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2/5
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Marlowe
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
Despite good intentions, Jordan’s stilted, sluggish and largely suspenseless detective yarn is all over the shop.
Posted Mar 23, 2023
|
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5/5
|
Rye Lane
(2023)
|
Hilary A White
|
On her feature debut, director (and former advertising creative) Raine Allen-Miller makes a splash with a film so fresh in look and feel that it stands far apart from most other offerings in the genre. A modern classic? Just maybe.
Posted Mar 23, 2023
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3/5
|
Boston Strangler
(2023)
|
Hilary A White
|
Knightley and Coon duet with the lived-in feel of a seasoned screen pairing.
Posted Mar 23, 2023
|
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2/5
|
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
(2023)
|
Chris Wasser
|
The first Shazam! outing was a hoot. It successfully combined the endearing, goofball energy of Penny Marshall’s Big with the plucky sci-fi charm of Richard Donner’s Superman. In contrast, this bulky, effects-heavy follow-up is a joyless mess.
Posted Mar 23, 2023
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4/5
|
My Sailor, My Love
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
My Sailor, My Love is a romantic drama that manages to be both tender and laced with integrity.
Posted Mar 16, 2023
|
|
3/5
|
Champions
(2023)
|
Chris Wasser
|
An enthusiastic Harrelson makes it work, and this creaky yet inherently uplifting display is fortunate to have him.
Posted Mar 16, 2023
|
|
2/5
|
Scream VI
(2023)
|
Chris Wasser
|
The dreaded Ghostface has, indeed, relocated to Manhattan for another round of gruesome slasher carnage. Does it enhance the story at all? Don’t be daft.
Posted Mar 16, 2023
|
|
3/5
|
Meet Me in the Bathroom
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
This is more of a family photo album than a museum piece, a collection of musty Polaroids... As a companion piece to Goodman’s book, however, it will always be in the shade.
Posted Mar 16, 2023
|
|
5/5
|
Close
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
Few films this or any year will leave such a mark on your heart and stay with you in the hours and days after house lights go up.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
|
|
3/5
|
About Joan
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
Effortlessly magnetic throughout, Huppert is a solid base upon which to assemble the whole film’s superstructure, with Eidinger, Townsend, and Screen International Rising Star Éanna Hardwicke the other highlights.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Fashion Reimagined
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
Fashion Reimagined weaves a crisp, educational narrative out of a three-year journey that takes us from the frosty glamour of London Fashion Week to the sun-drenched home of a Uruguayan sheep farmer.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
|
|
3/5
|
Creed III
(2023)
|
Chris Wasser
|
Creed III has its flaws, but it lights up whenever Majors enters the frame.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
|
|
2/5
|
Luther: The Fallen Sun
(2023)
|
Chris Wasser
|
Sadly, this vicious, violent presentation struggles to make sense of itself and, indeed, the world it inhabits.
Posted Mar 02, 2023
|
|
2/5
|
Sharper
(2023)
|
Chris Wasser
|
It’s a silly, empty shell of a film, wildly implausible and oddly unlikeable.
Posted Mar 02, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Broker
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
A road movie that unwraps itself in sweet and hilarious ways to reveal a soft centre, this is more wonderful storytelling by Hirokazu Koreeda.
Posted Mar 02, 2023
|
|
2/5
|
Cocaine Bear
(2023)
|
Hilary A White
|
[Cocaine Bear's] screenplay is so barmy and confusingly plotted that no amount of star-factor could lift it above the level of “stoner curio”.
Posted Mar 02, 2023
|
|
5/5
|
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
(2021)
|
Chris Wasser
|
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On delivers a funny and extraordinarily profound story that, though populated by weird little one-eyed seashells in sneakers, is as human as anything you’re likely to encounter. A gorgeous, life-affirming film.
Posted Feb 24, 2023
|
|
2/5
|
The Son
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
While sleekly filmed and featuring a strong cast trio in Jackman, Dern and Kirby, this unrelenting two-hour melodrama is hard work by the time it wraps up.
Posted Feb 24, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Atomic Hope
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
A timely and stimulating film that shows us a very human side to a subject we’d rather ignore.
Posted Feb 23, 2023
|
|
2/5
|
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
(2023)
|
Chris Wasser
|
Rarely has a film about a family in peril been so utterly devoid of suspense. The problem, it seems, is that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania exists as part of a larger enterprise.
Posted Feb 23, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Magic Mike's Last Dance
(2023)
|
Hilary A White
|
Tatum’s physicality allows him to transcend his limitations as an actor, but Hayek steals the show.
Posted Feb 15, 2023
|
|
3/5
|
Blue Jean
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
Blue Jean is a little rough around the edges, and regrettably soapy in parts, but McEwen provides a steady centre, and first-time feature director Georgia Oakley marks herself as a storyteller to watch.
Posted Feb 15, 2023
|
|
2/5
|
Your Place or Mine
(2023)
|
Chris Wasser
|
It hardly helps that McKenna’s film is neither romantic nor funny, and that our awkward, mismatched leads are hopeless at pretending to be pals, let alone soul mates. Hard pass.
Posted Feb 15, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Women Talking
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
It won’t be for everyone, but when all its guns are blazing, it’s impossible to look away from, especially as the grim underlay of the crime is teased out.
Posted Feb 15, 2023
|
|
2/5
|
The Whale
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
A drippy, big-screen soap opera.
Posted Feb 02, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Wildcat
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
The interplay of wild splendour, fly-on-the-wall immediacy, and the knife-edge tension of Harry’s mental health stakes gives this a harrowing potency.
Posted Jan 11, 2023
|
|
3/5
|
A Man Called Otto
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
An odd yet oddly irresistible display, A Man Called Otto is as predictable as they come, but hey, it passes the time nicely.
Posted Jan 11, 2023
|
|
3/5
|
Empire of Light
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
Scant on-screen chemistry between the pair is not helped by Ward’s love interest being too thinly sketched.
Posted Jan 11, 2023
|
|
3/5
|
Till
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
These and other events are capably captured in Chukwu’s compassionate biographical drama that, though not without its flaws, stays with you long after the credits roll.
Posted Jan 11, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Corsage
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
It is as if Vicky Krieps were born to play the part of a rebellious 19th century empress. An extraordinary talent, the Luxembourger actor is the restless, beating heart of this artful, unconventional portrait of a controversial royal.
Posted Jan 05, 2023
|
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4/5
|
The Pale Blue Eye
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
Writer-director Scott Cooper’s adaptation of Louis Bayard’s novel is a strange, crafty murder mystery laden with gothic atmosphere, tight plot turns, and a fantastic supporting ensemble.
Posted Jan 05, 2023
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|
3/5
|
White Noise
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
Where it works, the harmony seems immaculate between DeLillo’s source material and [Baumbach's] slightly knock-kneed style of humour... But in the closing chapters, the novel and the film butt heads and things come a little undone around the edges.
Posted Jan 05, 2023
|
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2/5
|
Avatar: The Way of Water
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
A thundering bore of a film.
Posted Dec 21, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Emancipation
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
Antoine Fuqua has made a striking looking, feverishly taut survival thriller that occasionally delivers a grisly adrenaline rush similar to The Revenant or Apocalypto.
Posted Dec 21, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
The Amazing Maurice
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
A drippy, Disney-fied cover of a beloved Terry Pratchett children’s novel, The Amazing Maurice is one of the wonkiest things I’ve seen this year.
Posted Dec 21, 2022
|
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4/5
|
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
Given the choice between this and Disney’s recent live-action remake of its 1940 classic, del Toro’s film is less cynical, more inspired, and infinitely more memorable.
Posted Dec 15, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Scrooge: A Christmas Carol
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
A stiff and alarmingly undercooked presentation that prioritises ugly, Pixar-lite high jinks over traditional Dickensian charm.
Posted Dec 15, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Nocebo
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
A tasty set-up there, and Nocebo boasts a capable cast and some fine ideas. A tonally unsteady execution causes issues, but this ambitious, mystery-box horror rewards our patience with a blistering third act.
Posted Dec 15, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
How to Tell a Secret
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
Beautifully made, there has never been a project like it. Essential viewing.
Posted Dec 09, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
North Circular
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
There’s a lot in here, and McManus’s film is a tad sketchy in parts. Just as one story takes shape, it moves on to the next. Maybe that’s intentional. Whatever the case, the trad and folk interludes make all the difference.
Posted Dec 09, 2022
|
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4/5
|
Lady Chatterley's Lover
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
A sensual tingle rings through this effective period romance.
Posted Dec 09, 2022
|
|
|
Violent Night
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
For all its devil-may-care mishmash of tropes and bludgeoning mayhem, Wirkola’s jape is not quite up to scratch as a future Christmas-nasty classic.
Posted Dec 08, 2022
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|
|
Aftersun
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
There is so much going on in Aftersun that I might have to watch it again, and you know what? It will surely break my heart a second time.
Posted Nov 18, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Causeway
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
It’s a tad underdeveloped, which is a shame because our star performers deliver the goods, and the film around them should be better.
Posted Nov 18, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Armageddon Time
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
An excellent cast (watch out for Jessica Chastain) and a keen sense of time and place make this an effective piece of nostalgia cinema about the immigrant experience.
Posted Nov 18, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Clouded Reveries
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
Ní Ghríofa [is] a worthy subject for this suitably ethereal portrait by Ciara Nic Chormaic
Posted Nov 18, 2022
|
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3/5
|
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a film that works well as a respectfully choreographed and undeniably dignified farewell to its leading man -- less so as a lesson in coherent, big-budget storytelling.
Posted Nov 17, 2022
|
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4/5
|
My Father's Dragon
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
This delightful, heartfelt rendering of a Ruth Stiles Gannett novel equips itself with a charismatic line-up of all-star supporting players.
Posted Nov 10, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Lyra
(2022)
|
Chris Wasser
|
It's a wonderfully crafted piece of work that, through Lyra's journalistic endeavours, allows this talented writer to tell her own story. Essential viewing.
Posted Nov 10, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
The Wonder
(2022)
|
Hilary A White
|
The Wonder has a weird, hypnotic tenor about it that you don’t expect but is hugely refreshing.
Posted Nov 10, 2022
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