With our best of 2017 rundown now in the bag, here’s a look at a selection of films we’re most looking forward to in the next twelve months – should they emerge from the edit in time – including the return of esteemed independent […]
★★★★☆ During the French summer holidays, 13-year-old Ava (Noée Abita) has just been diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition that is slowly blinding her. While her supportive mother, Maud (Laure Calamy) juggles attempting a sense of normalcy with her own personal life, Ava embarks […]
Spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi ahead Star Wars has always been about cycles – fathers and sons, apprentices and masters, redemption and renewal. When Obi-Wan Kenobi confronts Darth Vader in A New Hope, Vader tells him that “the circle is now complete. […]
★★☆☆☆ The Barden Bellas return to the spotlight in their third outing, an uneven European tour that wraps a nice bow around the group’s acca-xploits, but lacks what made the original special. They never expected to get this far. They were only in it […]
★★★☆☆ Hugh Jackman returns to the musical after Australia and Les Miserables with The Greatest Showman, an uplifting if contrived film loosely based on the life of P.T. Barnum. It marks the directorial debut of Michael Gracey from a script written by Jenny Bicks […]
★★★★☆ Starring Jessica Chastain as poker princess Molly Bloom, Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut Molly’s Game provides all the quick witted verve and punch you’d expect from the acclaimed screenwriter. The greatest successes of Aaron Sorkin’s screenwriting career – The Social Network and Moneyball – […]
★★★☆☆ The original Jumanji was released at the height of Robin Williams’ career in the 1990s and offered adventure and escapism for the whole family. The same can mostly be said for its sequel, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which stars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack […]
★★★★☆ Greg (Dave Franco) is struggling his way through acting school. He’s impressed by his fellow student Tommy’s (James Franco) fearless, unorthodox approach to performing, and after a series of knockbacks, the pair decide to collaborate on a project that will go down in […]
While poker may have started out as a rough and ready card game played on the frontier of the American West – or on Mississippi paddle steamers out of New Orleans depending on which historical account you read – the game has now transformed […]
Home Alone star Joe Pesci is one of the most distinctive screen presences in the industry. Over the course of a long career he has become the go-to guy when a hyperactive Italian-American character is required. In an acting career stretching all the way back to […]
After sampling this year’s cinematic delights, eight of our writers have pooled together their top picks to create our list of the 20 best films of 2017. There was no space in even the top 40 for Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner The Square, while Golden […]
★★★★★ “This is not going to go the way you think.” Crabbily spat at his new apprentice, Mark Hamill’s line is a pithy summation of The Last Jedi, arguably the most original and surprising entry in the series to date. Rian Johnson’s film is […]
★★★★★ Combining dramatic re-creation with musical performances, Ireland’s foreign-language Oscar entry Song of Granite is a lyrical paean to Gaelic culture and the ability of music to colour the distance between the past and present. In 2012, Pat Collins received critical acclaim for Silence, […]
★★★☆☆ The phrase “Do you know who I am?” takes on a new meaning in Sonia Kronlund’s The Prince of Nothingwood, an idiosyncratic documentary revealing an unseen side to Afghan life and culture. For though a global audience may have little prior knowledge of […]
★★★☆☆ Jennifer Peedom’s Mountain contains some truly breathtaking imagery, but it reduces the sublime wonders of the peaks to mere daredevilry. In this collaboration between Peedom – whose previous Bafta-nominated effort Sherpa explored similar territory – and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, dramatic footage of […]
★★★★☆ Set across three decades and two continents, Mountains May Depart is an affecting and ambitious tale of social upheaval in modern day China. The opening sequence of Jia Zhangke’s Mountains May Depart shows an energetic young crowd bopping along in a dance class, […]
Tallinn’s Black Nights Film Festival returned to the Estonian capital for its 21st instalment from 17 November – 3 December. Unlike some other A-list European festivals, the chilly darkness provides the perfect excuse to settle in and enjoy a wealth of international cinema. Films […]
★★★★★ Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s films defined British cinema in the 1940s and 1950s, which were both artistically and commercially successful. In 1946 and at the height of their powers, Powell and Pressburger wrote and directed A Matter of Life and Death, one […]
