That film marked her screenwriting debut, and she’s also the author of this sequel, a windy, fog-laden affair in which the otherworldly wizard Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) comes face to face with evil. In his own good time, mind you. The 2016 film flew along at a satisfying pelt, and was bursting at the seams with visual invention. It was better than any of the Potter films in my opinion, but this time the beast is out of the bag, as it were, meaning all involved have to work much harder. At the end of the first film we were introduced to the shape-shifting dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), a fastidious maniac who wants to collapse the magical world order and substitute a new one of his own. As Fantastic Beasts 2 opens he’s cooling his heels in a Ministry of Magic prison in 1920s Manhattan when he seizes an opportunity to escape. Grindelwald, who dresses gothically and is surrounded at all times by foppish flunkies who look like extras from a Marilyn … [Read more...] about Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald review: ‘Johnny Depp is impossible to take seriously’
Movies
From Spider-Man to Iron Man
The creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Thor and The Incredible Hulk loved to make appearances in the film versions of the hits. The goofy cameos he made in every Marvel film were often greeted by cheers from audiences young enough to be his grandchildren. Here we look back on six of the best of Lee’s cameos following his death aged 95. Daredevil (2003) Released before the modern day superhero phenomenon, the 2003 film version of Daredevil struggled to impress critics and viewers alike. However it did create one of the more entertaining Stan Lee cameos with the Marvel man appearing as an old man reading a newspaper in the street. In fact, his life is saved by a young Matt Murdock when he stopped him from getting hit by a bus. Fantastic Four (2005) Before creating the Fantastic Four comic, Lee came up with a character called Willie Lump for a strip which only lasted a couple of years. He then returned as the Fantastic Four’s mail man who Lee … [Read more...] about From Spider-Man to Iron Man
WATCH: Toy Story 4 teaser trailer shows old gang back together
The short clip shows long-running characters including Mr Potato Head, Jessie, Rex, Hamm and Slinky Dog floating through a cloudy sky while all holding hands. A new character, a spork with googly eyes called Forky, is also part of the line-up, but is bemused to be there, crying out: “I don’t belong here!” The characters all come to a crash in mid-air as Forky shouts: “I’m not a toy!” The film, which comes nine years after Toy Story 3, follows Woody as he takes Forky, a reluctant new addition to his owner Bonnie’s bedroom, under his wing. Forky is a spork-turned-craft project who does not want to be a toy, but Woody and the others set out to show him how big the world can be for a toy on a road trip adventure. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen return as the voices of Woody and Buzz, while Joan Cusack is back as Jessie. Comedian Tony Hale, known for his roles in Arrested Development and Veep, lends his voice to Forky. The first film in the hit franchise … [Read more...] about WATCH: Toy Story 4 teaser trailer shows old gang back together
‘I always felt like I was the funny friend of girls that I fancied’
But by his own biological calendar, that birthday is long gone. In O’Dowd years, he’s already 52. “It’s like, ‘Am I not f**king 40 yet?’ I turned 39 when I was about 26. I feel like I’ve been very old for a very long time,” he says, squinting his close-set eyes. “I was the youngest and last kid [of five], left at home as my parents were breaking up. As a 15-year-old, I took on the behaviour of the man of the house. I was a child-man. That’s why I’ve played a lot of man-children.” His overgrown boys have included tech slacker Roy Trenneman, his breakout role in Channel 4’s cult comedy The IT Crowd, record label jerk Ronnie in Judd Apatow’s This Is 40, and an assortment of oafs (not least a bad boyfriend in Girls). But since his turn in Bridesmaids in 2011, O’Dowd has become a regular in Apatow’s Hollywood gang of everymen. It was Apatow who suggested O’Dowd for the role of his latest … [Read more...] about ‘I always felt like I was the funny friend of girls that I fancied’
‘I miss the experience, but I don’t long to play the person again’
But Foy is utterly convincing as the psychologically damaged Swedish hacker Lisbeth Salander in The Girl in the Spider's Web, offering further proof of her rare talent, and range. Since she finished shooting The Crown early last year, Foy has concentrated on film, and appears to have the happy knack of choosing projects well. She played Andrew Garfield's heroic wife in Andy Serkis's moving biopic of polio victim Robin Cavendish Breathe, and was a revelation as a woman wrongfully incarcerated in a mental asylum in Steven Soderbergh's gritty thriller Unsane. And she can currently be seen in your local multiplex in Damien Chazelle's First Man, a sweeping recreation of the Apollo 11 moon landings in which she plays Neil Armstrong's long-suffering spouse. Her performance, and the film, are sure to figure largely in what American commentators like to call 'the Oscar conversation'. Her latest film, though, is definitely a change of pace. "Well that was part of the allure really," she tells … [Read more...] about ‘I miss the experience, but I don’t long to play the person again’