Review
★★
For subscribers
Cate Blanchett’s sci-fi adventure is bizarre, yet watchable, claptrap
Why anyone thought the star’s role in this video game adaptation would appeal to the demographic is a mystery: there’s not much here for Tar or Carol fans.
- by Jake Wilson
Latest
★★½
For subscribers
When romance becomes abuse: Blake Lively’s new film treads a dangerous line
Packed with erotic cliches and based on a best-selling novel, the film adaptation of It Ends with Us postpones the bad news until the romantic possibilities have been milked for all their worth.
- by Sandra Hall
★★★½
Movies
Josh Hartnett the perfect serial killer in M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap
The former teen idol gives a darkly funny performance as his character, the Butcher, tries to evade capture at a pop concert.
- by Jake Wilson
★★★½
Movies
De Niro plays yet another grumpy old man – but this time it works
Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale play the parents of a nine-year-old with autism in this engaging drama.
- by Sandra Hall
★★★★
For subscribers
Russell Crowe has never allowed vanity to dictate his career – and that’s why he’s great
In the noir thriller Sleeping Dogs, Crowe proves again what an exceptional character actor he is when he plays a retired detective with Alzheimer’s disease who is revisiting an old case.
- by Sandra Hall
★★
For subscribers
This again? Ryan Reynolds’ jokes wear thin in Deadpool & Wolverine
It’s not clear why anyone would want more of Deadpool. It’s not like we haven’t had a steady supply of Ryan Reynolds’ motor-mouthed schtick.
- by Jake Wilson
Stephen Fry and Lena Dunham lack spark in Holocaust survivor tale
German director Julia von Heinz’s Treasure is an adaptation of Too Many Men, Lily Brett’s highly regarded novel about a daughter who travels to Poland with her father, a Holocaust-survivor
- by Sandra Hall
This quiet Australian horror has style in spades but not enough guts
Birdeater uses the seclusion of the landscape to build and sustain a deep psychological unease, but struggles with characterisation and pacing.
- by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
Psycho star’s son directs Nicolas Cage in this creepy new horror movie
Director Osgood Perkins, the son of the star of Psycho, mixes familiar scary elements in Longlegs, but adds something extra.
- by Jake Wilson
★★★½
For subscribers
There’s no flying cow, but this Twister sequel is still highly ridiculous
Forget the sexual tension, Twisters is at its best when Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones are dodging an inventive variety of heavy objects.
- by Sandra Hall
★★
For subscribers
Emma Stone returns for another wacky film, but sadly this is no Poor Things
If the filmmaker’s much-praised, award-winning Poor Things was the main meal, Kinds of Kindness is the offcuts.
- by Robert Moran