Damon Smith

Review: Love was a losing game for Amy Winehouse. The heartache that dogged the north London-born singer’s tragically brief life was a constant source of tabloid fascination and fuelled the creative fire of her songwriting, most notably on the award-winning second LP Back To Black which lays bare the tumultuous relationship with her future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. Winehouse’s unapologetically candid, confessional storytelling style paired with soulful vocals were irresistible. Back To Black remains the second best-selling album of the 21st century in the UK behind Adele’s 21.

This week's Top 3 film releases, courtesy of LondonNet film critics. Discover the latest releases and the best films by film journalists and our 2 mil users

Review: As a child, I was taught by my parents not to play with my food. The title character of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s abduction thriller, who presents as a 12-year-old girl, has been playing with her food for years – centuries, in fact. Indeed, she giggles with delight when her meal of choice – a screaming human – fights back and threatens her with a sharpened stake or clove of garlic before she drains them dry of delicious life force with an impressively tapered set of teeth.

Mike Faist stars as Art and Zendaya as Tashi in Challengers, directed by Luca Guadagnino. Photo: Niko Tavernise. Copyright: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Review: The term “magical negro” was coined to refer to a black character in fiction, who performs acts of service to prop up the storyline and promote the success of a white character. Some obvious examples would be Whoopi Goldberg’s hilarious medium Oda Mae Brown in Ghost and Mykelti Williamson’s kind-hearted Bubba in Forrest Gump. Writer-director Kobi Libii’s toothless satire attempts to poke fun at the trope but fails to draw blood with obvious jabs at centuries of prejudice, intolerance and segregation.

Review: I have fond childhood memories from the early 1980s of the rough-and-tumble TV show The Fall Guy starring Lee Majors as a revered film stuntman, who side hustles as a bounty hunter using the daredevil skills he has honed in front of a camera. Stunt performer turned director David Leitch’s crowd-pleasing action comedy pays tribute to the TV series and the wider community of gifted action artists who take body blows for big-name actors but publicly receive none of the credit for their bone-crunching work.

Emily Blunt as Judy Moreno in The Fall Guy, directed by David Leitch. Photo: Eric Laciste. Copyright: Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

This week's film reviews from LondonNet Film Critics. Read a full review of Emma (U) and Sonic the Hedgehog (PG), view trailers and a list of cinemas.

Review: A Quiet Place writer-director-actor John Krasinski trades extra-terrestrials that hunt by sound for child-friendly fantastical beings in a life-affirming comedy adventure set in a world where imaginary friends (IFs) are real. Twelve-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming) cast aside childish things after the death of her mother and the girl has largely forgotten the joys of being young as she prepares for her father (Krasinski) to undergo vital heart surgery. Living with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) in New York while her father is in hospital, Bea gatecrashes the solitude of upstairs neighbour Cal (Ryan Reynolds), who has set up a matchmaking agency for abandoned IFs.

We thought it would be good to remind growers to save cocktails for happy hour and consider the perils of complex tank mixing. Adding something “extra” to the spray tank is not a new or novel phenomenon in agriculture. But in the current economic, social and regulatory environment it's in agriculture's best interest to think twice before blindly adhering to that mentality.