Straight Outta Compton Tells the Story of N.W.A

A biopic of the seminal gangsta rap group N.W.A feels long overdue in 2015. It doesn’t seem especially surprising that F. Gary Gray’s take on the material has busted down the doors upon its States release, clocking up over $100 million shortly after its release. The story of Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr Dre and associates…

Mr Holmes (2015)

The framing of Bill Condon’s Mr Holmes is, on the face of it, rather peculiar. Adapted from Mitch Cullin’s “A Slight Trick of the Mind”, it tells a fictional tale about a fictional character – Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) – yet it’s presented as though it were a biopic about the final years of a…

Love & Mercy (2015)

Whether or not you’re familiar with the life story of Brian Wilson, Beach Boys leader and troubled genius, Love & Mercy’s story will be a familiar one. How that story is told distinguishes is what the film from a raft of interchangeable musician biopics. Its potentially conventional rise-fall structure is softened by splitting the narrative…

Idris Elba and Naomie Harris in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is a lengthy hike indeed: the film stretches over nearly two-and-a-half hours, chronicling the life of Nelson Mandela from young revolutionary to iconic leader. A half hour in, I was dreading the next couple hours; the first thirty minutes thrusts its way through a checklist of Mandela’s early life –…