In a Summer of hotly anticipated film releases, Barbie is the most anticipated of all. I donned my pinkest dress and went to see it yesterday, and have to say it is everything I wanted it to be – very pink, very funny and with lots of wry things to say about both the patriarchy and feminism. I’ve rated Greta Gerwig as a director since I watched her brilliant version of Little Women, and have to say that this is a masterpiece, a really clever film that has you laughing out loud one minute, and nodding along the next. One stand out scene is when Barbie goes to the beach,…

I am continuing my mission to try to watch all the available adaptations of Agatha Christie’s work with a look at the 1945 adaptation of what many think of as her greatest novel, Rene Clair’s ‘And Then There Were None.’ This is currently available to watch on Amazon Prime, and I have to say that I rather loved this, as, as well as having a stellar cast, it actually added a wily humour to the tale that worked well with the story. The story is well known, and retains most of its elements. Ten people, strangers to each other, are invited to a mysterious house on a Soldier island that…

The first Knives Out film was a joy, a slightly old fashioned murder mystery with a country house setting, a slightly eccentric detective leading the investigation, and a star studded cast of suspects. An Agatha Christie tale for the 21st Century. I loved it, but I actually think the second in the series (and fingers crossed that it will be a long running series) is even better. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, has kept the slightly eccentric detective and the star studded cast of victims and suspects, but has moved the action to a stunning, sun soaked but remote Greek Island, giving all those Agatha Christie ‘Evil under the…

The most beautiful, stylish film you will see this month is Mrs Harris Goes To Paris. The latest film version of the Paul Gallico 1958 novel, the story is of a London widow Ada Harris, who works as a cleaning lady. After spotting an exquisite Dior dress in the wardrobe of one her ungrateful employees, Lady Dent ( a dress that costs £500), she obsesses over owning her own bit of haute couture. A series of events collide, giving her the money to actually buy her own dress, but once in Paris, she finds it isn’t as simple as ‘walking into Woolworths’, as a combination of snobbery and elitism work…

See How They Run, which opened in the UK last Friday, is a delightful tribute/pastiche to Agatha Christie, and is a total delight for Agatha Christie fans, with a murder set right in the heart of theatreland at the party for the 100th performance of ‘The Mousetrap’. It has a stellar cast, shocking murders, brilliant staging and yet plays it all with its tongue firmly in cheek. Agatha would most definitely approve. It’s 1953 and The Mousetrap is celebrating its 100th performance. Its stars Dickie Attenborough and Sheila Sim attend the starry party given in honour of the occasion, as does Hollywood director Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody). He is tasked…