Death of a Unicorn
2025
*
Director: Alex Scharfman
Cast: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Carrigan, Sunita Mani, Jessica Hynes, Steve Park, David Pasquesi
A lawyer and his daughter hit a unicorn on their way to a business meeting in the Canadian Rockies. While his billionaire boss is determined to study its horn and blood for miraculous healing properties, the other unicorns seek revenge. Alex Scharfman's directorial debut is an abysmal horror comedy, neither funny nor scary, with a premise too thin to sustain a full feature. Like many recent films, it portrays the ultra-rich as utterly despicable, yet Paul Rudd as the grovelling lawyer comes out of it as the most unpleasant character. Scharfman tells the story with all the subtlety of a hammer, while the performances are suitably shrill and exaggerated. To top it all off, the CGI unicorns look terrible.
The Gorge
2025
*
Director: Scott Derrickson
Cast: Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sigourney Weaver, Sope Dirisu, William Houston, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, James Marlowe, Julianna Kurokawa, Ruta Gedmintas, Oliver Trevena
Levi and Drasa, two elite snipers, are assigned to guard towers on opposite sides of a vast gorge, where the Hollow Men live. As time goes on, they form a forbidden connection across the divide and attempt to unravel the true purpose of their mission. Scott Derrickson's romantic science-fiction action film is based on a highly rated screenplay by Zach Dean, which proves to be as good as his previous one for The Tomorrow War. The film is not only stupid but so boring from beginning to end that I kept myself awake by asking silly questions about the plot. Why do both one-person towers have a chess board for two? Why does she have an endless stock of A3-size notebooks? Why does he write poetry in the dark and can he even read it the next day? Where in the northern hemisphere can you dine outdoors in a sleeveless dress in February? What does the evil corporation do to the DNA to create super-soldiers when the Treebeards on horseback can be so easily killed? When the scientist delivers her exposition dump to Levi and Drasa, who filmed the footage, recorded the sound, processed the film, and edited the clip to be projected in 1946 - and why? Most of this ugly-looking film appears to have been shot on a murky sound stage. As for the soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, at times I had trouble distinguishing it from the sound effects.
La Vérité (The Truth)
2019
***
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke, Clémentine Grenier, Manon Clavel, Alain Libolt, Christian Crahay, Roger Van Hool, Ludivine Sagnier, Laurent Capelluto
Fabienne, a celebrated French actress, is publishing her memoirs. Her daughter Lumir returns to Paris with her American husband and child, and confronts her mother’s selective memory of their shared past. Hirokazu Kore-eda’s first film set outside Japan offers an intriguing yet surprisingly underwhelming exploration of the fluidity of truth and memory. Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche give reliably great performances.
Stronger
2017
***
Director: David Gordon Green
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson, Clancy Brown, Frankie Shaw, Lenny Clarke, Richard Lane Jr., Patty O’Neil, Carlos Sanz, Danny McCarthy
Jeff Bauman loses both of his legs in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. As he undergoes physical rehabilitation and struggles with emotional trauma, he also faces the burden of becoming a public symbol of resilience. David Gordon Green’s drama explores strength and recovery but ends up as a quintessentially American story where survival is equated with heroism and celebrity. The performances, especially from Jake Gyllenhaal and Tatana Maslany, are great, yet the film is a difficult watch for the wrong reasons. Jeff spends most of the running time wallowing in self-pity, while his on-and-off girlfriend Erin moves in with him and his mother to witness his struggle around the clock. All of this seems overdramatised, particularly knowing that Jeff co-wrote his memoir with Bret Witter and published it only a year after the bombing.
Sisu 2 (Sisu: Road to Revenge)
2025
****
Director: Jalmari Helander
Cast: Jorma Tommila, Stephen Lang, Richard Brake, Einar Haraldsson, Jaakko Hutchings, Ergo Küppas, Anton Klink
In 1946, Aatami Korpi returns to the ceded part of Finland to dismantle and transport his log house across the border. The Soviet Red Army commander who killed Korpi's wife and two children sets out to finish the job. The sequel to the thoroughly enjoyable Sisu retains the style and quality of the original. The brutal cross-country chase and fight give Jalmari Helander an opportunity to stage some entertainingly violent and ridiculously outlandish action set pieces.
Cha Cha Real Smooth
2022
**½
Director: Cooper Raiff
Cast: Cooper Raiff, Dakota Johnson, Raúl Castillo, Odeya Rush, Evan Assante, Vanessa Burghardt, Brad Garrett, Leslie Mann, Colton Osorio, Amara Pedroso Saquel
22-year-old Andrew returns home and takes a part-time job as a party-starter at bar and bat mitzvahs, where he forms a complicated bond with an older woman and her autistic teenage daughter. Cooper Raiff's second feature is a sympathetic yet pretentious romantic comedy about the aimlessness of post-college life. Raiff, a rather charmless performer with his perpetual grin, has somewhat self-indulgently written himself the leading role as the nicest guy in the world who proves irresistible to an older woman who is already in a seemingly happy relationship. The story offers little genuine drama or insight, though it does deliver four or five endings. The film's title, taken from the lyrics of "Cha Cha Slide", is terrible.
Ballad of a Small Player
2025
***
Director: Edward Berger
Cast: Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, Tilda Swinton, Deanie Ip, Alex Jennings, Jason Tobin, Adrienne Lau, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Alan K. Chang, Margaret Cheung
A washed-up gambler known as Lord Doyle hides out in Macau after fleeing the UK under dubious circumstances. As his luck seems to run out and his debts grow, he hopes to strike it rich once more at the baccarat tables. Edward Berger's drama looks and sounds terrific — the neon lit Macau shot by James Friend looks fabulous and Volker Bertelmann's score is powerful. However, the story, based on Lawrence Osborne's 2014 novel, is not terribly original or captivating. Although Colin Farrell delivers a compelling performance, it's difficult to feel sorry for an addict who would sell his own mother to keep gambling.
Wicked Little Letters
2023
**
Director: Thea Sharrock
Cast: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Anjana Vasan, Timothy Spall, Gemma Jones, Eileen Atkins, Joanna Scanlan, Malachi Kirby, Lolly Adefope, Alisha Weir, Hugh Skinner, Paul Chahidi
In 1920, residents of an English seaside town begin to receive obscene and foul-mouthed anonymous letters. A devout Christian spinster living with her parents becomes the main target, and suspicion soon falls on her neighbour, a single Irish mother with a sharp tongue. This horribly heavy-handed comedy mystery about prejudice and hypocrisy may be based on the real-life Littlehampton libels, but its historical accuracy is dubious — the diverse cast and socially progressive attitudes clearly reflect contemporary values. The men in this patriarchal world are all disgusting misogynists, yet no one seems to have a racist bone in their body. The characters are painfully one-note and the farcical humour, built almost entirely on the characters spewing expletives, failed to make me laugh.
Triangle of Sadness
2022
****
Director: Ruben Östlund
Cast: Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Woody Harrelson, Zlatko Burić, Dolly De Leon, Iris Berben, Vicki Berlin, Henrik Dorsin, Sunnyi Melles, Jean-Christophe Folly
Carl and Yaya, professional models and a couple, join a luxury cruise for the ultra-rich. However, when the yacht is struck by a series of calamities, the tables are turned. Ruben Östlund's darkly comic satire pokes fun at the rich, particularly their vanity and entitlement. The rich are a low hanging fruit, but Östlund's script is clever and often very funny. The central set piece on the yacht during a storm, when almost everyone gets sick, is hilarious and wonderfully directed.
The Party
2017
****
Director: Sally Potter
Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, Timothy Spall, Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy, Cherry Jones, Jeremy Shamos, Gary Dexter, Chloe Pirrie
Janet hosts a small celebration with her husband Bill, and a few close friends. As the evening unfolds, personal revelations, confessions, and betrayals turn the gathering into chaos. Sally Potter's short, deliciously entertaining dark comedy unfolds entirely within one London home. The performances are wonderful and Aleksei Rodionov's black and white cinematography looks terrific.
Blindspotting
2018
***½
Director: Carlos López Estrada
Cast: Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal, Janina Gavankar, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Ethan Embry, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Tisha Campbell, Wayne Knight, Kevin Carroll, Lance Holloway
Collin, a young Black man nearing the end of his probation, struggles to stay out of trouble after witnessing a white police officer shoot an unarmed Black man, while his best friend Miles is a disaster waiting to happen. Carlos López Estrada's directorial debut, written by its two leads, Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, is set in rapidly gentrifying Oakland, California. The film delivers a thrilling, if sometimes unusual and awkward, blend of drama, social commentary, and humour. Its low point is a tonally baffling flashback to Collin's felony, while its high point is a dramatic climax delivered through freestyle rap.
After Yang
2021
**
Director: Kogonada
Cast: Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, Justin H. Min, Haley Lu Richardson, Sarita Choudhury, Ritchie Coster, Clifton Collins Jr., Brett Dier, Ava DeMary
Jake and Kyra, their adopted daughter Mika, and their android companion Yang live as a family. When Yang breaks down and Jake attempts to have him repaired, he discovers fragments of Yang’s recorded memories. Kogonada's debut feature, Columbus, was a likeable but ultimately dull study of emotional isolation and family obligation. His follow-up is a science fiction-tinged family drama based on Alexander Weinstein's 2016 short story Saying Goodbye to Yang. The film asks what it means to be alive, to love, and to remember, but I found it stylistically alienating and, frankly, insufferable. Nearly every scene unfolds in artistically underlit rooms, where lifeless, uninteresting characters, often shot from a distance, whisper their dialogue against a backdrop of ethereal, tinkly piano music by Aska Matsumiya and Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Superman
2025
**½
Director: James Gunn
Cast: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, María Gabriela de Faría, Wendell Pierce
When tech billionaire Lex Luthor orchestrates an international conflict and turns public opinion against Superman, the Man of Steel must reconcile with his Kryptonian heritage, confront Luthor’s schemes, and restore the public trust. James Gunn reboots the DC Universe with the fourth incarnation of its best-loved superhero, following Superman (1978), Superman Returns (2006), and Man of Steel (2013). We don't get an origin story, as Clark Kent and Lois Lane have already shared their secrets and are dating. The plot covertly touches on topical real-world issues, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and crackdowns on illegal immigration. After the disastrous DC Extended Universe series, Gunn faces raised expectations and general superhero movie fatigue. And yet, this turns out to be another entirely forgettable superhero outing, climaxing, like many before it, in a destructive battle among skyscrapers. All the while, the people of Metropolis are so stupid and kneejerky that they almost deserve to die. The new cast is fine, though I'm unsure about Krypto the CGI dog.
Opus
2025
*½
Director: Mark Anthony Green
Cast: Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Tatanka Means, Young Mazino, Stephanie Suganami, Tamera Tomakili, Tony Hale
Ariel Ecton, a young aspiring journalist, is one of the selected few invited to the remote compound of a reclusive pop star who is about to release his first new album in 30 years. Ariel finds herself surrounded by a cult-like group of sycophants and begins to suspect that all is not as it seems. Mark Anthony Green's directorial debut is a thriller that suffers immensely from arriving in the wake of superior, similar works such as Get Out, The Menu, and Midsommar. Green's film is not only derivative but also rushed, superficial, and dull. I accept that this is a story about control and celebrity worship, but after Blink Twice I can't handle more characters who have no agency of their own. I could just about accept the guests entering a compound secured with a padlock and surrendering their mobile phones, but the film lost me entirely when they allow their pubic hair to be shaved to please the host. Either Ayo Edebiri has a limited range or simply plays the same character she portrays on The Bear.
Ghosted
2023
*½
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Cast: Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Mike Moh, Amy Sedaris, Tate Donovan, Tim Blake Nelson, Marwan Kenzari, Anna Deavere Smith, Mustafa Shakir
Cole meets Sadie and spends an unforgettable day and night with her. When she seemingly ghosts him afterward, he discovers that she is actually a CIA agent and ends up helping her secure a stolen bioweapon code. If this romantic action comedy sounds contrived, thats's because it is. Four writers are credited for the screenplay, yet it fails to deliver a single original or exciting idea. There are some decent, if CGI-heavy, action set pieces, but the romance is dead - unless you find it romantic when a guy takes semi-nude selfies on the first date while you're asleep and stalks you halfway across the world.
Ainda Estou Aqui (I’m Still Here)
2024
****½
Director: Walter Salles
Cast: Fernanda Torres, Fernanda Montenegro, Selton Mello, Valentina Herszage, Luiza Kosovski, Bárbara Luz, Cora Mora, Maria Beatriz Facciolla, Guilherme Silveira, Antonio Saboia
In January 1971, military forces raid the home of dissident politician Rubens Paiva, leading to his arrest and disappearance. His wife, Eunice, is left to pick up the pieces as she tries to uncover the truth about Rubens and protect their five children from it. Walter Salles’ powerful, fact-based drama sheds light on the horrors of the military regime that ruled Brazil between 1964 and 1985. The screenplay is based on the 2015 memoir of Marcelo Rubens Paiva, one of the children. Fernanda Torres delivers a subtle, dignified, and heartbreaking performance as Eunice, which rightly earned widespread praise. I could have done without the two time jumps at the end.
Robot Dreams
2023
***
Director: Pablo Berger
Cast:
A lonely dog buys a robot companion to escape his solitude. Dog and Robot form a deep friendship, but a day at the beach in salt water leaves Robot immobilised, and Dog is forced to leave him behind. Pablo Berger's 2D animation is visually charming, especially in its nostalgic depiction of 1980s New York City. The sweet but melancholic story, adapted from Sara Varon's 2007 graphic novel, explores love, loss, and the nature of friendship, and it all unfolds without dialogue. However, there is enough material for a 30-minute short, but the feature-length format makes the second half feel repetitive and dull.
Unsane
2018
**½
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Amy Irving, Aimee Mullins, Polly McKie, Gibson Frazier, Zach Cherry, Michael Mihm
A young woman, traumatised by a stalker, relocates to a new city to escape her past. She unknowingly commits herself to a mental institution, where she encounters her stalker. Steven Soderbergh's disappointing film starts like a cross between One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Shock Corridor. Is she telling the truth, or is she losing her mind? The protagonist certainly does not help her case with her impulsive and short-tempered behaviour. The second half removes any ambiguity about her sanity and turns this into a conventional thriller.
The Last Showgirl
2024
***
Director: Gia Coppola
Cast: Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kiernan Shipka, Brenda Song, Billie Lourd, Dave Bautista, Jason Schwartzman, Robert Schwartzman, Natalie Farrey, Autumn Durald Arkapaw
A 57-year-old Las Vegas showgirl faces an uncertain future when the revue she has performed in for more than 30 years is about to close. While she contemplates her next steps, she hopes to reconnect with her estranged daughter. Gia Coppola's short drama portrays an ageing performer confronting the sacrifices of her past, which makes it a female counterpart to The Wrestler. This is an engaging, if somewhat inconsequential, film that primarily serves as a vehicle for Pamela Anderson to showcase her acting skills for the first time. Kate Gersten's script is based on her own play Body of Work.
We Live in Time
2024
**½
Director: John Crowley
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Florence Pugh, Adam James, Aoife Hinds, Marama Corlett, Nikhil Parmar, Heather Craney, Douglas Hodge, Grace Molony, Lee Braithwaite, Amy Morgan, Lucy Briers
John Crowley’s romantic drama follows the evolving relationship between Almut and Tobias. We watch them meet, fall in love, build a life and a family together, only to have their happiness interrupted by Almut’s battle with ovarian cancer. Their story is told out of order, a needless gimmick that diminishes character development and undercuts the drama's momentum. This tearjerker follows in the footsteps of Love Story and The Fault in Our Stars, but it delivers one of the most polished portrayal of a serious illness I can remember. Some scenes feel overly formulaic or inconsequential, particularly their meet-cute, the birth of their daughter, and the shaving of her hair. Florence Pugh is, as always, terrific, but I was left unimpressed by Andrew Garfield's puppy eyes performance.
Play Dirty
2025
***
Director: Shane Black
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, Chukwudi Iwuji, Nat Wolff, Gretchen Mol, Thomas Jane, Tony Shalhoub
Following a successful heist at a racetrack’s count room, Parker and his crew are double-crossed, costing him both the loot and his partner. Parker tracks down the traitor but ends up reluctantly teaming up with her for an even bigger score. Shane Black’s latest offering is an enjoyable but ultimately forgettable action comedy, leaning more on CGI-heavy set pieces than genuine laughs. The script is loosely adapted from the Parker crime-novel series by Richard Stark.
The Tomorrow War
2021
*
Director: Chris McKay
Cast: Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, J.K. Simmons, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge, Jasmine Mathews, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Keith Powers, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Theo Von
As humanity is losing a war against deadly alien creatures in 2051, soldiers from the future travel back in time to 2021 to recruit more troops. One of them is Dan Forester, a high school teacher and former soldier, who leaves his family but ends up fighting alongside his grown-up daughter. Zach Dean's intriguing yet unoriginal script borrows elements from Edge of Tomorrow, Starship Troopers, Interstellar, and The Thing, among others. However, what Chris McKay's science-fiction action spectacle most resembles is Transformers, an utterly incomprehensible, incredibly boring, infernally loud, and seemingly endless serving of CGI-heavy action without a singe properly drawn character. The future humans are not terribly smart either, as they continue to take on the overpowering and impervious aliens in hand-to-hand combat with conventional weapons.
Strange Darling
2023
**½
Director: JT Mollner
Cast: Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Madisen Beaty, Steven Michael Quezada, Ed Begley Jr., Barbara Hershey, Bianca A. Santos, Denise Grayson, Eugenia Kuzmina, Sheri Foster
A man and a woman meet and check into a motel for a kinky one-night stand. As the night unfolds, it becomes clear that something darker is at play, and the encounter spirals into a violent cat-and-mouse. JT Mollner’s second feature is a pulpy, bloody exploitation thriller presented in six out-of-order chapters with goofy titles. So far, so Tarantino. Ultimately, I found the non-linear structure frustrating rather than exhilarating, and felt it was used to disguise an unoriginal script and protect the one big twist. Nevertheless, Willa Fitzgerald gives an impressive lead performance. The title card announces that the film was shot on 35 mm film (by Giovanni Ribisi, in his cinematographic debut). Why is that significant or special?
Godzilla Minus One
2023
***
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Cast: Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Andō, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Miou Tanaka, Yūya Endō, Sae Nagatani
In postwar Japan, a monstrous creature - mutated by radiation from atomic bomb tests - heads towards Tokyo. A cowardly kamikaze pilot who survived its attack during the war joins a collective effort to defeat the monster. The 37th film in the franchise doesn't really offer many surprises. I have only seen the awful 1998 and 2014 Hollywood releases, so this Japanese monster movie is marginally better, but it's certainly not worth the enormous hype. As in Bong Joon-ho's The Host, the state is helpless, leaving the citizens to unite in defense. The Academy Award-winning visual effects cost peanuts but look impressive, although Godzilla often appears rather lifeless.
The Invisible Man
2020
****
Director: Leigh Whannell
Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Benedict Hardie, Sam Smith, Amali Golden, Zara Michales
After her abusive and controlling partner commits suicide, Cecilia experiences strange and terrifying events, which lead her to believe that he is still alive but has found a way to become invisible. Leigh Whannell's loose adaptation of H. G. Wells’ 1897 novel is a very effective science fiction-tinted horror movie. The story deals with paranoia, stalking, gaslighting, and domestic abuse, and features some genuinely creepy scenes and wonderful use of negative space. Elisabeth Moss gives a terrific lead performance.
Emilia Pérez
2024
***½
Director: Jacques Audiard
Cast: Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, Édgar Ramírez, Adriana Paz, Enrique Arce, Juan Minujín, Mauricio Barrientos, Marcelo Alonso, Waldo Facco
A Mexican lawyer is approached by a drug cartel leader who wants to secretly undergo gender reassignment surgery and begin a new life as Emilia Pérez. Years later, Emilia wants to reconnect with her family, while her violent past threatens to unravel her new identity. Jacques Audiard's musical melodrama wooed the critics but was detested by the general public, who resented the film's cultural stereotyping, trans representation, and casting choices, among other things. I am willing to overlook these shortcomings because Audiard's film is totally unique and, for the most part, captivating. The story is loosely based on Boris Razon's 2018 novel Écoute, and it intertwines crime drama with musical elements, dealing with identity and redemption. Karla Sofía Gascón and the Academy Award–winning Zoe Saldana give great performances, while Selena Gomez is less convincing. Some of the songs by Clément Ducol and Camille Dalmais are powerful. El mal won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
The Greatest Beer Run Ever
2022
*½
Director: Peter Farrelly
Cast: Zac Efron, Russell Crowe, Bill Murray, Jake Picking, Will Ropp, Archie Renaux, Kyle Allen, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, Omari K. Chancellor, Kevin K. Tran
In 1967, a well-meaning New Yorker, Chick Donahue, decides to cheer up his friends serving in Vietnam by bringing them beer. The lighthearted mission becomes an eye-opening experience for the young man. Peter Farrelly's follow-up to Green Book is another crowd-pleaser set in the 1960s. This may be a true story, but it doesn’t make a believable drama, comedy, or anything else. The main problem is that Chick is dumber than Forrest Gump and never seems to get smarter, even as he learns the grim realities of conflict and comes to accept that the US government may not be honest about the actual state of the war. The script is awful, and the resulting film feels endless. Based on the 2017 memoir The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War by John "Chick" Donohue and J.T. Molloy.
A Hologram for the King
2016
***
Director: Tom Tykwer
Cast: Tom Hanks, Alexander Black, Sarita Choudhury, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ben Whishaw, Tom Skerritt, Tracey Fairaway, Dhaffer L’Abidine, David Menkin, Megan Maczko
A struggling American businessman travels to Saudi Arabia to pitch a high-tech teleconferencing system to the king, but he faces cultural differences, bureaucratic delays, and a personal health crisis. This modest and disposable midlife-crisis dramedy is based on the 2012 novel by Dave Eggers. Tom Tykwer adapted the book, but the film bears little of his usual cinematic fingerprint. Without Tom Hanks in the lead, it wouldn’t be worth my time.
Gran Turismo
2023
**
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Cast: David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe, Darren Barnet, Geri Halliwell Horner, Djimon Hounsou, Daniel Puig, Josha Stradowski, Maeve Courtier-Lilley, Pepe Barroso
When Nissan and the GT Academy launch a competition to turn the best gamers into professional racing drivers, a Welsh teenager, Jann Mardenborough, earns the chance of a lifetime. This racing movie cum Sony and Nissan commercial is based on a true story, but everything about it feels like it was written by AI. The script embraces every imaginable underdog and racing cliché, and all of its plot twists could be seen minutes or even hours ahead. Strong self-confidence can actually make your car go faster than your opponent’s. The climactic Le Mans race is an absolute joke, with cars crashing while overtaking on the first lap of a 24-hour race and the protagonist beating his nemesis by a whisker a day later.
One Battle After Another
2025
*****
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Chase Infiniti, Tony Goldwyn, Alana Haim, Wood Harris, Shayna McHayle, John Hoogenakker
Pat and Perfidia are lovers and members of a radical activist group known as the French 75, who are eventually taken down by the authorities. Sixteen years later, Pat lives off the grid with their daughter Willa, but the coast is not yet clear. Paul Thomas Anderson was inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland and began to write his action drama some 25 years ago, and now that it’s being released, it feels poignant and incredibly timely with its depiction of radicalism, fascism, white supremacy, anti-immigration crackdowns, and both personal and political battles. The end result is totally immersive and supremely entertaining, and 160 minutes pass in a flash. The performances are excellent. The film was shot in VistaVision and it features another incredible score by Jonny Greenwood.
Licorice Pizza
2021
****
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie, Maya Rudolph, John C. Reilly, Skyler Gisondo, Mary Elizabeth Ellis
Gary, a 15-year-old child actor and endlessly resourceful entrepreneur, meets Alana, a 25-year-old who is still trying to find herself. They form an unusual personal and professional relationship, and find themselves increasingly drawn to one another. Paul Thomas Anderson's sprawling and entertaining coming-of-age story is set in the San Fernando Valley of 1973. This comedy drama is built around two terrifically drawn characters, wonderfully played by Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim. Despite the notable age difference, Anderson never judges his characters, and the film remains free of any distasteful or uncomfortable moments.
Queer
2024
***
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Cast: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman, Lesley Manville, Henrique Zaga, Colin Bates, Andra Ursuta, David Lowery, Drew Droege, Michaël Borremans
In 1950, Lee, a middle-aged American writer, lives a lonely and hedonistic life amid a small community of gay American expats in Mexico City. He becomes infatuated with Eugene, a young American who remains emotionally distant. Luca Guadagnino's drama about desire and loneliness looks fabulous and it features some nice, anachronistic needle drops. However, it also presents two main characters who are very difficult to like: one smokes, drinks, and talks non-stop; the other is an emotionless blank canvas. I checked out during their second-half journey to the Ecuadorian jungle to seek a mythical hallucinogenic drug. Justin Kuritzkes scripted from the 1985 semi-autobiographical novella by William S. Burroughs.
Priscilla
2023
**½
Director: Sofia Coppola
Cast: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Dagmara Domińczyk, Ari Cohen, Dan Beirne, Olivia Barrett, Tim Post, Lynne Griffin, Luke Humphrey, Rachael Crawford, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Emily Mitchell
14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu meets and falls in love with rock-and-roll icon Elvis Presley. Three years later, she moves into Graceland, but her dreams of romance and glamour turn into a life of isolation under his control. Sofia Coppola's biographical drama suffers from oversaturation, arriving little more than a year after Elvis. While Baz Luhrmann's biopic largely ignored Priscilla, Coppola portrays her life in a gilded cage, showing how she is a woman who has both everything and nothing. The film is beautifully shot and designed, but as a drama, it is disappointingly dull, dreary, and monotonous. Adapted from Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir Elvis and Me.
Babygirl
2024
**
Director: Halina Reijn
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, Sophie Wilde, Esther McGregor, Vaughan Reilly, Victor Slezak, Leslie Silva, Gaite Jansen, Bartley Booz, Anoop Desai, Maxwell Whittington-Cooper
Romy, a powerful CEO, risks her career, family, and status by embarking on a submissive relationship with Samuel, one of the company's young interns. Halina Reijn's psychological drama explores power dynamics and sexuality. The film introduces some intriguing elements, but I wish its main characters resembled living, breathing human beings. As it stands, Romy and Samuel feel like conceptual objects working in a company where nobody ever seems to do any work.
The First Omen
2024
*
Director: Arkasha Stevenson
Cast: Nell Tiger Free, Tawfeek Barhom, Sônia Braga, Ralph Ineson, Bill Nighy, Maria Caballero, Charles Dance, Nicole Sorace, Ishtar Currie-Wilson, Andrea Arcangeli, Guido Quaglione, Dora Romano, Anton Alexander
The Omen (1976) spawned numerous sequels and a remake, and now we get a prequel, which shows us how Damien was conceived. It goes without saying that nobody was curious about his backstory and after 48 years, there is absolutely no need for this movie. But here we go nevertheless. In 1971, a young American trainee nun arrives in Rome to begin her service in a Catholic orphanage, where she experiences terrifying visions and discovers a secret faction within the Church. Arkasha Stevenson's directorial debut looks good, but the story is stupefyingly formulaic and mind-numbingly boring.
