Latest news with #APrivateWar
Times
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Words of War review — Maxine Peake is fearsome as a Putin critic
A muscular cast, a gifted TV director and an executive producer credit for Sean Penn lift this political biopic above its decidedly creaky limitations. This is the true-life tale of the impossibly brave Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was a committed Putin critic and in 2006 was assassinated in her Moscow apartment building. The touchstones are Veronica Guerin and A Private War. • Read more film reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews Politkovskaya is played with typically fearsome integrity by Maxine Peake, charting the journalist's coverage of the Second Chechen War and her increasingly strident attacks on Putin.'The only terrorist that the Russian people need to fear is their own president,' she writes. Politkovskaya's concerned husband is played by Jason Isaacs , her harried editor by Ciarán Hinds and her nemesis from the secret police by Ian Hart. All are speaking in their own accents. This isn't a bad choice from the director James Strong (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) — nobody wants to watch a bunch of seasoned thesps rolling their Russian Rs like wannabe Bond villains — but it's not entirely successful. It clashes with the physical environment (Russian language signage, newsflashes and headlines) and occasionally flirts with absurdity, as if an Irish newspaper editor is warning a Manchester journalist about an FSB heavy from Liverpool. Other quibbles include a willowy non-role for Harry Lawtey as Politkovskaya's lachrymose son Ilya, and a sympathetic Chechen terrorist who says, 'It's an honour to meet you, Anna Politkovskaya. Back home they write songs about you.' Really? Still, it works. Peake is that good. Isaacs is also that good. And the subject is compelling and timely. The film suggests that Martin Niemöller's famous line about authoritarian regimes coming for the journalists first has rarely been more relevant (see Trump's shakedown of the White House press pool). A powerful closing title sequence, set to Radiohead's Lucky, features a collage of some of the 1,500 journalists killed pursuing stories, claims the film, in the modern era.★★★☆☆ In cinemas from Jun 27 and on digital from Jun 30 Times+ members can enjoy two-for-one cinema tickets at Everyman each Wednesday. Visit to find out more. Which films have you enjoyed at the cinema recently? Let us know in the comments and follow @timesculture to read the latest reviews
Hindustan Times
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
What's new on HBO and Max in May? Check out full list of movies and shows
Whether you like to wind down your weekdays with a feel-good movie or spend your weekends binge-watching action shows, HBO and Max have a lot in store for everyone. Here's a list of all the new releases for May on the two streaming platforms: 100 Foot Wave, Season 3 (HBO Original) A Haunted House (2013) A Haunted House 2 (2014) A Private War (2018) Badman's Country (1958) Barricade (1950) Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940) Carson City (1952) Chronicle (2012) Chronicle: Director's Cut (2012) Dallas (1950) Dylan's Playtime Adventures, Season 1B (Max Original) Enter The Dragon (1973) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Fort Dobbs (1958) Fort Worth (1951) Funny People (2009) Hannibal (2001) In the Fade (2017) Inception (2010) Legend of the Guardians The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010) Lone Star (1952) Lost River (2015) Madagascar (2005) Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) Megan Leavey (2017) Notting Hill (1999) Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) Rachel and the Stranger (1948) Rancho Notorious (1952) Red Tails (2012) Ride, Vaquero! (1953) Riding Shotgun (1954) Rocky Mountain (1950) Royal Wedding (1951) San Antonio (1945) Santa Fe Trail (1940) Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (1957) Son of Belle Starr (1953) Son of the Mask (2005) Springfield Rifle (1952) Stars in My Crown (1950) Tall in the Saddle (1944) Tall Man Riding (1955) The Band Wagon (1953) The Bounty Hunter (1954) The First Texan (1956) The Goonies (1985) The Kissing Bandit (1948) The Left-Handed Gun (1958) The Man Behind the Gun (1953) The Mortal Storm (1940) The Naked Spur (1953) The Oklahoma Kid (1939) The Oklahoman (1957) The Painted Hills (1951) The Princess Bride (1987) The Shining (1980) The Silence of the Lambs (1991) The Young Guns (1956) They Died with Their Boots On (1941) This Means War (2012) This Means War: Extended Edition (2012) Thunder Over the Plains (1953) Trail Street (1947) Vengeance Valley (1951) Vivacious Lady (1938) We Bought a Zoo (2011) Westbound (1959) Westward the Women (1951) Wichita (1955) Ziegfeld Girl (1941) Adult Best Friends (2024) Malditos, Season 1 (Max Original) Teen Titans Go!, Season 9A (Cartoon Network) Ready Player One (2018) Fareed Zakaria: The War on Government (CNN) Talking Pictures Podcast – Special Video Episode with Eli Roth Recorded At TCM Classic Film Festival The Playboy Murders, Season 3 (ID) Toxic, Season 1 (ID) Conan O'Brien Must Go, Season 2 (Max Original) Bloody Trophy (Krwawe Trofeum) (Max Original) The Whale (A24, 2022) Delicious Miss Brown, Season 10 (Food Network) The Bakersfield 3: A Tale of Murder and Motherhood, Season 1 (ID) Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) Betting on Paradise, Season 1 (HGTV) Contraband: Seized at the Border, Season 6 (Discovery) Dream Destination: A Surprise Trip, Season 1 (discovery+) Cutthroat Kitchen: Knives Out, Season 1 (Food Network) Mini Reni, Season 1 (Magnolia Network) Duster, Season 1 (Max Original) Mermicorno: Starfall, Season 2 (Max Original) United States of Scandal with Jake Tapper, Season 2 (CNN Original) The Brutalist (A24) Bugs Bunny Builders, Season 2E (Cartoon Network) Love & Marriage: Detroit, Season 2 (OWN) Say Yes to the Dress, Season 21 (TLC) American Monster: Abuse of Power, Season 1 (ID) Kong: Skull Island (2017) Homicide Hunter: American Detective, Season 5 (ID) Expedition Files, Season 2 (Discovery) Pee-wee as Himself (HBO Original) Restoring Galveston, Season 7 (Magnolia Network) Silly Sundays, Season 1B (Cartoon Network) Say Yes To The Dress With Tan France, Season 1 (TLC) Down Home Fab, Season 3 (HGTV) And Just Like That…, Season 3 (Max Original) Mountainhead (HBO Original)
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NEWS OF THE WEEK: Rosamund Pike feared she had ME after playing 'troubled' characters back-to-back
The Gone Girl star's body shut down "in quite a scary way" after she put it through the back-to-back traumatic experiences of playing war correspondent Marie Colvin in 2018's A Private War and pioneering physicist and chemist Marie Curie in 2019's Radioactive. She shared on David Tennant Does A Podcast With... "I played a war correspondent for The Sunday Times called Marie Colvin and I played Marie Curie, both of who were amazing, strong, clever forces of nature but also quite troubled.'
Local France
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Local France
France probes 2012 reporters' deaths in Syria as crime against humanity
Prominent US journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed by an explosion in the east of the war-torn country in what a US court later ruled was an 'unconscionable' attack that targeted journalists on the orders of the Syrian government. The French judiciary had been treating the alleged attack as a potential war crime, but on December 17th widened the investigation to a possible crime against humanity, a charge for which French courts claim universal jurisdiction regardless of location or nationalities involved. The anti-terror prosecutors' office told AFP that new evidence pointed to, 'the execution of a concerted plan against a group of civilians, including journalists, activists and defenders of human rights, as part of a wide-ranging or systematic attack'. Colvin – a renowned war correspondent whose career was celebrated in a Golden Globe-nominated film A Private War – was killed in the Syrian army's shelling of the Baba Amr Media Center in Homs on February 22nd, 2012. The federal court in the US capital, which in 2019 ordered Syria to pay $302.5million over her death, said in its verdict that Syrian military and intelligence had tracked the broadcasts of Colvin and other journalists covering the siege of Homs to the media centre. They then targeted it in an artillery barrage that killed Colvin and Ochlik. French investigators also believe that both were 'deliberately targeted'. In addition, they told AFP, they extended the probe to cover suspected Syrian government 'persecution' of civilians, including Colvin and Ochlik, as well as British photographer Paul Conroy and French reporter Edith Bouvier – who were wounded in the attack – and Syrian translator Wael Omar, as well as 'other inhumane acts' committed against Bouvier. One of Bouvier's lawyers, Matthieu Bagard, said the new probe, 'opens the door to treat a certain number of procedures against journalists in armed conflict zones as crimes against humanity'. His lawyer colleague, Marie Dose, called the shift in the investigation, 'a great step forwards for war reporters'. And Scott Gilmore, lawyer for the journalist's sister Cathleen Colvin, told AFP: 'The Colvin family calls on the new Syrian government to cooperate with international investigators to hold the perpetrators of atrocities like the murder of Marie Colvin accountable.' Clemence Bectarte, a lawyer for Ochlik's family, said she now expected judges to issue arrest warrants, 'for the high-ranking political and military officials whose involvement has been established'. In March 2012, France opened a probe for murder into the death of Ochlik and for attempted murder over the injury of Bouvier, both French nationals. The probe was widened into potential war crimes in October 2014, and in 2016 non-French plaintiffs joined the legal action. 'This wasn't a case of us being in the wrong place at the wrong time,' said Bouvier in 2013. 'We were deliberately targeted.' In 2016, then-Syrian president Bashar al-Assad claimed that Colvin was 'responsible' for her own death. 'It's a war and she came illegally to Syria,' he said, accusing the reporter of working 'with the terrorists'. The battle of Homs, Syria's third city, was part of a civil war triggered by the repression of a 2011 revolt against Assad's government. Colvin, who was 56 and working for The Sunday Times when she died, was known for her fearless reporting and signature black eye patch which she wore after losing sight in one eye in an explosion during Sri Lanka's civil war. Assad was ousted in December after rebels led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamist group seized control of Damascus, ending more than 50 years of his family's rule.
Al Arabiya
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
France probes 2012 reporters' deaths in Syria as crime against humanity
The French judiciary is investigating the 2012 deaths of reporters in Syria as a possible crime against humanity, anti-terror prosecutors told AFP on Tuesday. Prominent US journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed by an explosion in the east of the war-torn country in what a US court later ruled was an 'unconscionable' attack that targeted journalists on the orders of the Syrian government. The French judiciary had been treating the alleged attack as a potential war crime, but on December 17 widened the investigation to a possible crime against humanity, a charge for which French courts claim universal jurisdiction regardless of locations or nationalities involved. The anti-terror prosecutors' office told AFP that new evidence pointed to 'the execution of a concerted plan against a group of civilians, including journalists, activists and defenders of human rights, as part of a wide-ranging or systematic attack.' Colvin, a renowned war correspondent whose career was celebrated in a Golden Globe-nominated film 'A Private War,' was killed in the Syrian army's shelling of the Baba Amr Media Center in Homs on February 22, 2012. 'A great step forwards' The federal court in the US capital, which in 2019 ordered Syria to pay $302.5 million over her death, said in its verdict that Syrian military and intelligence had tracked the broadcasts of Colvin and other journalists covering the siege of Homs to the media center. They then targeted it in an artillery barrage that killed Colvin and Ochlik. French investigators also believe that both were 'deliberately targeted.' In addition, they told AFP, they extended the probe to cover suspected Syrian government 'persecution' of civilians, including Colvin and Ochlik, as well as British photographer Paul Conroy and French reporter Edith Bouvier, who were wounded in the attack, and Syrian translator Wael Omar, as well as 'other inhumane acts' committed against Bouvier. One of Bouvier's lawyers, Matthieu Bagard, said the new probe 'opens the door to treat a certain number of procedures against journalists in armed conflict zones as crimes against humanity.' His lawyer colleague, Marie Dose, called the shift in the investigation 'a great step forwards for war reporters.' 'The Colvin family calls on the new Syrian government to cooperate with international investigators to hold the perpetrators of atrocities like the murder of Marie Colvin accountable,' Scott Gilmore, the lawyer for the journalist's sister Cathleen Colvin, told AFP. Clemence Bectarte, a lawyer for Ochlik's family, said she now expected judges to issue arrest warrants 'for the high-ranking political and military officials whose involvement has been established.' In March 2012, France opened a probe for murder into the death of Ochlik and for attempted murder over the injury of Bouvier, both French nationals. 'Deliberately targeted' The probe was widened into potential war crimes in October 2014, and in 2016 non-French plaintiffs joined the legal action. 'This wasn't a case of us being in the wrong place at the wrong time,' said Bouvier in 2013. 'We were deliberately targeted.' In 2016, then-Syrian president Bashar al-Assad claimed that Colvin was 'responsible' for her own death. 'It's a war and she came illegally to Syria,' he said, accusing the reporter of working 'with the terrorists.' The battle of Homs, Syria's third city, was part a civil war triggered by the repression of a 2011 revolt against al-Assad's government. Colvin, who was 56 and working for the Sunday Times when she died, was known for her fearless reporting and signature black eye patch which she wore after losing sight in one eye in an explosion during Sri Lanka's civil war. Al-Assad was ousted in December after opposition groups led by the 'Hayat Tahrir al-Sham' (HTS) seized control of Damascus, ending more than 50 years of his family's iron-fisted rule.
