhat simplistic British comedy-drama. So even if it feels a bit awkward and draggy, there's life in the characters that makes it surprisingly engaging. And the somewhat corny approach is so gentle and nice that we can't help but smile.

It's set in the wake of the economic crash, as Greek entrepreneur Harry (Stephen Dillane) finds himself in trouble after expanding his food empire into property development. A single dad, he relies on nanny Mrs Parrington (Cadell) to help care for his three kids: law student James (Frank Dillane) would rather be a gardener, 18-year-old Katie (Groome) only thinks about shopping and boys, and youngest son Theo (Underhill) thinks he's already a tycoon. So when administrators (Stoppard and Shaw) arrive to enforce some downsizing, it's a big shock. And for Harry, it becomes unbearable when his estranged black-sheep brother Spiros (Corraface) refuses to sell the family's defunct fish and chips cafe and insists that they re-open it together.

Yes, this is one of those plucky little films where, once the premise gets everything lined up, we know exactly where it's heading. Fortunately, Dillane's Harry has a sharp-edged cynicism that combines intriguingly with his desperation, so we root for him to swallow his pride and stop behaving like an idiot just long enough to learn the obvious important lesson. And the events play out in a nicely low-key way that never quite tips over into farce. Yes, it's all a tug-of-war between "sensible" Harry and "crazy" Spiros who represent ruthless modern-day business practices and old-world community values.

Continue reading: Papadopoulos And Sons Review

Zero Dark Thirty Review


Excellent

Blistering writing, directing and acting hold us firmly in our seats as this procedural drama snakes its way to a riveting action finale. Although it's sometimes not easy to know whether director Bigelow and writer Boal are celebrating or criticising the way America has conducted itself on the world stage in its war on terrorism. Clearly the characters believe that these dodgy methods are essential tools in their job. But the film cleverly respects and challenges our own views on the issues.

The story begins with the events of 9/11, after which the CIA is determined to track down Osama bin Laden. Spearheading the search is tenacious analyst Maya (Chastain), who works with her colleague Dan (Clarke) to interrogate prisoners and mobilise their team (including Ehle and Perrineau) to action. Their bosses (Chandler and Strong), the CIA director (Gandolfini) and the national security advisor (Dillane) offer support and challenges. And eventually they get approval to illegally send a black-op team into bin Laden's suspected hide-out in Pakistan.

It's astonishing that Boal and Bigelow have managed to tell this true story without taking sides. They have been criticised for possibly using classified details or for depicting torture as an interrogation tool, but the facts can't be denied just because we don't like them. And your attitude going in will probably colour how you feel about the movie: some will find this a story of triumph while others will be troubled by the methods it depicts. Either way, it's impossible to ignore the film's urgency as it pulls us into a fascinating story.

Continue reading: Zero Dark Thirty Review

Forget Champagne, Crack Open A 'Game Of Thrones' Beer This Christmas


Stephen Dillane Peter Dinklage Game Of Thrones

Ok, so we got you a little excited with the headline. We weren't telling the whole truth, as the aforementioned Game Of Thrones beer isn't scheduled for release until March 31, 2013, though maybe you could save a couple of bottles for next Christmas? Anyway, what's it all about?

The upstate New York brewery Ommegang has formed a partnership with HBO to release an exclusive Game of Thrones themed ale to coincide with series three. The popular fantasy franchise has inspired a series of four beers, the first of which - a 6.5 per cent ABV blonde named Iron Throne - will hit shelves on March 31. Ommegang spokeswoman Allison Capozza described the flavor as "lightly malty" and is hopped with Styrian Holding, Hallertau and Noble hops. It will retail at $8.50 for a 750 millilitre bottle.  Three other beers are scheduled for fall 2013 (in time for Christmas) though are "just a concept at this point," according to Capozza. 

HBO has a history of food and drink themed promotional campaigns for Game of Thrones. To celebrate the debut of Season 2, the network commissioned celebrity chef Tom Colicchio to cruise around New York and Los Angeles in a Game of Thrones themed food truck. According to the Washington Post, he served up delicacies such as rabbit, pigeon cooked in sweet wine and fish stew.

Continue reading: Forget Champagne, Crack Open A 'Game Of Thrones' Beer This Christmas

Zero Dark Thirty Trailer


Following the tragic events of the twin towers bombing on September 11th 2001 in New York City, Islamic extremist group Al Qaeda's leader Osama Bin Laden was the most wanted man in the entire world. He had managed to evade capture and certain execution for nearly ten years when, in the year of the 10th anniversary of the tragedy, he was found by the extraordinary Navy SEAL Team 6 and shot dead at his residence in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2nd. The event, however tarnished with conspiracy theories and speculation, marked a moment in history and was seen as a giant step in the current war on terror. 

'Zero Dark Thirty' is the gritty historical drama telling the story of when Bin Laden was successfully captured and assassinated by a remarkable group of CIA operatives whose covert operations and well-kept secrets gave America their biggest victory in many years. With director Kathryn Bigelow ('Point Break', 'Strange Days') and writer Mark Boal ('In the Valley of Elah') who have previously worked alongside one another on the six time Academy Award winning war flick 'The Hurt Locker', it is set to be a seminal movie that may itself become an important part of history. It is set to be released on January 25th 2013.

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Scott Adkins, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Taylor Kinney, James Gandolfini, Mark Duplass, Harold Perrineau, Jennifer Ehle, Kyle Chandler, Frank Grillo, Stephen Dillane & Edgar Ramirez.

Continue: Zero Dark Thirty Trailer

Spy Game Review


Good
Oh sure, it's all fun and games in the CIA. Robert Redford's CIA, that is. Of course, if Redford ran the world, we'd all be wearing $98 bison leather moccasins while we drank our lattes.

And so we go back to 1991, where haggard spy Nathan Muir (Redford) is retiring from The Agency, but wouldn't ya know it -- that very day, his old protégé Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) has gotten captured on a mission in Eastern China. And Tom is going to be executed -- when? In 24 hours, of course. And the CIA isn't going to save him. In fact, they're trying to paint him as a crazy renegade unaffiliated with the U.S.

Continue reading: Spy Game Review

King Arthur Review


Bad

According to the studio advertising campaign, the 2004 mega-budget version of "King Arthur" is "the untold true story that inspired the legend" -- you know, the factual version in which Arthur is a brooding bore, Lancelot has hip, runway-model facial hair and Guinevere is a half-naked post-feminist warrior hottie.

Borrowing superficially from recent theories about Camelot's origins only as a jumping off point -- producer Jerry "Armageddon" Bruckheimer cares about cool explosions and box office receipts, not historical accuracy -- this commercialized concoction draws its regal hero (played by rising star Clive Owen) as an idealistic, half-Anglo high commander in the Roman army, which is in the midst of abandoning Britannia as a protectorate.

Arthur and his knights (Sarmatian soldiers reluctantly bound to imperial service) take it upon themselves to defend the now unguarded territory against invading hoards of barbarian Saxons from the north. But first they're sent on one last suicidal mission into Saxon territory to rescue a rich Roman family living there for no explored reason.

Continue reading: King Arthur Review

The Truth About Charlie Review


OK

Perhaps it's not fair to begin a movie review by comparing a remake to its original, but since director Jonathan Demme has been proudly trumpeting "The Truth About Charlie" as a reimagining of Stanley Doden's 1963 romantic thriller "Charade," he's practically asking for it.

What the films have in common is a plot centering on a beautiful young woman named Regina (Audrey Hepburn then, Thandie Newton now) who returns to Paris from vacation to discover her husband has stripped their stylish apartment bare, disappeared with a fortune she didn't know he had, and subsequently turned up dead. With the money still missing, dangerous strangers start coming out of the woodwork, convinced she knows where it is.

In "Charade," Hepburn's sprightly Regina meets the suave and cunning -- perhaps a little too cunning -- Peter Joshua, played by Cary Grant, and falls for him as he tries to keep her safe and help her solve the mystery of the absconded riches. In "Charlie," Newton's clever but ingenuous Regina meets gym-buffed paramour Joshua Peters, played by Mark Wahlberg, who may look classy in a '60s-homage pokepie hat, but as a character he's dry, dry, dry.

Continue reading: The Truth About Charlie Review

The Hours Review


Very Good

"The Hours" is an Oscar voter's nightmare. An adaptation of Michael Cunningham's novel about three women in three different time periods whose lives are profoundly affected by Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway," the film features equally magnificent performances of nearly equal screen time from three of the best actresses working in film today.

Meryl Streep submerges herself in the self-sacrificing soul of Clarissa Vaughan, a modern Manhattan book editor whose longtime dear friend -- and volatile ex-lover -- Richard (Ed Harris) likes to ruffle her feathers by comparing her to the heroine of Woolf's book. Both women are externally serene, perfectionist party-throwers hiding deep reservoirs of regret over missed opportunities while living lives as mother-hen caretakers to others.

Julianne Moore plays Laura Brown, a fragile, pregnant 1950s housewife in the midst of reading "Mrs. Dalloway," whose deep depression (like Woolf's) and suicidal musings (like Dalloway's) go all but unnoticed by everyone except her young son (Jack Rovello), who clings to her apron strings with worry.

Continue reading: The Hours Review

Stephen Dillane

Stephen Dillane Quick Links

News Video Film RSS

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Stephen Dillane Movies

Darkest Hour Trailer

Darkest Hour Trailer

Given the legend that surrounds him, you might be surprised to know that Winston Churchill...

Papadopoulos and Sons Movie Review

Papadopoulos and Sons Movie Review

Some meaty themes and complex performances add badly needed weight to this somewhat simplistic British...

Zero Dark Thirty Movie Review

Zero Dark Thirty Movie Review

Blistering writing, directing and acting hold us firmly in our seats as this procedural drama...

Zero Dark Thirty Trailer

Zero Dark Thirty Trailer

Following the tragic events of the twin towers bombing on September 11th 2001 in New...

44 Inch Chest Trailer

44 Inch Chest Trailer

Watch the trailer for 44 Inch Chest In his day Colin Diamond wasn't really the...

Spy Game Movie Review

Spy Game Movie Review

Oh sure, it's all fun and games in the CIA. Robert Redford's CIA, that...

King Arthur Movie Review

King Arthur Movie Review

According to the studio advertising campaign, the 2004 mega-budget version of "King Arthur" is "the...

The Truth About Charlie Movie Review

The Truth About Charlie Movie Review

Perhaps it's not fair to begin a movie review by comparing a remake to its...

The Hours Movie Review

The Hours Movie Review

"The Hours" is an Oscar voter's nightmare. An adaptation of Michael Cunningham's novel about three...

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