Oliver Jones

2 weeks ago | observer.com | Oliver Jones

John Lennon and Yoko Ono in New York in the 1970s Ben Ross and Leonora Golberg/Courtesy of Magnolia PicturesThe small color TV that graced the Bank Street apartment John Lennon and Yoko Ono shared in Greenwich Village from 1971 to 1973 was perched at the end of the bed, a few inches from their toes.

3 weeks ago | observer.com | Oliver Jones

Carey Mulligan and Tom Basden in The Ballad of Wallis Island Alistair Heap/Courtesy of Focus FeaturesA carefully considered mix of humor and melancholy glows in the fragile sunshine that bathes an isolated Welsh coastline in The Ballad of Wallis Island, a wan yet affecting consideration of lost love, forgotten bands and the odd ways those entities manifest themselves in our hearts and on our turntables.

1 month ago | observer.com | Oliver Jones

In an age when we all get daily inundations of text message invites from strangers with weird area codes (“Do you have plans for tomorrow? Have dinner together?”), it’s almost impossible to imagine a time when such a request could be innocent and well-meaning rather than a nefarious attempt to hollow your bank account.

2 months ago | observer.com | Oliver Jones

Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell in You’re Cordially Invited. Glen Wilson/Courtesy of Prime VideoConsidering how hermetically sealed it is in the airlessness of its own comic conceit, it’s a wonder that You’re Cordially Invited still pours out like flat champagne. Nevertheless, the new wedding trifle from writer-director Nicholas Stoller and starring Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell is sweet, pink and plentiful, spooned out this week by Amazon Prime Video.

Nov 25, 2024 | observer.com | Oliver Jones

‘The Piano Lesson’ Review: Stained By Blood, Haunted By History August Wilson's 1987 play is opened up in ways that that work—and some that don't—in this beautifully acted film adaptation. Michael Potts, Ray Fisher and John David Washington in The Piano Lesson. David Lee/NetflixThe first time I watched The Piano Lesson was in a glorious, well-appointed screening room within Netflix’s main Hollywood campus.