Film
Losing the plot
Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky is a heist caper that, to be fair, does what it says on the can. There…
In praise of Netflix
All this week I have been trying, with considerable success, to avoid being bludgeoned by TV programmes telling me in…
Tricky, and slightly sicky
The Big Sick is a rom-com that’s smarter than most rom-coms, which isn’t saying much, admittedly. It stars a Muslim…
Ivory towers
Great novels rarely make great movies, but for half a century one director has been showing all the others how…
Visual, visceral, confusing
Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk has already been described as ‘a masterpiece’ and ‘a glorious, breathtakingly vivid triumph’, but we need to…
Do not be afraid
It Comes at Night is a horror film and I can’t say horror is my favourite genre. In fact, as…
Match made in heaven
Tennis is best played with a wooden racket on a shady lawn somewhere close to Dorking. There is no need…
Russell Crowe knows how to wear a pair of inverted commas: The Nice Guys reviewed
Regular filmgoers must be losing count of the Rabelaisian revelries they’ve been invited to of late. You may recognise the…
It’s time to kill James Bond
After six decades, it’s time we were done with 007
Why Deborah Ross wants to punch G.K. Chesterton in the head
Love & Friendship is based on the little-known Jane Austen epistolary novella, Lady Susan, which was not published until after…
Cannes, exclusive? I’ve met classier crowds in brothels
New York Let’s face it, sleaze is to professional party-givers what jail is to a burglar, an occupational hazard. I’ve…
Weird, wise, thought-provoking and hypnotic: Heart of a Dog reviewed
Heart of a Dog is a film by Laurie Anderson and it’s a meditative, free-associating rumination on life, loss, love…
I’m sure women spoke in 1980: Everybody Wants Some!! reviewed
Everybody Wants Some!! is a comedy written and directed by Richard Linklater, which is the good news, but it’s set…
When opera singers can’t sing
Were Florence Foster Jenkins and her fellow culprits touchingly heroic, cynically fraudulent or just plain bonkers? Rupert Christiansen reports
Not a trip to the cinema you’ll bitterly resent – or hugely enjoy: Florence Foster Jenkins reviewed
Before we turn our attention to Florence Foster Jenkins — but if you can’t wait, it’s so-so — I feel…
I swear this is the last Marvel film I see: Captain America reviewed
Captain America: Civil War is the 897th instalment — or something like it — in the Marvel comic franchise. This…
With the release of Oculus Rift, cinema will never be the same again
With the release of Oculus Rift – virtual reality you can buy from a shop – cinema will never be the same again, says Peter Hoskin
A devastating critique of the Indian justice system: Court reviewed
The big hitter this week is, of course, Batman v Superman, but if you want to learn something new, and…
Incoherent and misogynistic: High-Rise reviewed
High-Rise is Ben Wheatley’s adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s novel, and it is deeply unpleasant, if not deeply, deeply unpleasant. (Ideally,…
Anomalisa makes me wish all my sex was puppet sex
Anomalisa is an animated film written by Charlie Kaufman, and while the temptation is to label it a midlife crisis…
Are the Coen Brothers taking us for a ride? Hail, Caesar! reviewed
The latest film from the Coen brothers is a comedy set during the ‘golden age’ of Hollywood and in some…
What were they thinking? The Benefactor reviewed
The Benefactor is both a bad film and a thoroughly inexplicable one. It’s one of those what-were-they-thinking projects that wastes…
What is a serious film festival doing opening with Hail, Caesar!
What is a serious film festival doing opening with Ethan and Joel Coens’ turkey Hail, Caesar!? James Woodall reports from Berlin