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Love
(2015)
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Edward Lawrenson
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Love is bound to wind some people up, and it is overlong and a little clunky. But it is also a serious, honest, nakedly earnest piece of film-making.
Posted Sep 21, 2023
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The Survivalist
(2015)
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Edward Lawrenson
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The result is a hugely confident, mostly absorbing blend of psychodrama and apocalyptic Western. It's claustrophobic, bleakly astringent and not for all tastes -- but it marks Fingleton out as a promising new voice.
Posted Sep 21, 2023
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The Daughter
(2015)
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Edward Lawrenson
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Handling shifts in tone from acutely observed vignettes of small-town life to scenes of tragic ferocity with deft assurance, this is an impressive fully-formed debut from Stone. It's stunningly performed, too, with special mention to Odessa Young.
Posted Sep 20, 2023
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Ali & Ava
(2021)
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Hanna Flint
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I do love a regional romance, especially when it presents the realities of these areas with candour, empathy and affection.
Posted Mar 05, 2022
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Flee
(2021)
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Hanna Flint
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Animation is a stunning art form. Films like Flee prove just how essential it is as a filmmaking device to ensure that no story ever needs to go untold.
Posted Feb 12, 2022
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Scream
(2022)
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Hanna Flint
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For what it might be lacking in imaginative death scenes and intriguing new characters, this Scream makes up for with a solid meta commentary of the cinematic culture of today and enough esteem for the past.
Posted Jan 21, 2022
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House of Gucci
(2021)
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Hanna Flint
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House of Gucci is as absurdly entertaining as you might expect from a prestige drama about an iconic Italian fashion house and the romance that led to betrayal, revenge, murder and, ultimately, the downfall of the family who built it.
Posted Dec 02, 2021
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Greed
(2019)
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Cath Clarke
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Greed would feel a bit underdeveloped, were it not for a gear shift in the final 30 minutes as Winterbottom embarks on thoughtful exposé of the human cost of fast fashion.
Posted Nov 13, 2021
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Spencer
(2021)
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Hanna Flint
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If Spencer is supposed to be a sort of tribute to the memory of a tragic woman victimised by an archaic industry I'd truly hate to see what a condemnation would have looked like.
Posted Nov 12, 2021
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Parasite
(2019)
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Cath Clarke
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Using industrial-strength social satire, [Bong Joon Ho] strips the veneer off the myth of classlessness, giving an outrageously entertaining instant classic.
Posted Feb 07, 2020
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The Personal History of David Copperfield
(2019)
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Cath Clarke
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...it's a very funny film, and the casting is brilliant. The inclusivity doesn't feel at all odd or jarring.
Posted Jan 24, 2020
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1917
(2019)
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Cath Clarke
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It's tremendously moving. What a terrifically good film.
Posted Jan 10, 2020
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The Amazing Johnathan Documentary
(2019)
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Cath Clarke
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As a device for a film it's interesting to a point -- but it didn't fully work its magic on me.
Posted Nov 21, 2019
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Sorry We Missed You
(2019)
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Cath Clarke
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Loach is fiercer, more uncompromising, than ever.
Posted Nov 02, 2019
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The Day Shall Come
(2019)
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Cath Clarke
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Chris Morris follow up to Four Lions mocks the conventions of the US War on Terror - The Day Shall Come shows just how much we've missed him.
Posted Oct 17, 2019
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Ad Astra
(2019)
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Cath Clarke
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McBride is a man living without feeling, and Pitt's performance is beautifully restrained, expressing whole continents of emotion with the furrow of an eyebrow.
Posted Sep 23, 2019
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Blinded by the Light
(2019)
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Cath Clarke
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It's the film's more serious moments that stayed with me.
Posted Aug 12, 2019
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Balance, Not Symmetry
(2019)
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Graeme Virtue
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There are many moments to savour here, and not just for Biffy obsessives.
Posted Aug 01, 2019
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The Lion King
(2019)
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Cath Clarke
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In the end The Lion King left me longing for the emotional moments of the first film.
Posted Jul 18, 2019
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Spider-Man: Far From Home
(2019)
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Simon Brew
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The film itself is hurt a little by being much busier than the last, and perhaps a notch below Homecoming as it tries to get through all of its business. But in a summer where many sequels have disappointed, the Marvel elixir still holds strong here.
Posted Jul 03, 2019
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4/5
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Yesterday
(2019)
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Cath Clarke
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Feelgood has become a dirty word, but when it's pulled off with this much energy and actual feeling, it really is fab.
Posted Jun 28, 2019
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Brightburn
(2019)
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Graeme Virtue
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Despite cheekily piggybacking on existing mythologies, Brightburn still feels underwritten to a frustrating degree and is nowhere near as subversive as it thinks it is.
Posted Jun 28, 2019
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Diego Maradona
(2019)
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Simon Brew
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Behind the incredible football tale, there's still a sense that the human being is something of an enigma. Diego Maradona the movie doesn't fully redress that, but it certainly comes close.
Posted Jun 13, 2019
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Gloria Bell
(2018)
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Cath Clarke
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Moore appears in almost every scene of the film and in her performance Gloria's resilience shines.
Posted Jun 07, 2019
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Booksmart
(2019)
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Graeme Virtue
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The hilarious high-school movie invites comparisons to Superbad - but it's much better.
Posted May 30, 2019
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John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection
(2018)
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Simon Brew
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Inevitably, when it starts playing straighter, some of that impact and insight is lost, but In the Realm of Perfection has long forged an individual identity by that point.
Posted May 24, 2019
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Beats
(2019)
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Cath Clarke
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It's a film with pills, thrills and belly laughs - nostalgic and sentimental in all the right places, with some grittily effective social realism and fine examples of the artistry of Scottish swearing...
Posted May 21, 2019
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4/5
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Eighth Grade
(2018)
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Cath Clarke
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This is a film that gets under the skin of Generation X with humour and heartfelt emotion that makes it a genuinely great coming-of-age movie that hooks you by the heart.
Posted Apr 26, 2019
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Dragged Across Concrete
(2018)
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Graeme Virtue
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As well as an evocatively harsh name suitable for any disreputable grindhouse movie from the 1970s, Dragged Across Concrete could also accurately describe the feeling of watching this morally murky and painfully methodical crime thriller.
Posted Apr 18, 2019
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5/5
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Wild Rose
(2018)
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Simon Brew
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It's a big British audience film, with one hell of a heart and one hell of a brain.
Posted Apr 10, 2019
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The Sisters Brothers
(2018)
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Cath Clarke
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This pleasingly talky movie rides roughshod over the Clint Eastwood model of the taciturn gunslinger. Eli and Charlie are total chatterboxes; they don't shut up
Posted Apr 04, 2019
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4/5
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At Eternity's Gate
(2018)
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Graeme Virtue
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You emerge from the cinema looking at the world anew. What more could any artist ask of an account of their life?
Posted Mar 29, 2019
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Minding the Gap
(2018)
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Simon Brew
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Occasionally funny and profoundly moving, Minding The Gap feels all the more impactful because its roots look like they weren't in a film at all.
Posted Mar 20, 2019
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3/5
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Ben Is Back
(2018)
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Cath Clarke
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This is one of those rare Hollywood movies that keeps you guessing, where you don't see the ending coming 20 minutes in.
Posted Mar 15, 2019
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4/5
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Border
(2018)
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Graeme Virtue
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The result is an earthy, unpredictable fable interspersed with moments of bleak Nordic beauty and a movie well worth sniffing out.
Posted Mar 06, 2019
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4/5
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Fighting With My Family
(2019)
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Simon Brew
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Merchant's witty film takes a few minutes to find its feet, and you'll quickly work out the formula it's following. Yet by injecting a familiar path with characters to really root for...you can't help but get sucked into it, wrestling fan or not.
Posted Feb 28, 2019
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On the Basis of Sex
(2018)
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Cath Clarke
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It's a decent, well-acted drama, if a little blandly dull in its approach.
Posted Feb 22, 2019
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3/5
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Instant Family
(2018)
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Graeme Virtue
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The version of Instant Family that exists is overblown, sometimes jarring and often corny but for all its weird cocktail of earnestness and crassness, its heart is undoubtedly in the right place.
Posted Feb 14, 2019
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If Beale Street Could Talk
(2018)
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Simon Brew
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If there's a further hidden hero in the movie, it's casting director Cindy Tolan.
Posted Feb 12, 2019
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4/5
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Can You Ever Forgive Me?
(2018)
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Cath Clarke
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Israel is anti-social and aggressive but you do find yourself rooting for her.
Posted Feb 01, 2019
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3/5
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Vice
(2018)
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Graeme Virtue
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The result is an enthusiastically disrespectful biopic, and while it might not fully succeed in revealing the psychology of Dick Cheney...it does at least illuminate some of the murkier chapters of his zigzag path to power.
Posted Jan 23, 2019
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Mary Queen of Scots
(2018)
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Cath Clarke
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It feels almost treacherous to confess that Mary Queen of Scots left me as cold as the execution axe's blade -- and that's after watching twice to make sure I wasn't missing something.
Posted Jan 17, 2019
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Stan & Ollie
(2018)
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Graeme Virtue
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By focusing on the last hurrah of a dazzling dual career, Stan & Ollie feels brisker than most cradle-to-grave biopics while still allowing director Jon S Baird ample time to linger on the stage performances.
Posted Jan 11, 2019
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The Old Man & the Gun
(2018)
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Graeme Virtue
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The result is a lovingly crafted swansong infused with a warmth that thankfully never descends into schmaltz.
Posted Dec 05, 2018
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Three Identical Strangers
(2018)
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Cath Clarke
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Three Identical Strangers raises more questions than it answers... But perhaps that's a whole other documentary.
Posted Nov 30, 2018
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The Girl in the Spider's Web
(2018)
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Graeme Virtue
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It is played as a sight gag but it also works as a metaphor: Lisbeth may be the perfect hero for our troubled times but with The Girl In The Spider's Web she has yet to find her ideal vehicle.
Posted Nov 20, 2018
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They Shall Not Grow Old
(2018)
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Sam Delaney
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It harnessed technology and creative artistry to remind everyone just how real and recent the Great War was - and s--t the life out of us about ever having another one like it.
Posted Nov 20, 2018
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4/5
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Suspiria
(2018)
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Simon Brew
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It's bold, arresting, difficult cinema. In the hands of Guadagnino, this is one revisiting of a story that very much has a reason for being, and given the high esteem in which the (still superior) original is rightly held, that's no small feat.
Posted Nov 15, 2018
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4/5
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Widows
(2018)
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Cath Clarke
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What makes a McQueen film so distinctive is that he does everything for real. There's nothing fake or polite about his style - he doesn't look away however ugly it gets.
Posted Nov 09, 2018
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Peterloo
(2018)
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Simon Brew
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Difficult at times, sombre in tone and requiring full attention across its two-and-a-half-hour running time, Peterloo is relevant, worthwhile and almost guaranteed to make those who watch it rightly angry.
Posted Oct 31, 2018
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