For his directorial debut, actor Bradley Cooper has resurrected that classic melodrama A Star is Born for its third remake. As before, this is the story of a talented woman, young but no longer fresh faced, whose aspirations of success are finally enabled by an older, troubled man. Why this gender complex tale of love and loss is so often returned to by filmmakers is not entirely clear. Perhaps, they see their own lives reflected in those of the dreamer and her weary counterpart? Perhaps, it is the opportunity the to reflect the romantic and heartbreaking reality of contemporary celebrity? Regardless, this is a gorgeous continuation to the lineage.
The new Johnny English film ploughs an almost counter culture commitment to undo the hard work of directors like James Gunn to make retro hits uncool again. Doing a generally good job at exposing Brexit-era Britain as being utterly out of its depth in the modern world, the material here isall very obvious but supplies a number of welcome giggles for a family audience.
A Simple Favour isn’t quite the dramatic shift from Bridesmaids director Paul Feig that its promotional scrawl might have you believe. For one thing, this is hardly the first time Feig has squeezed laughs into genre cinema – see also Spy and Ghostbusters.. Further still, it’s the comedy that flies here, leaving the mystery thriller, based on the book by Darcy Bell, firmly grounded.No, this really isn’t so far from Feig familiar.
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