Cinema
You'll tire of the wackiness and the whimsy: The French Dispatch reviewed
The American filmmaker Wes Anderson has an apartment in Paris and has always yearned to make a French movie but…
Hang in there for the gripping final half an hour: The Last Duel reviewed
Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel is set in the 14th century and is a tale of rivalry and rape told…
A compelling mess: No Time to Die reviewed
These days, James Bond can no longer just be the main character in the Bond films. He’s also had to…
Delivers in spades: The Many Saints of Newark reviewed
So how exactly did Tony Soprano become a New Jersey mob boss? It’s 1967 and young Anthony is struggling to…
A pep-talk nightmare: Everybody's Talking About Jamie reviewed
It’s a hard heart that doesn’t warm to the musical drama Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. I don’t have a hard…
Intensely powerful: Herself reviewed
Herself is an intensely powerful film about domestic violence that isn’t Nil By Mouth or The Killer Inside Me or…
A fantastical fever dream that's hard to follow or enjoy: Annette reviewed
Leos Carax is the director whose films have always been wilfully odd. Ron and Russell Mael (the brothers from the…
The genius of Basic Instinct
Our occasional series on cinema’s most underrated films arrives at what many have considered the peak of misogynistic trash. We’re…
An intensely quiet and soulful performance from Nicolas Cage: Pig reviewed
What use does a fallen and corrupted world have for a man of integrity? This was not the question I…
The best Cold War thriller I've seen that I fully understand: The Courier reviewed
The Courier is a Cold War spy thriller and the prospect of a Cold War spy thriller always makes my…
Mesmerising and monstrous: @zola reviewed
The distinction between on and offline life blurred long ago. The greatest spats, sexual self-fashionings and mad soliloquies now unfurl…
I laughed quite a lot when I shouldn’t have: Old reviewed
The biggest challenge in reviewing M. Night Shyamalan’s Old lies in describing its central idea without making the film sound…
Quietly devastating: Nowhere Special reviewed
Not one, but two British films this week, one that’s only being screened at the cinema (if you’re brave enough)…
Lame and formulaic: Black Widow reviewed
Black Widow is the latest Marvel film and although I’d sworn off these films a while ago, due to sheer…
If you didn’t love Jansson already, you will now: Tove reviewed
Tove is a biopic of the Finnish artist Tove Jansson who, most famously, created the Moomins, that gentle family of…
An unrewarding slog: Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round reviewed
Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round has been heaped with awards: an Oscar, a Bafta, it swept the European Film Awards. And…
Tucci and Firth are like Eric and Ernie but sexier: Supernova reviewed
At the time Supernova went into production one headline read: ‘What did we do to deserve a love story starring…
Blissfully colourful, fun and basic: In The Heights reviewed
In The Heights is an adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash-hit stage musical — the one he wrote before Hamilton —…
Anthony Hopkins's portrayal of dementia will undo you: The Father reviewed
The Father is an immensely powerful film about dementia starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, who was asleep in his bed in…
Definitely the best cow film of the year: First Cow reviewed
Kelly Reichardt’s First Cowstars John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones, and a Jersey cow listed in the credits as ‘Evie’,…
Children will love it – alas: Peter Rabbit 2 reviewed
The cinemas finally reopened this week and what better way to celebrate than with Peter Rabbit 2? You’ll probably be…
Riveting and heartbreaking: Sound of Metal reviewed
The multi-Oscar-nominated Sound of Metalstars Riz Ahmed as a heavy-metal drummer whose life is in freefall after losing his hearing.…
Buttercup the cow was so convincing I felt quite moved: Jack and the Beanstalk reviewed
This pantomime was filmed by ‘legendary Blue Peter presenter’ Peter Duncan in his back garden over the summer. It was…
A hard watch, but ultimately a rewarding one: County Lines reviewed
County Lines is the kind of social realism that the British do so well, if not too well. In other…
A gripping portrait: Billie reviewed
This documentary about Billie Holiday is transfixing. Not just because it’s about Billie Holiday — I am not into jazz…
