Stephen Graham
Occupation
Actor
Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool Review
Very Good
Based on a true story, this stylishly produced British drama centres around two superbly involving characters whose real-life journey doesn't fit neatly into the usual formula. So the film continually surprises us with little details as it recounts a series of events over the course of about three years. Director Paul McGuigan (Sherlock) and writer Matt Greenhalgh (Nowhere Boy) cleverly keep the tone light with big emotional moments all along the way. And it's also a fascinating look at one of Hollywood's more uncomfortable truths.
It opens in 1981 Liverpool, when Oscar-winning actress Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening) collapses while preparing to perform in a play. In need of a place to recuperate, she reaches out to her much younger ex Peter (Jamie Bell), and asks to move in with his parents (Julie Walters and Kenneth Cranham). Seeing Gloria again, Peter takes a trip through his memories of their romance over the previous three years. They met in London when he was an aspiring actor, and he followed her to New York and Los Angeles before their relationship hit the rocks. He always wondered why she dumped him, but now he's starting to understand.
The way the flashbacks are woven into the main narrative is ingenious, as Peter literally walks into the past. This offers some powerful glimpses of the interconnections between them. It's not quite so necessary to eventually cut to Gloria's side of the story, although at least that offers a strikingly emotional final piece to the puzzle. Bening enjoyably makes Gloria a vain diva whose underlying insecurity makes her very likeable. Since she refuses to act her age, the gap between her and Peter never feels like an issue. And Bening develops terrific chemistry with Bell, who brings a beautifully understated rawness to Peter that's strikingly truthful. Bell gives a riveting performance that's never remotely obvious. And it's also terrific to see him reunite with Walters 17 years after Billy Elliot.
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Pirates Of The Caribbean 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Salazar's Revenge) - Featurette and Trailer
It seems Captain Jack Sparrow has been sailing the seas as a pirate for many, many years, and in that time he's made a lot of enemies. As a young trouble-maker, he damned a pirate-hating adversary and his crew to a seabound immortality - and now Captain Salazar has returned to exact his revenge. Panic is afoot when it becomes clear that Captain Salazar has escaped his eternal torment at the bottom of the Devil's Triangle, and as much as Jack loves an adventure almost as much as he loves rum, this time he could truly be out of his depth. It will take more than his trusty compass to help him this time, but thankfully he has the help of a new headstrong maiden named Carina Smyth who happens to be a skilled astronomer, plus the return of his old friend Will Turner. Together they must uncover the Trident of Poseidon before Salazar does, and send the enemy back to their watery graves.
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Pirates of the Caribbean 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales Trailer
Forget Davy Jones' Locker and the Fountain of Youth, Captain Jack Sparrow is on an all new quest as he embarks on the hunt for the fabled trident of Poseidon. It may sound like he's set his sights far too high this time, but he's never failed the crew of the Black Pearl yet - and he really could do with a windfall right about now. To make matters worse, Capitan Salazar is back from the Devil's Triangle with his ghostly crew, and the trident is his only hope of stopping them. This time he's got the help of his old friend Will Turner, who is apparently free of his binding contract with The Flying Dutchman.
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Orlando Bloom Returning To 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' For Fifth Film
By Ed Biggs in Movies / TV / Theatre on 16 August 2015
Having played no part at all in 2011's On Stranger Tides, Bloom will be returning to the cast for Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017.
Great news for fans of Pirates Of The Caribbean as Disney has confirmed that Orlando Bloom will be returning to the cast for the fifth instalment. The announcement was revealed at Disney’s D23 expo on Saturday (August 15th) after the star himself had previously expressed uncertainty as to whether he would get the nod.
Bloom, of course, was missing from the fourth movie On Stranger Tides back in 2011, having played Will Turner, one of the franchise’s central characters, in the first three movies dating back to 2003. But it seems now that his role will be revived in some way for the 2017 release Dead Men Tell No Tales alongside Johnny Depp’s eternal favourite Captain Jack Sparrow.
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Johnny Depp Visits Children's Hospital Dressed As Captain Jack Sparrow
By Ed Biggs in Music / Festivals on 08 July 2015
The Pirates of the Caribbean actor took a break from shooting the fifth film of the series to pay a short visit to an Australian children's hospital.
Johnny Depp surprised patients at a children’s hospital in Australia with a flying visit dressed in his full Pirates Of The Caribbean costume, delighting the staff and young patients as his flamboyant, swashbuckling character Captain Jack Sparrow.
Taking a leaf out of fellow Hollywood superstar Chris Pratt’s book, the 52 year old actor dropped in dressed as one of his movie characters in order to raise spirits at Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, according to ABC Australia on Tuesday (July 7th).
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Get Santa Review
By Rich Cline
Excellent
Solidly entertaining Christmas movies are so rare that when one comes along it feels like the best gift ever. Perhaps more horror filmmakers should turn their hand to family-friendly action comedies. This one is written and directed by Christopher Smith, the British filmmaker behind freak-outs like Severance and Triangle. But this movie is a pure joy, deploying a warped sense of humour that will have adults laughing a bit more than the kids, who will be caught up in a terrific wish-fulfilment adventure of their own.
In London, Steve (Rafe Spall) has just been released after two years in prison, and his first priority is to see his 10-year-old son Tom (Kit Connor), who lives with Steve's ex Alison (Jodie Whittaker) and her new husband. That same night, Tom finds a beardy man (Jim Broadbent) in the garage who claims to be Santa Claus and needs Steve's help. Steve is more than a little skeptical, but wants to spend time with Tom so heads off on a rescue mission that gets increasingly complicated with every passing moment. Mainly because Santa gets himself arrested while trying to liberate his reindeer after they were caught roaming around the city streets. Coincidentally housed in Steve's old prison, he gets some help from Steve's former fellow inmates (including Stephen Graham, Warwick Davis and Nonso Anozie), while Steve discovers that maybe something magical is going on after all
This may be one of those "find your childhood love of Christmas" movies, but Smith never pushes the sentimentality. Instead, he keeps the story moving with brisk momentum, piling on some hilariously deranged gags along with madcap action set-pieces that include chases, dress-up silliness and, yes, a prison break. The script is tight and funny, including the requisite poo and fart jokes, as well as some more sophisticated movie sight-gags and clever character detail. These people may be faintly ridiculous, but the actors dive in headlong and bring us with them.
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Boardwalk Empire Season 5: A Peek At The Depression Era As "All Empires Fall"
By Jack de Aguilar in Movies / TV / Theatre on 30 June 2014
Watch the short but sweet teaser below
HBO have given us a first peek at Boardwalk Empire’s fifth and final season, which is set to air this September. A menacing sense of violence tingles through the 38-second trailer as Nucky, Chalky, Al Capone, Luciano, George Mueller all play a central role.
And if the stakes could get any higher following season 4’s finale, then the great depression certainly goes a long way towards raising them. Michael K. Williams has already confirmed that HBO’s period gangster drama will take place 7 years after season 4’s ending. Watch the teaser here.
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Blood Review
By Rich Cline
Good
Finely detailed acting and stylish direction are somewhat undermined by a script that can't resist overstating its moral themes. Without any sense of ambiguity, we are never able to engage with the dilemma facing the central characters because, as things get messier and messier, we never really doubt what each person will do. But the actors make it fascinating to watch.
Set in the Wirral, the story centres on two second-generation detectives: Joe (Bettany) and his brother Chris (Graham) live in the shadow of their legendary dad Lenny (Cox), who's now drifting into senility. Their current case involves the brutal killing of a teen girl, and working with fellow cop Robert (Strong), they close in on creepy loner Jason (Crompton) as the chief suspect. But with no evidence linking him to the crime, he's quickly released, raising memories of a similar case from the past that resulted in a horrific murder. On a drunken night out, Joe and Chris decide to make sure that doesn't happen again. But it isn't easy to live with what they've done.
There's plenty of scope to explore the power of guilt and regret in this multi-generational story, and the screenplay pushes the brothers into some seriously strained situations as they're forced to consider the fallout from their actions. And all of this stress begins to affect their relationships too: Paul with his wife and daughter (Little and Battrick) and Chris with his fiancee (Tapper). All of the actors are terrific, with Bettany and Graham especially solid as they create a believably mercurial sibling camaraderie. Other characters remain a bit on the edge of the film, but add to the tension.
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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Review
By Rich Cline
Excellent
It's rare to see a film in which writers, director and cast all respect the intelligence of their audience. So when it happens, it's something to savour. Especially when it shows as much audacious skill as this British thriller does.
In the Cold War paranoia of 1973, there's a Russian mole in British intelligence. And the top boss Control (Hurt) has narrowed it down to four top colleagues (Firth, Jones, Hinds and Dencik). He asks faithful George Smiley (Oldman) to root out the spy, so he and Peter (Cumberbatch) begin a complex investigation that involves a discredited agent (Hardy) and a murdered operative (Strong). But the truth only seems to get more elusive the further they descend into the rabbit hole.
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Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Review
By Rich Cline
Very Good
Captain Jack Sparrow is back for another high seas romp and, despite the long running time, this is more freewheeling comedy than action adventure. And while it's hilarious fun, it's also so meandering that it's a bit dull.
In London, Jack (Depp) is brought before George II (Griffiths) so he can help the Brits beat the Spanish to the Fountain of Youth. But after an elaborate escape, Jack ends up in the crew of the ship captained by the evil Blackbeard (McShane) and his daughter Angelica (Cruz), with whom Jack has a past. So now Blackbeard, the Spanish and the British, led by Jack's old nemesis/pal Barbossa (Rush), are racing to the Caribbean to find the secret of immortality. And their first task is to capture a mermaid.
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Stephen Graham - Tuesday 29th January 2008 at Dorchester Hotel London, England