Rocketman showers glitter on Elton John’s glorious whole
Movie Review: Rocketman
Director Dexter Fletcher swallows some of the uglier truths about the arena rock sensation that defined the 1970s in an entertaining spectacle that brings real feeling to what many considered a pop music sausage factory.
Bening Becomes Legend in Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
Movie review: Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
Annette Bening pours pathos into a champagne glass as Gloria Grahame in Paul McGuigan’s moody portrait of the feminine mystique and its martyrdom at the grabby hands of Hollywood
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
4/5
Starring: Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Vanessa Redgrave, Kenneth Cranham
Directed by: Paul McGuigan
Running time: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: Restricted
By Katherine Monk
She had a starring role in It’s a Wonderful Life, but Gloria Grahame had anything but. As one of the leading femme fatales of the 20th century, Grahame was a prisoner of her pin-up image, sentenced to the shadows of sexually charged parts in an era that regarded a woman’s libido as a moral liability.
Sexuality was her ticket to the gleaming world of Golden Age Hollywood, but in Paul McGuigan’s emotionally detailed portrait based on Peter Turner’s memoir, we can see how her biggest gift also became her biggest burden, and eventua...
