The Brutalist review: A masterfully designed film January 24, 2025 As we head into Oscars season, one of the front runners this year is Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist. Already a Golden Globe winner, it is the director’s third and most ambitious feature following 2015’s The Childhood Of A Leader and 2018’s Vox Lux. That ambition has more than been realised. Adrien Brody plays László Tóth, [...]
Wolf Man review: A werewolf movie that lacks bite January 22, 2025 Universal seems to be determined to make its classic monster movies work for a new generation. After failed reboots in the 2000s and 2010s, some success was found just before the pandemic with Leigh Whannell’s thriller The Invisible Man, a modern, stripped-down take on the classic horror story. If it can work once, Hollywood will [...]
Presence review: Chiller where audience becomes the ghost January 22, 2025 While he made his name in the mainstream with the Magic Mike and Ocean’s Eleven films, Steven Soderbergh has experimented with genre and form in a number of smaller movies. In the horror genre, he made 2011’s frighteningly prescient pandemic horror Contagion, and delved into the darker corners of the mind with 2018’s Unsane. Now, [...]
Here film review: de-aged Tom Hanks can’t save soulless flop January 16, 2025 Robert Zemeckis is known for his love of cinema innovation, using motion capture to make Jim Carrey into Scrooge, or bring to life The Polar Express. In Here, he takes some of Hollywood’s biggest names through the different stages of life. It’s about a house, and the people who have lived on that spot, from [...]
Vermiglio review: Italian drama is a serious Oscar contender January 16, 2025 Vermiglio review and star rating: | ★★★★☆ With the Oscars on the horizon, Vermiglio will be hoping to make the cut as the Italian entry for Best International Feature. The title refers to a remote Italian village struggling to cope with the impact of the Second World War as it comes to an end. The family [...]
A Complete Unknown: Bob Dylan biopic gets the mercurial genius January 16, 2025 A Complete Unknown | ★★★★☆ One of Hollywood’s favourite sons takes on the lofty role of an American icon in A Complete Unknown. Timothee Chalamet plays Bob Dylan in the period that made him a megastar. Starting in 1961 where he was an anonymous folk singer looking to make his name in New York’s Greenwich [...]
Emmanuelle: Softcore porn reboot somehow makes watching sex boring January 15, 2025 Emmanuelle (2024) | ★★☆☆☆ Emmanuelle, the 1974 film that helped drag softcore erotica into the cultural mainstream, remains among the most successful French movies of all time. Watched by some 300 million horny men and women, it was an X-rated affair, briefly banned in its home nation, perhaps best-known for an infamous scene in which [...]
A Complete Unknown review: Timothee Chalamet stars in thrilling biopic January 14, 2025 A Complete Unknown review and star rating: | ★★★★☆ Timothee Chalamet’s career is beginning to feel like a high-wire act. He’s a fabulous actor, but one whose off-screen cult of personality seems forever on the cusp of eclipsing his on-screen talent. I feared taking on Bob Dylan, a man who seems to vanish like a shadow [...]
Babygirl review: Nicole Kidman wows again in sexy drama January 9, 2025 Movies about sex can often be lost in sensational headlines, any message overshadowed by the intrigue of a famous person being naughty on-screen. Babygirl, nominated for Best Picture – Drama at last weekend’s Golden Globes, will be hoping Oscar voters see the story behind the shagging. Nicole Kidman stars as Romy Mathis, a powerful chief [...]
Where to spend New Year’s Eve: London’s very best events December 26, 2024 From boozy dinners to DJs and where to catch the fireworks, Larissa Steel has ten ideas for you this New Year’s Eve New Year’s Eve feels like a far-off thought – but the capital’s best events are booking up ahead of Christmas, so now’s the time to secure tickets. Here are some of the very [...]