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Scotsman
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Every Florence Pugh Film: Here are all 18 of the star's movies ranked from best to worst
It's official: after a series of less-than-well-received entries in the Marvel film series, the 36th instalment of superhero adventures, Thunderbolts* (or should that be New Avengers?), is a critical and commercial hit. The many faces of Florence Pugh. | Contributed Much of the credit for that is going to Florence Pugh who plays Natasha Romanov, the adoptive sister of Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow who just happens to be a highly-trained assassin. It's the latest chapter in a dizzying rise to the top of the acting world for the English actress who only made her screen debut just over a decade ago in 2014'sThe Falling . Since then she's been nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and two Baftas, as well as winning several gongs including a British Independent Film Award and the Trophée Chopard Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Her upcoming projects include the new Avengers film, as well as a television adaptation of East of Eden. Thusfar she's starred in 18 feature films - here they all are, ranked from best to worst. 1 . Little Woman Florence Pugh was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Amy, the youngest of the March sisters, in Greta Gerwig's much-loved 'Little Women'. It's the seventh time that Louisa May Alcott's novel has been adapted for the big screen, with Gerwig giving it a clever feminist spin. It scores a near-perfect 95 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. | Contributed Photo Sales 2 . Puss in Boots: The Last Wish It took 11 years for 2011's Shrek spinoff 'Puss in Boots' to get a sequel, but when it came it was well worth the wait according to the critics - with 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish' scoring 95 per cent positive reviews. Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek return as Puss and Kitty Softpaws, while Florence Pugh voices crime family boss Goldilocks. | Contributed Photo Sales 3 . Oppenheimer The winner of seven Oscars - including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor - Oppenheimer has a Tomatometer rating of 93 per cent. Directed by Christopher Nolan, it tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who helped develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II. Florence Pugh plays Jean Tatlock, a psychiatrist and Communist Partymember who falls in love with Oppenheimer. | Contributed Photo Sales 4 . Fighting With My Family Florence Pugh's big international breakthrough came with 2019's 'Fighting With My Family'. Written and directed by Stephen Merchant, it's based on a true story about a brother and sister who head to America to become professional wrestlers. A then little-known Jack Lowden plays Pugh's brother, while big names including Nick Frost, Vince Vaughn, and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson also star. It has a 'Certified Fresh' Rotten Tomatoes rating of 93 per cent. | Contributed Photo Sales
Daily Mail
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
BRIAN VINER reviews Thunderbolts*: These superheroes are super-silly... but Flo's supercharged
Thunderbolts* (12A, 126 mins) Verdict: Pull up a Pugh For an actress not yet 30, Florence Pugh has a thrillingly varied set of credits. An abused Victorian wife (Lady Macbeth, 2016), a wrestler (Fighting With My Family, 2019), a nuclear physicist's psychiatrist lover (Oppenheimer, 2023) and a princess 20,000 years into the future, in last year's Dune: Part Two, are just a handful of her glittering performances. She was wonderful, too, as Amy, the bolshiest of the March sisters, in 2019's delightful Little Women. But it's as a super-charged Russian-born assassin that she might yet have her biggest impact, because if there's a single character that can drag the faltering Marvel Cinematic Universe out of its creative and commercial slump, it is Pugh's Yelena Belova. That's a mighty challenge, but she's the propulsive force that could just make a hit of Thunderbolts*. Pugh made her MCU debut four years ago in Black Widow, with Yelena serving as a kind of comic foil to Scarlett Johansson's more po-faced Natasha Romanoff, her older sister. But in Thunderbolts* she takes centre stage and quickly establishes herself as one of Marvel's more compelling characters: a young, world-weary hitwoman who hates herself for spending hours scrolling through her phone. Now, the prospect of yet another superhero blockbuster might not flood your heart and mind with joy. You might well roll your eyes – both at those who continue to churn out these movies, and those still in thrall to them. If so, then spare a thought for me, because I have to see all of them. I feel (and more often than not share) your cynicism. But Thunderbolts* and even its whimsical asterisk soon won me over, mostly because of Pugh. Her double-act with David Harbour as her semi-estranged, proxy father Alexei Shostakov is a genuine hoot. Formerly known as Red Guardian, the hairy Russian super-soldier with a mouthful of gold teeth, he is now wistfully retired and running a limousine company. On seeing the depressive Yelena for the first time in a year, Shostakov grunts: 'The light inside you is dim... even by Eastern European standards.' I chuckled aloud. Yelena's state of mind isn't just played for laughs, however. Memories of childhood trauma and mental health frailties have a significant role in this tale, which in lesser hands might have seemed glib, distasteful even. Fortunately, director Jake Schreier and writers Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, along with the cast, are firmly up to the task. At the Thunderbolts* premiere last week, Florence was joined on the red carpet by her beloved Granny Pat as well as her boyfriend Finn Cole for the first time (pictured second right) The film's chief villain is CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (the ever-excellent Julia Louis-Dreyfus, left, playing a ramped- up version of Selina Meyer in TV satire Veep), whose eager assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) becomes increasingly concerned about her boss's evil chicanery. Facing an impeachment trial and determined to get rid of anyone who might testify against her, Valentina lays a trap for the motley crew she used to send out to do her dirty work, who also include the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), would-be Captain America John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). Her fiendish plan is to set this bunch of cut-price Avengers, the self-styled Thunderbolts, against each other. But instead they join forces, which would probably be enough to out-muscle her except that she has an extra card up her sleeve, which I shouldn't disclose here except to reveal that it has something to do with Bob (Lewis Pullman), the diffident victim of a genetic-engineering experiment. Needless to add, this is all super-silly. But it is done with terrific brio, leading to the all-but-inevitable showdown in Manhattan in which innocent mortals and even tall buildings are reduced to inert shadows. Trying to squeeze comedy out of the superhero genre, as in the Guardians Of The Galaxy and Deadpool films, can seem just as strained as loading them with weighty themes we're expected to take seriously. Thunderbolts* deftly combines both. I liked it much more than I expected to, but never mind that asterisk. It should really come with a question mark. Can it zap the box office? We will soon see. All films are in cinemas now. Aunt Mimi's the star in humdrum Lennon film Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade (12A, 140 mins) Rating: Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade is haphazard and humdrum. Lots of talking heads combine with clips of Lennon's many interviews to tell the decidedly familiar story of his post Beatles life in an oddly scattergun manner. Still, if you're a fan (as I am), there's just about enough material to keep you hooked, and some choice archive of John's Aunt Mimi which I don't remember seeing before. Where Dragons Live (PG, 82 mins) Rating: Where Dragons Live is made by Dutch film-maker Suzanne Raes but tells a particularly British story of upper-middle class privilege and dysfunction. The title refers to an Oxfordshire pile, where distinguished neuroscientist Jane Impey lived until her death in 2021. Now her children, emptying the place ahead of selling it, reflect on their childhoods there and their late parents, who did not exactly swaddle them in warmth. Watching the film feels a bit like stepping into a slightly stuffy novel, with the house as the main character. It has a kind of gentle voyeuristic appeal. Two To One (12A, 116 mins) Rating: I was disappointed by German-language comedy Two To One even though it stars the marvellous Sandra Huller (Anatomy Of A Fall). It's set in 1990 in East Germany, where reunification is about to render the country's currency worthless. So after discovering a fortune in cash, Maren (Huller) and her friends and relatives must make the most of it in the few days left. It's an engaging enough story but the fun peters out in a film that feels like an Ealing comedy... made by Germans
Daily Mail
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Even Marvel haters will be won over by new movie starring Florence Pugh who could save the ailing franchise
Thunderbolts* (12A, 126 mins) Verdict: Pull up a Pugh Rating: FOUR STARS For an actress not yet 30, Florence Pugh has a thrillingly varied set of credits. An abused Victorian wife (Lady Macbeth, 2016), a wrestler (Fighting With My Family, 2019), a nuclear physicist's psychiatrist lover (Oppenheimer, 2023) and a princess 20,000 years into the future, in last year's Dune: Part Two, are just a handful of her glittering performances. She was wonderful, too, as Amy, the bolshiest of the March sisters, in 2019's delightful Little Women. But it's as a super-charged Russian-born assassin that she might yet have her biggest impact, because if there's a single character that can drag the faltering Marvel Cinematic Universe out of its creative and commercial slump, it is Pugh's Yelena Belova. That's a mighty challenge, but she's the propulsive force that could just make a hit of Thunderbolts*. Pugh made her MCU debut four years ago in Black Widow, with Yelena serving as a kind of comic foil to Scarlett Johansson's more po-faced Natasha Romanoff, her older sister. But in Thunderbolts* she takes centre stage and quickly establishes herself as one of Marvel's more compelling characters: a young, world-weary hitwoman who hates herself for spending hours scrolling through her phone. Now, the prospect of yet another superhero blockbuster might not flood your heart and mind with joy. You might well roll your eyes — both at those who continue to churn out these movies, and those still in thrall to them. If so, then spare a thought for me, because I have to see all of them. I feel (and more often than not share) your cynicism. But Thunderbolts* and even its whimsical asterisk soon won me over, mostly because of Pugh. Her double-act with David Harbour as her semi-estranged, proxy father Alexei Shostakov is a genuine hoot. Formerly known as Red Guardian, the hairy Russian super-soldier with a mouthful of gold teeth, he is now wistfully retired and running a limousine company. On seeing the depressive Yelena for the first time in a year, Shostakov grunts: 'The light inside you is dim... even by Eastern European standards.' I chuckled aloud. Yelena's state of mind isn't just played for laughs, however. Memories of childhood trauma and mental health frailties have a significant role in this tale, which in lesser hands might have seemed glib, distasteful even. Fortunately, director Jake Shreier and writers Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, along with the cast, are firmly up to the task. As for the story itself, its chief villain is the exotically-named CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (the ever excellent Julia Louis-Dreyfus, playing a ramped-up version of conniving Selina Meyer in the TV satire Veep), whose eager assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) becomes increasingly concerned about her boss's evil chicanery. Facing an impeachment trial and determined to get rid of anyone who might testify against her, Valentina lays a trap for the motley crew she used to send out to do her dirty work, who also include the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), would-be Captain America John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). Her fiendish plan is to set this bunch of cut-price Avengers, the self-styled Thunderbolts, against each other. But instead they join forces, which would probably be enough to out-muscle her except that she has an extra card up her sleeve which I shouldn't disclose here, except to reveal that it has something to do with Bob (Lewis Pullman), the diffident victim of a genetic-engineering experiment. Needless to add, this is all super-silly. But it is done with terrific brio, leading to the all but inevitable showdown in Manhattan in which innocent mortals and even tall buildings are reduced to inert shadows. Trying to squeeze comedy out of the superhero genre, as in the Guardians Of The Galaxy and Deadpool films, can sometimes seem just as strained as loading them with solemn, weighty themes that we're expected to take seriously.
BBC News
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
WWE/Netflix deal 'will boost UK wrestling'
A deal between World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Netflix is to helping boost audiences for wrestling shows in the UK, a promoter Knight, who runs Norwich-based World Association of Wrestling (WAW), said the tie-up between WWE and the streaming platform was making more people "want to go and see wrestling".Knight, a former wrestler himself and father of ex-WWE superstar Paige, said it had helped local shows "in a big way".He said he hoped a boom in business could provide more scope for independent promotions to tour around the country, rather than being fixed in one county or region. The US-based WWE signed a multi-year deal with Netflix in 2024, giving the platform exclusive broadcast rights to its weekly shows and premium live events in more than 90 promotions have long since been the backbone of professional wrestling, and WAW has itself produced a number of talents that have gone on to some of the biggest shows in the 2019 film Fighting With My Family is a fictionalised account of Paige's own journey to WWE, in which Knight is played by Nick gives other examples of former WAW wrestlers who have made it big in the US, including Smackdown general manager Nick Aldis, and Kip Sabian of All Elite Wrestling."We've got few guys out there who have taken the name out there with them," he said."They always put us over when they do interviews, which is nice... when people like Nick give you praise and tell you how good your [wrestling] school is, it's really helpful."There's a lot of good companies out there now and a lot of them are doing well, which is good to see."I'm not one of those promoters that wants to see the other guys do bad; I'm a British wrestling promoter who wants to see British wrestling survive and get better." Knight's comments come at a time where there seems to be a lot of unity among UK-based promotions. "I'm using other promoters' guys, which gives them good exposure, and everyone is helping everyone at the moment," he WAW has visited Suffolk regularly, it has not put a show on in Ipswich since about a return to the area, Knight revealed: "We're looking from next month to start spreading our wings again."He remained tight-lipped on where the promotion could be headed but urged fans to "look out for a WAW poster" in their area soon. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Buzz Feed
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Florence Pugh Just Admitted It's 'Not Easy' To Be In A Relationship With Her, And Said She's 'Sympathetic' To The People Who Love Her
Florence Pugh has lifted the lid on the harsh reality of dating a Hollywood star, and it certainly doesn't sound as fun as you might think. The 29-year-old actor spoke candidly during a new interview with Harper's Bazaar, where she went so far as to say that she has sympathy for the people who love her. For reference, Florence shot to global fame in 2019, when not one but three movies starring her in a leading role were released: Fighting With My Family, Midsommar, and Little Women. Since then, her career has reached astronomical heights, and Flo has been working steadily in a stream of popular films. During this time, Florence has had a mixed approach to her love life; in 2019, she went public with her relationship with Zach Braff, who she would often post about on social media. This romance was considered particularly controversial due to their 21-year age gap, and Florence did not hold back as she put the critics in their place and defended her then-boyfriend. Florence and Zach ended up splitting in August 2022. She has been romantically linked to other people in the years since, but Flo has not spoken publicly about who she is dating — although she has now confirmed that she has had two relationships since Zach. Speaking to Harper's Bazaar, Florence revealed that she had a bit of a wake-up call when she broke up with somebody, who she refused to name, shortly before she started filming her 2024 movie with Andrew Garfield, We Live In Time, in April 2023. 'It was a scary break-up,' she told the publication. 'And I think that movie forced me to realize I can't wait for people anymore. I can't accept this version of love, I have to help myself.' 'I've worked back-to-back since I started, and I've missed so much,' Florence added in reference to all of the social events with her friends and family that she has been forced to skip due to her busy professional life. 'I've now come to terms with things that I don't like about myself and want to change. I don't want to have things just happen to me anymore.' Which is why Florence is approaching her current relationship in a very different way, with the star confirming in the interview that she is dating somebody new. She explained: 'I'm more sympathetic to the people who are in love with me, because it's not easy!' 'I'm tricky — I'm always busy, I can never make dates,' Florence went on. 'But it's not good enough for me to ask someone to just accept that. I'll just end up alone. I don't want that — I want a family.'
