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Without Remorse Review

Without Remorse

Sicario 2 director Stefano Sollima teams up with Michael B. Jordan for the latest in franchise fodder inspired by Tom Clancy’s 1993 bestseller. It’s another generic auctioneer that’s oozing a rush job, filled with high levels of testosterone and machismo, questionable authenticity and eye-rolling predictability.Jordan takes on the role of Navy Seal John Clark, highly skilled and able to...

The French Dispatch Review

The French Dispatch

Isle of Dogs filmmaker Wes Anderson returns with another over stylised quirky offering with an A-list cast for his latest. An ode to print magazines, The French Dispatch is full of vibrant and clever compositions but it doesn’t make up for the fact the comedy and coherency of his story are woefully lacking.What some may call visionary, others will...

Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar Review

Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar

Teaming up for the first time since Bridesmaids, Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo not only star but co-wrote this shipwreck of overblown drivel. A catastrophic comedy that would have been best cut down to a 20-minute sketch show, just so we don’t have to sit through the pain of Jamie Dornan’s excessive musical numbers for one.If ridiculous is what...

Candyman Review

Candyman 2021

Bernard Rose’s 1992 adaptation of Clive Barker’s novella gave birth to a frightening legend amongst a whole generation that preys on our fears to this very day. Nia DaCosta’s follow-up to that film injects the legend firmly in this telling with fantastical cinematography, sturdy links to the 1992 version, social commentary and a touch of tongue in cheek comedy,...

How to Stop a Recurring Dream Review

How to Stop a Recurring Dream

It’s not an easy leap to jump from directing commercials and music video’s to feature-length films, but Ed Morris takes that leap of faith with his debut in this affecting British drama exploring themes of loss and separation lead by Bridgerton’s Ruby Barker.The story focuses on Yakira (Barker), a wayward teenage girl who has never gotten over the grief...

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Review

Ghostbusters Afterlife review

When mentioning Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters, audiences of a certain age no doubt look back on a time filled with childhood nostalgia. Skip forward 37 years and insert Reitman’s offspring Jason – who directs and co-wrote the latest in the franchise instalment – and that nostalgic feeling comes rushing to the surface with the joyous and heartfelt next chapter that pays...

Godmothered Review

Godmothered

A modern-day Elf for feminists, whilst enjoyable for its escapism, won’t be turning any frogs into princes any time soon. It wouldn’t be a festive period without the magic direct from the house of mouse and the promise of a “Disney Princess”. So teaming up with Bridget Jones Diary’s Sharon Maguire, expectations are high to bring home that feel-good nostalgia...

Wonder Woman 1984 Review

Wonder Woman 1984

Never have we needed a blockbuster as much as we do right now in 2020!, Something big, bold and bloody explosive to break up the monotony some of us have had to sit through. There really is nothing like switching off with a big bag of popcorn and delving into the make-believe worlds that superheroes give us and hats...

Fresh Review

Fresh Sebastian Stan movie

Sebastian Stan teams up with Normal People star Daisy Edgar-Jones to tackle the modern dating world with just a hint of the torment it takes eating at our own flesh. First time director Mimi Cave knocks the proverbial nail in the coffin of toxic dating with a “fresh” examination of the pitiful and tiring way men approach dating, with one...

How To Build A Girl Review

How to Build A Girl

Caitlin Moran’s witty wordsmith wonder unleashes a whirlwind of ambitious thunder in Beanie Feldstein with a joyful trip to the 90s' sticking one finger up at sexist journalistic practices. Another of Caitlin Moran’s wordsmith wonders finds itself adapted in the name of Entertainment, at times semi-autobiographical, Beanie Feldstein’s Johanna takes a step into the 90s’ to unshackle the chains of...

Uncle Frank Review

Uncle Frank

A drama full of mental turmoil, whilst having a bucket load of charm, threatened to drown in a subject just tad water-downed for mainstream audiences. Paul Bettany gets to flex his non-marvel acting chops in a coming-out drama during a time where anything other than heterosexuality in certain US states was more than frowned upon.Told via the narrative of Sophia...

Dune Review

Dune review

Let’s all face it, if you didn’t know Denis Villeneuve’s version of Dune was about to be released, you must have been living under a rock. The over-hyped reboot of David Lynch’s 1984 catastrophe gathers the stars of today to revive the desert story. Thanks to the use of modern technology and cinematographer Greig Fraser’s eye for the spectacular views...

The Invisible Man Review

Leigh Whannell kicks off the re-envisioned Monster Universe with a hyper-intense modern-twist on a classic story. These days it’s not hard to trip over a reimagining, remake or whatever you want to call it at your local cinema.  Universal Pictures are taking advantage of their catalogue of classic monster movies and sprucing them up for modern-day audiences, the latest to...

No Time To Die Review

No Time To Die

After a couple of false starts due to some kind of pandemic, Daniel Craig’s final outing as the seminal James Bond in No Time To Die is finally upon us, and boy what a way to go out. Taking on Phoebe Waller-Bridge as one of the writers alongside Neal Purvis and Robert Wade for the Craig series has had a...

Deep Water Review

Deep Water movie

Director Adrian Lyne returns after 20 years with a slow-burn thriller, which is both smouldering and provokingly dark, that depicts Ben Affleck as the scorned and cuckold husband. A frustrating project that quite frankly makes you want to slap the man upside his head until his true, although still frustrating, self reveals a darker side with an appetite for...

The Dig Review

The Dig

Don’t be fooled by the digging and the dirt, this Netflix feature is one of those rare hidden gems just waiting to be unearthed. Quintessentially English, full of charm and tenacity Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan put in star performances in a story which wavers from its main focus for a bit of titillating forbidden romance.Set just before the...

Les Miserables Review

Les miserables

Ladj Ly's feature directorial debut clings to the provocative nature of La Haine with empathy and ferocity. It may have the same title as Victor Hugo’s infamous story, but this French drama, apart from being set in the same area of Paris as a section of his novel, is in no way yet another adaptation. Doused in timely themes of...

Spencer Review

Spencer Movie

Jackie director Pablo Larrain seems to have a taste for making movies about iconic female figures. With the 2016 film focusing on First Lady Jackie Kennedy in the aftermath of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the filmmaker turns his focus to Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) in this self-styled “fable from a true tragedy”.It’s a Christmas weekend in 1991, the Royal...

Eternals Review

Eternals

With the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase, 3 done and more or less dusted it’s time for the MCU to herald in a new era in phase 4 with a whole bunch of new faces. Directed by Oscar-winning art-house director Chloe Zhao gives this a more stylistic tinge filled with firsts but with all the blockbuster superhero humour and fanfare.This multi-cultural...

The Beach Bum Review

McConnaughey goes deeply method in a sleazy hedonistic adventure of messy misadventure. Spring Breakers filmmaker, Harmony Korine returns to the big screen with the chameleon of acting Matthew McConnaughy. Korine yet again pushes buttons in a sleazy hedonistic adventure of responsibility in a haze of sunshine drenched beaches accompanied by sex, drugs and alcohol-fuelled irresponsibility.Anyone would assume McConnaughy’s Moondog is...

Good Boys Review

In all its r-rated glory, there is simple pureness of innocence hidden in plain sight. When describing Good Boys, a tween Superbad wouldn’t be too far off the mark. What will come as no surprise is the r-rated swear-fest comes from the men behind said film and who also brought you the likes of Sausage Party and Pineapple Express, Seth...

Antlers Review

Antlers

Filmmaker Scott Cooper and producer Guillermo Del Toro delve into the world of indigenous folklore in the long-delayed horror. Delay seems to be the dish of the day, as the drawn-out convoluted story tries to build a foundation filled with multiple themes before finally transforming into an anti-climax.Keri Russell heads up the cast, taking on the role of small-town...

Tenet Review

Tenet

Christopher Nolan's mind-bending melting pot of confusion is a visually epic phenomenon, but its vagueness and headache-inducing storyline leave a sour taste. It’s the film that both Warner Bros and cinemas across the globe have pinned their hopes on to breathe life back into the pandemic hit planet earth. With Christopher Nolan’s insistence this needs to be seen on the...

A Christmas Gift From Bob Review

A Christmas Gift From Bob

Four years on since that furry little bundle of joy, Bob, stole the nation’s hearts in A Street Cat Named Bob, he returns for this follow-up tear-jerker to fill all our hearts with a little festive spirit and to remind us all of the power of human kindness. In the film’s predecessor, based on the real-life story of James Bowen’s...

The Forty-Year-Old Version Review

THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION

When life gives Radha Blank lemons, she makes lemonade and sticks two fingers up those who use age to stop you doing what makes you happy.  Middle-age sometimes sneaks up and smacks you right between the eyes without you even realising and makes you question, what exactly have I done with my life? That’s the exact inspiration behind Radha Blank’s...

One Night in Miami Review – London Film Festival 2020

One Night in Miami

Regina King makes her directorial debut with the latest in great black cinema, an adaptation of Kemp Powers' 2013 play marking a pivotal night in 1964. Lead by an eloquently laden dialogue-heavy storyline, its mere presence of its four leading men is nothing but mesmerizingly captivating.Set mainly in a hotel room after Cassius Clay aka Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree)...

Sometimes Always Never Review

Uniquely quirky but a long hard slog that is as dull as dishwater Sometimes things are never what they appear to be you may have the best vocabulary in the world but it’s not always easy to communicate with the ones you call Family. In Carl Hunter’s feature film debut a cunning wordsmith articulates his loss of a son by...

Mangrove Review – London Film Festival 2020

Mangrove Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen kicks of his Small Axe Anthology with a whirlwind force of nature, a poignant, eloquent and electrically charged hotbed of British stark reality of racial tension.  As the hotbed of racial tensions bubble over in the US and UK, filmmaker Steve McQueen’s first feature in the Small Axe anthology – which consists of five films – couldn’t feel...

We Summon the Darkness Review

Despite the title, there is nothing supernatural about this fluffy horror, just a bit of a murder spree of predictable boredom. You don’t have to look far for one of the most deceiving titles to hit feature films. You might expect a harrowing story of devil worshippers performing ritualistic routines to conjure up demon spawn for their own pleasure. What transpires...

Spies in Disguise Review

Pure, honest to god entertainment oozes out of every feel-good moment. Who knew Will Smith as a pigeon would be a winning formula? Troy Quane and Nick Bruno make their directorial debut with an animated Bond gone wrong. Pairing together the voices of big Willy himself, Will Smith, and the newest Spider-Man, Tom Holland for the long in development fun-sized...