Film Reviews
Project Power - so-so attempt to reinvent the superhero genreFriday, 14 August 2020
What if there was a pill you could pop that gave you superpowers? The only catch is that, while it might make you invisible or bullet-proof, it might also boil your brain or make you explode with just one hit. Read more... |
Spree review - a wild ride through social media madnessFriday, 14 August 2020
Allergic to that word “influencer”? Afraid that social media is the death of civilisation as we’ve known it? Then this movie may be for you. Read more... |
Pinocchio review - wooden heartThursday, 13 August 2020
This seems a perfect project for Matteo Garrone, a director who has found new ways to conjure old Italian dreams, and invests even his most grimly realistic films with fairy tale logic and wonder. Carlo Collodi’s 1883 story is here returned to its local time and place, as Pinocchio’s picaresque journey of experience unfolds in a deliberately traditional, lovingly crafted children’s film. Read more... |
Perfect 10 review - a small movie with a big heartSaturday, 08 August 2020
We first see Leigh (Frankie Box), the cheeky heroine of Scottish writer-director Eva Riley’s debut feature Perfect 10, hanging upside down during a gymnastics workout. Read more... |
An American Pickle review - sweet and sour screwball comedyThursday, 06 August 2020
Seth Rogen offers up double the laughs by taking on both lead roles in a time-hopping, Rip-Van-Winkle screwball comedy, but with an oddly mixed conservative message about the merits of family and... Read more... |
Young Ahmed review - jihadist drama misses the markThursday, 06 August 2020
Belgian filmmaking duo the Dardenne Brothers have long been darlings of Cannes Film Festival, winning awards for hardhitting dramas like La Promesse, Le Silence de Lorna and The Kid with the Bike. Read more... |
Proxima review - family frays before lift-offSaturday, 01 August 2020
This sober French space movie is concerned with what a female astronaut leaves behind on Earth, not what she finds in the cosmic dark. Sarah (Eva Green) has been selected for a European Space Agency mission towards Mars, realising a childhood dream. Read more... |
Make Up review – coming of age in creepy CornwallFriday, 31 July 2020
Minutes into Make Up, Claire Oakley’s auspicious first feature as writer-director, unearthly sounds welcome unwitting Ruth (Molly Windsor) to her intimidating baptismal adventure as an 18-year-old who's not so much bi-curious as bi-phobic. A nail-biter to begin with, she’s soon hearing and seeing portents of horror everywhere, not least on the tips of her fingers. Read more... |
Unhinged review - road-rage Russ goes gonzoFriday, 31 July 2020
It may be one of the first movies to be shown in cinemas post-lockdown, but Unhinged is a pale ghost of some much better movies. Read more... |
Infamous review - Bonnie and Clyde for the digital age fails to deliverThursday, 30 July 2020
Like a sub-par Natural Born Killers for Gen Z, director-screenwriter Joshua Caldwell’s latest film, featuring Disney-child-star-turned-porn-director Bella Thorne, tackles the perils of social media like a parent trying to navigate TikTok. Read more... |
Coincoin and the Extra-Humans review – God's gunkMonday, 27 July 2020
It’s no accident that the eponymous young antihero of Coincoin and the Extra-Humans loses his virginity to the daughter of a French white nationalist in a field close to a sewage farm. Read more... |
Saint Frances review - relatable and honestFriday, 24 July 2020
“I’m for sure getting rid of it,” 34-year-old Bridget (cool, understated Kelly O’Sullivan, who also wrote the script; she was creatively inspired by Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird) tells her younger, casual boyfriend Jace (an endearing Max Lipchitz) when she finds out she’s pregnant. Read more... |
How to Build a Girl review - riotous funThursday, 23 July 2020
Ever felt like you could express yourself more freely, if only you could get away from everything that made you who are? Read more... |
Piranhas review - riding with the teenage gangs of NaplesThursday, 23 July 2020
Roberto Saviano’s book Gomorrah shone a blinding light on the Camorra crime clans of Naples, and spun off an acclaimed film and equally admired TV series. Read more... |
Come As You Are review - a road trip with a differenceSaturday, 18 July 2020
At a point in the early noughties, every third film was a teen comedy about a road trip to lose one's virginity. It’s a genre most were glad to see the back of. What a pleasant surprise Come As You Are is then, which brings much needed heart and relevancy to this tired trope. Read more... |
Good Manners review - compellingly eerieSaturday, 18 July 2020
Stylish, eerie and unexpectedly moving by the time of its apocalyptic finish, the strangely titled Good Manners makes for a genuine celluloid surprise. Read more... |
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