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Hundreds queue in central London for chance to star in Percy Jackson musical
However, many fans were displeased with the film adaptations (which have an average Rotten Tomato score of 45 per cent), with some saying that the films' directors, Chris Columbus and Thor Freudenthal, took too many liberties with the source material and others criticising the films' plotlines, CGI and acting.
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Metro
24-05-2025
- Metro
8 of Netflix's best 90-minute movies for when you're short on time
Sophie-May Williams Published May 23, 2025 10:21am Link is copied Comments What do films like Oppenheimer, The Irishman and The Wolf of Wall Street all have in common? As well as all achieving huge success, they also run for three hours or longer. Granted, we all love an occasional sofa sesh with popcorn, hot chocolates and hours-long binges, but sometimes we just haven't got the time. Instead, a 90-minute or so film will do - long enough to get hooked in but short enough that it doesn't take up the whole evening. Luckily, Netflix has got plenty of these, ranging from comedy to drama and everything in between, so there's something for everyone. Looking for your next quick film fix? Here are eight of the best 90-minute movies for when you're short on time… (Picture: Getty Images) Jake Gyllenhaal and Riley Keough star in this crime thriller that follows a police officer who has been demoted to a 911 operator. During one of his emergency calls, he speaks to a kidnapped woman and tries to save her. Bang on 90 minutes, and the suspense is real... Rotten Tomato rating: 74% (Picture: Netflix) Bad Trip is a hidden camera comedy film where two best friends, Chris and Bud, embark on a road trip and pull hilarious and creative pranks on the public. From a fake robbery to stolen police cars, its tongue-in-cheek humour that lasts for an easy 84 minutes. Rotten Tomato rating: 80% (Picture: Netflix) Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler star as husband and wife duo Nick and Audrey Spitz. During the first film, they take a trip to Europe where they're accidentally framed for the murder of an elderly billionaire. The second instalment sees them in action after the launch of their own detective agency, where they find themselves at the centre of another investigation after their friend is abducted. The first film is 97 minutes while number two is a shorter 89 minutes. They're fun, easy watches, albeit not critically acclaimed. Rotten Tomato rating: 43% & 46% (Picture: Netflix) Fancy some horror and drama mixed into one? Windfall is the perfect choice. It follows a burglar who breaks into a tech billionaire's empty holiday home, but unbeknownst to him, the businessman and his wife are planning a last-minute weekend trip. Fast-paced and fierce, this film comes with a 92-minute run-time. Rotten Tomato rating: 59% (Picture: Netflix) Lindsay Lohan is Maddie, a book editor who falls in love with her client, Paul Kennedy. However, he falls in love with her best friend Emma and the pair get engaged. While in Ireland for the wedding, Maddie makes a wish for true love, and wakes up the next morning as the bride-to-be. Short and sweet, Irish Wish runs for 94 minutes. Not a smash with the critics, but it dominated the Netflix charts with viewers. Rotten Tomato rating: 42% (Picture: Patrick Redmond/Netflix) Going through a break-up and need cheering up? Jen and Mel, the characters in this rom-com, have got your back. Played by Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami respectively, the two women befriend each other after discovering their boyfriend was cheating on them - with each other. So, they decide to set up an agency helping people to break up with their partners. This film wins the quickest run-time award, coming in at just 80 minutes, and a very high critic rating. Rotten Tomato rating: 89% (Picture: Netflix) What was supposed to be a fun weekend away in Croatia turns into the holiday from hell when Beth realises her best friend Kate is missing. Things soon get worse when Beth becomes the police's primary suspect and is accused of her murder. A nail-biting thriller at just 89 minutes? Err, yes please. Rotten Tomato rating: 41% (Picture: Ivan Šardi/Netflix) Ending with the highest-rated title. A group of teenagers living in the Bronx discover a terrifying plot to destroy their neighbourhood. The trio must work together to stop the vampires from invading and save their community. Heads up - you might want to concentrate from start to finish, as this all happens within the space of 86 minutes. Rotten Tomato rating: 90% (Picture: Jon Pack/NBC Universal) A version of this article was originally published in April 2024
The Independent
09-05-2025
- The Independent
James Foley, ‘Glengarry Glen Ross' director, dies at 71
James Foley, a journeyman director best known for 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' has died. He was 71. He died earlier this week after a yearlong battle with brain cancer, his representative, Taylor Lomax, said Friday. In his long and varied career, Foley directed Madonna music videos, 12 episodes of 'House of Cards' and the two 'Fifty Shades of Grey' sequels, but it was his 1992 adaptation of David Mamet's foulmouthed Pulitzer Prize winning play that stood above the rest. Although it wasn't a hit at the time, 'Glengarry Glen Ross' wormed its way into the culture and grew into an oft-quoted cult favorite, especially Alec Baldwin's made-for-the-film 'always be closing' monologue. Critic Tim Grierson wrote 20 years after its release that it remains 'one of the quintessential modern movies about masculinity.' He added, 'while there are many fine Mamet movies, it's interesting that the best of them was this one — the one he didn't direct.' Born on Dec. 28, 1953, in Brooklyn, Foley studied film in graduate school at the University of Southern California. Legend has it that Hal Ashby once wandered into a film school party where his short happened to be playing at the time and he took a liking to him. Foley would later attribute his ability to make his first feature, 'Reckless,' a 1984 romantic drama about mismatched teenagers in love starring Daryl Hannah, Aidan Quinn and Adam Baldwin, to the Ashby stamp of approval. It was also the first screenplay credited to Chris Columbus, though there were reports of creative differences. He followed it with the Sean Penn crime drama 'At Close Range,' the Madonna and Griffin Dunne screwball comedy 'Who's That Girl' and the neo-noir thriller 'After Dark, My Sweet," with Jason Patric. Critic Roger Ebert included 'After Dark, My Sweet' in his great movies list, calling it 'one of the purest and most uncompromising of modern film noir' despite having been 'almost forgotten.' He also directed several music videos for Madonna including 'Papa Don't Preach,' 'Live to Tell,' and 'Who's That Girl,' and an episode of 'Twin Peaks.' Foley adapted John Grisham and worked with Gene Hackman on 'The Chamber' and made the Reese Witherspoon and Mark Wahlberg teenage love-gone-scary thriller 'Fear,' as well as the largely derided Halle Berry and Bruce Willis psychological thriller 'Perfect Stranger,' which was released in 2007. It would be a decade before his next film was released, when he was given the reigns to the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' sequels, 'Fifty Shades Darker' and 'Fifty Shades Freed.' 'For me, what's most challenging is stuff that doesn't involve the actors, oddly enough — in three, there's a big car chase and there's different stunts and stuff and that stuff really bores me,' he told The Associated Press at the UK premiere of 'Fifty Shades Darker.' 'So when the actors aren't around, that's difficult because the actors give me so much energy and kind of engagement and a car driving by doesn't do the same thing.' Foley was not an easily definable director, but that was by design. In 2017, he told The Hollywood Reporter that he had no interest in repeating himself. 'I've always just followed my nose, for better or for worse, sometimes for worse,' Foley said. 'What's best and what's worst (about the industry) are almost the same to me. What's worst is you get pigeonholed and what's best is I haven't been. It means that I'm still making movies, despite hopping all over the place.' Foley is survived by his brother, Kevin Foley, and sisters Eileen and Jo Ann.
Daily Record
30-04-2025
- Daily Record
Netflix confirms The Thursday Murder Club film release date and full cast
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Netflix has confirmed the release date for the film adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club which is based off of BBC presenter Richard Osman's best selling murder mystery novel. Directed by Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone filmmaker Chris Columbus, The Thursday Murder Club is set to arrive on the streaming platform later this summer on August 28. Starring Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie, the foursome play a group of senior sleuths who uncover a murder case which they are willing to risk their lives to solve in this on screen adaptation of Osman's smash hit novel series. The plot follows a group of friends in a retirement home who gather to solve murders for fun but accidentally find themselves caught up in a real case. Dame Helen Mirren takes on the role of ex-spy Elizabeth Best in the highly-anticipated film while Bridget Jones star Celia Imrie will portray ex-nurse Joyce Meadowcroft. Former 007 agent Pierce Brosnan will star as Ron Ritchie in ex–union activist and Sir Ben Kingsley will play ex-psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif. Other big stars in the show include David Tennant with the Scots actor set to play Ian Ventham, who is the owner of the luxury retirement village Coopers Chase which is set in the English countryside. Essex born Osman, who is the creator and former co-presenter of the BBC One television quiz show Pointless, previously expressed his delight in last month at his book being made into a film adaptation He said: "I'm so proud of this book, so it is a dream to see The Thursday Murder Club in such incredible hands. From Chris Columbus to Amblin to Netflix, there are geniuses everywhere I look. And what a cast. I'm pinching myself." (Image:) Chris Columbus has also gushed over the cast as he told Netflix: "This is the finest cast I've worked with since Potter. They're just so incredibly well-prepared, and it's because they do everything. They do theatre, they do television, they do film, and they've developed those sorts of muscles." The award winning American director also disclosed some additional casting choices with Line of Duty Star Daniel Mays set to play DCI Chris Hudson, Henry Lloyd-Hughes as Bogdan and Geoff Bell taking on the character of Tony Curran. Osman, who published The Thursday Murder Club in 2020 continues the book series with 'The Man Who Died Twice', 'The Bullet That Missed', and 'The Last Devil to Die', as well as the newest instalment 'The Impossible Fortune', which is set to be released later this year. The 54-year-old previously found inspiration for The Thursday Murder Club at his mum's retirement community in the US. He told Tudum: "You just sit and chat with these people and they've lived these extraordinary lives. You hear these amazing stories and gossip and wisdom. You think, 'These people are so overlooked.' "The idea that these people with their wisdom and their invisibility would be the perfect people to solve [a crime] is exactly where The Thursday Murder Club comes from. Take these people who are underestimated but who have these incredible skills, put them together, and they can achieve anything.' The full cast can be found here: Helen Mirren as Elizabeth Best Pierce Brosnan as Ron Ritchie Sir Ben Kingsley as Ibrahim Arif Celia Imrie as Joyce Meadowcroft Naomi Ackie as Donna de Freitas Jonathan Pryce as Stephen Best David Tennant as Ian Ventham Daniel Mays as DCI Chris Hudson Henry Lloyd-Hughes as Bogdan Jankowski Geoff Bell as Tony Curran Richard E Grant as TBC Tom Ellis as TBC Paul Freeman as TBC Sarah Niles as TBC Ingrid Oliver as TBC
