Film Reviews

Downsizing review - little things please little

Jasper Rees Wednesday, 24 January 2018

Alexander Payne’s best-loved film is Sideways but that title may as well work for everything and anything in his oeuvre. In Election, About Schmidt, The Descendants and Nebraska, he puts America and Americans under the microscope from a variety of quizzically oblique angles. There’s another tilt shift in his latest satire.

The Final Year review - Greg Barker documents Obama's last year in office

Markie Robson-Scott Friday, 19 January 2018

"The Times They Are A-Changin'" has never sounded so menacing.

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The Post review - Spielberg's glorious paean to print

Jasper Rees Thursday, 18 January 2018

It beggars belief that, from the moment Steven Spielberg took delivery of the script by first-timer Liz Hannah, it took a mere 10 months to get The Post in the can. Its subject being the race to publish, that's a fitting rate of production. Introducing the film at its London premiere, Spielberg stressed the urgency of a story about the media under renewed attack. For Richard...

The Commuter review - trouble on the main line

Adam Sweeting Wednesday, 17 January 2018

Nobody is more sensitive about the notion of becoming a geriatric action hero than Liam Neeson (“guys, I’m sixty-fucking-five,” as he points out), but he can still punch bad guys and leap off moving trains with the best of ‘em.

A Woman's Life review - simple but affecting

Owen Richards Friday, 12 January 2018

A Woman’s Life first premiered at the 2016 Venice International Film Festival, alongside the likes of La La Land, Arrival and Jackie. Though it’s taken longer to get to our shores than its contemporaries, the film feels fresh and relevant.

Darkest Hour review - Winston airbrushed for the 21st century

Nick Hasted Thursday, 11 January 2018

The Great Man theory of history is applied by Darkest Hour director Joe Wright to his star Gary Oldman as much as their subject Winston Churchill.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri review - Frances McDormand is on fire

Jasper Rees Wednesday, 10 January 2018

It probably won’t take long for the title to be sawn in half. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri will become casually known as Three Billboards and its specific location will drift into a vaguely remembered background. The place name is of a piece with Martin McDonagh’s previous visits to half-mythical places: Inishmore, Inishmaan, Leenane. Ebbing is everywhere and nowhere, a no-account small town in the faceless epicentre of the Midwest where a teenage girl can be...

Hostiles review – powerful but preachy Frontier fable

Adam Sweeting Friday, 05 January 2018

The last time we saw Christian Bale in a western, he was playing the downtrodden rancher Dan Evans in James Mangold’s punchy remake of 3.10 to Yuma.

Best of 2017: Film

theartsdesk Friday, 29 December 2017

It was the night Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, those old robbers on the run, will want to forget. Thanks to a clerical error, the Oscar for Best Picture briefly ended up in the clutch of the overwhelming favourite.

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Molly's Game review - Jessica Chastain gets her poker face on

Adam Sweeting Tuesday, 26 December 2017

After her brittle and unloveable turn in John Madden’s Washington-lobbyist drama Miss Sloane, Jessica Chastain gets the chance to do it again, properly. This is thanks to Aaron Sorkin, whose directing debut Molly’s Game is.

The Greatest Showman review - the great huckster as song and dance man

Adam Sweeting Wednesday, 20 December 2017

The real-life PT Barnum was a mixture of impresario, hustler and exploiter, and Elvis Presley’s huckstering manager Colonel Tom Parker would surely have viewed him approvingly. However, he also was also a temperance campaigner and a reforming politician who battled against slavery and supported health and educational projects.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - a bold new chapter

Owen Richards Sunday, 17 December 2017

It’s impossible to view The Last Jedi independently from its predecessors. It’s the second instalment of the third trilogy of cinema’s greatest space opera. And it’s very much a product of what came before, but not in the way you might expect.

The Prince of Nothingwood review - come for the man, stay for the country

Owen Richards Tuesday, 12 December 2017

In the most unlikely of places, there is one of the world’s most prolific directors.

Stronger review - Oscar-worthy straight talk and tough love

Nick Hasted Saturday, 09 December 2017

There are many obvious Hollywood responses to someone losing their legs in the Boston Marathon bombing. Director David Gordon Green waits his whole film to make one.

Brigsby Bear review - the healing power of fantasy

Adam Sweeting Friday, 08 December 2017

Like a bizarro-world echo of Lenny Abrahamson’s Academy-titillating Room, Dave McCary’s endearing indie feature takes a potentially hideous tale of abduction and control and transforms it using the amazing healing powers of fantasy and creativity.

Menashe review - Yiddish-language film with a heart of gold

Saskia Baron Thursday, 07 December 2017

On paper this film sounds so worthy: a widowed Orthodox Jewish father struggles to convince the Hassidic community elders that he can raise his young son alone after the death of his wife. But it’s the opposite of worthy on screen – Menashe is utterly absorbing, deeply charming, and very funny. It’s an impressive first narrative feature by documentarian Joshua Z Weinstein, who...