Film Reviews
Permission review - suspenseful melodrama of a true-life eventThursday, 21 November 2019
Permission tells the story of Afrooz, the captain of Iran's National Futsal Team, who is stopped from joining her team at the Asia Cup Final because of the last minute whim of her estranged husband. Read more... |
21 Bridges review - police corruption thriller sets a cracking paceWednesday, 20 November 2019
Thanks to a powerful cast and crisp direction from Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones, Luther), 21 Bridges drives home its story of good cops, bad cops and a Big Apple rotten to the core with bulldozing force. Read more... |
The Report review - searing political dramaSaturday, 16 November 2019
It should come as no surprise that the writer of Side Effects and Contagion, Scott Z. Burns, is capable of directing a whip-smart drama like The Report. Read more... |
Marriage Story review - superior weepieThursday, 14 November 2019
Forty years after the classic, multi-Oscar winning Kramer v Kramer comes another divorce drama involving two young Americans and a son caught in the crossfire. And this one is even better. Read more... |
Last Christmas review - for the stocking, not the treeThursday, 14 November 2019
Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke stars in this awkward but sweet Yuletide romcom as Kate, a chaotic, George Michael obsessed twenty-something in London who’s lost her way following a serious illness. Read more... |
Le Mans '66 review - nicely revved upWednesday, 13 November 2019
For a sports movie to work for more than just the fans, it has to have drama off the pitch, track or field, with characters to root for, personal demons, a good underdog. Based on a true story that also involves high-speed danger and tragedy, James Mangold’s Le Mans ‘66 duly obliges. Read more... |
The Good Liar review - the grey pound dipped in acidFriday, 08 November 2019
Ian McKellen, his Mr Holmes director Bill Condon and Helen Mirren play clever, nasty games with conman clichés and presumptions about the elderly in this sometimes absurdly twisty thriller. Read more... |
Midway review - gung-ho heroes battle moribund scriptFriday, 08 November 2019
Director Roland Emmerich has been trying to make this movie since the 1990s, and battled hard to raise its $100m budget from individual investors. But why? Read more... |
The Irishman review - mobster masterclassThursday, 07 November 2019
Much has been made of Martin Scorsese’s recent dismissal of Marvel films. Read more... |
The Aeronauts review - up, up and okayThursday, 07 November 2019
Wild Rose director Tom Harper blends fact with fiction in a charming Victorian ballooning adventure that reunites Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones for the first time since The Theory of Everything. Read more... |
Brittany Runs a Marathon review - believable body positive parableSaturday, 02 November 2019
Brittany (Jillian Bell) is the unhappily overweight life of the party, numbing her lonely life with booze and acerbic one-liners as she nears 30. Read more... |
After the Wedding review - a high-tension gut punchFriday, 01 November 2019
How long can one decision follow you? How long can you hide from it? This is what underpins After the Wedding, a remake of Susanne Bier’s Efter brylluppet. Read more... |
Sorry We Missed You review – Ken Loach's unapologetic assault on the gig economyThursday, 31 October 2019
If the recent period of British history that has involved recession, austerity, the hostile environment and Brexit is to have chroniclers, who better than Ken Loach and his trusty screenwriter Paul Laverty. Their blend of carefully researched social realism and nail-biting melodrama is angry, shaming, essential. Read more... |
Doctor Sleep review - heartfelt return to the Overlook HotelWednesday, 30 October 2019
Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining ended in ice, Stephen King’s in fire which consumed the Overlook Hotel. King’s frightening, emotionally rich novel was written by an alcoholic about an alcoholic, Jack Torrance, and his suffering family. Read more... |
The Last Black Man in San Francisco review - gentle gentrification bluesSunday, 27 October 2019
San Francisco has rarely looked more unattainably golden than in Joe Talbot’s Sundance prize-winning gentrification parable. Read more... |
By the Grace of God review - a dark, meticulous drama from François OzonSaturday, 26 October 2019
This is a departure in every sense for François Ozon. Read more... |
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