Film Reviews

Game Night review - Rachel McAdams is bliss in bonkers comedy thriller

Matt Wolf Thursday, 01 March 2018

Fake news takes on new meaning in the largely gonzo Game Night, which leaves spectators wondering moment-to-moment whether what they are watching is reality or part of a continually unfolding game. Telling of a gathering of six whose game night doesn't quite, um, go according to plan, this co-directing effort between John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein throws numerous genres into the celluloid megamix and blends them to the max.

The Light of the Moon, Amazon Prime review - coping with the unthinkable

Adam Sweeting Wednesday, 28 February 2018

This account of the aftermath of a sexual assault is handled with a clear-headed restraint and attention to detail that’s refreshing in the feverish post-Weinstein climate.

Mom and Dad review - daft and dark zombie thriller

Veronica Lee Wednesday, 28 February 2018

As Mom and Dad opens, after a comically shocking preface, the Ryan family are presented as a typical all-American middle-class family – albeit one that, strangely enough, can afford a daily maid who cooks their breakfast.

Dark River review - haunted rural realism

Nick Hasted Friday, 23 February 2018

Country darkness falls quickly when Alice (Ruth Wilson) goes back to the farm. She stops before entering to gratefully absorb the Yorkshire countryside’s sunny beauty.

DVD/Blu-ray: The Party

Owen Richards Friday, 23 February 2018

Take one of the strongest casts in British cinema and put them in a confined space; it was always going to be fun. Sally Potter’s The Party sets its sights on the duplicitous liberal elite, where venality hides behind paper...

I, Tonya review - Margot Robbie shines in over-complicated oddity

Markie Robson-Scott Thursday, 22 February 2018

Tonya Harding and the kneecapping of Nancy Kerrigan – what a story it was, back in 1994.

Lady Bird review - Greta Gerwig's luminous coming-of-age movie

Markie Robson-Scott Friday, 16 February 2018

Greta Gerwig, in her hugely acclaimed, semi-autobiographical directing debut (a Golden Globe for best director, five Academy Award nominations) opens Lady Bird with a Joan Didion quote: “Anyone who talks about California hedonism has never spent a Christmas in Sacramento.”

Black Panther review - more meh than marvellous

Saskia Baron Friday, 16 February 2018

Black Panther arrives with all the critics displaying superhero-sized goodwill for its very existence. It’s a big budget mainstream Marvel movie that not only features a nearly all-black cast, but it also has an African-American writer director (Ryan Coogler) and co-screenwriter (Joe Robert Cole).

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The Shape of Water review - love in a Cold War climate

Adam Sweeting Wednesday, 14 February 2018

Guillermo del Toro has laid down markers as a wizard of the fantastical with such previous works as Pan’s Labyrinth and Crimson Peak (though we’ll skate nimbly around Pacific Rim), and now he has brought it all back home with The Shape of Water, as its 13 Academy Award...

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Loveless review - from Russia, without love

Tom Birchenough Friday, 09 February 2018

After the anger, the emptiness… Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Loveless is his fifth film, and harks back to the world of complicated, somehow unelucidated family relationships that characterised his debut, The Return, the work that brought Zvyagintsev immediate acclaim back in 2003. His previous film, the tempestuous Leviathan from four years ago, was...

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The Mercy review - Colin Firth's leaking vessel

Jasper Rees Thursday, 08 February 2018

Fakery is promised in the opening image of The Mercy. A smiling beauty water-skis over sunny seas, only for the camera to pull away and reveal she is part of a maritime expo in a vast exhibition hall. One of the other exhibitors is an inventor called Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth), who enlists his beaming sons to demonstrate his Navicator, a simple tool to guide sailors on the high seas....

Makala review - capturing human spirit on film

Owen Richards Saturday, 03 February 2018

We follow Kabwita Kasongo on his morning routine, lingering over the shoulder as he treks through the village. A pastel sunrise greets vast landscapes, the morning breeze visible for miles around. He heads to a tree at the edge of a mountain, and begins a day’s work chopping it down.

Phantom Thread review - Daniel Day-Lewis bows out in style

Matt Wolf Friday, 02 February 2018

A perfectionist says goodbye to an art form he has done so much to nourish by playing – you guessed it – a perfectionist.

Journey's End review - requiem for the poor bloody infantry

Adam Sweeting Tuesday, 30 January 2018

With Dunkirk and Darkest Hour threatening to storm the Oscars, it seems there’s suddenly plenty of mileage in portraits of the British at war.

Last Flag Flying review - Richard Linklater on the lies of war

Markie Robson-Scott Friday, 26 January 2018

This Vietnam vet/road movie is a warm-hearted, meandering piece, but any similarities to Linklater’s Boyhood or the Before…trilogy end there. This is a darker story, but not dark enough, and you wish it could have been less conventional and harder-hitting. Set in 2003, its first scene is in a run-down Virginia bar with Sal, a jaded alcoholic ex-marine (Bryan Cranston in a stand-out performance) at its helm.

Early Man review - delight for football fans and kids alike

Saskia Baron Thursday, 25 January 2018

Nick Park’s utterly charming new animation channels the spirits of so many cinema and comedy ghosts that its originality can be overlooked – but it shouldn’t be. This is a fresh narrative in an era where films aimed at young audiences are dominated by sequels, prequels, remakes, comic...