Time Out

It's a compelling, edgy story of exploitation with no easy answers.

Posted Jan 31, 2022

4/5

Resurrection (2022)

Lou Thomas

Without exactly revolutionising the form, Semans's debut delivers an unsettling tale of psychological torment and the kind of creeping dread and shocking climax that hallmarks some of the best horror.

Posted Jan 31, 2022

3/5

Master (2022)

This is a smart, meaningful first film, with nods all over the place to classics like The Shining and Rosemary's Baby, as well as more recent obvious touch points like Get Out. It's not all subtle, but then neither is prejudice.

Posted Jan 31, 2022

4/5

Emily the Criminal (2022)

Refreshingly, writer-director John Patton Ford's script never seeks to excuse Emily her past misdeeds or sugarcoat her worst impulses. She's a messy, believable character and her journey into LA's crime underworld in no way feels far-fetched.

Posted Jan 31, 2022

2/5

Call Jane (2022)

While you know the stakes are high, Call Jane never seems particularly interested in proving it.

Posted Jan 24, 2022

4/5

Fire of Love (2022)

This film is about wonder, not balance, and it turns us delirious in the white heat of this pair's chaotic, unflinching passion.

Posted Jan 24, 2022

3/5

Sing 2 (2021)

What Sing 2 does offer is more big musical numbers, lots of eye-popping animation and a sugar-high ending that will delight kids and U2 fans alike.

Posted Jan 24, 2022

3/5

Breaking (2022)

A mesmerising John Boyega lights a fuse under this poignant but by-the-numbers depiction of an Atlanta bank siege in 2017.

Posted Jan 24, 2022

4/5

Fresh (2022)

Just as Get Out offers a lacerating critique of white liberal racism, Fresh tears into toxic male sexuality and attitudes to women -- and there's obviously plenty of room for them both.

Posted Jan 24, 2022

5/5

Living (2022)

Nighy has never been better than in this richly rewarding '50s-set drama about a repressed and terminally ill man who discovers life just as it comes to an end.

Posted Jan 24, 2022

3/5

Amulet (2020)

It all makes for a debut full of promise from the actress-turned-writer-director.

Posted Jan 14, 2022

4/5

Belfast (2021)

Possibly the most uplifting film ever made about a time of unending violence, Kenneth Branagh's Belfast comes with a bruised heart and an unquenchable spirit of optimism.

Posted Jan 14, 2022

5/5

Parallel Mothers (Madres paralelas) (2021)

As ever with Almodóvar's films, to enter his world is a pleasure - even when we're faced with pain and tough lessons.

Posted Jan 14, 2022

4/5

Scream (2022)

Olly Richards

Inventive, incisive and full of affection for the originals, this is easily the most fun the series has been since Scream 2.

Posted Jan 14, 2022

4/5

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021)

Hanna Flint

It's an effervescent movie, one that reflects the colourful whimsy of Wain's work and a far more vivid image of Victorian and Edwardian England than your usual period film.

Posted Jan 14, 2022

2/5

The King's Man (2021)

Under the perfect tailoring there's an ugly edge, a cynicism that would shock even Bond, and that makes it very hard to cheer on this King or his men.

Posted Dec 17, 2021

4/5

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Spider-Man is always best on the back foot, and this film puts him thoroughly through the wringer. But it also gives him room to shine, and packs an emotional punch that could floor any of his villains.

Posted Dec 17, 2021

4/5

Only the Animals (Seules les bêtes) (2021)

The film's emotional side is well-handled, helped by strong performances across the board. But it's the storytelling puzzle - the pile-up of different perspectives and gradual reveal of the facts - that makes it most worthwhile.

Posted Dec 7, 2021

3/5

Baby, Done (2021)

Nick Dent

Expect to see Matafeo joining the Hollywood comedy repertory imminently.

Posted Dec 4, 2021

5/5

The Velvet Underground (2021)

Chris Waywell

If you already love the Velvet Underground, this is two hours of visual and aural bliss. If you don't, same.

Posted Dec 3, 2021

4/5

The Truffle Hunters (2020)

You can imagine Bill Murray, Bob Balaban and co ageing up for a Wes Anderson version of this stupidly delightful dog-umentary about elderly truffle hunters roaming Italy's misty, picture-box Piedmont.

Posted Dec 3, 2021

4/5

Encanto (2021)

Whelan Barzey

You will be humming 'Welcome to the Family Madrigal' -- expositional but infectious -- all the way home. The characters are infectious, too, and well-drawn, enriching Encanto's world with gifts that extend far beyond their bestowed powers.

Posted Dec 2, 2021

3/5

House of Gucci (2021)

Uneven, overlong and completely over the top, and has characters and plot turns that Marvel and Pixar would reject as 'a bit much'. The good news is that it is undeniably a proper drama and, for the most part, wildly entertaining.

Posted Dec 2, 2021

5/5

West Side Story (2021)

There's a substrata of genius-level artists at work here: from Spielberg himself, who delivers his best film in nearly 20 years, to the late, great Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins , Leonard Bernstein and William Shakespeare -- and you can really feel it.

Posted Dec 2, 2021

3/5

7 Prisoners (7 prisioneiros) (2021)

If the pay-offaims for the gut and misses, the journey to that point provides a searing microcosm of a corrupt and degrading system.

Posted Nov 18, 2021

5/5

Licorice Pizza (2021)

Paul Thomas Anderson's sunniest movie yet, this San Fernando Valley palimpsest is so buoyant and bubbly, it practically floats off the screen.

Posted Nov 15, 2021

4/5

King Richard (2021)

It's to the credit of director Reinaldo Marcus Green and star Will Smith that this film makes the case for its counter-intuitive focal point.

Posted Nov 5, 2021

2/5

The Card Counter (2021)

Hanna Flint

For all its moody moralising, The Card Counter is a slowburn bluff with little new to offer.

Posted Nov 5, 2021

2/5

Eternals (2021)

Olly Richards

You have to commend the effort to take the MCU in a different direction, but there's little else worthy of applause.

Posted Nov 5, 2021

4/5

Mothering Sunday (2022)

Anna Smith

A moving drama that shifts back and forwards in time to paint a portrait of its characters' lives, Mothering Sunday is particularly satisfying when it focuses on Jane, who's beautifully portrayed by rising Aussie star Young.

Posted Nov 5, 2021

3/5

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

There's something obviously personal in this Reitman-to-Reitman torch-passing, and it combines with the rural setting to spark faint but fond memories of early Spielberg classics.

Posted Nov 5, 2021

2/5

The Cremaster Cycle (2010)

Keith Uhlich

It's safe to say that [Barney's] schweddy balls have no conceptual limits.

Posted Nov 5, 2021

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

David Pirie

The theme is attacked with engaging intensity, and Boorman brings off more than one visual coup (notably the ingenious locust photography in the African sequences). Dennis Wheatley fans, at least, will love it.

Posted Oct 26, 2021

4/5

You Resemble Me (2021)

This inspired-by-true-life story of crumbling identity and radicalisation is a powerful cry from the heart.

Posted Oct 14, 2021

3/5

The Guilty (2021)

Stephen A. Russell

If you come to this Netflix remake first, you are going to be blown away by a hurricane-force performance from Gyllenhaal.

Posted Oct 4, 2021

3/5

The Last Duel (2021)

The big challenge for The Last Duel is to depict a world in which women are marginalised and disempowered without doing the same thing to its female characters. Maybe it should have ceded more of its cold stone floor to Marguerite.

Posted Sep 29, 2021

5/5

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

It's stage-bound in all the right ways, reminiscent of a much earlier cinema, when filmmakers barely stepped outdoors and wielded magic with shadow and light on soundstages. It's short, sharp and savage.

Posted Sep 29, 2021

3/5

Dear Evan Hansen (2021)

Adam Feldman

There's a lot to like about Dear Evan Hansen, which raises timely questions and features tuneful, smartly crafted songs.

Posted Sep 29, 2021

4/5

Gagarine (2020)

Cité Gagarine was demolished in 2020, but it's central to this unusual blend of realist drama and sci-fi fantasia, where life and dreams mix in strange and soulful ways.

Posted Sep 29, 2021

4/5

The Green Knight (2021)

David Hughes

A tale told mainly via startling visuals requires an actor with a singularly expressive face, and Patel rises to the challenge. He strips away knightly courage to reveal the fear lurking behind every so-called 'hero'.

Posted Sep 29, 2021

5/5

No Time To Die (2021)

By whatever metrics you measure a Bond movie -- tight plotting, gnarly villains, emotional sincerity -- Craig's final outing is a rip-roaring success.

Posted Sep 29, 2021

4/5

Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2021)

Stephen A. Russell

Positively glowing, it just might be one of the sweetest gay films to come out of England since Beautiful Thing.

Posted Sep 17, 2021

5/5

Little Fugitive (1953)

Eric Hynes

Like childhood itself, it's over before you're ready to let it go.

Posted Sep 15, 2021

4/5

Encounter (2021)

Hanna Flint

Pearce shows both a visual and thematic appreciation for genre films in all sorts of endearing and enigmatic ways.

Posted Sep 14, 2021

4/5

Official Competition (Competencia oficial) (2021)

Banderas and Martínez play their catty thesps dead straight to generally hilarious effect, while Cruz cuts loose as a fiery artiste prone to dancing the floss in moments of stress.

Posted Sep 10, 2021

3/5

Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)

Stephen A. Russell

As envisioned by Japanese director Sion Sono, the brains behind blood-drenched show Tokyo Vampire Hotel and flushed turtle-turned kaiju film Love & Peace, it's a hoot.

Posted Sep 10, 2021

2/5

The War Below (2021)

Noah Barnett

The War Belowis a story of duty and sacrifice, so heartstring-plucking comes pretty much guaranteed. But for all its authentic-feeling soldierly banter, the script never really humanises the men.

Posted Sep 10, 2021

4/5

Django & Django (2021)

An entertaining documentary that's a proper tummy tickle for fans of the genre.

Posted Sep 10, 2021

1/5

Halloween Kills (2021)

It all feels so rote and old-school, especially during such an exciting era for the genre.

Posted Sep 8, 2021

4/5

The Hand of God (È stata la mano di Dio) (2021)