#Stephen Cookson

[foxspeterpan]

[weclassybouquetfun]

Thank goodness for Taron Egerton (and John) because how else would ever know what's going on with Edward Holcroft. This long absence - has he fallen into the sea? Got lost in the forest? We'd never know if it weren't for these random IG stories of Taron (and John) of Ed.

Where is Edward now? Who knows. What is known is that he won't be seen in FX's adaptation of NEVER LET ME GO because the project has been scrapped. So yes, another Holcroft Hiatus is in the offing.

I must admit I didn't really belive that Ed Holcroft account was legit but I was wrong.

Another missing KINGSMAN star is Colin Firth. Colin has been busy in the past couple of years with back-to-back projects (MOTHERING SUNDAY, EMPIRE OF LIGHT, THE STAIRCASE) and he even pops up in the romantic-comedy RYE LANE (currently in theaters in the UK, streaming on Hulu in the U.S). But he has nothing currently lined up according to IMDB - even the action-comedy NEW YORK WILL EAT YOU that he was attached to in 2020 is not listed.

-Now someone who will not stop working is Taron Egerton and I, for one, am happy for that.

He can currently be seen in the excellent AppleTV+'s film TETRIS produced by Matthew Vaughn's MARV Films.

Taron and costar Nikita Efremov are so great.

Taron has CARRY ON in post-production and is doing a three-peater with AppleTV+ by reteaming with the streamer and his BLACK BIRD creator Dennis Lehane for FIREBUG (which Egerton will also serve as executive producer).

What is it about?: "Written by Lehane and inspired by true events, Firebug will follow a troubled detective and an enigmatic arson investigator (played by Rocketman star Egerton) as they pursue the trails of two serial arsonists."

Taron has donned his producer hat by acquiring the screen rights to Josh Silver's debut novel, the LGBTQ+ psychological thriller, "HappyHead". So far he has no plans to act in the project.

When Taron isn't working he's gassing people up, like his ROCKETMAN costar Kit Connor .

KINGSMAN ROLL CALL

-Mark Strong is another one who doesn't rest on his laurels. He can be currently seen on Netflix's MURDER MYSTERY 2 starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston.

He also has 8 projects in various stages of production including the upcoming HBO Max series DUNE: THE SISTHERHOOD. But with the constant changes at WB/Disco(very) and the series director and one of the leads, Shirley Henderson, exiting the project, who Is to say that the series will ever happen.

Taron and Mark at a BAFTA party.

-Another KINGSMAN alum with 8 projects in various stages of production is Samuel L. Jackson. One of them being the upcoming DISNEY+ series SECRET INVASION.

He also has the Matthew Vaughn directed ARGYLLE starring Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell and DAMAGED starring the always intriguing Vincent Cassel

-Not a BAFTA party but Vanity Fair Oscar party, Sofia Boutella bumped into her former boss Madonna and her fellow former back-up dancers to Madge.

Boutella can be currently seen in Steven Knight's ROGUE HEROES and she will be in Zack Snyder's upcoming REBEL MOON.

-Sophia Cookson was recently seen in ITV's mini- THE CONFESSIONS of FRANNIE LANGTON and will be seen soon in Lee Tamahori's (ONCE WERE WARRIORS), EMPEROR in the lead role. The film also stars Adrien Brody and Bill Skarsgård. She also has STOCKHOLM BLOODBATH coming up.

Set pictures of Sophie and her little one.

Sophie's partner Stephen Campbell-Moore shares a daughter with ex-wife Claire Foy.

[hiddenwashington]

@ofxscavengcrs said : Was that [PARK JINYOUNG]? Oh no no, that was just [WILLIAM ‘BILL’ DENBROUGH], a [CANON CHARACTER] from [STEPHEN KINGS IT]. They are [TWENTY-TWO] years old, use [HE/HIM], and [ARE] aware that they are not actually from Washington DC. Too bad they can’t stray from this city for long. (hey it’s me!) && May I please reserve Paige Matthews? && If I could get some fc suggestions for her that would be perf

accepted! welcome to washington d.c. william 'bill' denbrough [park jinyoung]! please send in your account within 24 hours! please be sure to take a look at the checklist now that you've arrived! we look forward to seeing you around the city!  **paige matthews is now reserved for cici until 9/13 at 2:38 pm est! **and for fcs, you could consider: maddison brown, conor leslie, katie stevens, sophie cookson, rose williams, maya hawke, or sophie skelton!

[bizlong]

Portrait painter of the year

PORTRAIT PAINTER OF THE YEAR SERIES

Portrait Artist of the Year will air on Sky Arts, Freeview Channel 11, and streaming service NOW.

PORTRAIT PAINTER OF THE YEAR SERIES

The series was recorded within strict Covid safety protocols at Battersea Arts Centre. Benedetta Pinelli is commissioning editor for Sky. Portrait Artist of the Year and Landscape Artist of the Year are produced by Storyvault Executive producers are Danielle Graham, Samantha Richards and Stuart Prebble. Landscape Artist of the Year is due to return in early 2022 and production is already underway. Watching paint dry has never been this exciting.” Philip Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts, Sky, said: “Over the years Portrait Artists of the Year has unearthed, encouraged and nurtured some brilliant portrait artists – many of whom have gone on to successfully make a living from their art and that’s something we are really proud of as we welcome back a new intake of brilliant painters to turn our celebrity sitters into works of art. I wanted the show to be Joan and I painting portraits of artists while being watched by celebrities but apparently ’no one would watch that’. was painted in 1996 by Antony Williams as part of a commission from the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Stephen Mangan said: “Joan and I have had the difficult task, once again, of watching a raft of talented artists paint portraits of a bunch of fascinating celebrities. 30 of Our Favorite Portraits of Queen Elizabeth II to Celebrate Her 63-Year Reign. The whole thing mixes talent with pleasure, effort with entertainment”. Joan Bakewell said: “I never cease to delight in presenting Portrait Artist of the year: once again the series brings a galaxy of famous faces and reputations, their faces as varied as their careers… each one challenging our eager competitors. This season’s Portrait Artist of the Year winner will receive a £10,000 commission to paint the esteemed Scottish-Italian classical solo violinist, Nicola Benedetti, which will be exhibited at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. For our grand finale, three finalists will battle it out to take home the crown, painting the iconic Barry Humphries, best known for his on-stage and television alter ego Dame Edna Everage. Nine artists compete in each of the eight heats, and each heat winner will go on to paint rock and roll legend and former Pink Floyd drummer, Nick Mason in the semi-final. Taking the famous subject’s chair this year are: Celeste (Singer/Songwriter), Kelly MacDonald (Actor), Gabrielle (Singer/songwriter), Lydia West (Actor), Nish Kumar (Comedian), Alexa Chung (Model/TV Presenter), Alistair Campbell (Politician), Ian Hislop (Journalist), Hugh Skinner (Actor), Daniel Mays (Actor), Gyles Brandreth (former politician) Emma Dabiri (Author), Sophie Cookson (Actor), Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (Actor), Polly Walker (Actor), Philip Glenister (Actor), Chris Packham (Naturalist), Ali Jawad (Paralympic powerlifter), Arlene Phillips (Dancer), Grace Neutral (TV Presenter), Maggie Aderin-Pocock (Scientist), Sergei Polunin (Ballet dancer), Karen Gibson (Conductor) and David Olosuga (Historian).

[cesaray]

[jamesginortonblog]

James Norton as Stephen Ward in The Trial of Christine Keeler

[ulrichgebert]

Die reizende Lady von nebenan wird verhaftet, weil sie eine Spionin ist und den Russen wichtige geheime Hinweise zur Herstellung von Atomwaffen geliefert hat. Wegen der Gerechtigkeit und dem Weltfrieden. Alles ist genau so passiert.

[rebelcookiesoph]

Pregnant. Baby blessing. Wishing them well♥️

[foxspeterpan]

[agentnico]

Greed (2020) Review

Steve Coogan walks around cursing left and right. What else is new?

Plot: Greed tells the story of self-made British billionaire Sir Richard McCreadie, whose retail empire is in crisis. For 30 years he has ruled the world of retail fashion, bringing the high street to the catwalk and the catwalk to the high street. But after a damaging public inquiry, his image is tarnished. To save his reputation, he decides to bounce back with a highly publicized and extravagant party celebrating his 60th birthday on the Greek island of Mykonos.

A movie of good intentions that involuntarily digs itself into a hole due to its overly preachy message. Director Michael Winterbottom is no stranger towards satirizing and complaining against politics and the class system, but in the case of this black comedy, his message is so simplistic and in-your-face, with the movie even ending on a montage of statistics aimed at shaming the fashion industry and its use of sweatshop labour. This was wholly unnecessary as the story made this point without this tacked-on piece of activism. It just feels like Winterbottom doesn’t respect his audience enough in thinking they’re not intelligent enough to get the message themselves, especially when the message within the movie is loud and clear. Also, I say simplistic due to the movie lacking a sense of urgency, risk, substance, and resonance. We all know that the very wealthy and powerful mostly made that wealth through ruthlessness, this is an old, tired narrative now. At least one has to try and to do something new with this. Instead, we just get Steve Coogan walking around for an hour and a half telling various people to go f*** themselves in his typical witty manner. Boy, ain’t that original!! Really sticking it to the man there, Mr. Winterbottom!

Filled to the brim with silly plot developments and cheap sentiment, Greed never knows what exactly it wants to be. There’s a lot of comedy thrown in here, though I didn’t find a lot of it that funny in all honesty, and then there are more serious dramatical elements thrown in and it doesn’t blend well. You know how the new Best Picture winner Parasite shined in blending completely different genres together so seamlessly whilst still having its message about the social class system, though not bashed over your head about it? Well, Greed is the opposite of that. I mean, it’s not horrible. It’s an okay watch with some amusing moments, mostly from Coogan’s one-liners (an entire gag revolving around the colour of fuchsia had me in stitches), but overall this movie will be forgotten in no time.

Overall score: 4/10

[maysshortmoviereviews]

Red Joan (2019)

The story of Joan Stanley, who was exposed as the KGB's longest-serving British spy.

The trailer for this film has all the best bits from the film. It is all over the place and has far too many flashbacks. The story is mostly about the character’s love life and there is absolutely no debt to the story or characters. 

Judi Dench is hardly in this film! Criminal as far as I am concerned!

Avoid.

[mymoviedump]

Red Joan

To change the world, she betrayed her country. 

English born Joan Stanley, a Soviet and communist party sympathizer, becomes employed as a British government civil servant, and gets recruited by the KGB in the mid 1930s. She successfully transfers nuclear bomb secrets to the Soviet Union (Russia), which enables them to keep up with the west in the development of atomic weapons, and remains undetected as a spy for over a half a century.

[andrewsmoviereviews]

Red Joan (2019)

Plot: The true-life tale of Joan Stanley (Judi Dench), who in her younger days (Sophie Cookson) was privy to British research into the atomic bomb - which she leaked to the Russians.

Review: The story behind Red Joan is not only true, but truly interesting. It’s just a shame that its potential is ruined by a dull and procedural movie.

We start off with elderly Joan, played by Dame Judi Dench, being dragged off by the police having been accused of spying for the Russians just after the second world war. We then get flashback scenes to a young Joan, played by Sophie Cookson of the Kingsman series, with the more recent interrogation used as a framing device for the story. So we have a young Joan getting entangled with people from the Communist society at university, watching videos with them and the like, and embarking on a torrid affair with Leo (Tom Hughes), Russian / German Jew who backs his country regardless.

All of this makes it sound more interesting and intriguing than it is. There is little in the way of tension, the story retold in an uninspired, pedestrian manner. Possibly the only reason the certificate is so high is a flash of nipple halfway through the film, and they probably could have lowered the rating anyway - it’s unlikely youngsters will want to go and see this. As she gets taken on the atomic bomb project and then has another affair with her boss - who later becomes her husband - it all sounds like it carries much more life about it than it actually has.

Joan’s motivations were apparently to achieve world peace by ensuring nobody was ahead or behind anybody else - something the lack of a world war since would indicate was the case. Whether you believe this version of events is up to you, but it would have been nice to here a detective put another version to her, even if it gets refuted straight away.

[bluecollarfilm]

Red Joan (2019)

The year is 2000 and Joan Stanley is living in contented retirement in suburbia at the turn of the millennium. Her tranquil life is suddenly disrupted when she's arrested by MI5 and accused of providing intelligence to Communist Russia. Cut to 1938 where Joan is a Cambridge physics student who falls for young communist Leo Galich and through him, begins to see the world in a new light.

Working at a top-secret nuclear research facility during WWII, Joan comes to the realization that the world is on the brink of mutually assured destruction. Confronted with an impossible question – what price would you pay for peace? - Joan must choose between betraying her country and loved ones or saving them.

Directed by:   Trevor Nunn

Starring:   Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Stephen Campbell Moore, Tom Hughes

Release date:   April 19, 2019