Quentin Tarantino writing movie reviews during coronavirus lockdown

Quentin Tarantino has been keeping himself occupied during the coronavirus lockdown by writing movie reviews.

A user on the social media site Reddit discovered that the 57-year-old director has been secretly publishing lengthy reviews of classic films on the website for the New Beverly Cinema, which he owns.

Since the beginning of March, Tarantino has written nine articles, including eight movie reviews and a 3,000-word profile of actor and director Jimmy Wang Yu, a martial arts icon who inspired the likes of Bruce Lee.

The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood filmmaker has penned critiques of films such as 1980 carnival drama Carny, starring Gary Busey and Jodie Foster, John Frankenheimer's 1979 horror movie Prophecy, Roger Corman's thriller Targets, and Peter Bogdanovich's 1974 adaptation of Henry James' novel Daisy Miller.

Tarantino bought and restored the historic movie theatre on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles back in 2007 and saved the 1920s picture house from redevelopment.

The cinema exclusively screens 35mm prints of movies, and last year, the director featured his star-studded 1960s epic Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the movie theatre, alongside props used and worn by the cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.

The New Beverly Cinema has been closed since 16 March, when Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered the closure of businesses, including cinemas, as the Covid-19 outbreak hit the city.

When Tarantino bought the venue in 2007, he told The Hollywood Reporter: "As long as I'm alive, and as long as I'm rich, the New Beverly will be there, showing double features in 35mm."