Tom Courtenay Archives

Starring: Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay, Jim Broadbent, Ray Winstone
Directed By: James Marsh
Running Time: 108 Minutes
UK Release Date: 14 September 2018
BBFC Certificate: 15

Our Score

Director James Marsh certainly likes bringing stories based on real life events to the big screen. Following The Theory of Everything (2014) and The Mercy (2018), he brings us the heist caper King of Thieves, which is based on the infamous Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary back in 2015. That crime was already the subject of last year’s The Hatton Garden Job, starring Matthew Goode and Larry Lamb, but not it’s getting the Michael Caine treatment.

As with all films based on true stories liberties are taken with the source material in order to translate it to the audience as a piece of entertainment rather than a documentary, and unlike Marsh’s previous film, The Mercy, King of Thieves is a more humorous and light hearted affair. [Read more…]

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ACTORS: Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay, Jim Broadbent, Ray Winstone DIRECTORS: James Marsh

Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine James, Dolly Wells
Directed By: Andrew Haigh
Running Time: 95 mins
BBFC Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: January 11th 2016 (UK)

Our Score

Following the indie success of Weekend and helping to produce/direct HBO’s Looking, Andrew Haigh shows he isn’t simply be a ‘gay director’ with the tender 45 Years. The film introduces us to Kate and Geoff Mercer (Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay), who are soon to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary.

Geoff gets unexpected news when he receives a letter informing him that the frozen body of his old girlfriend, who died in an accident decades before, has been discovered in the Swiss Alps. Initially Kate thinks this is surprising and upsetting news for her husband, but not something that will greatly affect either of them. However, as Geoff talks more about this women he knew before he met Kate, she starts to feel that perhaps their marriage has been haunted by her and Geoff’s feelings about an entirely different life that he might have led if fate hadn’t intervened.

As their 45th anniversary approaches, the strain begins to grow on this quiet, fairly staid relationship. [Read more…]

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ACTORS: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine James, Dolly Wells DIRECTORS: Andrew Haigh