Christian Cooke
Occupation
Actor
Christian Cooke on the red carpet at the 2016 IWC Gala in honour of The British Film Institute London, United Kingdom - Tuesday 4th October 2016
Electricity Review
By Rich Cline
OK
With an artful aesthetic that will please fans of ambitious independent filmmaking, this British drama struggles to match its lush imagery with an oddly simplistic script. Even as it addresses epilepsy with an insider's knowing perspective, the strong, fresh cast never gets to bring out much depth in the characters. Which leaves the movie feeling like little more than an exercise in whizzy camerawork and swirly editing.
It begins in Blackpool, where Lily (Agyness Deyn) is resolutely refusing to update her epilepsy meds, because the new ones make her feel fuzzy. But this means she has frequent seizures. And they only get worse after her mother dies. With help from her boss (Tom Georgeson), she tracks down her big brother Barry (Paul Anderson), who tells her he's planning to sell Mum's house and divide the cash between them. But Lily thinks their black-sheep brother Mikey (Christian Cooke) deserves his share, even though he disappeared four years ago. So she travels to London to find him, having key encounters with a homeless girl (Saffron Coomber), a kindly stranger (Lenora Crichlow) and eventually a sexy young man (Ben Batt) who may know where Mikey is.
The title refers to Lily's seizures, which she describes as an electrical explosion in her brain, and filmmaker Bryn Higgins uses inventive imagery and editing to take the audience right into her perspective. These scenes are harrowing and moving, even if there's no real sense of peril. Not only do we never doubt that Lily will be OK, but we get increasingly annoyed by her nagging naivete in misunderstanding everything and everyone around her. Surely fixing her dosage would help her avoid these devastating seizures. The actors manage to make the most of these oddly underwritten roles as people using whatever is at hand to cope with their miserable lives.
Continue reading: Electricity Review
Hello Carter - Trailer Trailer
Carter (Charlie Cox) is completely down-on-his-luck. Eleven months after breaking up with his girlfriend, he is unemployed and now homeless. When he is inspired to get back in touch with her, he makes his way through his phone-book, trying desperately to get hold of her new contact details. In addition to this, he in a race against time to get back on his feet before he is kicked out of his mother's house - and if he's lucky, it'll help his ex become attracted to him again. Along the way, he goes on an adventure around the city with an accountant and a one-time actor.
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Love, Rosie Review
By Rich Cline
Good
Deliberately unstructured, this likeable romantic comedy holds the audience's interest with its strikingly engaging cast and a slick visual style, but the plot is both contrived and underdeveloped. As the filmmakers try out some wacky slapstick, pointed political moments or a bit of darkly emotional drama, the movie's tone veers so wildly that we don't quite know where to look. And by never managing to crack the surface, the script leaves the actors with little to do but look good.
The story centres on two childhood friends: Rosie (Lily Collins) and Alex (Sam Claflin) grew up on the same street in England, developing romantic longings that they kept hidden. After a drunken teenage kiss, they rebound into the arms of other people: Rosie hooks up with the school hunk Greg (Christian Cooke), while Alex takes wannabe supermodel Bethany (Suki Waterhouse) to the big dance. Then Rosie and Alex's plan to go to university together in Boston is derailed by an unexpected pregnancy. Over the next 12 years they live on opposite sides of the Atlantic, trying to get on with their romantic lives. Alex finds a serious girlfriend (Tamsin Egerton) while Rosie re-connects with Greg and gets support from a pal (Jaime Winstone). But they never stop pining for each other.
Shot and edited in a bouncy rom-com style, it's immediately obvious where this is heading, so screenwriter Juliette Towhidi has to work overtime to throw the audience off the scent, which leaves the movie spinning in circles while we wait for the inevitable to happen. Fortunately, the characters are vivid enough to keep us entertained, as people move in and out of each others' lives providing the laughs and tears for Rosie and Alex, as well as the audience. Even if the characters are predictable and simplistic, Collins and Claflin manage to find moments of real depth along the way. Although it's difficult not to think that one proper conversation between these lifelong best pals would have saved them decades of frustration.
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Love, Rosie Trailer
Love can be confusing, complicating and utterly gut-wrenching as Rosie painfully discovers on her journey to adulthood. She and Alex have been best friends since childhood, with any hint of a romance being only fleeting, and quickly replaced by someone else. At school they decide to go to university together in America, but while Alex lands his dream scholarship at Harvard, Rosie finds herself left behind with an unplanned pregnancy - with the father taking off pretty quickly. Alex and Rosie are determined to stay in contact, but when she makes the mistake of telling her colleague about him, she starts to wonder if she has lost him forever as they begin planning a wedding. As it slowly dawns on Rosie that she and Alex were made for each other, it becomes unclear how their next meeting will end - especially after 12 years.
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Love, Rosie - Teaser Trailer
Alex Stewart and Rosie Dunne are the best of friends struggling through the pressures of their teenage years; Alex is intent on losing his virginity to the pretty blonde girl he's interested in while Rosie is meanwhile having her own problems in the bedroom. Their friendship leads them to agree on jetting over to the US together for their university years, but it looks like Rosie's life is going to take a different turn entirely. In the next 12 years, they find their worlds transforming in more ways than they could've possibly imagined, but the matchless bond between them can only strengthen with time. And while their romantic lives stray away from each other, could they find themselves rekindling hidden feelings for one another in their futures?
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'Fifty Shades Of Grey' Casting Fever Continues
By Elinor Cosgrave in Movies / TV / Theatre on 18 October 2013
Since Charlie Hunnam's decision to drop out of 'Fifty Shades of Grey', the internet has been consumed with gossip surrounding who will take over the role of Christian Grey.
Speculation surrounding the replacement for Charlie Hunnam in Fifty Shades of Grey continues, with media outlets reporting actors from the lowliest soap star to Hollywood A-listers may well be up for the role of Christian Grey.
Alexander Skarsgard is a possibility, rumours suggest.
Hunnam decided to drop out of the production last week after weeks of negative attention surrounding his casting as the S&M obsessed billionaire Grey. Fans were up in arms and fervently requested a recast, and now they have their wish!
Continue reading: 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' Casting Fever Continues
Romeo And Juliet - Featurette
The stars of the upcoming adaptation of 'Romeo and Juliet' Douglas Booth, Hailee Steinfeld, Ed Westwick, Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti as well as costume designer Carlo Poggioli and Nadja Swarovski of Swarovski Entertainment Ltd. talk about the new movie in a short featurette.
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Fifty Shades Of Grey Fans Petition For Casting Changes
By Elinor Cosgrave in Movies / TV / Theatre on 04 September 2013
Fans of Fifty Shades of Grey are petitioning producers of the film adaptation to alter their casting decision. It was announced 2nd September, Christian Grey would be played by Charlie Hunnam and Anastasia Steele would be portrayed by Dakota Johnson. However, fans have other ideas for who should appear in the roles.
Fans of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy are in uproar following the casting announcements on Monday. Dakota Johnson and Charlie Hunnam will be playing Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey in the film adaptation of E.L. James' raunchy novels.
Fans may have their own ideas about who should portray the characters of E.L. James' bestselling series. However, it seems unlikely anything will change despite the outcry. The film's producer, Dana Brunetti, has defended the casting; tweeting in mock surprise of the negative comments. He went so far as to accuse those attacking the casting decision of not being "true fans".
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Romeo and Juliet Trailer
Romeo and Juliet are two young lovers whose lives together cannot escape their inevitable tragic fate. They are from opposite feuding families; Romeo is a Montague while Juliet is a Capulet. They meet and fall immediately in love when Romeo sneaks into the Capulet family ball and they soon vow to be married. Unfortunately, their happy matrimony does not last long when Romeo is forced to kill a relative of hers who challenges him and he is subsequently banished from Verona. Juliet, meanwhile, is being forced to marry another man against her wishes. Blinded by her misery, she accepts the help of Friar Laurence who offers to help her fake her own death so that she and Romeo may elope. However, after a cruel twist of fate, Romeo fails to receive word of the plan and discovers his wife apparently dead in her tomb. The grief that ensues becomes the deadly fate for this star-crossed couple.
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Unconditional Review
By Rich Cline
Excellent
While the subject matter of this small British drama lends itself to controversy, it's handled with bracing honesty by filmmaker Higgins and his gifted young cast. As a result, we travel this unusual journey with the characters, experiencing something rather outrageous along with them.
Set in Newcastle, it's the story of 16-year-old twins Kristen and Owen (Clark and McEntire), who take care of their disabled mum (Hill) and struggle to pay the bills. They cope with their situation by plotting elaborately witty escape scenarios, and then whey meet the charismatic young loan shark Liam (Cooke), both Kristen and Owen fall for him.
While leading Kristen on, Liam actually latches on to Owen, but has one condition if they are together: Owen has to dress up as a girl and let Liam call him Kristen. Dazzled by Liam's charm, Owen goes along with it until he begins to suspect that Liam might not be very stable. Cooke is superb as the likeably cool Liam, subtly oozing a slippery, predatory sexuality that Owen wouldn't be able to spot. Cooke also lets Liam's bravado slip now and then, revealing his inner fragility, which makes him startlingly sympathetic. Not only are both twins drawn to him, but we are too. And both Clark and McEntire deliver transparent performances that get under the skin.
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Steven Strait, Christian Cooke, Danny Huston, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Kelly Lynch and Mitch Glazer - Steven Strait, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Christian Cooke, Kelly Lynch, Mitch Glazer, Elena Satine, Danny Huston Thursday 22nd March 2012 Starz Channel's 'Magic City' Premiere Event at the Academy Theatre - Arrivals