Past Lives ★★★½ IMAGINE how hard it is to make a feature film at all, let alone a great one on your first attempt. Has there been a better recent directorial debut than Celine Song’s Past Lives? I doubt it. This beautiful South Korean film is a joyfully painful look […]

Past Lives a wonderful debut

Sanctuary ★★½ THE set-up for 2023 drama Sanctuary is a good one, but unfortunately the execution leaves a fair bit to be desired. It’s a two-hander about the disintegration of a relationship that is played out in a single location. When we meet Hal and Rebecca they are taking part […]

Sanctuary from reality

Cliffhanger ★★★½ IT MAY be some of the best acting Sylvester Stallone has ever done. Despite being horrified of heights in real life, Sly plays an experienced mountaineer in the 1993 American action thriller Cliffhanger. I’m sure there was plenty of green screen work involved, but it does look like […]

Cliffhanger scales Sly’s fear

November ★★★★ NOVEMBER is one of those great thrillers based on actual events that the French do so well. It’s a meticulous look at the investigation and hunt for Islamic terrorists following the series of coordinated attacks that occurred on public targets in 2015. On 13 November of that year […]

French thrillers don’t come much better

Saltburn ★★★★ LIKE the garden maze depicted in her mesmerising Saltburn, director Emerald Fennell takes the viewer down many paths. Just as you begin to reach a potential understanding of the central character, you find yourself at another mental dead end and need to backtrack and re-set. But this is […]

Saltburn an exhilarating journey

Holy Spider ★★★★ DRAMAS don’t come much tougher than the Persian-language Holy Spider, both on and off screen. The film has been lauded by critics but condemned by the Iranian Government and lead actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi is still receiving death threats. It’s not that co-writer and director Ali Abbasi […]

Holy Spider is full of bite

Gran Turismo ★★★ WE’VE had a few films in the past year dealing with the development and marketing of products, including a basketball shoe in Air, a phone in Blackberry and a game in Tetris. Gran Turismo isn’t so much about the hugely successful video game, but rather part of […]

Gran Turismo has pace and turn

Kandahar ★★★ GERARD Butler is consistent at the least. Unlike other action stars like Steven Seagal, Liam Neeson or the late Bruce Willis, it’s rare that Butler trots out an absolute stinker. His latest, Kandahar, is a case in point. Set in Iraq and filmed in Saudi Arabia, it reteams […]

Butler’s service still good

Lou ★★ THERE is only so much poetic licence you can give a film-maker. Anna Foerster’s 2022 American crime thriller Lou has a few too many plot contrivances and coincidences. The film starts well enough with comedian turned dramatic actress Allison Janney playing what should be an interesting lead role. […]

Lou requires too much

The Equalizer ★★★½ THE character of former soldier and intelligence officer turned lone vigilante was created for British television in the 1980s. Unfortunately, I don’t recall the McCall played by the late Edward Woodward, who is also best known for another television series, Callan, and the lead role in the […]

British Equalizer transfers well

The Equalizer 3 ★★★½ DENZEL Washington is one of those consummate actors you are happy to watch doing anything. The Equalizer 3, like its predecessors, is a violent action thriller, but some of the best moments are just watching Denzel’s character wandering round a small, mountain-side Sicilian town. Former marine […]

Fitting end for Denzel’s anti-hero

Lethal Weapon 2 ★★★★ MANY claim the first sequel to Lethal Weapon is better than the original. Lethal Weapon 2, released three years later in 1987 and again directed by Richard Donner, is better in some ways but not in others. It has more impressive action sequences, more laughs and […]

Second Weapon rivals original