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4/5
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Leave the World Behind
(2023)
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Matthew Turner
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Based on the novel by Rumaan Alam and boasting a number of terrific set pieces, it’s a creepy, suspenseful and unsettling thriller about human behaviour in the face of the unknown.
Posted Dec 08, 2023
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Otto Baxter: Not a Fucking Horror Story
(2023)
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Anton Bitel
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Bruce Fletcher and Peter Beard’s documentary and Otto Baxter’s horror short form a diptych on disabled experience, autonomy and empowerment.
Posted Sep 20, 2023
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4/5
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The Killer
(2023)
|
Matthew Turner
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A gripping, if somewhat formulaic hit man thriller, with a decidedly unexpected soundtrack of Smiths songs.
Posted Sep 16, 2023
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4/5
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Maestro
(2023)
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Matthew Turner
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Cooper could have played it safe with his sophomore feature, but instead he’s gone all out, utilising a number of ambitious directorial tricks and flourishes that lift this out of bog standard biopic territory, to frequently exhilarating effect.
Posted Sep 15, 2023
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3.5/5
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The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
(2023)
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Matthew Turner
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This might not be as flat-out unmissable as Asteroid City, but it’s a charming addition to Anderson’s filmography that serves as a promising appetiser for the Dahl adaptations to come.
Posted Sep 11, 2023
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4/5
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Society of the Snow
(2023)
|
Matthew Turner
|
"[Society of the Snow] will definitely make you reconsider any imminent flight plans – not a good thing if you’re at an international film festival."
Posted Sep 11, 2023
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4/5
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El Conde
(2023)
|
Matthew Turner
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This is a treat from start to finish, a brilliantly acted, sharp-toothed satire that draws blood and savours every delicious drop.
Posted Aug 31, 2023
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4/5
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Reality
(2023)
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Matthew Turner
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Cleverly directed and featuring a star-making performance from Sydney Sweeney, this is one of the best films of 2022.
Posted Aug 08, 2023
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|
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My Name is Alfred Hitchcock
(2022)
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Anton Bitel
|
both the documentarian and his subject are present absences, while Hitchcock’s filmography is the thing – the sounding board for ideas and motifs which serve as Hitchcock’s well-preserved if scattered remains.
Posted Jul 22, 2023
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Return to Seoul
(2022)
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Anton Bitel
|
In Davy Chou’s subtle story of identity, adoption and adaptation, a mercurial woman repeatedly returns to her lost roots.
Posted Jul 12, 2023
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4/5
|
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
(2023)
|
Laurence Boyce
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This fun, visually gorgeous adaptation does the world's most famous plumber justice.
Posted Jul 08, 2023
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|
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Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
(2021)
|
Anton Bitel
|
This absurd tale of friendship and mortality is a whimsical yet wise joy, tinged with melancholy.
Posted Jun 18, 2023
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|
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Enys Men
(2022)
|
Anton Bitel
|
Enys Men confounds site and psyche, belying the notion that no (wo)man is an island.
Posted May 08, 2023
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4/5
|
Tetris
(2023)
|
Laurence Boyce
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The unlikely real life tale of Tetris the video game is nostalgically assembled into a dark, entertaining political thriller.
Posted Apr 01, 2023
|
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4/5
|
You Resemble Me
(2021)
|
Matthew Turner
|
Amer, who co-wrote the script with the film’s cinematographer, Omar Mullick, makes an extremely impressive directorial debut. The childhood scenes in particular are shot through with a frenetic and compelling energy, accentuated by skilful editing.
Posted Mar 13, 2023
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|
|
Smoking Causes Coughing
(2022)
|
Anton Bitel
|
Quentin Dupieux’s hilarious tokusatsu pastiche is an unhealthy delight for fans of the director.
Posted Mar 13, 2023
|
|
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Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey
(2023)
|
Anton Bitel
|
Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s genre-fied exploitation of AA Milne’s characters yields a woodland slasher of little brain.
Posted Mar 11, 2023
|
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2.5/5
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Arranged Marriage
(2022)
|
Matthew Turner
|
Arranged Marriage is a film that sets itself a difficult task, exploring dark and emotive themes through a satirical lens. While it’s not always successful, there are enough elements and individual moments to make this worth your while.
Posted Feb 14, 2023
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|
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Triangle of Sadness
(2022)
|
Anton Bitel
|
Robin Östlund’s broad, grotesque seaborne satire shows society as a sinking ship - and revolution as rearranging the deckchairs.
Posted Dec 14, 2022
|
|
|
The Ghosts of Monday
(2022)
|
Anton Bitel
|
keeps renegotiating its own form and genre... all in an attempt to “find something different” in the deep layers of a hotel’s foundations, and in the contested grounds of a country with a long history of colonisation, annexation and division.
Posted Dec 04, 2022
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|
|
Orphan: First Kill
(2022)
|
Anton Bitel
|
William Brent Bell’s prequel is a twisting domestic tale of entitlement, exclusion and exploitation in credit crunch America.
Posted Sep 21, 2022
|
|
|
Hunted
(2022)
|
Anton Bitel
|
Tommy Boulding’s timely class-conscious thriller pits dogs against underdogs in England's uneven social landscapes.
Posted Sep 21, 2022
|
|
5/5
|
Funny Pages
(2022)
|
Cathy Brennan
|
Look beyond its greasy facade and you will find that Funny Pages is a film of layers, and one of the best films of the year.
Posted Sep 17, 2022
|
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2/5
|
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
(2022)
|
Matthew Turner
|
The entire film is outrageously self-indulgent from beginning to end – it’s essentially like witnessing a protracted act of self-love…for three hours.
Posted Sep 16, 2022
|
|
4.5/5
|
Blonde
(2022)
|
Matthew Turner
|
The film is anchored by a sensational performance from Ana de Armas, who will surely be getting some awards recognition come Oscar time.
Posted Sep 14, 2022
|
|
|
Terrifier 2
(2022)
|
Anton Bitel
|
...repeatedly raising the question of just who we are to watch the unfolding of this atrocity exhibition for our own viewing pleasure. Art ironises everything that he does, but Terrifier 2 keeps asking us if – and why – we laugh along with him.
Posted Sep 05, 2022
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|
3.5/5
|
White Noise
(2022)
|
Matthew Turner
|
Baumbach’s script sticks extremely closely to the source material, to the point where it’s one of those movies that practically screams that it’s adapted from an acclaimed novel and it really wants you to know about it
Posted Sep 02, 2022
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|
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Sorry About the Demon
(2022)
|
Anton Bitel
|
If you like your horror with charm, good humour and loads of sweet, sweet icing on the cake, Sorry About the Demon has all this aplenty – and, if you are worried that so much sugar could damage the sharpness of its bite, it has something for that too.
Posted Aug 30, 2022
|
|
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Control
(2022)
|
Anton Bitel
|
A mother must escape a literal and psychological prison in this freaky locked-room thriller.
Posted Aug 29, 2022
|
|
|
She Came from the Woods
(2022)
|
Anton Bitel
|
A family faces buried history in this witty, funny, genre-leaping summer camp slasher.
Posted Aug 29, 2022
|
|
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Who Invited Them
(2022)
|
Anton Bitel
|
Duncan Birmingham’s subtle domestic thriller sees a couple’s marriage tested by two uninvited guests.
Posted Aug 27, 2022
|
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5/5
|
Bergman Island
(2021)
|
Katherine McLaughlin
|
The multi-layered screenplay cannily picks apart the creative process and relationships while paying invigorating tribute to female filmmakers.
Posted Aug 11, 2022
|
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3/5
|
Donna
(2022)
|
Cathy Brennan
|
This moving documentary about 70-year-old trans woman Donna Personna is a missed opportunity.
Posted Aug 01, 2022
|
|
4.5/5
|
Our Bodies Are Your Battlefields
(2022)
|
Cathy Brennan
|
Poignant and unapologetically challenging, Our Bodies Are Your Battlefields is a hopeful example of intersectional feminist documentary filmmaking.
Posted Jun 25, 2022
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5/5
|
Red Rocket
(2021)
|
Katherine McLaughlin
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Baker has crafted another masterpiece full of searing highs, black humour and comical hijinks, with a lot to say about the modern world and politics.
Posted Jun 10, 2022
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4/5
|
Marry Me
(2022)
|
Katherine McLaughlin
|
Director Kat Coiro does wonders in the concert moments, making you feel like you’re in the room.
Posted Jun 10, 2022
|
|
|
The Burning Sea
(2021)
|
Anton Bitel
|
John Andreas Anderson's timely disaster movie imagines an environmental catastrophe occurring beneath Norway's oil platform network.
Posted May 30, 2022
|
|
3.5/5
|
Cop Secret
(2021)
|
Laurence Boyce
|
This warm-hearted cop spoof is an uneven but riotously entertaining ride.
Posted May 26, 2022
|
|
4.5/5
|
The Quiet Girl
(2022)
|
Cathy Brennan
|
Watching Cáit’s relationship with Eibhlín and Seán deepen into love rises above the bombast of modern film-making to become one of the most powerful stories on screen this year.
Posted May 13, 2022
|
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6/10
|
Bonobo
(2014)
|
Matthew Turner
|
An amiable and surprisingly sensitive drama anchored by a pair of strong performances from Tessa Peake-Jones and Josie Lawrence, though it’s slightly let down by its poorly-defined supporting cast.
Posted May 11, 2022
|
|
8/10
|
Stations of the Cross
(2014)
|
Matthew Turner
|
A strikingly directed and superbly acted drama that’s by turns disturbing and genuinely moving.
Posted May 11, 2022
|
|
8/10
|
I Am Ali
(2014)
|
Matthew Turner
|
An enjoyable, informative and ultimately moving documentary that should appeal to fans and newcomers alike.
Posted May 11, 2022
|
|
8/10
|
Cold in July
(2014)
|
Matthew Turner
|
This is a superbly written and enjoyably pulpy neo-noir that delivers offbeat thrills and some blackly comic laughs, thanks to Mickle’s confident direction and a trio of terrific performances.
Posted May 11, 2022
|
|
9/9
|
Ida
(2013)
|
Matthew Turner
|
An impressively directed and deeply moving drama anchored by a pair of terrific performances from Trzebuchowska and Kulesza.
Posted May 11, 2022
|
|
6/10
|
Ballet Boys
(2014)
|
Matthew Turner
|
An engaging and frequently charming documentary but it’s more successful as a portrait of teenage friendship than as a look at the pressures of training to be a male ballet dancer.
Posted May 11, 2022
|
|
9/10
|
Two Days One Night
(2014)
|
Matthew Turner
|
The brothers have done it again. This is a powerfully emotional, superbly written and brilliantly acted drama that shows the Dardennes at the top of their game.
Posted May 11, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Flash Gordon
(1980)
|
Laurence Boyce
|
While it is undoubtedly messy, silly and incoherent, Flash Gordon still works 40 years on from its original release.
Posted May 05, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Undergods
(2020)
|
Laurence Boyce
|
A fitting metaphor for the creeping sense of unease and disconnection that seems to be prevalent throughout much of the modern world.
Posted May 05, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
The Filmmaker's House
(2020)
|
Laurence Boyce
|
Race, hospitality and grief collide in Mark Isaacs’ clever, playful, thought-provoking documentary.
Posted May 05, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
The Story of Looking
(2021)
|
Laurence Boyce
|
Mark Cousins’ beautiful, moving and inventive exploration of how we see is his most personal film to date.
Posted May 05, 2022
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