Reviews

Alex Garland is in confident control from Ex Machina’s boldly brisk beginning to perfectly-pitched end. Carefully composed shots, swift cuts and succinct dialogue bestow the tumultuous pace and visual...

Kyril Bonfiglioli would choke on his afternoon port if he could see what's become of his cult '70s novels. Johnny Depp turns the deliciously depraved Charlie Mortdecai into a prancing caricature, with a...

Putting the pugnacious into Pygmalion, Kingsman arrives to save the day. Egerton is terrific throughout his “My Fair Lad” transformation from street kid to superspy through a lethal training programme....

Is it possible to laud individual greatness when it’s in service of an unjust cause? This is what Eastwood tries in American Sniper, and he fails miserably. Chris Kyle’s skill and bravery are undeniable...

A quickening tension squeezes every frame of A Most Violent Year, tautened by Alex Ebert’s needling score. Chandor directs with a vice-like grip and, with DoP Bradford Young, frames the broken silhouettes...

With its loudly trumpeted message of "be careful what you wish for", Rob Marshall’s stagey version of Stephen Sondheim’s fairy tale mash-up musical is toe-tapping good fun. Not aided by the two-part...

Olivier Megaton’s second and final contribution to the Taken franchise offers reinvention through self-destruction, but does little with it once risen from the ashes. Taking little from either side of its...

The Thai master of suspense returns, after smash hit Laddaland, with his latest horror that dredges the murky depths of thriller cinema. The Swimmers at its core is a teen love-triangle horror. Sukdapisit...

When medical catastrophe hits star-crossed lovers, a charming Cambridge romance lurches into powerful melancholy. As the viewer eyes into the Hawkings' extraordinary life, Jones completely sells the...

I act therefore I’m not. Riggan Thompson (Keaton) is selfless in the middle of an identity crisis, and selfish in his egotistical pursuit of an impossible play. Shadows of the mask he once wore as Birdman...

Big Eyes is Tim Burton’s most ‘normal’ film for a long time, and it’s all the more refreshing for it. He tells the story of a shy, anxious creative (Amy Adams) clashing with the world of commercial...

A faultlessly modulated performance from O’Connell holds together a film of imbalanced fragments. Lifeless dramatisation of Zamperini’s childhood suffers in comparison to better realised scenes of his...

Shapeero's Christmas black comedy is a turgid blend of pizazz and self-deprecating humour. Boyd Mitcheler spreads seasonal overkill on his children after years of disgruntled treatment from his family,...

The Lord of the Rings was this generation’s Star Wars. Now, following in the footsteps of its intergalactic forefather, Middle Earth has coughed out its own mediocre prequel trilogy. Well, at least Lucas had...

Ridley Scott may be 77, but he’s making films with the energy and ambition of a man half his age. His direction is masterful and with DoP Dariusz Wolski he brings an exquisite painterly detail to this...