He's been played by Alain Delon, Dennis Hopper, Matt Damon, Barry Pepper, John Malkovich and Ian Hart. Now Andrew Scott has stepped into the shoes of Patricia Highsmith's villain Tom Ripley. And what a prospect. Shockingly overlooked during awards season after his superb lead performance in Andrew Haigh's movie 'All of Us Strangers,' Scott is one of the best actors working on the big and small screen right now. © Netflix The Dubliner seems ripe for a part like Tom Ripley and it's easy to understand why he would be drawn to playing Highsmith's most celebrated creation.  Tom's a talented ..read more

Anyone for tennis? Sicilian director Luca Guadagnino certainly is, amping up the gladiatorial aspects of the sport in his romantic melodrama, 'Challengers'. Starring Zendaya, Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist, the film follows the ups and downs of three tennis stars and their messy love lives. O'Connor and Faist play doubles partners and childhood tennis protege friends, Patrick Zweig and Art Donaldson who we see winning the US Open junior championship. © Amazon MGM Studios & Warner Bros Pictures  Both are due to face each other in the singles final but after their doubles win, t ..read more

Every now and again a TV show comes out of the blue with a relatively unknown cast and is a surprise success. 'Stranger Things' springs to mind. 'Beef' is another. Now Netflix has done it again with 'Baby Reindeer'. © Netflix Based on its star Richard Gadd's acclaimed autobiographical one man show of the same name, it's a twisted tale about stalking. Constantly bucking expectations, the show strays into territory the viewer might find disturbing and surprising, subverting usual victim narratives. Drawing on his own experience of being hounded in real life, Gadd plays a fictionalis ..read more

Just when you thought Denis Villeneuve could not better 'Dune, Part One,' he comes along and delivers a gobsmacking Part Two. Epic in tone and sweep, the film immediately triggers memories of 'Lawrence of Arabia,' 'Star Wars,' 'Persona' and 'The Last Temptation of Christ'. Huge in scale and narrative ambition, it somehow avoids veering into the outlandish. In Villeneuve's previous installment, Timothee Chalamet's noble Paul Atreides and his pregnant mother, Rebecca Ferguson's Lady Jessica wound up on Arrakis, a desert planet infamous for its giant sandworms but also coveted because of its pro ..read more

"Overnight success is a fallacy," Mark Twain once stated. "It is preceded by a great deal of preparation. "Ask any successful person how they came to this point in their lives and they will have a story to tell." Alternatively, you could always watch Morgan Neville's Apple TV+ doc 'STEVE (martin) A documentary in two pieces' to see how right Twain was. © United Artists/MGM For six decades, Martin has pretty much been at the top of the American comedy tree. Yes, there have been ups and downs during that time but even when there have been failures his popularity has endured. His act has often ..read more

There's a moment in Philip Martin's movie 'Scoop' when reaction starts tumbling in to Prince Andrew's 'Newsnight' interview on social media, when we see him naked from behind after getting out of the bathtub. As he stands dripping in his bedroom, his body sagging, TV news channels and social media are pouring over every detail of what has been an omnishambles. If you were to choose one image that encapsulates the whole film, that's it. At this point in the Netflix movie, Rufus Sewell's Prince Andrew has become the King in the song sung by Danny Kaye in Charles Vidor's 1952 ..read more

Just weeks after Thea Sharrock's sweary comedy 'Wicked Little Letters' hit cinemas in Britain, another film of her's has come along. 'The Beautiful Game' is a Film 4 and Netflix backed comedy drama about the Homeless World Cup. However instead of going into cinemas, it has headed straight for the streaming platform. Counting Colin Farrell among its producers, the Dubliner first became involved in the Frank Cottrell-Boyce scripted movie after narrating the 2008 documentary 'Kicking It' by Susan Koch and Jeff Werner which was also acquired by Netflix. © Netflix & Film 4 He and his 'In Brug ..read more

Is professional wrestling a sport? Some people would argue it used to be until US wrestling corporations took it over in the 1980s and started scripting matches. With its over the top pre-bout trash talk and its emphasis on story arcs for its outlandish stars, wrestling is hard to take seriously. In fact, it's fair to say it's panto - with the emphasis on pants. © A24, BBC Film, Access Entertainment & Lionsgate Films UK Nevertheless it continues to fascinate filmmakers and it has to be admitted there have been some pretty decent movies about it. In the past two decades, audiences ha ..read more

After delivering a really impressive debut season, the pressure has been on Nancy Harris' series on ITV and RTE to really raise the bar. Not only does her Dublin comedy drama do that, it does it with ease. Directed by Paddy Breatnach, 'The Dry' tells the story of Roisin Gallagher's Shiv Sheridan, an alcoholic who returns from London to live with her dysfunctional middle class family. (SPOILERS ALERT) At the end of Series One, Shiv's battle to stay sober spectacularly came off the rails. © ITV, RTE & Element Pictures An affair with the posey, vain, feckless love of her life, Moe ..read more

Ahoy me hearties! It's time to set sail for a second time as we follow the adventures of the Gentleman Pirate Stede Bonnet, Blackbeard, Spanish Jackie et al. After a delightful first season streamed in the US in 2022 and the UK in 2023, HBO Max's handsome 'Blackadder' style pirate sitcom 'Our Flag Means Death' has returned. But can David Jenkins' nautical sitcom maintain the magic? © HBO Max (SPOILER ALERT!!) Having returned to his wife Mary and then left her again by mutual agreement, season Two find Rhys Darby's Stede back at sea desperate to rekindle the love he has for Tai ..read more