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STEVE Is there any actor as consistently impressive as Cillian Murphy right now? Fresh from  bagging a Best Actor Oscar  for Christopher Nolan's ' Oppenheimer ' two years ago, he delivered one of his best performances last year in Tim Mielants' brilliantly understated Magdalene Laundries drama ' Small Things Like These '. However when you look at Danny Boyle's ' 28 Days Later ' and ' Sunshine ,' John Carney's ' On The Edge ,' John Crowley's ' Intermission ,' Neil Jordan's ' Breakfast On Pluto ,' Ken Loach's ' The Wind That Shakes The Barley ,' Nolan's ' Batman Begins ,' ' Inception ' and ' Dunkirk ,' Rufus Norris' ' Broken ,' John Krasinski's ' A Quiet Place, Part II ' and, of course, ' Peaky Blinders ,' you begin to realise the Corkman has been conjuring up authentic performances from the moment he started to grace our cinema and TV sc...

  HIGHEST 2 LOWEST Rejoice!  Denzel Washington is back working with Spike Lee. This time, their fifth movie collaboration is the thriller 'Highest 2 Lowest'. But is it up there with their best work like ' Malcolm X ' and ' Inside Man '? A remake of Akira Kurosawa's acclaimed 1963 Japanese police procedural ' High and Low ,' which was itself adapted from US crime writer Ed McBain's 'King's Ransom,' Lee's film locates the story in New York. His movie, in fact, begins like a true love letter to the Big Apple, with Matthew Libatique's camera capturing stunning early morning images of the city which Denzel Washington's music mogul David King surveys from his penthouse apartment balcony in Brooklyn. Married to Ilfenesh Hadera's glamorous Pam King, David is a legendary figure in the music industry but he is also at a professional crossroads, with his records label partner Michael Potts' Patrick Bethea keen for him to sell...

  THE PAPER, S1 It looks like ' The US Office '. It squawks like 'The US Office' It even waddles like 'The US Office'. However NBC's streaming service Peacock's new sitcom 'The Paper' is not a patch on 'The US Office'. A spin-off and sequel to the hit show (which itself was a US version of Ricky Gervais  and Stephen Merchant's hugely influential BBC sitcom 'The Office' ), it is the brainchild of Greg Daniels and Michael Koman and it's another mockumentary. The concept is that the same documentary crew behind 'The US Office' have returned to Scranton, Pennsylvania only to discover Dunder Mifflin was bought out by Enervate, a paper company in Toledo, Ohio. The Dunder Mifflin office was closed down, with a new company One and Done Laser moving in instead. Dunder Mifflin's employees were offered the chance to move to Toledo but only Oscar Nunez's accountant Oscar Martinez took up the offer. When he discovers th...

   Actor, writer, producer, director, activist - sometimes it seemed like there was nothing Robert Redford couldn't do. As a screen actor, he was unquestionaly charismatic and, like his good friend Paul Newman, beneath the good looks was an actor of considerable intelligence and skill.  Redford was also an Oscar winning director, often bringing hefty dramatic stories to the big screen. But his greatest contribution to cinema was the helping hand he gave to other talent. As one of the brains behind the Sundance Institute and its film festivals, he provided a launch pad for directors like Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, David O Russell, Kevin Smith, Damian Chazelle and Jordan Peele. But he was also an ardent campaigner for environmental and LGBT causes. Born in Santa Monica in 1936, Redford's family had English, Scotch Irish and Irish ancestry. His father Charles was an accountant and was married before he met his mother Martha.  He also had a step brother, Willi...