Film Reviews

The Party's Just Beginning review - a formidable debut

Owen Richards Saturday, 30 November 2019

For an actor, there are few bigger risks than writing and directing your own film. Securing funding is pretty easy if you’re a household name, like Karen Gillan is, but that doesn’t mean your script is any good or your vision holds water. At their worst, these films can be vain and embarrassing affairs. At their best, you’re left wondering if there’s anything their star can’t do.

Charlie's Angels review - feminism-lite action comedy

Graham Fuller Friday, 29 November 2019

“Badass” – as applied to dynamic women – and “girl power” may be the kinds of exhausted clichés that are reductive in the #MeToo and Time’s Up era, but the new Charlie’s Angels movie revitalises the attitude they describe in a way that’s neither condescending nor retrogressive.

Knives Out review - marvellous murder mystery

Demetrios Matheou Thursday, 28 November 2019

The world’s most successful mystery writer is found dead on the morning after his 85^th birthday.

The Amber Light review - tales, songs and drams

Tom Baily Monday, 25 November 2019

A documentary about celebration, fellowship, and the comforting afterglow of cherished memories. What better way to spend a cold late-Autumn evening? Such is the effect of this charming, low-key investigation into the story of Scotch.

Harriet review - potentially stirring biopic proves a slog

Matt Wolf Saturday, 23 November 2019

A defining chapter in American history is all but sold down river in Harriet, director Kasi Lemmons' tubthumpingly banal film about the extraordinary bravery and courage of the American freedom fighter, Harriet Tubman. Telling the same story more expansively chronicled several decades ago in a Cicely Tyson-led American mini-series, Harriet casts the diminutive yet mighty English actress Cynthia Erivo in the title role without seeming to know quite how to use her.

Ophelia review - tragic no more

Owen Richards Saturday, 23 November 2019

Ophelia is one of Shakespeare’s most iconic yet underdeveloped dramatic roles. A sweet and naïve girl, she’s driven mad by Hamlet’s wavering affections and her father’s death. She was often the subject of paintings, yet rarely of novels until the 21^st century.

Greener Grass review - American suburbia goes haywire in surreal dark comedy

Markie Robson-Scott Friday, 22 November 2019

The pink, turquoise and orange world of Greener Grass is a riot of derangement. Here is the suburban dream gone haywire, where, out of politeness, a woman gives her baby to her friend because she admires it. Every adult wears braces, hair bleeds when you get it cut and a boy turns into a golden retriever (his father is delighted – at last he’s willing to run for the ball).

Frozen II review - the allure cools off

Demetrios Matheou Thursday, 21 November 2019

Frozen is possibly the most beloved Disney movie since the studio rediscovered its mojo in the 1990s. While picking up a couple of Oscars and laying waste to box office records, it had young girls immersing themselves in favourite characters and performing the songs on a dime.

Permission review - suspenseful melodrama of a true-life event

Negar Esfandiary Thursday, 21 November 2019

Permission tells the story of Afrooz, the captain of Iran's National Futsal Team, who is stopped from joining her team at the Asia Cup Final because of the last minute whim of her estranged husband.

21 Bridges review - police corruption thriller sets a cracking pace

Adam Sweeting Wednesday, 20 November 2019

Thanks to a powerful cast and crisp direction from Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones, Luther), 21 Bridges drives home its story of good cops, bad cops and a Big Apple rotten to the core with bulldozing force.

The Report review - searing political drama

Joseph Walsh Saturday, 16 November 2019

It should come as no surprise that the writer of Side Effects and Contagion, Scott Z. Burns, is capable of directing a whip-smart drama like The Report.

Marriage Story review - superior weepie

Demetrios Matheou Thursday, 14 November 2019

Forty years after the classic, multi-Oscar winning Kramer v Kramer comes another divorce drama involving two young Americans and a son caught in the crossfire. And this one is even better.

Comment

Last Christmas review - for the stocking, not the tree

Demetrios Matheou Thursday, 14 November 2019

Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke stars in this awkward but sweet Yuletide romcom as Kate, a chaotic, George Michael obsessed twenty-something in London who’s lost her way following a serious illness.

Le Mans '66 review - nicely revved up

Demetrios Matheou Wednesday, 13 November 2019

For a sports movie to work for more than just the fans, it has to have drama off the pitch, track or field, with characters to root for, personal demons, a good underdog. Based on a true story that also involves high-speed danger and tragedy, James Mangold’s Le Mans ‘66 duly obliges.

Meeting Gorbachev review - Werner Herzog offers a swansong tribute

Tom Birchenough Saturday, 09 November 2019

You react differently to Meeting Gorbachev knowing that the film’s subject was on occasions brought to its interviews from hospital by ambulance; his interlocutor, Werner Herzog, doesn’t mention that fact, of course, anywhere in the three encounters on which this documentary is based...

The Good Liar review - the grey pound dipped in acid

Nick Hasted Friday, 08 November 2019

Ian McKellen, his Mr Holmes director Bill Condon and Helen Mirren play clever, nasty games with conman clichés and presumptions about the elderly in this sometimes absurdly twisty thriller.