CineVue
For the latest reviews of arthouse, documentary and indie film in cinemas and on the festival circuit.
It’s the burning topic right now – who is the best Joker that ever played in a DC movie? We’ve spared you the trouble and selected five top picks based on a few criteria. One of them is the quality of performance and good acting. The second is believability and Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Now into his sixth decade as a director, Ken Loach has followed up the Palme D’Or-winning I, Daniel Blake with another hard-hitting work of social realism. Teaming up once more with regular screenwriter Paul Laverty, Sorry We Missed You offers a scathing assessment of zero-hour contracts and the damaging Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Films about filmmaking are nothing new. From Truffaut’s visionary Day for Night to The Disaster Artist, film adores observing the magic of moviemaking. However, a lesser-explored area of filmmaking is the depiction of disability and specifically neurofibromatosis on screen. Aaron Schimberg’s second feature, Chained for Life, hones in on Continue Reading
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to actually stay at The Shining’s Overlook Hotel? Or perhaps book a real-life holiday to Jurassic Park. Well, Betway has put together a handy guide to six of the most desirable staycations ripped straight from the silver screen. CANTO BIGHT (The Last Jedi) Continue Reading
★★★★☆ A delve into the relatively short life of charismatic INXS frontman Michael Hutchence somehow feels long overdue. Perhaps because he was foremost a fascinating figure in rock, whose mystique and allure was sadly upended with the constant press intrusions when he became prime tabloid fodder before his untimely demise, Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Absurdity and surrealism played with a straight face is Quentin Dupieux’s stock in trade. His latest gonzo reverie Deerskin finds the filmmaker working with major stars Jean Dujardin and Adèle Haenel. The result is predictably crackpot and enigmatic. We meet Georges (Dujardin) driving down the motorway in a corduroy blazer. Continue Reading
★★★★☆ The El Duce Tapes is one of the best music docs to come along in a while. Funny, honest, grotesque and fascinated by a pot-bellied miscreant most would run a mile from, the film is a thought-provoking foray into anti-commercial art and outsider lifestyles. You might have seen Eldon Continue Reading
★★★★★ In Rose Plays Julie, the latest from dynamic duo Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor, a child of adoption studying veterinary medicine decides to seek out her biological mother and father. Her journey of discovery and resolution in holding her parents to account makes for haunting viewing. With their regular Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ Michael Winterbottom reunites with his perennial stars Steve Coogan and Shirley Henderson for a satire of the superrich set in the days running up to a lavish 60th birthday party in Mykonos. Coogan plays Sir Richard McCreadie, a clear pastiche of Philip Green that skims just wide enough of Continue Reading
Hollywood is a place where magic is made. Millions of people all over the world clutch boxes of popcorn and other refreshments as they take their seats in front of the silver screen. There have been many fantastic films that have been released this year alone, such as Ad Astra Continue Reading
★★★★☆ In J.M. Coetzee’s acclaimed 1980 novel, waiting for the invading barbarians to show up is akin to waiting for Godot. Colombian director Ciro Guerra’s haunting adaptation shapes the book into a desolate cavalry western. Filmed in Morocco and Italy with an international cast, Mark Rylance leads Waiting for the Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Blending science fiction, crime drama and psychedelia, Synchronic is the wildly eccentric fourth film by American filmmaking duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (The Endless, Spring). New Orleans paramedic team and best friends Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan) find themselves working a series of strange jobs which Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Set around a vast estate on the northeast American coast, in Roger Michell’s Blackbird, a family comes together over one last weekend to say their goodbyes to matriarch Lily (Susan Sarandon). Lily has a terminal illness which causes such physical deterioration that her body will eventually shut down entirely, Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Alexandre O. Philippe continues his run of feature-length documentaries concentrated on classic genre movies, with a look at William Friedkin’s The Exorcist. Often described as “the Citizen Kane of horror”, this deep dive benefits from Friedkin serving as our personal guide. As a production, The Exorcist was virtually sui Continue Reading
★★★★★ Joaquin Phoenix gives an Oscar-worthy performance as the Clown Prince of Crime in Todd Phillips’ unique take on the Batman supervillain Joker, which also won the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Joker is a film that didn’t feel necessary when announced. There has been a glut Continue Reading