Art of grunting
Mr Turner may be the gruntiest film of the year, possibly the gruntiest film ever. ‘Grunt, grunt, grunt,’ goes Mr…
Signifying nothing
Fury is a second world war drama that plays with us viscerally and unsparingly — I think I saw a…
See it and sleep
Take tissues to The Best of Me, I’d read, as it’s such a weepie, so I took tissues, being a…
Effie off
Effie Gray, which has been written by Emma Thompson and recounts the doomed marriage of Victorian art critic John Ruskin…
Playing it for laughs
Gone Girl is David Fincher’s adaptation of the bestselling thriller by Gillian Flynn, a relentless page-turner which I’ve heard people…
Disaster movie
What We Did On Our Holiday is written and directed by Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton, the pair who created…
Brain drain
Before I Go To Sleep is Rowan Joffe’s adaptation of S.J. Watson’s bestselling thriller of 2011, but whereas the book…
Dambusters
Night Moves is a film by Kelly Reichardt, who also made the heart-wrenching Wendy and Lucy (2008), which may be…
Into the bush
The first Inbetweeners film made £45 million at the box office, and was such an unexpected smash there was always…
Monster in our midst
Wakolda is not a sunny film for a sunny day, just so you’re aware, but as there is so little…
All whimsied out
Your enjoyment of Michel Gondry’s Mood Indigo may entirely depend on how much visual whimsy you can take, what your…
The trying game
The trouble with Believe is that, unless you are ten years old or under, which I’m assuming you are not,…
Private eye
Finding Vivian Maier is a documentary about the American nanny who led a wholly secretive life as a photographer and…
Stuff happens
Richard Linklater’s observational chronicle, Boyhood, was 12 years in the making and is 166 minutes long — that’s nearly three…
Run away
If it were up to me this would be called ‘The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window, Fell, and…
Hit and miss
As far as ‘jukebox films’ go, Mamma Mia! was a riot, Sunshine on Leith was tolerable, just about, while Walking…
Teen spirit
The Fault in Our Stars, which is based on the bestselling young-adult novel by John Green, is about two teenagers…
Petticoats galore
Belle is based on the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a sea captain and…
Irresistible turkey
Grace of Monaco, the Grace Kelly biopic starring Nicole Kidman, is an absolute joy, and I highly recommend it. Unless…
Love actually
When you see the latest corporate entertainment juggernaut hurtling at you, what are your options? When I saw X-Men: Days…
Visual bombast
Godzilla is from the director Gareth Edwards, a Brit whose first film, Monsters, truly put him on the map, as…
Out of the ordinary
Frank is a music biopic, but only of sorts, as it is not at all like your average music biopic.…
Shock and gore
Blue Ruin is a low-budget yet highly accomplished revenge thriller although whether you have the stomach for it is another…
Insult to women
The Other Woman is not just an extremely bad film but also a wholly reprehensible one (she says, with her…
Road to redemption
If the very first scene of Calvary doesn’t immediately draw you in there’s every chance there is something seriously wrong…
