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Professor Marston And The Wonder Women Review

Excellent

The rather astonishing true story of the creation of the Wonder Woman character, this is certainly not your run-of-the-mill biopic. It's a sharply well-observed story of three intellectual people who choose to live a scandalously counterculture lifestyle in the 1920s, then come up with a comic book character who goes against all the rules. Frankly, they still seem radical today.

It opens at Harvard University in the mid-1920s, where Bill Marston (Luke Evans) and his wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall) are psychology professors who have just invented what will become the modern lie-detector. They have hired grad student Olive (Bella Heathcote) as an assistant and, after some blatant flirting, both Bill and Elizabeth fall for her, deciding to create a three-way relationship. As they work on the details of how they will live together, Bill conceives a comic book hero who will help preach a message of female empowerment, inspired by both Elizabeth and Olive. And he infuses the comics with sadomasochistic imagery to make his point. Publishers are shocked by this, but one (Oliver Platt) gives the new character a shot. And Wonder Woman outsells Superman.

The story is told in flashbacks as Bill defends his work in the mid-1940s to a representative of the Catholic decency league (Connie Britton), who of course hates the comics' feminist ideas and sexualised imagery. She has no idea about Bill's three-way relationship, or the fact that he fathered two children with each woman. Writer-director Angela Robinson (The L Word) uses this cross-cutting structure to develop some tension between Bill, Elizabeth and Olive that feels more cinematic than realistic. But the three actors keep the characters remarkably grounded, with a brainy and open-minded approach to their life together. Evans is superb in the central role, while Hall shines as the prickly Elizabeth, who wants to be liberal but can't control her jealous impulses. By comparison, Heathcote's Olive feels rather passive, even though she has moments of steely energy.

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Oliver Platt at the AFI Festival opening night premiere of Warren Beatty's new movie Rules Don't Apply - Los Angeles, California, United States - Friday 11th November 2016

The 9th Life Of Louis Drax Review

Very Good

With heavy overtones of Hitchcockian mystery and intrigue, this stylish thriller is the enjoyably melodramatic story of a rather odd 9-year-old boy and the adults caught in a twisted vortex around him. Emotive acting helps make the characters come to life, and the story's secrets keep the audience hooked as what's actually happening becomes horrifyingly clear.

Louis Drax (Alden Longworth) has had several close encounters with death in his first nine years. Is he immortal? Or just accident prone? His mother Natalie (Sarah Gadon) protects him fiercely, while his father Peter (Aaron Paul) clearly adores him. So what happened on his birthday, when Peter went missing and Louis ended up in a coma after falling from a cliff? While treating him, Dr Pascal (Jamie Dornan) becomes entangled in the drama of their life. He meets Louis' sardonic therapist (Oliver Platt) and Peter's manic mother (Barbara Hershey), and he also gets perhaps a bit too close to Natalie than he should.

Director Alexandre Aja and writer Max Mingella have a lot of fun stirring in references to Hitchcock films, including the San Francisco setting, switching identities, vertiginous heights and a dangerous blonde. They add so many mysteries and red herrings into the plot that the audience is kept happily off-balance for most of the film, waiting for the other shoes to drop. This means that everything feels somewhat overcooked, complete with fantasies, dreams and even some magic. But this gives the cast a lot to play with. Dornan is his usual charming, seductive self, haplessly wooing Natalie even though he already has a hot wife (McGregor). But then Gadon oozes vulnerable lustiness in her role, so he doesn't have much of a chance. And despite the obvious set-up, Paul creates a surprisingly complex character out of Peter, while Hershey has fun chomping on the scenery.

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The 9th Life of Louis Drax Trailer

Louis Drax is a young boy who lives with his mother and father, the family are close but each year Louis seemingly has a bad accident. His parents put this down to their son's clumsy ways but they're fully aware that something deeper might be at play.

It's Louis ninth birthday and he and his parents plan to go into the woods for a picnic to celebrate. As the trio begin to have a nice time, tragedy strikes and Louis is found at the bottom of a cliff.

In a deep coma, the young boy is transferred to a special coma unit where his vitals are monitored by acclaimed neurologist Dr. Allan Pascal. Louis had been technically dead for two hours before being rescued and the fact that he's reciprocating to any form of treatment is a miracle in itself.

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Video - Eva Longoria Wows In White Dress At 2015 NBC Upfront Presentation - Part 3

'Desperate Housewives' star Eva Longoria was among the star arrivals at the 2015 NBC Upfront Presentation held at Radio City Music Hall in New York. She looked typically stunning in a calf-length, slim-fitting white dress, her long hair slicked back.

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Video - Amber Heard Turns Heads At 'When I Live My Life Over Again' Tribeca Screening

The cast of music drama 'When I Live My Life Over Again' were snapped on the red carpet at the film's screening at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

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The Tale of The Princess Kaguya Trailer

Once upon a time in Japan, a bamboo cutter discovered a miniature girl inside the body of a glowing stalk of bamboo. When he took the girl home, he adopted her as his daughter, and decided that she must be a princess. The princess began to grow at an alarming rate, soon becoming a young woman. One day, the bamboo cutter discovered another glowing stalk and once again, decided to chop it down. Inside was enough gold for him to build a palace for his princess. But a princess with a palace needs a prince, and the little princess wanted only to return to her friends. The punishment for dishonouring the prince's request would be death, so the princess was forced to embark on a journey through love, life, and Japan, in search of her heart's desire.

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Cut Bank Trailer

Dwayne McLaren is an ambitious high school graduate, whose success on the football field led him to hope for a bright future. However, his dreams are far from reached and he now works as a car mechanic in the sleepy town of Cut Bank, Montana. Nothing of interest ever seems to happen there, but his life is set to change forever when he unwittingly films an apparently fatal shooting in the middle of a field, where an elderly mailman is seemingly murdered. Meanwhile, a man of deceptively timid disposition named Derby Milton is expecting a package, and he'll do just about anything to get it. While Dwayne decides to search for the murderer (and the mainman's body) himself in a bid to win the $100,000 reward and start afresh in another town, it becomes clear that this case is a lot more complicated (and dangerous) than it initially appeared.

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Mortdecai Trailer

When a priceless painting is stolen with the presumable intention of being sold to fund terrorist activities, England needs a hero. Enter, Mortdecai. Lord Charles Mortdecai (Johnny Depp) is a well-known and barely liked art dealer. He is also on the verge of bankruptcy. Well, 'on the verge' may be a little too generous. Mortdecai's extravagant lifestyle ensures that he is in desperate need of money - so much so, that he is willing to take on the job of tracking down and returning the painting. Or, perhaps, he'll steal it himself when he gets the chance. Either way, he'll have to get his hands on it first, and that is going to be far from easy. Or safe.

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Kill The Messenger Trailer

Kill the Messenger follows the real life story of Journalist Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner), as he stumbles upon the story of a lifetime. When Webb hears that the US government was aware of the exportation of drugs to America, he begins following up the story. This, in turn, leads him to uncover a conspiracy where the CIA imported vast amounts of cocaine to sell in the US in order to raise money for the Nicaraguan Contras rebel army. Webb is then faced with the option to leave the story alone, or continue his investigation and put his career, family and own life at risk.

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Mortdecai Trailer

Charlie Mortdecai may be rude, arrogant and distinctly unlikeable, but he's also a terribly rich English art dealer with a drop dead gorgeous wife, charming looks and a trusty man servant. He has been enlisted to uncover a painting, lost for decades and containing a top secret code that leads to a hidden bank account inside which is mounds of Nazi currency. It is with much apprehension on the part of Inspector Martland that Mortdecai become involved, with him being notoriously overt and extremely moronic. But he is happy to help with the recovery, travelling to various corners of the world and dazzling those he meets along the way. However, he has a lot to face on his journey - from MI5 to terrorists and his wife's repeated questions.

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