All of Us Strangers  ★★★★ BRITISH romantic drama All of Us Strangers is billed as a film that will particularly resonate with a certain audience due to the fact its two main characters are gay males. That may be true, but it resonates with everyone who reflects on choices they […]

Warning…there will be tears

Force of Nature ★★★ JANE Harper has successfully tapped into the form of crime mystery that features a character who is forced to confront their own past during a current investigation. You know the type of story – there are probably 20 versions in European television series on Netflix right […]

Force of Nature stays close to formula

Sick  ★★½ SCREAM writer Kevin Williamson may be behind the 2022 American slasher film Sick, but it doesn’t equal success. It’s set during the COVID years but for much of the running time you’re wondering why. We then have a couple of twists that initially seem quite novel. But when […]

Covid-set slasher doesn’t quite cut it

The Holdovers  ★★★★ TWO decades after Sideways, Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti have triumphantly reunited for The Holdovers. This film is a joy from start to finish, beautifully combining comedy and drama in a story that effortlessly crosses age, class and race divides. Giamatti has previously shown that there is […]

Triumphant reunion for Giammati and Payne

22 July ★★★½ IT’s hard not to compare Paul Greengrass’ 22 July from 2018 and Justin Kurzel’s Nitram (2022). Both films deal with actual massacres of unsuspecting civilians – 22 July on the 2011 events on an island off Oslo in Norway and Nitram on the 1996 tragedy at Port […]

The trouble with depicting true crime

The Iron Claw ★★★★ SEAN Durkin’s The Iron Claw isn’t just about professional wrestling, so don’t let that deter you from watching this entertaining film. It’s more about ‘family’ than all the Fast and Furious action films which seem to love throwing that word around with careless abandon. The Iron Claw […]

Tragic story of family resilience

The Beekeeper ★★ I THINK I’m allergic to bees. Not too much. I don’t blow up like the Elephant Man, but I do get a little woozy when I’m stung. They say it’s not the actual sting that causes the problem but the immediate reaction you have where you slap […]

Stung by Statham

Finestkind ★★★½ WRITER/director Brian Helgeland returns to his roots for the drama Finestkind. Yes, that’s one word, not two. The fact Helgeland knows this vernacular for “the best” shows the Massachusetts born director is at home in a story set within the local fishing industry. It has a strong cast […]

Fishing family drama a good catch

Prison 77 ★★★½ SPANISH film Prison 77 is several things. It starts as a prison drama, becomes a socio-political drama and finally a prison escape thriller. Occasionally the transitions are a little jarring and perhaps it’s a little long, but mostly it successfully blends an engrossing and exciting story with examination […]

Three times the prison drama

Avengement ★★★ CONTRARY to widespread critical opinion, Scott Adkins can act. The Englishman first taught himself how to fight and then started in Hong Kong action films. This lead him to low-budget Hollywood fare which has struggled to get out of. Recently he has earned a couple of cameos in […]

Yes, Scott Adkins can act

Society of the Snow ★★★½ SOCIETY of the Snow is the second major film dramatisation of the Andes plane crash and aftermath in 1972. I barely recall Frank Marshall’s Alive, released in 1993, which had a good reception at the time but is rarely talked about. Why I’m not sure, but […]

Return to shocking survival tale

Joyride ★★★½ AMERICAN comedy Joyride had me almost until the end. ★★★½ Its irreverent and crude humour is particularly effective in the Korean and Japanese settings. The characters are engaging and the situations they get themselves into are fun. But, in her feature directorial debut, I guess Adele Lim didn’t […]

Joyful ride until destination reached