★★★★☆ In the run-up to a regional hairdressing competition, the leading entrant is found mutilated. British director Thomas Hardiman’s debut film is a gripping, dizzyingly stylish thriller. With a tightly-woven plot, dazzling cinematography and a razor-sharp cast of characters, Medusa Deluxe is Brit neo-noir at its knotty best.
★★★★☆ The first of a two-parter, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is bigger, bolder and grander than its predecessor, and with little serious competition from Marvel or DC’s live-action factories, looks set to be the best superhero film of the year.
★★★☆☆ A man sits alone in a room with a notepad and begins to scribble down his own voiceover. He only writes on one page and seems to always be starting at the top. His thoughts will be meticulous and he will show a certain expertise. When he’s finished writing he will place the pen on the table, neatly aligned with the pad.
★★★★☆ Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s classic anime Ninja Scroll was first released in 1993, reaching English speaking audiences two years later in December 1995. Along with Ghost in the Shell and Akira, Kawajiri’s film helped introduce western audiences to the visceral personality,...
★★☆☆☆ The power of documentary filmmaking can often be found in its ability to make you fascinated and entertained by subjects that you either know very little, or absolutely nothing about. Sadly, this is not quite the case in Mila...
★★☆☆☆ Already in line for an English language remake, with Hollywood go-to ‘goofball’ Vince Vaughn reputedly attached to star, Québécois comedy Starbuck (2011) receives a limited UK release this week off the back of some positive overseas press and a...
★★★☆☆ Sundance favourite Eugene Jarecki tackles America’s ‘War on Drugs’ this week in his latest doc The House I Live In (2012), a sobering look into the plague of narcotics currently afflicting every one of the 50 US states. More...
★★★☆☆ Academy Award nominee David O. Russell follows up his bruising boxing drama The Fighter (2010) with Silver Linings Playbook (2012), a similarly bittersweet tale of mental illness and obsession starring The Hangover franchise’s Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Resident...
★★★★★ Many already (rightly) cherish David Lean’s greatest masterpiece, 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia, but thanks to its latest restoration from Sony Pictures (now in 4K for its 50th anniversary), fans and newcomers alike can now gaze at the jaw-dropping landscapes...
★★★☆☆ A remake of the 1966 film of the same name starring Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine, Michael Hoffman’s Gambit (2012) is a pleasantly old-fashioned transatlantic crime caper, given some welcome wit and verve courtesy of an adapted screenplay from...
★★★☆☆ Writer and director David Ayer is best known for his hard-hitting cop dramas, responsible for both the critically divisive Street Kings (2008) and the more successful Training Day (2001). With his latest effort, End of Watch (2012), Ayer manages...
★★★☆☆ Back in 1984, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ iconic whip cracking hero returned once again in the pursuit of fame and fortune in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the prequel to the hugely successful Raiders of the...
★★★★☆ Grease (1977) cult director Randal Kleiser’s time-travelling tale of one boy and his sentient spaceship was a VHS favourite back in the day, and its Blu-ray rerelease is bound to cause a raft of post-30 movie fans to get...
★★☆☆☆ Short Circuit (1986) is a film which anyone old enough to remember first time round, will look back on with nostalgia as a defining sci-fi movie of the 1980s. However viewed now, the family comedy starring Ally Sheedy, Police...
★★★★☆ All the old Hayao Miyazaki magic can pleasingly be found in the Studio Ghibli director’s 1979 debut feature film. Well, almost all of it, because The Castle of Cagliostro is that rare thing in the animator’s canon: a film...