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Alistair Harkness

Alistair Harkness's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at Tomatometer-approved publication(s).
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Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition (2026) 4/5 EDIT “Boasting extensive new audio interviews with surviving band members from the various eras...the film provides a raw and honest account of Iron Maiden’s highs and lows while also...getting to the heart of why they mean so much to so many.” – Scotsman May 5, 2026 Full Review Our Land (2025) 97% 4/5 EDIT “... Our Land serves up a level-headed examination of the right-to-roam movement seeking to gain responsible access to the vast swathes of privately-owned land that are off limits to the general public in England and Wales.” – Scotsman May 5, 2026 Full Review The Sheep Detectives (2026) 93% 3/5 EDIT “...[The film results in] a lot of goofy, family friendly fun, albeit in a fictional English village setting that has been weirdly Americanised with anachronistic production design and some very strange attempts at English accents.” – Scotsman May 5, 2026 Full Review The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026) 78% 3/5 EDIT “The ensuing plot zips the action from New York to Milan and takes on a bit of a meta dimension...though in truth, the film can’t quite bring itself to follow through on the latter with any bite. Still it’s light and fun and Blunt really is a blast.” – Scotsman May 1, 2026 Full Review Hokum (2026) 88% 3/5 EDIT “...McCarthy’s willingness to marry outré elements involving Irish folklore and magic mushrooms...works in a strangely effective way — like a dream that doesn’t quite make sense, but rattles you all the same. ” – Scotsman Apr 29, 2026 Full Review Michael (2026) 39% 1/5 EDIT “A more creatively engaged film might have tried to reconcile that anodyne façade with the sexually charged energy of his music, but this officially sanctioned effort keeps everything at surface level.” – Scotsman Apr 24, 2026 Full Review The Blue Trail (2025) 100% 4/5 EDIT “...director Gabriel Mascaro crafts an intriguing tale of resistance by zeroing in on his septuagenarian protagonist’s quietly rebellious refusal to embrace her fate. Denise Weinberg is a hoot in the lead. ” – Scotsman Apr 22, 2026 Full Review Exit 8 (2025) 93% 4/5 EDIT “Incorporating nods to The Shining and MC Escher, and making creative narrative use of various gaming concepts, Exit 8 proves that video games can inspire creepy, thoughtful, engaging cinema, not just IP cash cows like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. ” – Scotsman Apr 22, 2026 Full Review Rose of Nevada (2025) 100% 4/5 EDIT “...Jenkin puts his own distinctive spin on proceedings, using the non-synched sound and grainy film stock to sinister purpose as a way of interrogating nostalgia for a past that never was. ” – Scotsman Apr 22, 2026 Full Review The North (2025) 4/5 EDIT “The creative dividends are plain to see; this is one of the best-looking films made in Scotland in recent years — and one of the most compelling. ” – Scotsman Apr 22, 2026 Full Review La venue de l'avenir (2025) 95% 3/5 EDIT “The end result is a light-hearted comedic exploration of the how the past is never as quaint or romantic or as fixed as we might think, so don’t get stuck in it.” – Scotsman Apr 15, 2026 Full Review Outcome (2026) 28% 3/5 EDIT “Although the rapid-fire script is almost too inside Hollywood to be consistently funny, there are some sharp lines, Reeves is a hoot sending himself up, but also oddly moving when the film takes a more melancholic turn...” – Scotsman Apr 15, 2026 Full Review The Wizard of the Kremlin (2025) 48% 2/5 EDIT “...the film struggles to maintain momentum. Instead it pummels us with Dano’s monotonous voice-over and too many dull scenes of shadowy figures walking us through the flashpoint moments of recent Russian political history.” – Scotsman Apr 15, 2026 Full Review Glenrothan (2025) 17% 2/5 EDIT “Though hardly intended as demanding viewing, it’s still a bit of a mess, with Cox piling on several unnecessary endings, even after fading the action, Brigadoon-style, into the mists of time. ” – Scotsman Apr 15, 2026 Full Review The Stranger (2025) 90% 3/5 EDIT “...Ozon filters Camus’ text through a more modern understanding of colonialism so his protagonist’s outlook can now be read as a proxy for France’s frosty relationship with its former colony. That makes for a similarly frosty viewing experience...” – Scotsman Apr 8, 2026 Full Review Father Mother Sister Brother (2025) 84% 4/5 EDIT “In each segment the children turn out to be more conventional than their enigmatic elders – a joke Jarmusch has a lot of fun with while surreptitiously building to a more profound understanding of the sometimes ephemeral nature of family.” – Scotsman Apr 8, 2026 Full Review The Drama (2026) 76% 4/5 EDIT “Written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario), the end result is sharp, funny and excruciating in equal measure.” – Scotsman Apr 8, 2026 Full Review California Schemin' (2025) 96% 4/5 EDIT “It’s a cautionary tale, done with real panache.” – Scotsman Apr 8, 2026 Full Review The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026) 42% 2/5 EDIT “...its funniest moments occur when the film finds sly ways to incorporate and pastiche the gameplay of its source material, which it does too infrequently to build to anything as subversive as The Lego Movie...” – Scotsman Apr 2, 2026 Full Review Fuze (2025) 73% 3/5 EDIT “...Fuze does become slicker and more cinematic...at least until it over-eggs things with some what-happened-next explanatory text that weirdly tries to reframe what we’ve just watched as a jokey caper movie. For the most part, though, this is a blast.” – Scotsman Apr 2, 2026 Full Review DJ Ahmet (2025) 94% 4/5 EDIT “A charming coming-of-age film...” – Scotsman Mar 25, 2026 Full Review La Grazia (2025) 87% 4/5 EDIT “What follows, though, is a slyly funny study of a quietly passionate man whose obsession with his late wife inspires a last minute desire to leave a lasting political legacy, one characterised by decency and compassion, not megalomania. ” – Scotsman Mar 25, 2026 Full Review Two Prosecutors (2025) 97% 4/5 EDIT “Utilising appropriately drab colour schemes and moving at a glacial pace that reflects the world it’s set in, it’s a formalistically rigorous work in which the most chilling moments slip by almost unnoticed.” – Scotsman Mar 25, 2026 Full Review Broken English (2025) 92% 3/5 EDIT “It’s an intriguing approach, but directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard over-egg proceedings with additional characters and podcast-style discussions...” – Scotsman Mar 25, 2026 Full Review Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5 (2025) 83% 4/5 EDIT “Matching Orwell’s words to real-world atrocities, it’s eerie to see how applicable they are to everything... Orwell anticipated it all. More to the point, he knew what it added up to.” – Scotsman Mar 25, 2026 Full Review
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