On Chesil Beach (2017)
Genre: Drama
Director: Dominic Cooke
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Emily Watson, Samuel West, Billy Howle, Anne-Marie Duff, Adrian Scarborough
Duration: 110 minutes
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd

Dominic Cooke makes his directorial debut with a Booker Prize-nominated novella of the same name by Ian McEwan, who also wrote the script of the film.

The drama is set in the summer of 1962 and centres on a young couple, played by Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle, who have drastically different backgrounds.

Following the pair through their idyllic courtship, the film explores sex and the societal pressure that can accompany physical intimacy, leading to an awkward and fateful wedding night.

The film, released at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, received mixed reviews. Liz Beardsworth of Empire magazine, described the film as “an opulent, well-crafted and acted tale of emotional repression that captures the head more than the heart.”

Owen Gleiberman of Variety commented that the film has “a vision of love that’s shockingly old-fashioned” and that it is “tinglingly audacious”, while Jeffrey M. Anderson of Common Sense Media lamented about the film’s length and script, saying: “The material – playing with time, innocence, and sexuality – is strong and the actors are game, but the movie is too long and relies on too much talk; it misses a chance to visualise the drama.”

Ratings
IMDB: 6.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 68%
Empire: 3 stars

Daniel Brühl and Rosamund Pike get involved in a daring rescue in Entebbe.

Entebbe (2018)
Genre: Thriller
Director: José Padilha
Starring: Rosamund Pike, Daniel Brühl, Eddie Marsan,
Nonso Anozie
Duration: 107 minutes
Class: 12A
KRS Releasing Ltd

The crime thriller is about  Operation Entebbe, a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out in 1976, which has already been portrayed in films and TV series.

The film sees how four terrorists hijack an Air France flight from Tel-Aviv to Paris and force the flight crew to land in Entebbe, Uganda. There, the Jewish passengers are held hostage, with their safety contingent on the release of dozens of terrorists jailed in Israel, Germany and Sweden. After considerable debate, the Israeli government employs the Israeli Defence Forces to execute a daring rescue.

The film received poor reviews, with critics saying it lacks tension.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called the film “a crashing bore” and  the critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: “Entebbe loses sight of its most compelling elements in a dull dramatisation of riveting real-life events.”

Ratings
IMDB: 5.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 25%
Empire: 2 stars