Larry Oliver Film Reviews

  Contains spoilers When we first meet Theo (Simon Pegg) at the start of the Los Angeles-set drama, Lost Transmissions , he seems like just another drunken show-off who latches onto a piano at a party. There he is, tinkling the blackened ivories, composing ditties about the assembled company. Only, he is no No ël Coward. The esteemed Mr C would not describe Theo’s friend Angus (Jamie Harris) as ‘tough as old boots with the laces undone’. Nor would he rhyme Hannah (Juno Temple) with ‘bananas.’ ‘Is she a tragedy or a mystery?’ he asks aloud, before luring the poor guest to the piano herself and inviting her to sing. She responds with a fragile rendition of Daniel Johnston’s ‘True Love will find you in the end’, which Theo spoils by joining in. He is a British expatriate music producer with problems. The film follows Hannah, who has her own self-esteem issues, as she is drawn in to solve them. Writer-director Katharine O’Brien based her film on a true story. Her intention is to show...

Pictured : 'Eddie, what's a xenomorph?' Fugitive former journalist Eddie Brock ( Tom Hardy ) and his symbiote, Venom (CGI, voiced by Hardy) plan their next move in the Marvel superhero threequel, ' Venom: The Last Dance ', written and directed by Kelly Marcel . Still courtesy of Columbia - Sony Pictures . One of the highest grossing films of 2024 directed by a woman is the Marvel superhero sequel, Venom : The Last Dance , the third in a series of films featuring British actor Tom Hardy as journalist Eddie Brock and the voice of his computer-generated alter ego, Venom, an alien symbiote that needs Eddie to survive, or at least complete a tax return.  Hardy, whose signature roles include Bane in The Dark Knight Rises , Charles Bronson (the serial killer) in Bronson and building contractor Locke in Locke , not to mention both Kray twins in Legend , is an actor who exudes menace that is to some extent diffused by the heightened voices he adopts when playing a role. A...