Tagged film review

A nuanced performance from leading man Ben Mendelsohn elevates this by-the-numbers buddy movie into a stuttering character study about good people who do bad things. Taking its cue from classic The Sting,...

It’s easy to see how Vin Diesel, a self-declared D&D fanatic, would be drawn into the world of The Last Witch Hunter. There are flashes here and there of a fantasy universe as richly drawn as John...

Spectre’s plot is simple enough, and largely follows the same beats as Skyfall: a sinister figure from Bond’s past, interfering bureaucrats, parts of London being blown up. This isn’t necessarily a...

When you think of skin-crawlingly sinister yet emotionally hefty cinema, the first name that springs to mind is undoubtedly veteran auteur Guillermo del Toro and his stylistic masterpiece Pan's...

With its Pulp Fiction-esque sprawl and community of Johannesburg teens, writer and director Mer’s Necktie Youth bears all the hallmarks of a precociously talented young filmmaker – for better or...

Hamstrung by the Church of Scientology’s understandable lack of cooperation, Louis Theroux borrows meta recreation techniques from the likes of The Act of Killing to ingenious effect. Actors’...

Light Years has the kitchen-sink stylistic trappings of an Andrea Arnold film, yet the conflict that drives the narrative is far less apparent. As a result it is at times laboriously low-key, but there are...

Somewhat understandably, Mr Gaga is overly reliant on enchanting and hypnotic footage of Naharin’s shows, and the film is bolstered by frank interview input from its subject. Rather than answer the...

In blending Jean-Pierre Jeunet-esque whimsical adventure with a sentimentalised recollection of past love Desplechin straddles and ultimately crosses the line between charm and irksomeness. Stylistically...

Sunset Song’s chronicling of rural wartime hardship is nothing we haven’t seen before. Abusive patriarchs, repressed women and traumatised soldiers are unoriginal ingredients, but Davies turns them into...

This painfully intimate family drama depicts the intense bond between sisters with uncanny power. Together Josephson and Deasismont embody both the joy and rivalry of siblinghood so recognisably that it’s...

A pulpy, old-fashioned cat-and-mouse thriller, Desierto pulls no punches - but offers few surprises - as it exhaustedly staggers towards its high-octane conclusion. Desierto makes no bones about what it...

Take a look at that still up there. If it takes your fancy, then the ever-prolific Takashi Miike's latest, Yakuza Apocalypse, is probably for you. If not, turn back now. Gloriously trashy, Yakuza...

Simultaneously philosophical, sombre and pretentious, yet playful, fun and firmly tongue-in-cheek, Francofonia employs a whimsical and varied approach - not unlike that of Chilean master Patricio Guzmán - to...

A promising plot collapses into a completely shapeless and tedious film beefed up to feature length by the inclusion of a huge amount of irrelevant mundane detail, such as an odd obsession with the...