Power play: Five Ewan McGregor films to stream this week
In the new family film Christopher Robin, Ewan McGregor proves the consistency of his acting talent yet again. Here are five more ways to stream the best of the Scottish-born star.
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IN the new family film Christopher Robin, Ewan McGregor proves the consistency of his acting talent yet again.
Here are five more ways to stream the best of the Scottish-born star.
BEGINNERS (2010)
SBS On Demand
****
McGregor plays a solitary graphic artist, still yet to make sense of his life as he nears 40. The surprise coming-out of his secretly gay father (Christopher Plummer) and a tentative affair with a mysterious French actress (Melanie Laurent) add further layers of confusion to be peeled away. An impressive indie outing, exuding a quiet confidence and refreshing respect for the audience’s intelligence.
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THE IMPOSSIBLE (2012)
Foxtel Now
***1/2
A terrifying real-life drama centred on the cataclysmic tsunami that exploded from beneath the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day 2004. McGregor and Naomi Watts play Henry and Maria, a British couple whose young holidaying family is torn apart when a tidal wave strikes their luxury Thai resort. A fully-fledged disaster movie that wisely never exploits the tragedy it is depicting so authentically.
THE GHOST WRITER (2010)
Netflix
***1/2
There are powerful currents of claustrophobia, nervous tension, gallows humour and raw anguish pulsing throughout this mischievous thriller. McGregor plays the unnamed protagonist of the tale, a jaded journo hired to polish the memoirs of a embattled former British Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan). Gripping stuff from director Roman Polanski (The Pianist). Co-stars Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams.
T2: TRAINSPOTTING (2017)
Foxtel Now
***1/2
Renton (McGregor) skulks home without a heroin habit, and with hope he can mend broken friendships. While T2 never gives off the same cool contact highs as the original, the writing, direction and performances deliver a valid new perspective on its characters. Twenty years ago, they thought they could “choose life”. Now Renton and company realise it was life that never chose them all along.
ROBOTS (2005)
Google, iTunes
****
This brilliant animated comedy is the story of happy-go-lucky robot Rodney Copperbottom (voiced by McGregor), who leaves his humdrum home with the dream of becoming a great inventor. The title might sound generic, but the imaginatively industrious work rate of the creative team behind Ice Age guarantees a one-of-a-kind product.
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