What backing singers are really thinking behind the ‘ooh, ooh, oohs’
Have you ever looked at backing singers and thought: what is their story? Do they or have they ever prayed…
These screen suicides deserve a nudge off the ledge
A Long Way Down is about four would-be suicides who meet for the first time on the top of a…
Are you a lobotomised teenager? Then Need for Speed is for you
OK, Need for Speed, if we must, and we must because I sat through it (running time: 130 minutes) and…
A film to enjoy with your eyes
The Grand Budapest Hotel is the latest Wes Anderson film and it is beautiful to look at, scrumptious, luscious, such…
I'm proud to say The Book Thief couldn't pull my heartstrings
The Book Thief is based on Markus Zusak’s novel of the same name which, although written for young adults, appears…
You may be the Only One Left Awake at Only Lovers Left Alive
Jim Jarmusch is the noted American ‘cult director’, and if you were to judge him solely on the basis of…
Dallas Buyers Club - Matthew McConaughey gives the best performance of anyone's career
Although you’ll have heard that Dallas Buyers Club is fantastic and Matthew McConaughey gives the performance of his career, I…
Can Lance Armstrong squirm? We don't know because The Armstrong Lie doesn't make him
Alex Gibney’s The Armstrong Lies is fascinating as far as it goes but it may not go as far as…
August: Osage County? Why not make your own?
If you and your family are bored — if, for example, it’s one of those dull Sunday afternoons that seem…
Fists of cash, hookers and a candle in your bum palls after a while
Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street will set the cat among the pigeons as a number of films do.…
Deborah Ross: 12 Years a Slave harrowed me to within an inch of my life
Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave goes directly to the heart of American slavery without any shilly-shallying — unlike The…
'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom' is a very, very long walk indeed
The biopic Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom is a timely tribute, and an earnest and respectful and well-meaning one,…
What it's like to spend 90 minutes in the women's loo of a thumping nightclub
Powder Room is a small British film all about women and starring only women — boo-hoo, men; my heart bleeds…
Deborah Ross: If you don't enjoy Saving Mr Banks, there's something wrong with you
Saving Mr Banks tells ‘the untold true story’ of the making of the Disney classic Mary Poppins via the stand-offs…
The Butler, about a black domestic in the White House, is too painfully obvious
The Butler tells the story of an African–American butler at the White House who served eight American presidents over three…
Ryan Gosling couldn’t play Taki better than Taki
Seduced and Abandoned is both a satire on film-making and a love letter to film-making and a joy. A documentary…
The joy of cemeteries
How to get the best out of visiting a cemetery
Philomena is Dame Judi’s film
Philomena is based on the true story of an Irish woman searching for the son stolen from her by the…
Deborah Ross: The Selfish Giant is not fresh, but it's superbly performed
The Selfish Giant is a British social-realism film in the tradition of all such films from Kes onwards, so it…
Tom Hanks is the greatest actor alive
The main thing you should know about Captain Phillips is that it really puts you through the wringer. It’s based…
Four good reasons not to watch The Fifth Estate
Just how interesting you find The Fifth Estate may entirely depend on how interested you are in the whistle-blowing site…
I watched Filth from behind my hands. It's ghastly and unpleasant, but what I saw of it was brilliant
People are generally saying Filth fully fulfils the promise of its title and is not for the faint of heart…
Woody Allen's new film will so knock your socks off, you will never retrieve them again
Blue Jasmine is the latest film from Woody Allen who, at various stages of his career, has been declared on-form,…
About Time review: If Richard Curtis is brilliant at anything, it’s Upper Middle Class Lifestyle Porn
The easiest thing would be to sneer at Richard Curtis’s new film About Time, and so I will a little,…
A painful but brilliant film: Deborah Ross on Maisie’s betrayal
What Maisie Knew is an adaptation of the Henry James 1897 novel, updated to Manhattan in the now, and is…
