Megalopolis

Francis Ford Coppola is regarded as one of the great film directors. His track record proves that case: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now are all at the top or near the top of most people’s greatest movies ever made list. Not having a major release for some time now,…

The Substance

I had heard much about this new sci-fi horror from French director Coraline Fargeat, who gave us the 2017 horror Revenge. This award-winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, taking best screenplay, had quite a few walkouts due to the nature of the content. The talk was a body horror that goes to the extreme…

Lee

You can tell we are heading into the autumn and the awards seasons when serious, more mature movies start hitting our screens. Having months of lightweight blockbusters aimed at the young and young at heart is turning towards films dealing with issues or stories that will attract an older audience. The first is Lee, a…

Blink Twice

Zoe Kravitz is known for being the daughter of rock superstar Lenny Kravitz and playing Catwoman in the 2022 blockbuster The Batman. She can cut it as an actress, but can she deliver as a film director? Absolutely. Blink Twice, which she also co-wrote, is one of the most exciting debuts for someone behind the…

Longlegs

It seems to be a common factor in horror movies to put, as part of their advertising campaign, that their film is the scariest movie of all time, of the year, or of the week. The truth is none of them are that scary, and you leave the cinema feeling slightly cheated. Longlegs has done…

Kinds Of Kindness

Yorgos Lanthimos has to be one of the most exciting directors. His films push the boundaries, not only in moviemaking but also story telling. With his last hit, the brilliant Poor Things, still ringing in our heads with its bizarre tale and strong visuals, we now have Kinds of Kindness, another head-spinning movie broken into…

The Bikeriders

I rewatched Easy Rider the other night. The seminal biker movie from 1969 starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and a young Jack Nicholson is a disjointed, incidental film that doesn’t have a plot but has moments. Having watched Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, the director of Take Shelter, Mud and Loving seems to have decided that…

Inside Out 2

Things haven’t been great for Pixar in recent years. Three of their best films (Soul, Luca, and Turning Red) were sent straight to Disney+ due to the pandemic, while their recent cinema releases, Lightyear and Elemental, failed to ignite that flame they used to have. Now, they have turned to one of their best films,…

Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes

When Charlton Heston uttered those immortal words, “Keep your stinking paws off me, you filthy apes!” back in 1968, who would have known that over 50 years later, those apes would still be famous with the audience enough to allow them a new movie, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. After Any Serkis’s Caesar…

Love Lies Bleeding

How long have we been waiting for a film noir thriller with lesbians, bodybuilding, gun running and steroid abuse? Well, now we can wait no longer for Love Lies Bleeding, the new film by director Rose Glass, who gave us the excellent Saint Maud, has delivered all of this and then some. This stylish, imaginative…

Challengers

Tennis isn’t my go-to sport. I will watch it occasionally, and I have played it in the past, but it’s not a sport that makes me sit for hours while Wimbledon is on. There have been few films that have won me over, either. Battle of the Sexes with Emma Stone and Steve Carell was…

Back To Black

You wait ages for a musician biopic; two come along almost simultaneously. We had Bob Marley: One Love, which failed to capture the true spirit of the reggae star, and now we have Back to Black, the story of Amy Winehouse, the powerhouse singer whose life was cut so short. Both stars had documentaries covering…