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4/5
|
What's Love Got to Do with It?
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
It doesn’t entirely convince on the romance front but comes close enough. Impressive.
Posted May 05, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
My Name Is Leon
(2022)
|
Deborah Ross
|
It is heartbreaking. I was in pieces, I admit. But while this explores grief, loss and anger, the touch was always light.
Posted Jun 13, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Earwig
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Nobody utters a word for more than 22 minutes.
Posted Jun 13, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
All My Friends Hate Me
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Despite the occasional lapse into Fast Show caricature, this Peter’s Friends-style drama really isn’t bad.
Posted Jun 13, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Jurassic World Dominion
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
You can round up the old gang for the first time in three decades, mix them up with the new gang who’ve been at it for the past seven years, but if you can’t give them all decent dialogue and a powerful story… well, it’s just not going to happen.
Posted Jun 13, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
DASHCAM
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
It’s low-budget yucky chaos but cleverer than it looks and, at times, very funny.
Posted Jun 05, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Bergman Island
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
I’ve quite enjoyed some of the films made by French director Mia Hansen-Love but Bergman Island is not one of them.
Posted Jun 05, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Men
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Nagging doubts about humour, together with uncertainties about what it’s actually about, never quite go away.
Posted Jun 05, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Lancaster
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
As well as telling a fascinating story, they get the all-important tone just right, certainly marking the bravery and skill of the aircrew but also quietly acknowledging that the raids of Bomber Command remain a sensitive issue almost eight decades on.
Posted May 30, 2022
|
|
5/5
|
Top Gun: Maverick
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Top Gun: Maverick is better than the original, one of the best sequels I’ve ever seen and, quite simply, one of the best action movies ever.
Posted May 30, 2022
|
|
5/5
|
Floodlights
(2022)
|
Deborah Ross
|
This drama was, it’s true, difficult, harrowing, heartbreaking, grotesque and upsetting but it was also an exceptional piece of television, and an important one, particularly for anyone who was abused as a child and still imagines it was their fault.
Posted May 23, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Father Stu
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
A film that never quite grips, despite the best endeavours of Wahlberg and Mel Gibson in a rare supporting role.
Posted May 16, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Vortex
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
It’s painfully slow at times, slightly over-wrought and not exactly cheering but some of Noe’s creative touches are lovely and Francoise Lebrun is fabulous as Elle.
Posted May 16, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Everything Everywhere All at Once
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
No doubt I thoroughly enjoyed it in another universe.
Posted May 16, 2022
|
|
5/5
|
The Quiet Girl
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Oh my goodness, The Quiet Girl is a truly beautiful and deeply moving work of cinematic wonder.
Posted May 16, 2022
|
|
5/5
|
Eleven Days in May
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Heartbreaking and immensely powerful.
Posted May 09, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Wild Men
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Both funny and gently moving.
Posted May 09, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
I felt uninvolved after 15 minutes and dangerously close to bored as we ran into the second hour.
Posted May 09, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
We're All Going to the World's Fair
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Slow, weird and disjointed...
Posted May 02, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Downton Abbey: A New Era
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Yes, it is a bit silly but it’s also charming, well acted and beautifully done.
Posted May 02, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Firebird
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
The fact that it plays out in heavily accented English is just one of the reasons it never really convinces.
Posted Apr 25, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Happening
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Easy to admire but hard to recommend.
Posted Apr 25, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Tiffany Haddish and Sharon Horgan do their best to keep the rather one-note joke running for as long as possible. Which, unfortunately, is some time before the actual end.
Posted Apr 25, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Benedetta
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Quite a trick.
Posted Apr 18, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
The Northman
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Once again, I can’t quite see what all the excitement is about, as the American director combines a sub-Shakespearean tale of murder and revenge with Viking mythology, shamanistic ritual and a huge amount of bloody Dark Ages violence.
Posted Apr 18, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
The Lost City
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
This is a formulaic, crowd-pleasing popcorn movie, which is sometimes exactly what many of us yearn for.
Posted Apr 18, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Operation Mincemeat
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Highly recommended.
Posted Apr 18, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Compartment No. 6
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
They say it’s better to travel than arrive, which in the case of Compartment Number 6 is certainly true.
Posted Apr 11, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
The Outfit
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
It’s a brave experiment and Rylance is quietly compelling, but with too many British actors playing American, and plot twists that struggle to convince, it’s one that doesn’t altogether work.
Posted Apr 11, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
All the Old Knives
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
A starry and stylish affair, albeit one occasionally lacking in a convincing sense of place.
Posted Apr 11, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
After the nasty wobble of the second film, Crimes Of Grindelwald, Fantastic Beasts is back to its magical best. Well, very nearly anyway.
Posted Apr 11, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
The Bad Guys
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
It’s a little repetitive but a top voice cast led by Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina and Richard Ayoade eases the potential pain.
Posted Apr 04, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Sees the old video game returning for a second live-action feature film outing with the help of a well-polished and genuinely funny screenplay...
Posted Apr 04, 2022
|
|
1/5
|
Morbius
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Morbius is dreadful, quite possibly the worst example of the comic-book, super-hero genre I’ve ever seen.
Posted Apr 04, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
True Things
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
While Wilson continues to impress, the film runs disappointingly out of steam as the last lap approaches.
Posted Apr 04, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Paris, 13th District
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Like French films always have been and, one quietly hopes, always will be too.
Posted Mar 21, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
X
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
West’s taboo-trampling addition to the genre is really, really good… albeit in a way so nasty that I was regularly flinching in my seat.
Posted Mar 21, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
The Phantom of the Open
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
I’m sure others – understandably in the mood for something lightweight, undemanding and undeniably funny – will be more forgiving, but it drove me slightly mad.
Posted Mar 21, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Master Cheng
(2019)
|
Matthew Bond
|
If you liked Chocolat or Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman, you’ll enjoy this. Although it will make you desperately hungry.
Posted Mar 14, 2022
|
|
1/5
|
Sideshow
(2020)
|
Matthew Bond
|
There are some films where you end up simply marvelling that they ever got made, and Sideshow is one of them.
Posted Mar 14, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Red Rocket
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Baker – his previous films include Tangerine and The Florida Project – leavens the mix with dark humour, a memorable moment of pathos and echoes of Midnight Cowboy and Boogie Nights, making it worth hanging around...
Posted Mar 14, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
The Sanctity of Space
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Lurching confusingly between mountaineering past and present and over-reliant on young, male talking heads, it’s an overlong and unrewarding old slog.
Posted Mar 07, 2022
|
|
5/5
|
Ali & Ava
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
The most accessible film yet from Leeds-born film-maker Clio Barnard and, for my money, her best.
Posted Mar 07, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
The Batman
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
The underlying plot becomes off-puttingly complicated, the tone remains annoying one-note, and one crucial climactic scene goes on so long you think it’s never going to end.
Posted Mar 07, 2022
|
|
1/5
|
Studio 666
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
It has got to be a candidate for one of the worst films we’ll see all year. And just like one of Foo Fighters’ live sets, it’s interminable as well.
Posted Feb 28, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
The Duke
(2020)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Warm-hearted, funny and unexpectedly touching, too.
Posted Feb 28, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Cyrano
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Cyrano... won’t be for everyone but, nevertheless, comes highly recommended.
Posted Feb 28, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
The Real Charlie Chaplin
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Disappointing.
Posted Feb 22, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Here Before
(2021)
|
Matthew Bond
|
Most films with Andrea Riseborough in are worth catching, and Here Before is no exception.
Posted Feb 22, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Dog
(2022)
|
Matthew Bond
|
It’s no masterpiece, but better than I expected, and it has an undeniable watchability.
Posted Feb 22, 2022
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