The real Bond? How Hollywood overlooked the other Fleming brother
“’One reads Fleming… for the pleasure of meeting an Elizabethan spirit allied to a modern mind,” wrote Vita Sackville-West in 1934, and for the rest of the…
Operation Mincemeat, review: a businesslike account of one of history’s most outrageous military cons
Tricking the Nazis into a troop withdrawal from Sicily – just before the Allies mounted the largest amphibious invasion there in history – needed one corpse, planted…
Operation Mincemeat, review: a businesslike account of one of history’s most outrageous military cons
Tricking the Nazis into a troop withdrawal from Sicily – just before the Allies mounted the largest amphibious invasion there in history – needed one corpse, planted…
Operation Mincemeat star Johnny Flynn: ‘I was spotty and quiet at school’
“I loved history at school, but it was always the Romans, the Tudors and World War Two on rotation,” he laughs. “At least that launched me into…
The name’s Shelby… Tommy Shelby: have we met our new James Bond?
Cillian Murphy has recently been dragged into the “conversation” about the next James Bond. Presumably, this is because he combines the key attributes of two previous 007s…
Baftas 2022 review: host Rebel Wilson’s wrecking-ball comedy included one stone-cold clunker that drew boos
The return to normality after two years of lockdowns, social distancing and Zoom quizzes has been a shaky experience for many. And as the 2022 Baftas (BBC…
Dr No gloating, Picasso under surveillance: the astonishing true story behind The Duke
Adam had a personal insight into megalomaniac taste. A Jewish refugee from Germany, he had seen the Nazis make life impossible for his father, the owner of…
The silliest, sexiest spy movie ever made: Monica Vitti and the folly of Modesty Blaise
The actress Monica Vitti, who has died at the age of 90, was one of the shining stars of post-war Italian cinema, not least for her professional…
The silliest, sexiest spy movie ever made: Monica Vitti and the folly of Modesty Blaise
The actress Monica Vitti, who has died at the age of 90, was one of the shining stars of post-war Italian cinema, not least for her professional…
The Baftas’ disdain for British brilliance feels like self-sabotage
The Baftas have some funny ideas about celebrating cinema. Their list of nominations this year gives you the impression that almost no one who voted has actually…
The fishy tale of Pierce Brosnan’s near-unreleasable mermaid movie
The second was the involvement of Chinese finance in the international filmmaking business. The new Chinese studio Kylin Pictures was prepared to invest $20 million, making this…
Let’s be realistic about the next James Bond – it’s not Idris Elba
Such praise comes in part because of, not in spite of, his relative obscurity. Unhampered by preconceptions or beloved previous roles imprinted into public consciousness, Craig was…
Why James Bond had to die: Daniel Craig and Barbara Broccoli on the best-kept secret in film history
“If we hadn’t found the right story in which to do it, we would have had him walk off into the sunset,” Craig continues. “But as the…
Operation Mincemeat, review: punchy musical about an outlandish Allied subterfuge
A buzz louder than a doodlebug surrounds Operation Mincemeat, a new musical about the wartime deception that enabled the Allied invasion of Sicily. That outlandish subterfuge, which…
Overblown, daft and Americanised, Diamonds Are Forever made a fool of Sean Connery
Diamonds Are Forever marked a return to what felt like proper Bond: the glimmering title and Shirley Bassey theme tune, Goldfinger director Guy Hamilton, and – of…
The Ipcress File: how a bespectacled ‘anti-Bond’ changed Michael Caine’s life
In 1964, a 31-year-old Michael Caine was having dinner with his roommate Terence Stamp at the Pickwick Club in Soho, when the big-cheese producer Harry Saltzman sent…
Toy story: how James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 and Corgi caused a sensation at Christmas 1965
A helping hand surely came from the films, which had “broken out” with Goldfinger the previous year. Number 261 became the fastest-selling toy car in history, registering…
The 20 best films of 2021
After cinemas were out cold with Covid for months on end, what a joy it’s been to see them punching back. The latest haymaker was landed this…
Someone needs to tell Peter Jackson and the makers of James Bond to read Lord of the Flies
Of course, editing isn’t just about adjusting length. Thoughtful editing can often transform a work, rescuing it from the slush pile and turning it into a gleaming…
Lady Gaga vs Disney? British audiences go with Gucci
When Ridley Scott’s weighty, starry, medieval-era The Last Duel sputtered at the global box office, plenty of commentators were happy to hammer another nail in the coffin…