Monkey Man Review

This is a film that really crept up on people. I had heard inklings that Dev Patel was directing an action film, but it didn’t feel like it was coming to anything, until the trailer was released a few weeks ago. When that trailer was released, it was clear that we were seeing a labour…

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Review

I’ve made it clear in the past that I’m not the biggest Ghostbusters fan. I remember enjoying the first two films when I was younger, but going back to them I just didn’t enjoy them, I watched some episodes of The Real Ghostbusters but it wasn’t a big show when I was growing up and…

Robot Dreams Review

The past few years have seen a surge in brilliant animated films coming out, to the point where this years nominees for Best Animated Film at the Oscars resulted in a category where I would have been happy with any of the nominees (aside from maybe Elemental) winning the award. There was always an asterisk…

Madame Web Review

I almost feel bad writing this review. This is a film that was probably doomed to failure from the start due to the corporate attitude we’ve been seeing from Sony with their Spider-Man films. Aside from the Spider-Verse films, which feel more like flukes as more of the live action films come out, all of…

All of Us Strangers Review

This is a film that wasn’t really on my radar until a few weeks ago. I had seen little clips of it in the advertising for last years London Film Festival but I hadn’t read any reviews and hadn’t seen the trailer. When I did see the trailer in the cinema at the start of…

The Zone of Interest Review

Even though he’s only directed four films, I think Jonathan Glazer is one of the most fascinating filmmakers working today. He’s always doing something different with his films and taking chances in terms of the tone and presentation of his films. Whilst I’ve not seen Birth, I found Sexy Beast and Under the Skin to…

Mean Girls (2024) Review

The original Mean Girls is one that took me a while to properly get into. When I first watched it, I was in the annoying period where I was dismissing a lot of films aimed at women, but I have thankfully grown out of it and can recognise how good Mean Girls is. That said,…

Poor Things Review

The more I think about it, the more I’m amazed that Yorgos Lanthimos has become such a critical darling. His films are weird, offbeat and wild, but most of them have been highly acclaimed and the ones that I’ve seen I’ve ended up really appreciating. Whilst Dogtooth is still my favourite film of his, it…

2023 End of Year Retrospective

This has been a pretty weird year for films on the whole. In between the WGA and SAG strikes, delays of films, the rise of AI, some of the most hyped and biggest budget films of the year underperforming, this has been a pretty precarious year for film. At the same time though, there have…

Wonka Review

When it was first announced that Warner Bros were going to be making an origin story film for Willy Wonka, I had absolutely no hopes for it. Given the other studios making Roald Dahl adaptations, mainly Netflix, it felt to me like a cynical cash grab by Warner Bros to retain the rights to the…