Ron Howard

News, Reviews & Features
  • Solo: A Star Wars Story

    Movie Review | Matt Looker | 24th May 2018

    Four films in four years of this newly rebooted output from a galaxy far, far away, and it’s safe to say that Star Wars fatigue might be setting in for some. While, in that time, there’s been plenty of new reasons to love and embrace and cheer on the franchise, does anyone still get the same goosebump thrill from yet another momentous money-shot moment for the Millennium Falcon? Does anyone still audibly chuckle as loudly as they used to at the mention of an obscure character thrown in the script just because? It’s ok to admit it. We’re all still fans. No one's turning to the Dark Side and there’s no hate or anger here. But is anyone else getting the sense that their enthusiasm for Star Wars is being a little... diluted?

  • Inferno

    Movie Review | Ed Williamson | 18th October 2016

    By now you'll have heard that Inferno is awful, not that your hopes were high, and you don't need me to confirm it. Maybe the books make terrible source material, but come on, it's Hanks and Howard: how bad could it be? Well, not as bad as The Da Vinci Code, to be fair, but still pretty darned bad.

  • The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years

    Movie Review | Ed Williamson | 16th September 2016

    What a Beatles documentary has never quite captured is their cultural significance. You can't, not really: it is too tightly bound up in everything we hold as self-evident about popular culture and our relationship with celebrity. Ron Howard, having had the sense to focus his film on the touring years up until 1966 rather than compress The Beatles Anthology into two hours, allows us a window into just how mental those four years were, and gets closer to the truth of it than anyone else has managed.

  • Zootropolis

    Movie Review | Ali Gray | 1st April 2016

    How many movies make up a renaissance? Without getting too hung up on terminology, I'm interested how we categorise, rank and file nascent movies - the age of this, the era of that etc. When does a hot streak cool into something of more substance? I only ask because Zootropolis is the latest in an increasingly long line of movies from Walt Disney Animation Studios that can rightfully call itself a classic. If you start with 2010's Tangled (and discount the still rather delightful 2011 Winnie The Pooh kiddy pic), that streak also includes Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen and Big Hero 6, all movies with iconic characters, impressively progressive agendas, humour and heart. Shouldn't we be talking about this decade's body of Disney in more grandiose terms? Zootropolis represents the apex of Disney's sparkling Digital Age; a blissfully beautiful, adventurous and charismatic movie that's typical of the studio of late.

  • Rush

    Movie Review | Ali | 11th September 2013

    It is a sad fact of life that, more often than not, the extrovert will receive attention while the introvert goes unnoticed – the loudest person in the room will overshadow the most interesting. From a distance, Ron Howard's F1 biopic Rush appears to be magnetised towards race driver/rock star James Hunt (played by undeniable hunk Chris Hemsworth) as he tussles on the track with rat-like rival Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl wearing a prosthetic overbite). Hollywood has hard-wired me to believe that beautiful rule-breakers deserve more screen time than unglamorous by-the-bookers, but I'm happy to report that Rush is a surprisingly balanced account of two men who, for two hours at least, make Formula 1 look like the most noble of gladiator sports, and not just a giant Scalextric being played by a bored millionaire.

  • Not sure Chris Hemsworth is wearing enough make-up in this Rush poster

    Movie Feature | Ali | 25th July 2013

    Roll your mouse over his gorgeous face to apply even more slap.


    Because Formula 1 drivers took this shit seriously in the 70s.

  • Sir Alan Sugar prompts spoiler reform

    Movie Feature | Ali | 15th March 2012

    How long must you wait before revealing a spoiler? If you're Alan Sugar, the answer is RAH RAH I'M BLADDY ALAN SUGAR I COULD BUY YOU IF I WANT, but if you're a mere human being, there are rules that must be obeyed. Warning: this article contains spoilers. No, really.

  • Arrested Development developments

    TV News | Kirsty Harrison | 2nd October 2011

    News. Big... big news. OHMYGODWE'RENOTEVENJOKING!

  • Tangled

    Movie Review | Matt | 26th January 2011

    After 2009's The Princess and the Frog reminded us how wonderfully sublime traditional Disney animations are and, in the process, helped to apologise for the recent output of sacrilegious, straight-to-DVD sequels (something like Jungle Book II: The Killer Uprising or Bambi's Revenge), now the Mouse House is back with a new, energised take on its usual fairytale offering. Somewhere, deep in the bowels of a secret cryogenic chamber, Walt's disembodied head is smiling sweetly.

  • The Dilemma

    Movie Review | Ali | 23rd January 2011

    Like The Break-Up before it, The Dilemma is a deceptively straight-laced Vince Vaughn comedy that's just as concerned with exploring the dynamics of relationships as it is with crowd-pleasing gags and physical comedy. Also like The Break-Up before it, The Dilemma is quite enjoyable until its characters stop behaving like rational adults and start acting like they've just realised they've got a film to finish.