Cinema
Entertaining. Mostly: Dream Scenario reviewed
Dream Scenario is a high-concept dark comedy about celebrity and cancel culture. It stars our old pal Nicolas Cage who,…
Outstanding and eye-opening doc about North Korea: Beyond Utopia review
The documentary Beyond Utopia follows various families as they attempt to flee North Korea. It is eye-opening and outstanding. In…
Basic, plodding and lacking any actual horror: Doctor Jekyll reviewed
Tis the season of horror, as it’s Halloween, which we celebrate in this house by turning off all the lights…
Epic, immersive and tiresomely long: Killers of the Flower Moon reviewed
Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon is a Western crime drama that runs to three-and-a-half hours. (Sit on that,…
The miracle of The Miracle Club is that it does, I promise, end
The Miracle Club, which is about a group of Irish women who travel to Lourdes, has a magnificent cast –…
A great subject squandered: Golda reviewed
Born in Tsarist Kyiv in 1898, Golda Meir grew up with what she called a ‘pogrom complex’. That perhaps explained…
Soapy and sentimental: Ken Loach’s The Old Oak reviewed
Ken Loach has said The Old Oak will be his last film – he’s 87; the golf course probably beckons.…
Menacingly entertaining thriller, despite the clichés: A Lesson reviewed
The Lesson is a literary thriller that is occasionally heavy-handed but also menacingly entertaining, plus you get Richard E. Grant…
Someone stop Kenneth Branagh: A Haunting in Venice reviewed
A Haunting in Venice is Kenneth Branagh’s third Poirot film (after Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the…
The best drama without any drama that you’ll see: Past Lives reviewed
Past Lives is an exquisite film made with great precision and care about what could have been, even if what…
Depardieu’s Maigret is the best yet: Maigret reviewed
Georges Simenon’s lugubrious detective Maigret has appeared in umpteen screen adaptations and dozens of actors have played him. Now it’s…
Colourful, tender and sweet, grounded in magical rather than social realism: Scrapper reviewed
Scrapper is a film about a working-class kid who, after her mother dies, has to look after herself. I know…
You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how unpleasant this is: Strays reviewed
Based on the poster showing two cute dogs – a border terrier and a Boston terrier – I had assumed…
As art it was terrible but the pre- and early-teen audience loved it: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem reviewed
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) began as a joke in 1984, a parody of the superhero culture of the time.…
Dense and spectacular – and not pink: Oppenheimer reviewed
Oppenheimer is Christopher Nolan’s biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the brilliant quantum physicist and ‘father of the atomic bomb’ who…
Should be called Ken: Barbie reviewed
Finally, the Barbie film is here, for which we must be thankful, as the tsunami of pre-publicity meant you probably…
A stunning work of art: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One reviewed
Blockbuster action movies are designed to stun the audience into submissive acceptance. Complexity, humanity, emotion and beauty are reduced to…
Gripping: Name Me Lawand reviewed
You’d have to have a heart of stone to not be moved by Name Me Lawand. It’s a documentary about…
Did ChatGPT write this? Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny reviewed
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is the fifth and final film in the franchise so it’s Harrison Ford’s…
Wikipedia does more justice to this fascinating story than this film: Chevalier reviewed
Chevalier is a biopic of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, whom you’ve probably never heard of, as I hadn’t. He…
