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Movie Reviews

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Film Review

After the thunderous reception for J.J. Abrams' Episode VII: The Force Awakens two years ago, writer-director Rian Johnson had a lot to live up to with Episode VIII. And he delivers more than anyone expected: a lucid, entertaining film that...

Posted 14 December 2017

Mark Hamill Carrie Fisher Daisy Ridley Adam Driver John Boyega Oscar Isaac

Daddy's Home 2 - Film Review

Like the 2015 original, this comedy plays merrily with cliches to tell a silly story that's funny but never particularly clever. It's an enjoyable bit of escapist entertainment, mixing some sharp gags in between the more obvious jokes. But while...

Posted 14 December 2017

Mark Wahlberg Will Ferrell Mel Gibson John Lithgow Linda Cardellini Alessandra Ambrosio

The Man Who Invented Christmas - Movie Review

There's a somewhat contrived jauntiness to this blending of fact and fiction that may leave cynical audiences annoyed. But for those who leave their bah-humbug attitudes at home, it's a wonderfully entertaining take on a classic. In 1843, when Charles...

Posted 14 December 2017

Dan Stevens Christopher Plummer Jonathan Pryce Donald Sumpter Ger Ryan Miriam Margolyes

Ferdinand - Movie Review

This animated comedy adventure is based on the beloved children's book, which was published in 1936 and first adapted for the big screen by Walt Disney in an Oscar-winning 1938 short. Thankfully, that warm, funny story is preserved in the...

Posted 14 December 2017

John Cena Kate McKinnon Bobby Cannavale Anthony Anderson David Tennant Jerrod Carmichael

Brigsby Bear - Film Review

Director Dave McCary makes a superb feature debut with this offbeat black comedy, which explores the experiences of a young man rescued after years in captivity. The darker emotions are here, but that's not the focus of this film, which...

Posted 14 December 2017

Kyle Mooney Matt Walsh Michaela Watkins Greg Kinnear Ryan Simpkins Mark Hamill

Battle of the Sexes - Film Review

A dramatisation of the real-life clash between tennis icons Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, this film is much more than a skilful re-enactment. It's a witty and insightful exploration of the kind of person who chases sporting success and...

Posted 14 December 2017

Emma Stone Steve Carell Andrea Riseborough Sarah Silverman Bill Pullman Austin Stowell

Shot Caller - Movie Review

There isn't much subtlety to this prison thriller, but it's edgy enough to hold the interest as it follows a fine, upstanding man behind bars and transforms him into a criminal mastermind. If the premise sounds familiar, perhaps you've seen...

Posted 14 December 2017

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Omari Hardwick Jon Bernthal Emory Cohen Lake Bell Benjamin Bratt

The Disaster Artist - Movie Review

A hilariously outrageous story based on real events, this film recounts the making of the 2003 movie The Room, which is widely considered to be one of the worst films ever made, even as it has developed a cult following....

Posted 14 December 2017

Dave Franco James Franco Seth Rogen Ari Graynor Alison Brie Josh Hutcherson

Stronger - Film Review

Based on a true story about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, this looks like one of those movies that will be unbearably inspirational and patriotic. But thanks to director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express), this is a gritty, honest drama...

Posted 14 December 2017

Jake Gyllenhaal Tatiana Maslany Miranda Richardson Clancy Brown David Hoberman Scott Silver

Only the Brave - Film Review

Based on a genuinely moving true story, this film undercuts the realism by pushing its heroic machismo at every turn. It's a well-made movie, with an above-average cast, and yet both the story and characters are neglected in the rush...

Posted 14 December 2017

Josh Brolin Miles Teller Jennifer Connelly Jeff Bridges James Badge Dale Taylor Kitsch

Wonder - Movie Review

This film may be based on RJ Palacio's fictional bestseller, but it approaches its story and characters in a way that feels bracingly true to life. It's also a rare movie that's infused with strong emotions right from the start,...

Posted 13 December 2017

Julia Roberts Owen Wilson Izabela Vidovic Mandy Patinkin David Hoberman

Happy End - Film Review

Austrian auteur Michael Haneke isn't known for his light touch, but rather for hard-hitting, award-winning gems like Hidden, Amour and The White Ribbon. So this French film may be as close as he'll get to making a comedy. Indeed, it's...

Posted 13 December 2017

Isabelle Huppert Jean-Louis Trintignant Mathieu Kassovitz Toby Jones Margaret Menegoz Michael Haneke

Patti Cake$ - Movie Review

Seemingly from out of nowhere, this film generates perhaps the biggest smile of any movie this year. It's an almost outrageously quirky comedy that shamelessly plays every crowd-pleasing card, but in ways we've never seen before. The offbeat characters are...

Posted 13 December 2017

Danielle MacDonald Cathy Moriarty Wass Stevens Chris Columbus

The Limehouse Golem - Movie Review

A Victorian thriller with rather heavy echoes of Jack the Ripper, this film struggles to rise above the murky atmosphere it weaves. And the plot itself is as dense as the low-lying London fog. But the gifted cast members make...

Posted 13 December 2017

Bill Nighy Olivia Cooke Douglas Booth Daniel Mays Sam Reid Maria Valverde

Suburbicon - Film Review

This film feels kind of like what you'd expect from a collision between George Clooney and the Coen brothers: a comical noir thriller with a hefty dose of social commentary. Essentially two films mashed together, it paints a clever portrait...

Posted 13 December 2017

Matt Damon Julianne Moore Oscar Isaac Glenn Fleshler Gary Basaraba George Clooney

God's Own Country - Film Review

There's a reason why this is perhaps the best-reviewed British film of the year: it's a staggeringly skilful feature filmmaking debut for West Yorkshire born and bred Francis Lee. And while its premise may make it sound like "Brokeback Mountain...

Posted 12 December 2017

Gemma Jones Ian Hart

The Wilde Wedding - Movie Review

An A-list cast goes a long way to making this goofy ensemble comedy a lot of fun to watch. Even if it never quite deals with the bigger issues it raises, the sassy dialogue, twisty plot and full-on performances are...

Posted 12 December 2017

Glenn Close John Malkovich Patrick Stewart Minnie Driver Jack Davenport Peter Facinelli

The Killing of a Sacred Deer - Movie Review

Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos reteams with his The Lobster star Colin Farrell for another offbeat thriller with surreal twists. While this film has a bit less of the supernatural weirdness, it's a far darker story, verging on horror as it...

Posted 12 December 2017

Colin Farrell Nicole Kidman Alicia Silverstone Bill Camp Ed Guiney

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women - Film Review

The rather astonishing true story of the creation of the Wonder Woman character, this is certainly not your run-of-the-mill biopic. It's a sharply well-observed story of three intellectual people who choose to live a scandalously counterculture lifestyle in the 1920s,...

Posted 12 December 2017

Luke Evans Rebecca Hall Bella Heathcote JJ Field Chris Conroy Oliver Platt

Shot - Film Review

This may be a gimmicky exploration of gun violence, which sometimes feels like a preachy public service advisory, but its story unfolds with raw power. The film's first half is told in real-time, and generates some genuine suspense as it...

Posted 12 December 2017

Noah Wyle Sharon Leal Xander Berkeley Elaine Hendrix

Mudbound - Film Review

Director-cowriter Dee Rees (Bessie) gives this 1940s drama such an epic scale that it might have played out better as a TV miniseries, with more time to flesh out the characters and complex situations. But the themes are so vivid...

Posted 12 December 2017

Carey Mulligan Garrett Hedlund Jason Clarke Jason Mitchell Mary J Blige Jonathan Banks

Good Time - Film Review

Robert Pattinson continues to distance himself from his teen heartthrob image with this scruffy B-movie. His loser character takes the audience on a deranged funhouse ride through corners of New York that are so lurid that the movie feels like...

Posted 12 December 2017

Robert Pattinson Jennifer Jason Leigh Barkhad Abdi

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool - Film Review

Based on a true story, this stylishly produced British drama centres around two superbly involving characters whose real-life journey doesn't fit neatly into the usual formula. So the film continually surprises us with little details as it recounts a series...

Posted 12 December 2017

Annette Bening Jamie Bell Julie Walters Kenneth Cranham Stephen Graham Vanessa Redgrave

Victoria & Abdul - Movie Review

Essentially a sequel to the 1997 hit Mrs Brown, this film returns Judi Dench to play Queen Victoria in another relationship that shook up the royal household. It's such a perfect role for Dench that it's impossible to imagine anyone...

Posted 11 December 2017

Judi Dench Eddie Izzard Adeel Akhtar Tim Pigott-Smith Michael Gambon Olivia Williams

Murder on the Orient Express - Movie Review

The latest adaptation of Agatha Christie's 83-year-old classic whodunit, this lavish, star-studded film is old-style entertainment. Director-star Kenneth Branagh lets the story unfold with attention to detail while filling the screen with eye-catching images, from the spectacular mountain settings to...

Posted 10 November 2017

Kenneth Branagh Johnny Depp Judi Dench Michelle Pfeiffer Penelope Cruz Daisy Ridley

Paddington 2 - Movie Review

The first Paddington movie in 2014 is already such a beloved classic that it's hard to believe that this sequel actually tops it. Writer-director Paul King and his cast are back with their whimsical approach, combining silly comedy with surreally...

Posted 10 November 2017

Ben Whishaw Brendan Gleeson Sally Hawkins Michael Gambon Hugh Grant Richard Ayoade

A Bad Moms Christmas - Movie Review

Everyone's back from last year's undemanding adult comedy, plus some starry new cast members, for a holiday romp that once again provides a few solid laughs. Alas, it's also just as unambitious, never pushing its characters very far or coming...

Posted 10 November 2017

Mila Kunis Kristen Bell Kathryn Hahn Christine Baranski Susan Sarandon Cheryl Hines

Brawl in Cell Block 99 - Movie Review

Filmmaker S. Craig Zahler brought a blast of offbeat creativity to the Western genre two years ago with his freak-out Bone Tomahawk. And he's back now to reinvent the prison movie with this highly stylised, powerfully violent dramatic thriller. It...

Posted 29 October 2017

Vince Vaughn Jennifer Carpenter Don Johnson Marc Blucas Udo Kier

The Death of Stalin - Movie Review

Fans of the film In the Loop and the TV series Veep will definitely not want to miss this raucously hilarious political satire from the same creator, Armando Iannucci. This time he has gone back in history to 1953, giving...

Posted 28 October 2017

Jason Isaacs Andrea Riseborough Olga Kurylenko Steve Buscemi Rupert Friend Jeffrey Tambor

Call Me By Your Name - Movie Review

Set in northern Italy in the summer of 1983, this internationally flavoured drama is a gorgeously nostalgic coming-of-age story that gets deep under the skin. With a career-best performance from Armie Hammer, the film is packed with complex characters and...

Posted 27 October 2017

Armie Hammer Timothee Chalamet Michael Stuhlbarg Amira Casar James Ivory Peter Spears

Thor: Ragnarok - Movie Review

The most riotously enjoyable Marvel movie yet, this action epic benefits hugely from the decision to let wacky New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi loose with the characters. In many ways, this film has the same comical sensibilities as his classics...

Posted 26 October 2017

Chris Hemsworth Tom Hiddleston Cate Blanchett Mark Ruffalo Tessa Thompson Idris Elba

Breathe - Movie Review

While this biopic has the standard sumptuous production values of a British period drama, it's also a lot more complex than expected. For his directing debut, Andy Serkis recounts the life of a man who is so genuinely inspirational that...

Posted 26 October 2017

Andrew Garfield Claire Foy Hugh Bonneville Tom Hollander Stephen Mangan Ed Speleers

The Snowman - Movie Review

With a cast and crew packed with A-list talent, this film seems like it should be a first-rate thriller. But a deeply compromised screenplay lets it down badly, leaving the actors floundering as people who make little logical sense. Meanwhile,...

Posted 26 October 2017

Michael Fassbender Rebecca Ferguson Charlotte Gainsbourg Val Kilmer J.K Simmons Toby Jones

The Party - Movie Review

Comedies don't get much darker than this pitch-black British movie, written and directed by Sally Potter (Ginger & Rosa) with lacerating irony and such a furious sense of humour that it's impossible to stifle our laughter no matter how we...

Posted 13 October 2017

Kristin Scott Thomas Patricia Clarkson Timothy Spall Cherry Jones Emily Mortimer Cillian Murphy

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) - Movie Review

Noah Baumbach (Frances Ha) is on his way to becoming the new Woody Allen, which is a compliment. This film features an eclectic ensemble of A-listers coming together to play a hilariously neurotic Jewish New York family. The film is...

Posted 13 October 2017

Adam Sandler Ben Stiller Dustin Hoffman Elizabeth Marvel Emma Thompson Judd Hirsch

6 Below - Movie Review

Based on an astonishing true survival story, this film is subtitled "Miracle on the Mountain", so it can't help but be an inspirational movie that tugs on the heartstrings. But it's a shame that's all filmmaker Scott Waugh (Need for...

Posted 13 October 2017

Josh Hartnett Mira Sorvino Tucker Tooley

Mother - Movie Review

Darren Aronofsky doesn't make fluffy movies, and has only had one genuine misfire (2014's Noah). His best films are unforgiving explorations of artistic ambition (Black Swan), addiction (Requiem for a Dream) or mortality (The Wrestler), admittedly big themes. But this...

Posted 13 October 2017

Jennifer Lawrence Javier Bardem Ed Harris Michelle Pfeiffer Kristen Wiig Domhnall Gleeson

Blade Runner 2049 - Movie Review

It's been 35 years since Ridley Scott's 1982 sci-fi classic, which was set in 2019. This sequel is once again a visual spectacle that mixes super-cool images with a jaggedly engaging noir-style mystery that grapples with issues of memory and...

Posted 05 October 2017

Ryan Gosling Harrison Ford Ana De Armas Robin Wright Jared Leto Dave Bautista

On the Road - Film Review

Wolf Alice fans are likely to be rather disappointed by this hybrid documentary-drama about the band's UK and Ireland tour. On the one hand, filmmaker Michael Winterbottom had complete access backstage, so he catches the band members on the tour...

Posted 05 October 2017

Wolf Alice Shirley Henderson Melissa Parmenter

Borg/McEnroe - Film Review

Skilfully made by Swedish filmmaker Janus Metz (the award-winning Armadillo), this film is essentially a biopic about tennis icon Bjorn Borg that centres on his fascinating rivalry with John McEnroe. Indeed, in Scandinavia, the film is simply titled Borg. But...

Posted 05 October 2017

Shia LaBeouf Stellan Skarsgard Tuva Novotny Robert Emms

The Glass Castle - Movie Review

There are quite a few terrific moments in this true story, based on the memoir by journalist Jeannette Walls. It's an account of a seriously mind-boggling childhood that sees years of mayhem through a remarkably clear perspective, only occasionally dipping...

Posted 05 October 2017

Brie Larson Woody Harrelson Naomi Watts Max Greenfield Sarah Snook Gil Netter

Home Again - Film Review

Reese Witherspoon is so likeable that she can carry even the most hackneyed of romantic comedies. And indeed, that's what she's doing here. There's a nice sense of messiness in the plot of this rather silly film, but it's directed...

Posted 05 October 2017

Reese Witherspoon Nat Wolff Michael Sheen Candice Bergen Lake Bell Nancy Meyers

Brimstone - Film Review

An unnerving Western with a sharp female perspective, this film is a series of gruesome surprises from Dutch filmmaker Martin Koolhoven. Told in four chapters that unfold out of sequence, the film's brutality is almost balletic as it explores the...

Posted 05 October 2017

Dakota Fanning Guy Pearce Kit Harington Carice Van Houten William Houston Uwe Schott

Kingsman: The Golden Circle - Movie Review

Two years ago, Kingsman: The Secret Service seemed to come out of nowhere, ruffling feathers as it took an anarchic, often transgressive approach to the super-spy genre and made a star of Taron Egerton. Now Matthew Vaughn is back with...

Posted 29 September 2017

Taron Egerton Colin Firth Julianne Moore Mark Strong Halle Berry Pedro Pascal

Goodbye Christopher Robin - Movie Review

This biopic about Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne may look like the usual lushly produced British period movie, but it's far more original than expected. Avoiding pushy sentimentality, the filmmakers go for something that's surprisingly grim, and the messiness...

Posted 29 September 2017

Domhnall Gleeson Margot Robbie Kelly MacDonald Stephen Campbell Moore Geraldine Somerville Damian Jones

Wind River - Film Review

After writing the superb Sicario and Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan moves back into the director's chair for this thriller, which mixes a real-life issue with a compelling procedural mystery. It's a gorgeously shot film with especially well-developed characters...

Posted 31 August 2017

Jeremy Renner Elizabeth Olsen Graham Greene Gil Birmingham Jon Bernthal Julia Jones

The Vault - Film Review

Filmmakers Dan Bush and Conal Byrne attempt a mash-up of a frantic heist movie with supernatural horror. It's a clever idea, but the script isn't nearly as smart as it's trying to be, falling back on feeble attempts to generate...

Posted 31 August 2017

James Franco Francesca Eastwood Taryn Manning Clifton Collins Jr.

Goon: Last of the Enforcers - Film Review

The 2012 Canadian comedy Goon was one of those surprising little films that snuck up out of nowhere and proved to be a smart and funny hit. Sadly, this sequel kind of misses the point of what made the first...

Posted 31 August 2017

Seann William Scott Alison Pill Liev Schreiber Callum Keith Rennie Marc-Andre Grondin Elisha Cuthbert

Detroit - Film Review

After The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal reteam to tell a true story from half a century ago, finding unnerving present-day resonance in the details. Using exhaustive research, they recount the events surrounding the...

Posted 27 August 2017

John Boyega Will Poulter Anthony Mackie Jacob Latimore Jason Mitchell Jack Reynor

Logan Lucky - Movie Review

Good news: Steven Soderbergh's well-publicised retirement from directing only lasted about four years. He's back with this lively, relentlessly enjoyable caper that feels like a mash-up between his Ocean's Eleven and Magic Mike movies. Using America's economic situation as a...

Posted 26 August 2017

Channing Tatum Adam Driver Daniel Craig Riley Keough Seth Macfarlane Sebastian Stan

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