Deborah Ross

Emotionally devastating: Richard E. Grant and Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Rivetingly moving: Can You Ever Forgive Me? reviewed

2 February 2019 9:00 am

Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a true story based on the 2008 memoir of Lee Israel, the writer who…

Nicole Kidman being 'brave' in Destroyer

Boy, does Nicole Kidman look terrible: Destroyer reviewed

26 January 2019 9:00 am

Destroyer is an LA noir starring Nicole Kidman ‘as you have never seen her before’. Her hair is terrible. Her…

Better than the film deserves: Saoirse Ronan as Mary Queen of Scots

A slog – and why does Elizabeth look like Ronald McDonald? Mary Queen of Scots reviewed

19 January 2019 9:00 am

Mary Queen of Scots is a historical costume drama that, unlike The Favourite, does not breathe new life into the…

Flat-out fabulous: Emma Stone as Abigail Hill in The Favourite

I don’t just recommend you see The Favourite. I command it

5 January 2019 9:00 am

The Favourite is a period romp set during the reign of Queen Anne, but it’s not your average period romp.…

Practically perfect in every way: Joel Dawson and Emily Blunt in Mary Poppins Returns

There’s something about Mary

15 December 2018 9:00 am

So, Mary Poppins returns, and I was, of course, primed to be spiteful, as is my nature. Not a patch…

Nothing much happens, yet there is so much to watch: Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma. [Photograph: Carlos Somonte/Netflix]

Nothing much happens, yet there’s so much to watch: Roma reviewed

8 December 2018 9:00 am

Roma is the latest film from Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity,Y Tu Mama Tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and…

Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams and Alessandro Nivola in Disobedience

A major missed opportunity: Disobedience reviewed

1 December 2018 9:00 am

Disobedience is an adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s novel about forbidden, lesbian love in orthodox Jewish north London, starring Rachel Weisz…

Forget Robin Hood and Girl in the Spider’s Web – Shoplifters is the film to see this week

24 November 2018 9:00 am

The major releases this week are Robin Hood, as a big Hollywood retelling, and The Girl in the Spider’s Web,…

A mess: Fantastic Beasts reviewed

17 November 2018 9:00 am

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is the sequel to the Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find…

Carey Mulligan in 'Wildlife'. Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Exquisite and riveting: Wildlife reviewed

10 November 2018 9:00 am

Wildlife is an adaptation of the 1990 novel by Richard Ford about a family coming apart at the seams, and…

A large cast is mostly led by shouty men, who lead shouty meetings: Mike Leigh’s Peterloo

It’s like being trapped in an episode of Poldark: Peterloo reviewed

3 November 2018 9:00 am

Mike Leigh’s Peterloo is one of those films where you keep waiting for it to get good, and waiting and…

The only ones to come out of Dogman well are the dogs

Bleak, unflinching, oppressive, violent – and magical: Dogman reviewed

20 October 2018 9:00 am

Matteo Garrone’s Dogman, which is Italy’s entry for the foreign language Oscar next year, is bleak, unflinching, oppressive, masculine (very),…

Running on empty: Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong in First Man

What was Neil Armstrong like? A complete bore if First Man is anything to go by

13 October 2018 9:00 am

Damien Chazelle’s First Man is a biographical drama that follows Neil Armstrong in the decade leading up to the Apollo…

Bradley Cooper as Jack and Lady Gaga as Ally in A Star Is Born

Lady Gaga is a revelation: A Star is Born reviewed

6 October 2018 9:00 am

This version of A Star Is Born, starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, is the fourth iteration (Janet Gaynor and…

Face value: Glenn Close as Joan Castleman in The Wife showing how much can be expressed with the tremor of an eyelid

Glenn Close rescues this clumsy new adaptation: The Wife reviewed

29 September 2018 9:00 am

The Wife is an adaptation of the Meg Wolitzer novel (2003) and stars Glenn Close. Her performance is better than…

JR and Agnès Varda in Faces Places, a mesmerising meditation on lives lived

The invisible woman of French cinema: Faces Places reviewed

22 September 2018 9:00 am

Faces Places is a documentary directed by Agnès Varda in collaboration with JR, the famous Parisian photographer and muralist (although,…

Awkwafina, as Peik Lin Goh, brings some much-needed liveliness to Crazy Rich Asians

Just an average romcom – or am I being too old-trouty?: Crazy Rich Asians reviewed

15 September 2018 9:00 am

The cast and producer of Crazy Rich Asians were present at the screening I attended and said a few words…

The superb Annette Bening in an iffy new film adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull

Sensation seeking

8 September 2018 9:00 am

This adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s play is handsomely mounted, as they say, and features a stellar cast (including Annette Bening,…

Aml Ameen as D in Idris Elba’s Yardie

Oh dear: Yardie reviewed

1 September 2018 9:00 am

Yardie is Idris Elba’s first film as a director and what I have to say isn’t what I wanted to…

Emma Thompson as Fiona Maye in The Children Act

If you think you can’t have too much Ian McEwan, then you are wrong

25 August 2018 9:00 am

The Children Act is the third Ian McEwan film adaptation in 18 months (after The Child in Time and On…

Molly Wright as Alex in Apostasy

Fascinating, powerful and brilliantly done: Apostasy reviewed

28 July 2018 9:00 am

For many years I would chat genially with our local Jehovah, Stephen, who came door-to-door every few months or so,…

Dreary, familiar, empty watch – until Streep appears: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again reviewed

21 July 2018 9:00 am

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again aims to do what it says on the can. That is, be Mamma Mia,…

That sinking feeling: Rob Brydon (Eric) and his fellow asshats in Swimming with Men

Shamelessly derivative and, worse, asks us to root for asshats: Swimming with Men reviewed

7 July 2018 9:00 am

Swimming with Men is a British drama-comedy starring Rob Brydon as a disaffected middle-aged accountant who joins his local male…

Leave No Trace is inaction-packed – yet it pulls you in and keeps you pulled in

30 June 2018 9:00 am

Debra Granik, the writer-director who made quite a splash with Winter’s Bone (which launched the career of Jennifer Lawrence in…

Wilde at heart: Colin Morgan as Bosie and Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde in The Happy Prince

No fear

23 June 2018 9:00 am

Hereditary is the horror film that has been described as a ‘ride of pure terror’ and likened to The Exorcist…