Concrete Playground
Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating
Title/Year
Author
1
3/5
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
Lack of originality notwithstanding, Alita still delivers an engaging experience thanks to Rodriguez's nimble and full-throttle direction.
Posted Feb 18, 2019
2
3/5
The Mule (2018)
Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this true story of an elderly drug runner, but can't quite settle on a tone.
Posted Jan 29, 2019
3
2.5/5
Glass (2019)
The conclusion to M. Night Shyamalan's unexpected superhero trilogy feels like a wasted opportunity.
Posted Jan 29, 2019
4
Roma (2018)
For all of the highlights on Cuarón's resume, Roma sees the director enter another realm.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
5
Climax (2019)
Epitomising the idea that style can equal substance (as he has across his entire filmography), it's how Noé spins this story that mesmerises.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
6
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
7
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
Refuses to be shrugged off, ignored or overlooked.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
8
Doesn't judge or dismiss or play up stereotypes, because everyone is a fangirl (or boy) for something, including the director herself.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
9
The Children Act (2018)
Ponders faith and medicine among Jehovah's Witnesses to stunning effect - and with heart-wrenching delicacy.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
10
Widows (2018)
A slick thriller with much to show, just as much to say and plenty of grim, purposeful swagger.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
11
Shoplifters (Manbiki kazoku) (2018)
Kore-eda's rich and poignant new family drama is almost disarmingly affecting (and effective), showcasing the height of the Japanese filmmaker's prowess.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
12
The Old Man & the Gun (2018)
A gorgeous and entertaining ode to not just one cinema legend, but two.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
13
Less concerned with serving up an engaging new chapter that stands on its own merits, and more interested in prolonging the series.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
14
Suspiria (2018)
The feverish nightmare you might have after letting the initial film needle its way into your brain and mix with your own subconscious.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
15
The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)
There are a few things that The Girl in the Spider's Web definitely isn't: entertaining, thrilling, or anything other than bland and generic, narrative-wise.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
16
Boy Erased (2018)
Sensitive, earnest, sombre and understated.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
17
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
A greatest hits movie. It's the neat, easily digestible version of Queen's career, and of Mercury's professional and personal ups and downs along with them.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
18
Wildlife (2018)
Wildlife is a film of haunting pain that's often left unspoken, but that crackles with inescapable force and feeling.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
19
Ghost Stories (2018)
20
Beautiful Boy (2018)
Chalamet's work is exceptional once more, inhabiting rather than performing his troubled character, but the film doesn't do its star justice.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
21
Halloween (2018)
2018's Halloween does present a conundrum. It's the perfect culmination to the long-running franchise but, more than any other chapter, it leaves the audience pumped for more.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
22
Outlaws (2019)
Never feels like its motoring down a new path, and yet never feels like it's blindly sticking to the expected route either
Posted Jan 27, 2019
23
A Star Is Born (2018)
With Gaga leading the charge this time around, it's easy to see why A Star Is Born keeps glowing.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
24
Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
Has devilish fun taking both its sharp narrative and its motley crew of characters on a twist-filled ride - and taking the audience along too, for that matter.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
25
American Animals (2018)
A spectacularly playful and entertaining film that blurs the line between documentary and drama.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
26
27
Custody (Jusqu'à la garde) (2018)
As strained civility is replaced by deep-seeded turmoil, the film turns the trauma of a dissolving marriage and the accompanying fallout into an unwavering portrait of horror.
Posted Jan 27, 2019
28
2.5/5
Aquaman (2018)
The fix is easy: Mo Momoa, Fewer Problems.
Posted Dec 26, 2018
29
3.5/5
Overlord (2018)
The patience with which Overlord delays its monster reveal is impressive, albeit let down by how little they're then used for the remainder of the film.
Posted Dec 11, 2018
30
3.5/5
Creed II (2018)
Creed II ramps up the nostalgia in a story that's as much a family drama as a boxing movie.
Posted Nov 29, 2018
31
3.5/5
Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)
Michael Moore returns to form with a bleak and unsettling take on the erosion of American democracy.
Posted Nov 4, 2018
32
2/5
Venom (2018)
An entirely squandered opportunity.
Posted Oct 14, 2018
33
4/5
First Man (2018)
An intimate and breathtaking character study that reminds us exactly why we still love going to the movies.
Posted Oct 14, 2018
34
2/5
The Predator (2018)
Predator's original screenwriter is back, but not even he can recapture the thrill and surprise of the 1987 classic.
Posted Sep 27, 2018
35
Ladies in Black (2018)
Lovely to look at from afar, but boasting extra detail when seen from a closer vantage.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
36
Christopher Robin (2018)
Simply wants viewers to delight in the big-hearted pleasures of its gorgeous world.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
37
A Simple Favor (2018)
Slick, smart, slightly sleazy and ruthlessly entertaining, and remains thoroughly committed to making viewers eat up every moment.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
38
McQueen (2018)
As a depiction of life splattering and changing something luminous, it's vivid, almost violent and certainly intoxicating.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
39
The Insult (L'insulte) (2018)
Doueriri knows how to unpack a moral quandary, sometimes bluntly but always effectively.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
40
Slender Man (2018)
This flimsy horror effort doesn't have a knack for much, other than sticking to the dullest of formulas
Posted Sep 24, 2018
41
The Happytime Murders (2018)
A stitched-together film that can't survive on a rote noir storyline, some human energy and too many gags about puppets gone wild.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
42
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Glimmers with emotion, exuberance and cultural specificity, engagingly and enjoyably so.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
43
A splashy, stylish, skilfully executed and supremely entertaining effort, and a mighty fun time at the cinema.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
44
An assault on the senses that's as brutal as its slasher set-up and as theatrical as its campy tone.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
45
Mandy (2018)
Everything from the feature's colour-saturated visuals, to its ferocious score, to Cage's glorious performance all hits the mark.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
46
Apostasy (2017)
Treads through fraught territory with both authenticity and a no-holds-barred understanding of the complexities of the situation.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
47
Acute Misfortune (2019)
48
A gorgeous gut-punch of a movie, almost like Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude tinted with bleakness and set in a unique gangster world.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
49
An enchanting and empathetic debut; as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking.
Posted Sep 24, 2018
50