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5.5/10
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Black Adam
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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You can hear the ideal version of this film screaming for help at certain points, mainly from the cast who do such a phenomenal job at keeping it entertaining, all whilst the flimsy script and choppy editing does them no favours.
Posted Oct 21, 2022
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7/10
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Till
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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The tragic story of Emmett Till and his mother’s fight for justice finally gets the cinematic treatment, featuring an incredibly powerful first act and a heart-breaking closing ten minutes.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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5.5/10
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Unicorn Wars
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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It’s little more than a feature-length episode of Happy Tree Friends but with a more melancholic philosophy.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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6/10
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She Said
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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Overall, it’s an effective enough journalistic drama, but if you’ve read the articles already there’s nothing new this film is going to offer you.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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7.5/10
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The Banshees of Inisherin
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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Farrell and Gleeson play the roles of friends-turned-enemies that keep escalating their inexplicable feud to brilliant effect, both comedically and dramatically, along with solid supporting turns by Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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9.5/10
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Triangle of Sadness
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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With hilarious performances from Harrison Dickinson and Woody Harrelson, and a star-making turn by Dolly de Leon, Triangle of Sadness is one of those movies that keeps getting funnier as it sinks lower and lower.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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7.5/10
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Empire of Light
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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It’s going for a very similar nostalgia appeal to last year’s Belfast, though far less effectively. Still, a perfectly good trip down memory lane for older cinema fans.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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3.5/10
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My Policeman
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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Far more laughable than moving, My Policeman probably would have fared better if played as a parody.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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9/10
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Bros
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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In amongst the chaotic comedy though is a touching love story between a mismatched couple that touches on male inadequacy, internalised homophobia, and what it really means to be queer in the modern age.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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8/10
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The Whale
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
|
It’s a heart-breaking and harrowing film, and one you should be cautious to watch if you’ve struggled with eating disorders, but it has such a noble heart despite its vile undertones that it somehow ends up being one of Aronofsky’s most uplifting films.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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8.5/10
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Decision to Leave
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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Park Chan-Wook returns with two murder mysteries for the price of one in this romantic thriller that plays out like Double Indemnity mixed with Insomnia by way of Twin Peaks.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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6.5/10
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The Good Nurse
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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Chastain does a decent enough job, and for most the runtime Redmayne surprisingly restrains himself but unfortunately ends up reverting to his old tricks by the end.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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4.5/10
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Pretty Red Dress
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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This might have been a classic if released in the late 90s or early 2000s, but in 2022 it feels sadly well behind the times.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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9.5/10
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Women Talking
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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Based on the acclaimed 2018 novel of the same name, Women Talking is basically 12 Angry Men for the #MeToo era, tackling sexual abuse and the patriarchy from the perspective of devout Mennonites that pits faith against freedom in a gut-wrenching way.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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4/10
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Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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The whole thing is supposed to run on a dream logic reminiscent of Jean Cocteau or Ingmar Bergman, but rather than immersive or contemplative it’s just confusing and weird.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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8/10
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Aftersun
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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Evoking the early works of Lynne Ramsay and Andrea Arnold, writer-director Charlotte Wells leaves much of the subtext up to your imagination and just allows the actors’ performances to tell the real story.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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8/10
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My Father's Dragon
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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With Disney veteran Meg LeFauve behind the screenplay, it’s easy to see why this one ended up being a bit more orthodox, but it remains an entertaining and aesthetically gorgeous movie for all ages.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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8/10
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Blue Jean
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
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Rosy McEwen absolutely shines in what should be a star-making turn as a lesbian PE teacher struggling to keep her queerness secret as Section 28 starts to ramp up.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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6.5/10
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Bones and All
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
There are some wonderful and unforgettable moments in here, but as a whole it just doesn’t add up to a truly substantial movie.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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6/10
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Medusa Deluxe
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
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There are some interesting characters, fun gags, and impressive cinematography at points, but this is just begging to be a little more over-the-top.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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3.5/10
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Casa Susanna
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
Unfortunately, it ends up mostly focusing on the superficial aspects of transness that cis filmmakers have always been obsessed with.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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2.5/10
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The Origin
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
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In its final moments it attempts to pull a big reveal that recontextualises the morals of our heroes, but it’s far too little far too late.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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5/10
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Corsage
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
|
Krieps herself delivers a compelling performance as the promiscuous and self-destructive royal, but there’s a severe lack of debauchery and decadence needed in a film with this subject matter; it’s all too reserved and safe.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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6/10
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The Eternal Daughter
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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Shout-out to Carly-Sophia Davies as the stoic hotel receptionist, whose intensely laidback attitude never stops being funny.
Posted Oct 18, 2022
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10/10
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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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This is yet another stellar example of the murder mystery genre that expands on the views of its predecessor, whilst also delving deeper into Blanc’s mentality and creating a compelling cast of new characters to boot.
Posted Oct 17, 2022
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9/10
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White Noise
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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An idiosyncratic hodgepodge of genres and ideas that shouldn’t work together or even make sense but somehow, whether due to its uniqueness or just sheer dumb luck, it absolutely slaps!
Posted Oct 08, 2022
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2.5/10
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Don't Worry Darling
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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Don’t Worry Darling is a beautiful trash fire; a trainwreck you can’t look away from that confuses vagueness for subtelty, confusion for suspense, and pomposity for importance.
Posted Sep 22, 2022
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7/10
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Bullet Train
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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Bullet Train is silly and preposterous, but it clearly knows that, and whether you end up enjoying the ride will be down to whether you’re willing to accept its many bumps on the way.
Posted Aug 05, 2022
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6.5/10
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DC League of Super-Pets
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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What ultimately makes the movie fun is its irreverent tone and solid sense of humour, which has much more of a 90s Saturday morning cartoon vibe mixed with a little classic Looney Tunes.
Posted Jul 29, 2022
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9/10
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Cha Cha Real Smooth
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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A brilliant new take on a well-worn postgrad coming-of-age tale, and one of the most brutally accurate depictions of being in your 20s ever.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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5/10
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Spiderhead
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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It’s rare to see a director release two films in one year, but even rarer that one of those films is their best work whilst the other is easily their worst.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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8.5/10
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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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I like the title they went with, but I have no idea how they resisted not calling it Let’s Talk About Sex, because that is 80% of the movie.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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7/10
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Fire Island
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
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Let’s make the 2020s the era of adaptations of Shakespeare and Austen works but starring a bunch of messy millennial queers.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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6/10
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Men
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
|
Men? More like Meh. Alex Garland’s latest is unfortunately less than the sum of its parts.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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9.5/10
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RRR
(2022)
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Jennifer Heaton
|
The action sequences are utterly out of this world, the dance numbers are better than any western musical in recent memory, and the melodrama is so overblown and intense that it crosses ridiculous and loops back around to earnest and powerful.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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6/10
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Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
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This meta follow-up to the 80s cartoon is both better than I feared it would be, and not as good as it clearly could be.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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10/10
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Everything Everywhere All at Once
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
It’s up there with Mad Max: Fury Road, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Matrix, in that it’s a movie that fully embraces the spectacle and artistry of cinema whilst never forgetting about what really matters: story, character, and theme.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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8/10
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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
The sense of humour is very self-referential but it always manages to pull back before it gets overbearing, and thankfully puts much of its weight in a more emotionally-driven tale of a man attempting to rediscover his passion.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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9/10
|
The Northman
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
[Eggers has] gone for broke with this epic arthouse blockbuster that mixes Hamlet and Gladiator through the lens of a hardcore metal album cover.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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2/10
|
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
There are honestly worse movies this year, but on a moral level I’d rather you watch them than this, because at least there you don’t have to give a portion of your purchase to Prosecco Orson Scott Card.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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1.5/10
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The Bubble
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
It pushes the adage of “comedy is misery” to its worst extreme, and it keeps thinking by getting grimmer and even more extreme it’ll be funnier, but it’s just soul-destroying.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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6.5/10
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The Lost City
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
Whilst its stars are all perfectly cast, including a wonderfully camp villain turn from Daniel Radcliffe, as well as Brad Pitt stealing the show in his brief supporting role, it doesn’t quite thread the needle.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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7.5/10
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The Bad Guys
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
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An adaptation of the children’s novels by Aaron Blabey, The Bad Guys is a return to form for DreamWorks Animation, yet also the promise of a bold new direction for the prolific studio.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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7/10
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X
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
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Now this is the modern-day answer to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre we’ve been waiting for!
Posted Jul 26, 2022
|
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6/10
|
Fresh
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan star in this dark comedy-horror that’s subtextually about toxic relationships and the commodification of women, but on the surface is about a relationship with a quirky cannibal gone wrong.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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8.5/10
|
Turning Red
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
Whilst Luca took obvious notes from the Studio Ghibli playbook, Turning Red is more like if The Farewell was also a shojo anime, but it’s an absolutely joyous, relatable, and heartfelt experience.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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3/10
|
The Adam Project
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
Never have I heard such hyperactive dialogue so painfully lacking in wit that I often struggled to even follow the basic plot.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
|
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9/10
|
INU-OH
(2021)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
A historical fiction queer-coded rock opera anime?! Do I need to say anything more?
Posted Jul 26, 2022
|
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7/10
|
Good Madam
(2021)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
Basically the South African answer to Get Out, Good Madam is a brilliantly dark and effective horror about internalised racism and the continuing effects of apartheid on the country even decades after it ended.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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8/10
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The Quiet Girl
(2022)
|
Jennifer Heaton
|
The lead performance from young Catherine Clinch is astonishing; one of the best child performances I’ve ever seen, and worth seeing the film for her alone.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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