Crime thriller has 'Tom Hardy's best performance in years'
A 'gripping' crime thriller is said to have 'Tom Hardy's best on screen performance in years.'
That seems to be a significant claim for an actor who has impressed audiences with roles in film and television. Over the last decade, he has appeared the Kray twins in Legend, along with roles in The Revenant, Dunkirk and more recently with a main role in the series Mob Land.
However, perhaps some believe his part in the lesser well received Venom trilogy may have caused audiences to forget what he is capable of. A title that may have served as a recent reminder was 2024's The Bikeriders.
Hardy was part of an all-star cast for the film. He appeared opposite the likes of Elvis star Austin Butler and Killing Eve's Jodie Comer. Also featuring were The Walking Dead star's Norman Reedus and Man of Steel's Michael Shannon.
Set in the 1960s, the film's story is told over the course of a decade. It follows a Midwestern motorcycle club which evolves from a gathering place for local outsiders to a sinister gang, threatening the original group's way of life.
Hardy plays the leader of this gang, Butler his young protégé and Comer his wife. While the film is a fictional story, writer and director Jeff Nichols was inspired by the book of the same name by photographer Danny Lyon, which chronicled pictures of an actual bike gang.
A critic writing for Collider, looking back on the film, claims that it is "Tom Hardy's best on screen performance in years." They go on to say: "Not only was it a blessing to see Hardy work with such a rich cast and visionary director again, but he also gave perhaps his most revelatory performance since breaking out with American audiences in Inception. On the surface, Hardy could play the leader of a bike gang in his sleep, as the actor is known for his brutish tough guys."
They weren't the only ones as the film managed a rating of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes with most reviewers praising the central performances of Hardy, Butler and Comer in particular. Thankfully for film lovers in the UK who have yet to see for themselves, they can catch up by streaming the film on Sky Cinema or NOW with a movies pass.
Many fans were in agreement on Hardy's role in the film with one posting online: "Tom Hardy shines and gives a Marlon Brando-esque performance that made me enjoy every scene he was in."
Sharing a similar view, another added: "The Bikeriders is an electrifying journey into the heart of 1960s biker culture! Jeff Nichols masterfully captures the gritty essence of an outlaw motorcycle club's evolution from a band of misfits to a formidable crime syndicate. Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, and Tom Hardy deliver powerhouse performances, breathing life into complex characters that stay with you long after the credits roll."
Meanwhile someone else said: "Gripping, gritty and raw with stellar performances in a film that only Jeff Nichols could bring to vivid cinematic life."
One person, compared it to one of the classic films by an acclaimed director. Clearly putting it against Goodfellas, they said: "I checked to see if Martin Scorsese directed it; he didn't. Jeff Nichols is certainly a Scorsese admirer. Great Film!"
The Bikeriders is streaming on Sky Cinema and NOW.
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Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Sharon Osbourne's haunting tribute to Cosby Show star just hours before Ozzy's death was announced
Sharon Osbourne shared a heartfelt tribute to Malcolm-Jamal Warner just hours before her family confirmed the death of her husband, legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy, the iconic Black Sabbath frontman, died Tuesday at age 76. A statement from his family revealed he passed earlier that day and had been 'surrounded by love.' Strikingly, not long before news of Ozzy's passing became public, Sharon shared a touching message in memory of Warner, who tragically died the day prior at 54 in a reported drowning accident. On her Instagram story, Sharon, 72, posted a video of Warner smiling while driving, wearing a baseball cap decorated with a flower for his daughter. In the clip, the actor shares an uplifting message about finding joy in everyday moments. 'No matter what's going on, there's always a reason to smile,' Warner says in the video. 'If you just take a minute to stop and take stock, I guarantee you can find at least one reason to smile.' He continued: 'And if for some reason you can't find a reason to smile, then that's probably the best time to be the reason for somebody else to smile.' Sharon captioned her tribute: 'Beautiful. Rest in peace @malcolmjamalwarner.' Ozzy's death comes just two weeks after his final performance at the Back to the Beginning concert, where he reunited on stage with his fellow Black Sabbath bandmates for a celebratory farewell. In a statement, his family said: 'It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. 'He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time. Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis.' The rocker was able to bid an emotional farewell to his fans on stage this month as he reunited with his original Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward for the first time since 2005. 'You've no idea how I feel - thank you from the bottom of my heart,' Osbourne told the crowd in his final speech. The music legend vowed, however, that it would be his final ever performance due to his health, having opened up about his battle with Parkinson's in 2020. The star was a titan of music who somehow survived controversies that would end the careers of many others, and weathered health problems that would leave most of us on our backs. Whether it was biting the head off both a bat and a dove, snorting a line of ants or urinating on a US war memorial while wearing one of his wife Sharon's dresses, Osbourne was defined by his antics both on and off stage. The singer, who sold more than 100 million records, will forever be synonymous with the heavy metal band he formed in his home city of Birmingham in 1969. With hits that included Iron Man, War Pigs and Paranoid, Black Sabbath's pushing of occult themes proved both hugely popular and controversial, with a future pope even condemning Osbourne for his 'subliminal satanic influence'. Osbourne's most infamous moment came when he bit the head off a bat that had been thrown on stage during a solo performance. He later claimed he thought it was made of rubber. Osbourne forged a hugely successful solo career after being thrown out of his band in 1979 due to his drug-fuelled antics, with hits that included Crazy Train and Hellraiser. But his hellraising off stage continued. In 1989 he attempted to kill Sharon while high on drugs, and seven years before that he urinated on the treasured Alamo Cenotaph in Texas, an act that saw him banned from San Antonio for a decade. He was also injured in a quad bike crash at his UK home in 2003, an episode that had a serious impact on his fragile health. Yet there was also redemption for the troubled singer, who relaunched himself as a reality tv star in The Osbournes in the early 2000s, after getting clean from drink and drugs with the help of Sharon. It saw two of his and Sharon's children, Kelly and Jack, become stars in their own right, whilst their other daughter Aimee declined to appear. There was a return too to Black Sabbath in 1997, when the original line-up got back together. Five years later, he and Iommi were an unlikely part of the star-studded lineup at the Queen's Golden Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, where they performed Paranoid. Osbourne's final performance with Black Sabbath came in 2025, when he reunited with his bandmates for a final gig at Aston Villa's Villa Park stadium in Birmingham. Having then suffered from Parkinson's disease for more than five years, he was seated for much of the farewell performance. Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, the singer was raised by his parents Lilian and John with three older sisters and two younger brothers in a small two-bedroom home in Birmingham. The family of eight grew up poor and Ozzy said it was difficult because his parents were always fighting about money. Their strained marriage meant Ozzy did not speak to his parents after he was repeatedly sexually abused, aged 11, by two bullies. He said in a later interview: 'I was afraid to tell my father or mother and it completely f***ed me up. Dirty little secrets fester and that is one of the first things I said to my kids.' Aged 14, Osbourne tried to hang himself and was only saved by his father. He was a persistent truant from school and suffered from both attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia, whilst his violent streak made an early appearance when he once attacked a teacher with an iron bar. The only subject that caught his attention at school was music and he performed in several productions of Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. Osbourne left education at 15 and found work as a laborer and abattoir worker. Osbourne then turned to petty crime. After stealing a television and baby clothes just before his 18th birthday, he was arrested and spent six weeks behind bars because his father refused to pay his £40 fine. It was while in prison that Osbourne gave himself his first tattoo: 'OZZY' in capital letters on the knuckles of his left hand. He formed his first band, Rare Breed, at 19, with bassist Geezer Butler. When the pair fell out with their bandmates, they joined Iommi and Ward to set up Black Sabbath in 1968, which was first named Earth. They renamed the band in 1969 in tribute to their favorite horror film. The move set Osbourne, Iommi and Ward on the path to heavy metal royalty. The group quickly established a reputation for dabbling with satanic and occult themes. One early critic wrote: 'His baroque prophesies of doom were uttered against a background of a uniquely heavy guitar sound.'
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath frontman and icon of British heavy metal, dies aged 76
Ozzy Osbourne, whose gleeful 'Prince of Darkness' image made him one of the most iconic rock frontmen of all time, has died aged 76. A statement from the Osbourne family reads: 'It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.' No cause of death was given, though Osbourne had experienced various forms of ill health in recent years. Osbourne was one of the most notorious figures in rock: an innovator whose eerie wail helped usher in heavy metal, a showman who once bit the head off a bat on stage, an addict whose substance abuse led him to attempt to murder his wife, and latterly, a reality TV star much loved for his bemusement at family life on The Osbournes. His death comes less than three weeks after his retirement from performance. On 5 July, Osbourne reunited with his original bandmates in the pioneering group Black Sabbath for the first time since 2005, for Back to the Beginning: an all-star farewell concert featuring some of the biggest names in metal. 'I've been laid up for six years, and you've got no idea how I feel,' he told the crowd that night, referring to extensive health issues including a form of Parkinson's and numerous surgeries on his spine. 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart.' He was born John Michael Osbourne in Aston, Birmingham, in 1948, the son of a pair of factory workers. He had a tough upbringing. As well as living in relative poverty, aged 11 he was repeatedly sexually abused by two boys: 'It was terrible … It seemed to go on for ever,' he told the Mirror in 2003. He was also jailed for burglary: 'I was no good at that. Fucking useless,' he admitted in 2014. This industrial working-class environment fed into the sound of Osbourne's defining musical project, Black Sabbath, whose heavy sound revolutionised British rock music. 'We wanted to put how we thought about the world at the time,' the band's bassist, Geezer Butler, said in 2017. 'We didn't want to write happy pop songs. We gave that industrial feeling to it.' Named after a Boris Karloff horror movie, the band, also featuring Tony Iommi on guitar and Bill Ward on drums, released their self-titled debut in 1970, followed by further albums regarded as foundation stones of the heavy-metal genre. Paranoid (1970) featured the strutting anthems Iron Man and War Pigs and topped the UK album chart, while the cacophonous, psychedelic sound of Master of Reality (1971) remains a huge influence on the slower sound of doom metal. Osbourne recorded a further five acclaimed albums with the group, but became so dependent on alcohol and drugs that he was fired in 1979, and replaced by Ronnie James Dio. Osbourne eventually returned to the band for the 2013 album 13, which topped the charts in the US and UK. Black Sabbath also went on tour, playing their final concert in Birmingham on 4 February 2017. Osbourne went solo shortly after leaving Black Sabbath, and beginning with Blizzard of Ozz – which went five times platinum in the US – released 11 studio albums, the most recent being 2020's Ordinary Man. It featured collaborations with young rap artists Post Malone and Travis Scott, as well as a guest spot from Elton John. The most notorious incident involving Osbourne happened in 1982, when he bit off the head of a dead bat he believed to be a stage prop while performing in Des Moines, Iowa. He later went to hospital to receive a precautionary rabies inoculation. He also claimed – and this was corroborated by his one-time publicist Mick Wall – to have bitten the heads off two doves during a 1981 record label meeting that went sour, having originally intended to release the birds as a sign of peace. In the 80s and 90s, he had occasional UK Top 40 hits, including Bark at the Moon (1983) and Perry Mason (1995). He eventually hit No 1 in 2003 with Changes, a duet with his daughter Kelly, 40. Osbourne has two other children with wife Sharon – Jack, 39, and Aimee, 41 – and two with first wife, Thelma – Jessica and Louis. His marriage to Thelma had deteriorated because of his alcoholism, and he later admitted he couldn't remember Jessica and Louis being born. In 1982, he married Sharon, who had begun managing his solo career after the pair met three years earlier. Her business acumen paired with his enduring popularity helped them accrue huge wealth. Ozzfest, the metal music festival founded by Sharon in 1996, toured the US most years and also had outings in the UK and Japan. In 1989, he was arrested for attempting to murder Sharon by strangling her while drunk. He recounted the incident in a 2007 interview: 'I woke up in this little single cell with human shit up the walls – and I thought, 'What the fuck have I done now?' … [A police officer] read me a piece of paper, and said, 'You're charged with attempting to murder Mrs Sharon Osbourne.' I can't tell you how I felt. I just went numb.' The couple later reconciled, though briefly split again in 2016 after Ozzy was unfaithful with a hair stylist. Ozzy and Sharon, along with Kelly and Jack, appeared in the reality TV series The Osbournes from 2002 to 2005. A fly-on-the-wall documentary series that followed the family's domestic life – complete with dog therapists, 'vagina doctors' and an endless stream of imaginative bad language from everyone – it became a ratings hit, and, in 2002, the second ever winner of the Emmy award for outstanding reality programme. Ozzy broke his neck, collarbone and ribs in a quad biking accident at his Buckinghamshire home in 2003. Sharon later said he had stopped breathing for a minute and a half 'and there was no pulse'; he was also told he was almost paralysed by the accident. In 2005, he was diagnosed with Parkin syndrome, which causes bodily tremors. In 2013, following years of sobriety, he admitted he had been drinking and taking drugs for a year and a half, but was committed to becoming sober again, saying: 'I was in a very dark place and was an asshole to the people I love most, my family.' In 2019, Osbourne performed what was billed as his final world tour, entitled No More Tours 2. (He first announced his retirement in 1992 with the No More Tours tour, but later reversed his decision.) Illness forced him to postpone the European dates in 2020. 'It just seems that since October, everything I touch has turned to shit,' he said in an apologetic statement – he had also spent time in hospital to receive treatment for an infection in his hand. In 2020 he announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's, and in 2022 had surgery on his spine, having suffered a fall in 2019 that exacerbated the earlier quad biking injuries. In 2023, he cancelled a UK and Europe tour due to being 'physically weak', describing 'three operations, stem cell treatments, endless physical therapy sessions, and most recently groundbreaking Cybernics (HAL) treatment.' Osbourne became depressed amid the extensive treatment, as he described in a May 2025 interview with the Guardian. 'You wake up the next morning and find that something else has gone wrong. You begin to think this is never going to end,' he said. 'Sharon could see that I was in Doom Town, and she says to me, 'I've got an idea.' It was something to give me a reason to get up in the morning.' This was the Back to the Beginning concert held at Villa Park in Birmingham, which saw Osbourne reunite with Butler, Iommi and Ward for a four-song set, following a five-song solo set. Osbourne performed seated in a bat-adorned throne, but put in a spirited performance, telling the audience at one point: 'I am Iron Man: go fucking crazy!' The concert also featured performances by legends including Metallica, Slayer and Guns N' Roses. Elton John was among those paying tribute to Osbourne, writing: 'He was a dear friend and a huge trailblazer who secured his place in the pantheon of rock gods – a true legend. He was also one of the funniest people I've ever met. I will miss him dearly.'
The Sun
8 hours ago
- The Sun
Ozzy Osbourne joined Black Sabbath on stage for poignant final show weeks before death aged 76
OZZY Osbourne joined Black Sabbath on stage for a poignant final show just weeks before his death aged 76. The rock legend arrived on stage at Villa Park in Birmingham, dressed in his trademark black in what was his last ever performance earlier this month. 7 7 7 7 The crowd were heard roaring with excitement as the rock legend sat entered for the historic gig on July 5. Ozzy sang with his fellow founding fathers of heavy metal while seated on a black bat throne. His performance at the show, Called Back To The Beginning, was sadly the rock veteran's last time performing on stage. It comes after Ozzy's sad death was announced today, following the star's brave battle against Parkinson's disease. The crowd was delighted to see the iconic rocker back on stage this month and kept chanting his name. Ozzy was equally thrilled to be performing, and repeatedly broke out into a massive grin. The gig was already being touted as "the greatest heavy metal show ever" ahead of Saturday and Ozzy played a short five-song set reuniting with his bandmates Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward. It was the first time in 20 years that the original Black Sabbath line-up have performed together. Ozzy had heartbreakingly vowed it would be his final performance due to his deteriorating health. He went public with his Parkinson's diagnosis in 2020. Back To The Beginning also featured a mega line-up of fellow rock stars, performing their own sets and as a super-group, and all the profits made will be going to charity. Ozzy Osbourne top five greatest moments The money will be shared equally between Cure Parkinson's, Birmingham Children's Hospital and Acorn Children's Hospice. Metallica and Slayer were on the line-up for main sets as they celebrated Ozzy's remarkable legacy at his final show. Pantera, Gojira, Alice In Chains, Halestorm, Lamb Of God, Anthrax, and Mastodon also played at the show. Ozzy previously talked on the Sirius XM radio show in the US about his condition. He said: 'I have made it to 2025. I can't walk, but you know what I was thinking over the holidays? "For all my complaining, I'm still alive. 'I may be moaning that I can't walk but I look down the road and there's people that didn't do half as much as me and didn't make it.' Black Sabbath have sold more than 75million records since forming in 1968, while Ozzy has also released 13 solo albums. In 1970, the group gained a cult following in both the US and UK after releasing their eponymous first album. The group later became known as Black Sabbath and went onto shatter the music world with their whining guitar solos, Occult-based lyrics and Ozzy's screeching vocals. Ozzy Osbourne's iconic career The singer then pursued his love of music after hearing The Beatles hit She Loves You in 1963, aged 15. After appearing in a handful of school plays, Ozzy joined Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler in their first group Rare Breed in 1967. When that band split, the pair reunited in Polka Tulk Blues alongside Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward. The group later became known as Black Sabbath and went onto shatter the music world with their whining guitar solos, Occult-based lyrics and Ozzy's screeching vocals. In 1970, the group gained a cult following in both the US and UK after releasing their eponymous first album. Black Sabbath saw incredible success with hit tracks such as Paranoid but discord in the group saw most of the original line-up leave. Ozzy himself quit the band in 1978, with a spiral into drug abuse leading to a divorce from first wife Thelma Mayfair, who he had two children with. It was then he first met a young Sharon Arden, who Ozzy at first wrote off as he believed she would think he was a "lunatic". But the singer could not be more wrong and the pair married in Hawaii in July 1982 before going on to have three children together, Aimee, Kelly and Jack. With Sharon's encouragement and help from her music manager dad Don, he began to carve out a successful solo career. His seminal first album Blizzard of Ozz in 1980 became a multi-platinum success thanks to Ozzy's howling vocals and macabre laugh on hit Crazy Train. Coupled with the Prince of Darkness' insane tour that saw him bite the head off a live bat, a string of successful tracks followed - cementing Ozzy as a rock legend around the world. In 1992, the singer announced his retirement but four years later created the beloved annual music festival Ozzfest with Sharon, which featured heavy metal acts touring the US and some of Europe. Ozzy returned to Black Sabbath in 1999, with the band winning a Grammy for best metal performance for the song Iron Man. They later earned the same award in 2013 after releasing single God Is Dead? from album 13. 7 7 7
