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KING OF CHAT (REMEMBERING LARRY KING)

   When it came to landing in-depth interviews with public figures, talk show host Larry King reigned supreme - particularly in his 25 years as a CNN host. An American broadcaster who commanded the same respect across the world as David Frost, he shared the legendary British television host's ability to extract much more from the political leaders and Hollywood stars he interviewed than they may have intended. In an era of aggressive interviews, his less confrontational, more conversational approach often seduced public figures into revealing more about the influences that shaped their lives. And he could also get them to disclose their real opinions. Born in Brooklyn in 1933 to Lithuanian and Ukranian parents, his mother was a garment worker and father ran a restaurant. Raised Larry Ziegler in the Orthodox Jewish tradition, he lost his father at the age of nine after he suffered a heart attack. With the family reliant on welfare, he attended Lafayette High School in Brooklyn ...

A CHANGE IS GONNA COME (ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI)

It's a measure of Regina King's rise through the ranks in Hollywood that her directorial debut has already become an awards contender. A four time Emmy winner and a Golden Globe and Oscar winner for Barry Jenkins'  'If Beale Street Could Talk' ,  she has chosen an acclaimed 90 minute one act play 'One Night in Miami' for her filmmaking debut. A fictional account of an actual night when the boxer Cassius Clay, singer Sam Cooke, American footballer Jim Brown and the Nation of Islam activist Malcolm X hung out, King has chosen a project with the sort of scene chewing speeches that actors love. But can it overcome its theatrical set-up? At the start of King's film, adapted for the screen by its playwright Kemp Powers, we see Eli Goree's Cassius Clay fighting Sean Monaghan's Henry Cooper in London. Local hero Cooper is outclassed but Clay is also over-confident and is floored by a surprise punch. He wins the bout, setting up a shot at the world title ...

THE MADNESS OF KING DON (THE TRUMP SHOW: DOWNFALL)

  Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your TV, up pops a bonus edition of BBC2's 'The Trump Show'. 'The Trump Show: Downfall' hits our screens after the twice impeached President shuffled pathetically off to Mar A Lago on Wednesday in disgrace as his conqueror, Joe Biden took over the reins at the White House. If the past four years of Trump in office have been gruelling,  the past two months have made it feel like 40. Such was the bad grace, dishonesty and disdain for basic democratic principles that Trump and his enablers showed. The madness of those two months is chronicled in Rob Coldstream's bonus edition of his 2020 series  'The Trump Show'. The programme begins with images of ransacked offices on Capitol Hill - a stark reminder not just of how the Trump Presidency ended but an apt visual metaphor for his time in office. Coldstream's extra episode then launches into the story of how Trump's Presidency ended in a shambles. Charti...

THE PRICE OF GRIEF (PIECES OF A WOMAN)

It's not very often that a film recommendation comes with a big note of caution. However Hungarian director Komel Mundruczo's 'Pieces of a Woman' is that sort of movie. A frank examination of the impact of losing a baby during labour, it will be an extremely tough watch for some viewers - especially those who have experience of that pain Even if you haven't, it is still a very harrowing watch. Written by Mundruczo's real life partner Kata Weber, the story has been fashioned out of the couple's own experience of losing a child. But it is also inspired by a famous trial in Hungary where a midwife, Agnes Gereb faced prosecution for  manslaughter after a home birth ended tragically. Weber and Mundruczo set their tale in a very chilly Boston, where Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf's couple are expecting their first child. At the start of the film, Kirby's heavily pregnant Martha and LaBeouf's Sean are buying a family car from her brother-in-law Benny Sa...