Film Reviews

Welcome to Marwen review - Carell and Zemeckis fail to hit stride

Ralph Moore Saturday, 05 January 2019

In the proverbial melting pot, this film has all the right ingredients.

An Impossible Love review - toxic romance across the years

Tom Baily Friday, 04 January 2019

This is a love that begins sweetly, turns terrible, and is told with unflinching directness.

The Favourite review - scintillatingly warped portrait of the court of Queen Anne

Adam Sweeting Wednesday, 02 January 2019

It can be fascinating to see ourselves as others see us.

Best of 2018: Film

theartsdesk Saturday, 29 December 2018

While the Academy Awards is still searching for a host, theartsdesk's relatively controversy-free 2018 means we're ready for our end of year tributes.

Papillon review - a not very great escape

Jasper Rees Thursday, 20 December 2018

The story of Henri Charrière’s gruelling ordeal as a prisoner in French Guiana and eventual escape was a bestseller on everyone’s bookshelf in the 1970s.

Mary Poppins Returns review - Emily Blunt makes the role her own

Veronica Lee Wednesday, 19 December 2018

It's perhaps unfair to review a film through the prism of one that predates it by more than half a century, but even fans of Mary Poppins Returns (and I am one of them) can't help doing so.

Springsteen on Broadway, Netflix review - one-man band becomes one-man show

Adam Sweeting Saturday, 15 December 2018

When Bruce Springsteen’s one-man show opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre on New York’s West 48th Street in October last year it was only supposed to run for six weeks.

Lizzie review - murder most meticulous

Adam Sweeting Thursday, 13 December 2018

The story of Lizzie Borden, controversially acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1892, has been explored many times on screen and in print (there’s even an opera and a musical version, not to mention the Los Angeles metal band Lizzy Borden).

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse review - a new hope for the superhero genre

Joseph Walsh Tuesday, 11 December 2018

After Sam Raimi’s original mixed-bag trilogy, Andrew Garfield’s all too familiar outing as the webslinger, and last year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, it would be fair to say we’ve had enough Spider-Man films. Despite the potential fatigue from yet-another-origins story, we now have Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

The Old Man & the Gun review - sundown on Sundance

Adam Sweeting Friday, 07 December 2018

Despite having enjoyed a prolific few years in which he has appeared in (among others) All Is Lost, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Truth and Our Souls at Night, Robert Redford has said that The Old Man & the Gun will be his last film role.

Disobedience review - tough love

Nick Hasted Friday, 30 November 2018

Lesbian love in a closeted Orthodox Jewish North London community suggests a place of barriers and secrets. In adapting Naomi Alderman’s novel Disobedience for producer-star Rachel Weisz, the Chilean-Argentine director Sebastián Lelio might as well have landed on the moon...

Three Identical Strangers review - an extraordinary true story

Saskia Baron Thursday, 29 November 2018

The privileges of writing reviews are very few (it’s certainly no way to make a living these days) but one that remains is the possibility of seeing a film before reading about it. Sometimes it doesn’t matter knowing in advance how a story will play out. It’s probably a good idea to let audiences know that they won’t get child-rearing tips from Rosemary’s Baby.

Shoplifters review - deserved Cannes prize winner

Saskia Baron Saturday, 24 November 2018

When a film is about a crime family, audience expectations tend to involve mobsters and thrills, but that’s not the territory that Hirozaku Kora-eda is exploring here.

The Girl in the Spider's Web review - Claire Foy leathers up

Jasper Rees Thursday, 22 November 2018

The enthronement of Claire Foy has been quite a spectacle. Perhaps some of Her Majesty’s mystique has rubbed off, as she is now entering that territory known to few young actors, where you’ll happily pay to see her in anything. Should that policy extend to her newest incarnation?

Siberia review - Keanu Reeves's duff Russian mission

Tom Baily Monday, 19 November 2018

It is appropriate that Keanu Reeves sounds especially croaky and muffled throughout Siberia. Business meetings for his character Lucas Hill (a diamond trader) don’t normally involve much talk, just a swift briefcase handover and a confidential handshake.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald review - mischief not quite managed

Joseph Walsh Friday, 16 November 2018

Two years after the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, we return to the Wizarding World once again for the next, somewhat convoluted, chapter in the five planned prequel instalments, with Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.