Cinema
Exquisite and riveting: Wildlife reviewed
Wildlife is an adaptation of the 1990 novel by Richard Ford about a family coming apart at the seams, and…
It’s like being trapped in an episode of Poldark: Peterloo reviewed
Mike Leigh’s Peterloo is one of those films where you keep waiting for it to get good, and waiting and…
A succession of predigested clichés: Bohemian Rhapsody reviewed
There is a moment in Bohemian Rhapsody when the screen swims with print. The reviews for Queen’s epic new single…
Bleak, unflinching, oppressive, violent – and magical: Dogman reviewed
Matteo Garrone’s Dogman, which is Italy’s entry for the foreign language Oscar next year, is bleak, unflinching, oppressive, masculine (very),…
What was Neil Armstrong like? A complete bore if First Man is anything to go by
Damien Chazelle’s First Man is a biographical drama that follows Neil Armstrong in the decade leading up to the Apollo…
Lady Gaga is a revelation: A Star is Born reviewed
This version of A Star Is Born, starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, is the fourth iteration (Janet Gaynor and…
Glenn Close rescues this clumsy new adaptation: The Wife reviewed
The Wife is an adaptation of the Meg Wolitzer novel (2003) and stars Glenn Close. Her performance is better than…
The invisible woman of French cinema: Faces Places reviewed
Faces Places is a documentary directed by Agnès Varda in collaboration with JR, the famous Parisian photographer and muralist (although,…
Just an average romcom – or am I being too old-trouty?: Crazy Rich Asians reviewed
The cast and producer of Crazy Rich Asians were present at the screening I attended and said a few words…
Sensation seeking
This adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s play is handsomely mounted, as they say, and features a stellar cast (including Annette Bening,…
Oh dear: Yardie reviewed
Yardie is Idris Elba’s first film as a director and what I have to say isn’t what I wanted to…
If you think you can’t have too much Ian McEwan, then you are wrong
The Children Act is the third Ian McEwan film adaptation in 18 months (after The Child in Time and On…
A captivating addition to the filmography of the first world war: The Guardians reviewed
There are moments in The Guardians when you can imagine you’re in the wrong art form. Time stills, the frame…
For any politician spoiling for a fight over Ireland’s border, Under the Tree is required viewing
Every so often there’s a news story in which neighbours quarrel over rampaging leylandii. The police are summoned, the case…
It will save some marriages – or end others: The Escape reviewed
Dominic Savage had an early start. In Barry Lyndon (1975), Stanley Kubrick’s sprawling take on Thackeray, he played a prepubescent…
Fascinating, powerful and brilliantly done: Apostasy reviewed
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
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again aims to do what it says on the can. That is, be Mamma Mia,…
Shamelessly derivative and, worse, asks us to root for asshats: Swimming with Men reviewed
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
Debra Granik, the writer-director who made quite a splash with Winter’s Bone (which launched the career of Jennifer Lawrence in…
No fear
Hereditary is the horror film that has been described as a ‘ride of pure terror’ and likened to The Exorcist…
Women can now make dull formulaic franchise films too! Hurrah! Ocean’s 8 reviewed
Ocean’s 8 is the all-female spin-off of the all-male Ocean’s trilogy and it’s a sop, with a third act that…
Cynical, one-dimensional and oddly colourless: Jurassic World – Fallen Kingdom reviewed
Back in the mists of prehistory, when I was eight, dinosaur films followed a set pattern. The dinosaurs themselves would…
Ninety years old and still feels as fresh as a daisy: G.W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box reviewed
Two films this week, one that has stood the test of time, dazzlingly — it still feels as fresh as…
I desperately wanted to love Edie but I couldn’t
Edie tells the story of an 84-year-old woman who wants to fulfil a girlhood ambition by climbing a Scottish mountain.…
Whoever signed off on the ending deserves a good thrashing: On Chesil Beach reviewed
On Chesil Beach is an adaptation of the Ian McEwen novella set in 1962 when ‘conversation about sexual difficulties was…
