For 150 years the story of four sisters has captured imaginations around the world, selling millions of copies and spawning numerous adaptions... so when Greta Gerwig announced that she was following her highly successful directional debut, Ladybird, with a new version of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, it left many of us asking if there was anything new to be added to such a well loved, well told tale?
Every reader will tell you that there are books they liked, books they loved and books they couldn't escape... stories which got under their skin and stayed with them long after they turned the final page. Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River is one of those books.
Acting as inspiration for the highly acclaimed 1953 film of the same name, The Cruel Sea doesn’t hold it’s punches, drawing on author Nicholas Monsarrat’s own wartime experiences in the R.N.V.R (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve) to depict one the most intense and ferocious battles of the Second World War; the Battle of the Atlantic. This … Continue reading The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat
I admit that I didn’t know what to expect from Stan & Ollie, although familiar with the name Laurel and Hardy, I am ashamed to say I had never previously encountered their work… and being more familiar with the work of stars Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly, I knew that the film could go … Continue reading Stan & Ollie review
As it nears its 60th Anniversary, The Cheltenham Literature Festival is an event to be celebrated as it continues to attract a diverse range of authors to speak on a variety of topics ranging from the political to the Gothic, providing emerging authors with the opportunity to reach a new audience. Despite being an avid … Continue reading Adventures – Cheltenham Literature Festival
I walked away from the cinema in love with the BlacKkKlansman because it’s a film that managed to be emotionally charged, funny and make a point all at the same time.
Over the last decade the trend for Hollywood musicals has been to shoe-horn romantic plots around the songs of famous bands…think Mamma Mia, Sunshine on Leith and Walking on Sunshine. Refreshingly La La Land is something different, a film where the music and the story blend together to create a cinematic masterpiece. After his loud, … Continue reading La La Land review
“There be gold in them thar hills.” Towards the end of the third, and final, episode of this incredible series Dan Snow says that to truly understand and appreciate what people have gone through in history, you have to experience it for yourself…and he’s right. Unfortunately, the realities of life mean that few of us … Continue reading Operation Gold Rush review
While DC continue to pick up the pieces from their Batman Vs Superman disaster, Marvel have worked their cinematic magic once again, this time on Doctor Strange. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and directed by Scott Derrickson (The Day the Earth Stood Still, Sinister) Doctor Strange follows the journey of brilliant neurosurgeon Stephen Strange as he heads … Continue reading Doctor Strange review
“You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day.” This is the message at the heart of The Light Between Oceans, a film that shows just how hard it is to forgive others and, significantly, ourselves. Based on M.L. Steadman’s bestselling novel of the same name, The … Continue reading The Light Between Oceans review
Elle's Scribbles 