PAUL DONOVAN is chilled by the contemporary resonance of Harper Lee’s coming of age tale amidst racism and white supremacy in this excellent production
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London Film Festival 2013
Some hard-hitting features made this year's London Film Festival better than average, reports MARIA DUARTE
GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends the unashamedly light-hearted escapism on offer in this stage version of the 1963 film
Full of mysterious religious references and radical sound design, the Scottish duo’s new offering is candidate for album of the year, suggests SIMON DUFF
MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
The world premiere of Saving Mr Banks, the extraordinary story of how Mary Poppins was brought to the big screen, drew the BFI London Film Festival to a glamorously fitting close.
Sharply funny, yet an unabashed tear-jerker, it pits the prickly PL Travers (a magnificent Emma Thompson) against Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) in a tooth-and-nail combat to prevent the Hollwood mogul from turning her beloved literary creation into a "cavorting and tinkling" cartoon character.
Not only did Hanks (below) close the festival, he also opened it with biopic Captain Phillips. In Paul Greengrass's nail-bitingly tense drama about the 2009 hijacking of a US cargo ship by Somali pirates, he gives one of the best performances of his career.
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