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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Mandoob (The Night Courier), a darkly comedic thriller from Saudi Arabia, became one of the most successful film at the country’s box office just a few years after the 30-year ban on cinemas was lifted. Directed by Ali Kalthami, the film premiered at TIFF last year and became an instant hit with critics and festival goers.

Nominated for Best Feature at Zurich and taking the Audience Award at Torino, Mandoob is a gripping character portrait and rare glimpse into the underbelly of modern Saudi life.

Earlier this month, I spoke to Kalthami about Saudi Arabian cinema and its history, with a focus on the impact of censorship and the return of cinemas in recent years. We also focused on the filmmaking techniques used by the director and how he handles broaching an array of taboo themes through the medium of comedy and noir cinema.

Sith happened this evening at the Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square as The Acolyte, Disney+’s latest Star Wars series, had its UK Premiere. Led by Amandla Stenberg & Lee Jung-Jae, and creator Leslye Headland, the eight-episode series also stars Joonas Suotamo, Jodie Turner-Smith, Manny Jacinto, Carrie-Anne Moss, Dean-Charles Chapman, Margarita Levieva, Charlie Barnett and Rebecca Henderson.

Star Wars: The Acolyte Debuts Exclusively On Disney+ On 5 June, 2024.

Colin Hart and Linda Marric were on the red carpet, here are their interviews.

Star Wars: The Acolyte Premiere Interviews

Plot:

Set around fifty years before the events of ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’ and towards the end of the High Republic era, the live-action series follows a former Jedi Padawan and her one-time Master.

An investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-Jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge,...

Linda Marric reviews Immaculate starring Sydney Sweeney. Immaculate is directed by Michael Mohan (The Voyeurs). Andrew Lobel penned the movie. Sweeney stars in the film alongside Simona Tabasco (The White Lotus), Alvaro Morte (Money Heist), Benedetta Porcaroli (Baby), and Dora Romano (The Hand of God). David Sztypuljak asks the questions.

Cecilia, a woman of devout faith, is warmly welcomed to the picture-perfect Italian countryside where she is offered a new role at an illustrious convent. But it becomes clear to Cecilia that her new home harbors dark and horrifying secrets.

The movie hits UK cinemas on March 22nd. Follow Linda here on The Twitter here: https://twitter.com/Linda_Marric

Immaculate Review – The HeyUGuys Film Review Show

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Halo stars Pablo Schreiber (American Gods) as Master Chief, Spartan-117 and Natascha McElhone (Californication) as Dr. Halsey, who also both serve as producers this season. Additional returning cast members include Jen Taylor as Cortana, Bokeem Woodbine (Fargo), Shabana Azmi (Fire), Natasha Culzac (The Witcher), Olive Gray (Half Moon Investigations), Yerin Ha (Reef Break), Bentley Kalu (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Kate Kennedy (Catastrophe), Charlie Murphy (Peaky Blinders) and Danny Sapani (Penny Dreadful).

The most notable new addition to the cast this season comes in the shape of Joseph Morgan. Morgan joins the series as James Ackerson, a formidable intelligence operative who has spent his career climbing the ranks of the Unsc’s secretive Office of Naval Intelligence. HeyUGuys’ Linda Marric had the pleasure of speaking to Morgan about his new role as well as his love for gaming.

The post Halo Season 2 Interview: Joseph Morgan on his love for gaming...

We present our interviews for AppleTV+’s The Buccaneers. ‘The Buccaneers’ stars Kristine Frøseth, as ‘Nan St. George,’ Alisha Boe as ‘Conchita Closson,’ Critics Choice Award nominee Josie Totah as ‘Mabel Elmsworth,’ Aubri Ibrag as ‘Lizzy Elmsworth,’ Imogen Waterhouse as ‘Jinny St. George’ and Mia Threapleton as ‘Honoria Marable.’ SAG Award winner Christina Hendricks stars in the series as ‘Mrs. St. George,’ alongside an ensemble cast that also includes Josh Dylan as ‘Lord Richard Marable,’ Guy Remmers as ‘Theo, Duke of Tintagel,’ Matthew Broome as ‘Guy Thwarte’ and Barney Fishwick as ‘Lord James Seadown.’ The new eight-episode drama inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edith Wharton’s unfinished novel of the same name.

The series premiered on the 8th November only on AppleTV+. Linda Marric asks the questions.

Plot:

Girls with money, men with power. New money, old secrets. A group of fun-loving young American girls explode into the tightly corseted London season of the 1870s,...

We sat own with the cast of Paramount+’s The Doll Factory tio talk about their new show. Leading the cast as Iris is Esmé Creed-Miles (Hanna), Éanna Hardwicke (The Sixth Commandment) is taxidermist Silas, Mirren Mack is Rose, Iris’s twin sister and George Webster is painter Louis.

The series also stars Pippa Haywood (Magpie Murders), Sharlene Whyte (Stephen), newcomer Reece Kenwyne-Mpudzi, Freddy Carter (Shadow and Bone), Saoirse-Monica Jackson (Derry Girls), Laurie Kynaston (The Sandman), Jim Caesar (The Witcher), Akshay Khanna (Chloe), Aysha Kala (The Undeclared War) and Nell Hudson (Outlander).

The Doll Factory is out on Paramount+ right now. Linda Marric asks the questions.

The Doll Factory Cast Interviews

Plot:

London, 1851. Iris paints dolls for a living, alongside her twin sister, Rose, but dreams of becoming an artist. By night, she secretly paints herself naked, honing her craft. Silas is a taxidermist who owns a shop filled with his creations.

Annabel Scholey & Angela Griffin are interviewed for The Serial Killer’s Wife. Annabel Scholey leads as Beth, along with Jack Farthing, Luke Treadaway, Angela Griffin, Julie Graham, Shobna Gulati, Hari Dhillon, Morgana Robinson.

The series will be released on Paramount+ on the 15th of December, 2023. Linda Marric asks the questions.

The Serial Killer’s Wife Cast Interviews

Plot:

The Serial Killer’s Wife is set in a picturesque English village, and begins with Beth Fairchild (Annabel Scholey) preparing a surprise birthday party for her husband Tom (Jack Farthing), who is the much-loved local Gp. However, the celebrations come to an abrupt end when the police arrive and, in front of most of the village, arrest Tom for the murder of his former assistant. Outraged, Beth is convinced of her husband’s innocence but she soon makes some shocking discoveries that make her question her judgment. As she confides in Tom’s best friend,...

We present our interviews at the red carpet premiere for The Boys in the Boat, directed by George Clooney, produced by Clooney and Grant Heslov and starring Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner.

Based on the #1 New York Times bestselling non-fiction novel by Daniel James Brown. The film, directed by Clooney, is about the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. This inspirational true story follows a group of underdogs at the height of the Great Depression as they are thrust into the spotlight and take on elite rivals from around the world.

The movie will be released in the UK on 12th January, 2024. Linda Marric and Jake Mills were on the red carpet, here are their interviews.

The Boys in the Boat Premiere Interviews

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The post The Boys in the Boat Premiere Interviews: George Clooney, Callum Turner & more appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Out today is The Shift, which stars Neal McDonough, Sean Astin, Jason Marsden, John Billingsley, Kristoffer Polaha and Elizabeth Tabish. It was written & directed by Brock Heasley for Angel Studios, who have had such incredible success with Sound of Freedom. Heasley and the other interviewees talk about Angel’s way of producing films, and how Sound of Freedom and The Shift are perhaps signalling a turn in the road in how Hollywood makes its movies.

Linda Marric asks the questions. The Shift is released today.

The Shift Interviews

Plot:

In this modern-day retelling of Job, Kevin Garner (Kristoffer Polaha) embarks on a journey across worlds and dimensions to reunite with Molly (Elizabeth Tabish), his true love. The narrative unfolds as a dystopian drama and sci-fi thriller, where a mysterious adversary, The Benefactor (Neal McDonough), disrupts Kevin’s reality. Faced with infinite worlds and impossible choices, Kevin must navigate through an alternate reality,...

Recently we had the pleasure of sitting down with Jon Batiste, Suleika Jaouad and filmmaker Matthew Heineman to talk about their new film American Symphony, which hits home on Netflix today.

Linda Marric chartered their long journey in a series of interviews about their unforgettable documentary centring around the multi-Grammy winning artist who, whilst celebrating a triumphant year in music learns that his beloved wife’s long dormant cancer has returned.

Early in 2022, multi-instrumentalist Jon Batiste finds himself the most celebrated artist of the year with eleven Grammy nominations including Album of the Year. In the midst of that triumph, Jon is immersed in his most ambitious challenge yet: composing “American Symphony”, an original symphony that thrillingly reimagines the classical traditions of the form, bringing together an expansive and inclusive diaspora of music for a performance at storied Carnegie Hall. This extraordinary trajectory is upended, however, when Batiste’s life...

We sat down with Roger Ross Williams, Ibram X Kendi & Mara Brock Akil to talk about the importance of their new film – Netflix’s Stamped from the Beginning. Directed by Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams, based on Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s New York Times best-selling book of the same name, it exposes the long-standing and powerful presence of anti-black racism in American history, using vivid animations and leading female scholars to explore the history of anti-Black racist ideas.

Leading female academics and activists such as Dr. Angela Davis, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Dr. Jennifer L. Morgan, and Dr. Kendi guide viewers through a searing account of how racist tropes and imagery were developed and enshrined in American culture

Linda Marric asks the questions.

Stamped from the Beginning is available to watch on Netflix now.

Stamped from the Beginning Interviews

The post Stamped from the Beginning Interviews – Roger Ross Williams,...

In this interview Linda Marric sits down with acclaimed director and all round good egg John Carney to talk about his latest film, Flora and Son. The AppleTV+ film stars Eve Hewson, Orén Kinlan and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. We talk about the film’s process to the big screen, and how his cast came together.

Plot:

Single mom Flora (Eve Hewson) is at a loss about what to do with her

rebellious teenage son, Max (Orén Kinlan). Encouraged by the police to find

Max a hobby, Flora tries to occupy him with a beat-up acoustic

guitar. When Max quickly dismisses the instrument, Flora takes up online

guitar lessons with Jack (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a washed-up LA musician.

Jack opens Flora’s eyes to the transformative power of music, which may

ultimately become the key to reconnecting Flora and Max. From the musical

mind of John Carney, “Flora and Son” explores the bond...

Since Succession finished, we’ve all been waiting patiently for the next great show, and so fans of The Bear will be thrilled to see that the eagerly anticipated second season is finally upon us. To mark its launch, on Disney+, we spoke to two of the show’s stars, fan favourites Liza Colón-Zayas (Tina) & Lionel Boyce (Marcus).

Below you can watch both of our interviews in their entirety, with Stefan Pape and Linda Marric asking the questions.

Liza Colón-Zayas

Lionel Boyce

The Bear S2 is now available to watch on Disney+

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It’s the end of the road for our favourite Guardians of the Galaxy as Marvel’s latest Phase 5 MCU film approaches cinemas around the world. Almost a decade has passed since Marvel took their first big gamble with a ragtag band of relatively unknown characters, and now tears will be shed as they finally disband.

James Gunn writes and directs which stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter and Maria Bakalova.

The film will be released on the 3rd of May, 2023. Linda Marric sat down with the director and cast, here are her interviews.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 Interviews

Plot:

In volume 3, our beloved band of misfits are looking a bit different these days. Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill must rally his team around him...

Scott J Davis and Linda Marric review Air by director Ben Affleck. The film follows the history of sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball: Michael Jordan. Viola Davis stars as Jordan’s Mother.

Directed by and starring Ben Affleck, the film also stars Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Matthew Maher, Marlon Wayans, Jay Mohr, and Julius Tennon, with Chris Tucker and Viola Davis.

Follow Scott on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/scottwritesfilm and follow Linda here: https://twitter.com/Linda_Marric

Air Film Review – The HeyUGuys Film Review Show

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It’s no great surprise to say that the long awaited Dungeons & Dragons film, subtitled Honour Among Thieves will fare better than its 2000 forebear. To celebrate the release Linda Marric sat down with the directors and cast to talk about all things D&d.

Directed by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley, the film stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Chloe Coleman, Daisy Head and Hugh Grant.

The film will be released in the UK on the 31st of March, 2023.

Dungeons & Dragons Honour Among Thieves Interviews

In a later interview Steph Hitch sat down with Regé Jean Page & Michelle Rodriguez to talk about their connection to the game, the training to get in shape and much more.

Plot:

A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.

It’s been a while but The HeyUGuys Film Review Show is back and with a bang…

Today, our very own Scott J Davis and Linda Marric review the latest instalment in the John Wick saga – Chapter 4. In this new outing John Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.

We spoke to the wonderful Keanu Reeves and his director and co-stars at the UK Premiere recently – you can see those interviews right here.

Directed by Chad Stahelski, the film stars Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, and Ian McShane. Colin Hart and Ethan Hart are on the red carpet.

Follow Scott on Twitter here: https://twitter.com...

With awards season fast approaching the nominations for the 95th Academy Awards has finally taken place this afternoon.

Announced by Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams, ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ leads with eleven nominations and is followed by ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ with nine each. ‘Elvis’ with eight; ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ ‘Tar’ and ‘The Fablemans’ with six each and both ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ and ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ with five each.

The 95th Oscars will take place Sunday, March 12 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood with host Jimmy Kimmel. This will be Kimmel’s third time hosting, having hosted the Oscars in both 2017 and 2018.

HeyUGuys reacts to the 2023 Oscar Nominations

Our lead film critic Scott J. Davis is joined by fellow film critic Linda Marric to discuss and react live to the 2023 Academy Awards nominations – will there be any big shocks?...

Two films go under the HeyUGuys Film Review-o-scope today, and they couldn’t be more different. Adrian Lyne (maestro of the Erotic Thriller) returns to the big screen after a couple of decades with Deep Water, starring Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas. Then HeyUGuys favourite Craig Roberts returns with his new film as director, The Phantom of the Open, starring Mark Rylance and written by Paddington man Simon Farnaby.

Linda Marric and Scott Davis took the plunge on these two film – here’s what they had to say.

Find Scott on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/scottwritesfilm

and follow Linda here: https://twitter.com/Linda_Marric

Let’s go first with the ‘Down with this sort of thing’ shall we?

Deep Water Review – The HeyUGuys Film Review Show

The film stars Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts, Lil Rel Howery, Dash Mihok, Finn Wittrock, Kristen Connolly, Jacob Elordi,...

In the latest edition of the HeyUGuys Film Review show Linda Marric and Scott J. Davis review Uncharted which starts Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg and Antonio Banderas. The film is an adaption of the popular Sony produced computer game series of the same name and is out in the UK on Friday 11th of February.

Find Scott on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/scottwritesfilm

and follow Linda here: https://twitter.com/Linda_Marric

Watch below, and don’t forget to subscribe to see every video review from Scott & Linda.

Uncharted Review – The HeyUGuys Film Review Show

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It’s that time again. Oscars noms!

The 2022 Oscar nominations are currently underway and we’ll be updating this post with all of the nominees as they come in. Will The Power of the Dog run riot this year, or will Denis Villenueve’s massive adaptation of Dune rule. Or will Don’t Look Up surprise us? Let’s find out.

Soctt Davis and Linda Marric are currently watching the nominations come in live – watch along with them for all the fun of the fair.

Here is the complete list of nominations for the 2022 Oscars.

Actor In A Leading Role Nominees Javier Bardem Being the Ricardos Benedict Cumberbatch The Power of the Dog Andrew Garfield tick, tick…Boom! Will Smith King Richard Denzel Washington The Tragedy of Macbeth Actor In A Supporting Role Nominees CIARÁN Hinds Belfast Troy Kotsur Coda Jesse Plemons The Power of the Dog J.K. Simmons Being...

Stefan Pape, Scott Davis and Linda Marric review Greyhound for the HeyUGuys Youtube channel.

Tom Hanks leads the Word War 2 film Greyhound, which also stars Stephen Graham, Elisabeth Shue, Michael Benz, Rob Morgan, David Maldonado, Jimi Stanton, Matt Helm, Manuel Garcia-Rufloa, Travis Przybylski and tom Brittney. It went to VOD, disappointing Hanks, but our team take a look at the war film and see if the action still impresses on the small screen. Plot: Early in World War II, an inexperienced U.S. Navy captain must lead an Allied convoy being stalked by Nazi U-boat wolfpacks.

Based upon the novel “The Good Shepherd” by C S Forester, this is the thrilling story of the leader of an Allied convoy crossing the North Atlantic in 1942 as he faces relentless attack by a Nazi submarine wolf pack. The leader of the convoy’s destroyer screen is a Us Navy commander making his first Atlantic crossing.

Charlize Theron leads Netflix’s The Old Guard, the comic book action fantasy film which also stars Kiki Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Chiwetel Ejifor, Harry Melling, Van Veronica Ngo, Natacha Karam, Mette Towley, Micheal Ward and Joey Ansah. It was directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and the screenplay was adapted by Greg Rucka from his own graphic novel.

Stefan Pape, Scott Davis and Linda Marric tear into the film for our review which contains Spoilers.

The Old Guard hits Netflix all over the world on the 10th of July.

Plot: A covert team of immortal mercenaries are suddenly exposed and must now fight to keep their identity a secret just as an unexpected new member is discovered. Led by a warrior named Andy (Charlize Theron), a covert group of tight-knit mercenaries with a mysterious inability to die have fought to protect the mortal world for centuries. But when...

Right now, it seems like everything is bad. Bad and scary. Coronavirus is likely to be hanging around for a good while, getting worse before it gets better. We’re socially distancing from each other and quite a few of us are going to be self-quarantined for weeks at a time.

It’s a stressful time, and one of the things films can be best at is helping us disconnect from the outside world for a few hours. With all this in mind, the HeyUGuys team has some thoughts on films that might help ourselves, and you, find a little chink of light in a difficult time.

Below, you’ll find a list of films that we’ve chosen to recommend simply because they make us happy. Each of these films is available to stream in the UK, so hopefully as you go through it you’ll find a few old favourites,...

In two of the last three years, this poll has come down to One vote. And while at first it seemed like we’d see another close finish in 2018 – Avengers: Infinity War was always in the mix, and for a good stretch Phantom Thread was in pole position – in the end Tom Cruise did what he always does and ran away with it. After a whopping 197 lists (a new record!) were counted, Mission: Impossible – Fallout emerged as your best movie of 2018.

Check out the full breakdown below.

The Top Ten

1. Mission: Impossible – Fallout – 83 votes

2. Avengers: Infinity War – 74 votes

3. Phantom Thread – 73 votes

4. You Were Never Really Here – 70 votes

5. BlacKkKlansman – 69 votes

6. A Quiet Place – 68 votes

7. Black Panther – 66 votes

8. The Shape of Water – 63 votes

9. Widows – 59 votes

10. Roma / Annihilation / Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – 55 votes

The Best of the Rest

13. Lady Bird – 54 votes

14. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – 50 votes

15. Hereditary – 45 votes

16. A Star is Born...

Author: Linda Marric

With a premise which could rival some of the most thought-provoking episodes of Black Mirror, Adina Istrate’s short film Eternally Happy is a fantastically put together production which explores the relationship between memory and its part in making us who we are. Set in a near-future, the film manages to brilliantly depict a world in which a drug has been designed to help stop a devastating suicide epidemic from decimating the population.

Alastair Mackenzie (Wolf Hall, Borgen) is Dr. Louis W, a neuroscientist who is on the brink of an unprecedented medical breakthrough. Having developed the ability to travel deep into the mind, the doctor hopes to reconnect the broken memories of his patients in order to help them cope with the heartbreak of losing their loved ones. From the offset, lines between reality and fiction are deliberately blurred which in turn adds a great deal of intrigue to the proceedings.

Author: Linda Marric

From Pierre Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel According to Saint Matthew and Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, to Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, biblical stories have inspired generations of filmmakers across the decades, with each director adding his own aesthetics and sensitivity to a story known by millions across the globe.

In Mary Magdalene, director Garth Davis (Lion, 2016) does a truly impressive job by bringing to life one of the most misunderstood figures in the history of Christianity and allowing us to look beyond the rigidity of the text, in order to reconcile ourselves with the life of a young woman who knew exactly what she wanted from life and was not afraid to take her destiny onto her own hands.

Set in the Holy Land in the first century and staring Rooney Mara in the principal role, Mary Magdalene not...

Author: Linda Marric

Marketed towards a demographic which is generally referred to as the “Marigold Hotel crowd” and tapping into the growing power of the grey economy, Richard Loncraine’s latest feature film Finding Your Feet offers a charming, if not always perfectly told, story about second chances in life and in love. Staring Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie among other stalwarts of the British film industry, the film provides an escape from the humdrum every day life of most retirees and does a huge job in reconciling its audiences with the possibility that there’s still life after sixty.

When ‘Lady’ Sandra Abbott (Imelda Staunton) discovers that her husband of forty years has been having an extra marital affair with her best friend, she immediately leaves him and her beautiful country pile and takes refuge with her older bohemian sister Bif (Celia Imrie) who lives in a...

Author: Linda Marric

Fresh from being well and truly put through the wringer by Darren Aronofsky in his masterpiece/flop (depending on whose side of the argument you stand) Mother!, Jennifer Lawrence is back in a brand new espionage action thriller which asks as much of its main protagonist as it does of its audience. Adapted to the screen by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games, I Am Legend) from Jason Matthews’ 2013 novel of the same name, Red Sparrow tells the story of a prima ballerina turned spy, and offers a problematic narrative centring around a needlessly sadistic storyline, which while being deeply engaging, still manages to leave you with a bad taste in the mouth.

After suffering a career-ending injury on stage, Dominika Egorova (Lawrence) a highly talented Bolshoi Ballet dancer is roped in by her duplicitous state official uncle Vanya (Matthias Schoenaerts) to act as a honey-trap for a political rival.

Author: Linda Marric

From Margot Robbie’s brilliantly crafted ice skating spandex wardrobe in I, Tonya, to Sally Hawkins’ immaculate mid-century outfits in The Shape of Water, getting costume design just right is as important for a production as offering a believable screenplay, even if the story is about a mute woman falling in love with an amphibious creature.

On the eve of the British Academy Awards, HeyUGuys were fortunate enough to attend a Costume Design session at BAFTA with two of the nominees, namely Jennifer Johnson for I, Tonya and Luis Sequeira for The Shape of Water. Chaired by film writer and broadcaster Danny Leigh, the session allowed us to dig deep into the fine intricacies of costume design and the hard work that goes on behind the scenes in most productions.

Talking at great length about her experiences working on I, Tonya, Jennifer Johnson was able to divulge...

Author: Linda Marric

Filmed in 2015 and released in the Us at the end of 2017, Father Figures is one of those hideously dated bro comedies which one suspects nobody really wanted released in the current climate, and yet here it is whether we like or not. Starring Ed Helms and Owen Wilson, and directed by cinematographer turned director Lawrence Sher, the film has all the subtlety and charm of a rowdy bachelor party without all the fun bits, and that’s not even the most offensive thing about it.

Peter (Helms) and Kyle (Wilson) are fraternal twins who couldn’t be more different if they tried. Peter is a recently divorced and deeply depressed proctologist, while Kyle is the eternally cheerful, “glass is always half full” type, a trait which Peter has been finding increasingly annoying about his brother. Having been brought up by their single mother Helen (Glenn Close) in...

Author: Linda Marric

It’s never easy having to admit defeat after sitting through 90 minutes of a film willing it to get better, only for it to keep on getting worse by every passing second. Despite purporting to tell a touching story about bravery and heroism in the eye of mindless violence, Clint Eastwood’s latest offering as director, The 15:17 To Paris, is not only baffling in its sloppiness, but also fails on all accounts and ultimately winds up looking embarrassingly amateurish. All of which begs the question, how was this ever allowed to see the light of day?

In the summer of 2015, Anthony Sadler, Alek Scarlatos and Spencer Stone (playing themselves), three American soldiers backpacking around Europe managed to confront a terrorist aboard a train bound for Paris, stopping him from killing dozens of innocent people. The incident, which subsequently lead to global fame for the three friends,...

Author: Linda Marric

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity

Director Emmanuel Gras’s latest feature film Makala has been amassing accolades ever since it made its debut in 2017 at Cannes as part of Critics Week official completion. Since then the film has been talked about as being one of the most innovative of its kind, and its director rightly compared to some of the most accomplished filmmakers of our time.

Earlier this week, HeyUGuys had the chance to meet Gras for a short conversation about what makes his film so different from the usual fly on the wall documentaries, and about the effects the experience of making it has had on him and the subject of this beautifully told story. You can read our review of the film here.

First of all, congratulations on such an incredible film. Can you tell us where you found the subject of your story,...

Author: Linda Marric

Directed by Michael and Peter Spierig and starring Helen Mirren, Winchester is the latest gothic horror offering from the people who brought you, amongst other things, the hugely underrated 2009 film Predestination, an adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein’s cult sci-fi novel All You Zombies. However, anyone expecting more of the same from the hard working duo’s latest outing would be sorely let down by this deeply muddled and frankly baffling production, which simply fails to deliver on an otherwise great premise.

Set sometime around the turn of the last century, Winchester opens with a laughably predictable “based on a true story” pre-credit title and carries on much in the same fashion with a crash, a bang, and jump-scare until its inevitable denouement, which couldn’t come soon enough.

Helen Mirren is Sarah Winchester, the stern matriarch at the head of the Winchester gun company. Locked in...

Author: Linda Marric

Perhaps the most striking thing about Emmanuel Gras’s beautifully understated feature documentary Makala, is how uncompromising it is in its storytelling technique and how compelling it manages to be without ever overstepping the mark into exploitation or deliberately manufacturing events in order to further the narrative.

Set in The Democratic Republic of the Congo the film follows the story of Kabwita Kasongo, a slight and self-effacing young charcoal seller from a rural village as he takes on a mammoth journey from the humble home he shares with his wife and his two children, to the city where he hopes to sell the fruits of his arduous labour.

The film starts at dawn as we see our hero attempting to cut down an old robust tree using a small axe and nothing more. The camera lingers on the young man as he chops at the tree uninterrupted...

Author: Linda Marric

2017 proved to be one of the busiest years in Sam Claflin’s acting career. Having starred in both Their Finest and My Cousin Rachel within months of each other, it’s safe to say that Claflin is fast becoming one of the most prolific actors in the industry. Judging by his popularity amongst younger film fans, he is clearly making all the right decisions, which isn’t always the easiest thing to do for any young actor.

Back in October, and during the London Film Festival, HeyUGuys had the chance to meet with Claflin for a brief chat about his role as Captain Stanhope in Saul Dibb’s beautifully moving adaptation of R.C. Sherriff’s Wwi novel Journey’s End. We talked to the actor about his own attachment to the story and why it was such a personal project for him and all those involved in...

Author: Linda Marric

Anyone remotely familiar with Paul Thomas Anderson’s impressive body of work will know that the director has never shied away from taking on usual and challenging projects. With the release of his latest feature film Phantom Thread, Anderson has managed to surpass himself in his ability to push boundaries even further than ever before with a film which is as unique in its style, as it is breathtaking in its aesthetics.

Staring Daniel Day Lewis in what is believed to be his last ever role, having recently announced his retirement from acting, Phantom Thread is set in mid-century London and follows the mundane life of Reynolds Woodcock, a well to do taciturn dressmaker for the rich and famous, whose carefully planned quotidian rituals are turned upside by a chance meeting with the intriguing Alma (Vicky Krieps).

As one of the world most renown dress designers, Reynolds...

Author: Linda Marric

While most of us are more than aware that a certain amount of dramatic embellishment is to be expected from any adaptation based on real events, it is sometimes impossible to ignore to what level the truth can be stretched to accommodate those telling the story, and whether dramatisation for the sake of dramatisation can help or hinder said project.

In the case of Nicolai Fuglsig’s 12 Strong, where the truth ends and fiction begins isn’t altogether clear, nor does it seem that vital given the nature of the production itself. Having said that, if you’re prepared to be mildly incensed by its gung-ho “America saves the world again” narrative, the film presents an adequate retelling of a story which had until now remained under wraps by the powers that be.

Set in the aftermath of 9/11, 12 Strong tells the story of the first Special Forces...

Author: Linda Marric

Directed by Lili Fini Zanuck and edited by Chris King (Amy, Exit Through The Gift Shop), Eric Clapton: Life In 12 Bars offers a comprehensive look at the career of a man who at one point managed to achieve a near god-like status as one of the greatest guitarists that has ever lived. From addiction to tragedy and subsequent rehabilitation, Zanuck takes us through Clapton’s dizzy heights of fame and controversy in this lengthy account, but is sadly let down by her inability to fully challenge some of the of the musician’s most outrageous and racially charged outbursts made on stage in the 1970s.

In the mid ‘60s, while hordes of teenage girls across the globe screamed their way through countless Beatles appearances, a new breed of Rock musicians saw an opportunity to cut through the whole facade by taking their music and themselves way...

Author: Linda Marric

Adapted by Stéphane Brizé (The Measure Of A Man, Not Here To Be Loved) from Guy de Maupassant’s seminal 1883 novel of the same name, Une Vie (A Woman’s Life) is a beautifully constructed costume drama, which despite being set in the 19th century, manages to be as fresh and as current as any social drama worth its salt. Staring Judith Chemla in the principal role, A Woman’s Life is able to break out of the rigidity of its time by offering a story which is as gut-wrenching in its storytelling as it is brilliantly relatable in its social realist aesthetic.

Chelma is Joanne, the daughter of wealthy landowners in rural France who until now has lived an idyllic countryside life with her parents, the Baron and Baroness Le Perthuis des Vauds. Not wishing to be separated from them, Joanne agrees to marry Julien de...

Author: Linda Marric

Regardless of your feelings towards Luc Besson’s most recent cinematic output, nobody can deny that a production carrying his name can usually be relied upon to bring something new, if not always coherent, to the action genre. In the case of Renegades, a film co-written by Besson and directed by Steven Quale, you might be hard pressed to find anything positive to say about this lazily put together, badly acted, and above all, poorly judged production.

Following a group of Navy Seals as they make their way through war-torn Bosnia in the 90s, Renegades not only offers a historically inaccurate account of the events, it also manages to infuriate further by presenting a ludicrous storyline held together by a series of poorly executed action set pieces.

Starring Australian action star Sullivan Stapleton as the leader of Us Navy Seal unit, and J.K. Simmons as his constantly exasperated superior,...

Author: Linda Marric

Based on real life events, Molly’s Game tells the story of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), a charismatic former Olympic skier who became the focus of the world media when she was unveiled by the FBI as one of the masterminds behind an illegal gambling operation in Hollywood. Based on Bloom’s own memoir and adapted to the screen by the inimitable Aaron Sorkin, the film is an exhilarating, hard-hitting and, at times, genuinely thrilling piece of filmmaking which will have you gripped to its story from start to finish.

Pushed by her father Larry (Kevin Costner) to always aim higher than most, Molly Bloom (Charstain) has made it her goal in life to win an Olympic gold medal no matter what it takes. However her hopes are suddenly dashed when a devastating injury puts an end to her sporting career. Forced to abandon the sport she loves,...

Author: Linda Marric

In a year dominated by sequels, prequels and never ending comic book adaptations, one would have hoped that the third instalment in the Pitch Perfect series would be just the thing to inject some much needed seasonal cheer to our end of the year shenanigans. With a soundtrack packed full of cheery top 40 anthems and a cast list lead by some of the most likeable young female actors working in Hollywood at the moment, all Pitch Perfect 3 had to do was stick to a tried and tested formula and hope for the best. Sadly for all concerned, the film is a far cry from the charming buoyancy of the first two, and ultimately falls short of bringing anything of a value to the franchise, resorting instead to rehashed gags held together by a frankly baffling narrative arc.

Picking up from where we left off in the last instalment,...

Author: Linda Marric

From his unforgettable turn as Louis, a small time crook turned murderer in George Clooney’s Suburbicon, to his imminent role as Johannes Brandt in the BBC’s adaptation of Jesse Burton’s best selling novel The Miniaturist, 2017 has been a rather busy year for Alex Hassell. Known primarily for his theatrical roles, first as part of the RSC and later within his own theatre company The Factory, the actor has until now remained largely unknown to the general public, but things are about to change, much to the delight of those who have championed his theatrical output for the last few years.

A few days ago, we were lucky enough to speak to Alex about his upcoming role in The Miniaturist, and about his experiences of working in Hollywood on a production such as Suburbicon, and how that differs from his life as a theatre actor.