Reviews

Anthony McCarten has, in recent years, made his name as one of the premier screenwriters of mass appeal but mediocre historical films like Darkest Hour and Bohemian Rhapsody. His latest, The Two Popes, teams...

Like this autumn’s Marriage Story, Premature follows a relationship between two artists whose personal lives blend into their creative endeavours – but in this film the beginning, end, and a possible path...

Thank the cinematic gods a studio gave Taika Waititi the money to make what is – on paper – a disaster waiting to happen. Yet in his hands, a comedy about a Hitler Youth misfit and his imaginary friend...

‘Gravity, but Victorian’, is an intriguing pitch and, visually, The Aeronauts delivers on this strange, exciting promise. As Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne journey through the skies in a giant hot air...

It is hard to explain exactly what Luce is. Initially a serious look at the pressure put on high-achieving black students in US schools, it shifts so many times – even into trashy thriller territory – that...

Every year, you get at least one film clearly designed purely for the purpose of nabbing an Oscar for its star. In 2019, Judy is that film. Renée Zellweger’s heartfelt take on Judy Garland immediately...

It’s impossible to go into Joker without the heavy fog of its insufferable, endless online discourse clouding your view. The ridiculous moral panics and equally silly impassioned defences have already made...

Syllas Tzoumerkas' third film is as slippery as the eels that form its backbone. It's intense, brutal and surprising - full of strange asides and meandering paths, held together by the suffocating setting of...

The stories we tell ourselves and to others define the way we understand the world, and The Last Black Man in San Francisco uses this ever-changing mythos to expertly evoke an ever-changing city. Based on the...

"With that hair," comments a local pilgrim to a visiting stranger with long curls and a full beard, "you're either sick, a wacko, or a scientist." It sums up Alaa Eddine Aljem's gentle farce about faith...

The shift from offbeat to bonkers can be glorious. For Maggie, an erratic structure mirrors the film’s examination of truth, perception and trust – but unfortunately in a way that comes across as more...

If one were to list off the common pitfalls of biopics, ‘formulaic’ would likely be near the top. Yet, Just Mercy proves that sticking rigidly to an expected formula need not necessarily be a bad thing as...

There's a common belief that older women enjoy the goriest fiction. Certainly there's an invisibility that comes with age; a sense of being the constantly underestimated little old lady. In Lucky Grandma,...

Both in its premise and its marketing, Harriet looks like a straightforward Oscar-season piece of prestige biopic, telling an inspiring true story and hunting for acting trophies. In practice, though, Kasi...

Armando Iannucci isn't known for his forgiving touch when it comes to social commentary. But for this almost aggressively charming Dickens adaptation he slips off the knuckledusters and takes a noticeably...