Fair Play ★★★ FAIR Play makes its intentions clear from the opening. It wants to be seen as an erotic psychological thriller set in the corporate world, in the vein of films like Disclosure, but doesn’t really have that sensibility at all. It’s ultimately more of a relationship drama, spiced […]

Fair play to this one

The Expendables 4 ★★ DICTIONARY definition of cash grab: ‘An activity engaged in with the intention of making money quickly’…otherwise known as The Expendables 4. The action franchise started in 2014 produced two half-decent movies before quickly running out of steam. The latest instalment is just a repetition of the […]

Expendables live up to name

Ronin  ★★★★ JOHN Frankenheimer was one of the great film directors of the 1960s. Birdman of Alcatraz, The Manchurian Candidate, Seconds and Grand Prix we’re just some of the features that made him famous. The ’70s were less productive for Frankenheimer but still produced The Iceman Cometh, Black Sunday and […]

Ronin moves at full-throttle

Reptile ★★★½ BENICIO del Toro was made for dark crime thrillers. He’s got the kind of face, mannerisms and voice delivery perfectly suited to the sub-genre. Think of his roles in The Usual Suspects, The Way of the Gun, Traffic, Sin City, Savages, Sicario and its sequel and 2021’s No […]

Plenty of heat in cold-blooded Reptile

The Stone Killer ★★★ ANYONE who thinks Clint Eastwood is a less than average actor hasn’t seen many Charles Bronson films. The late Bronson was an unlikely box office action star during mainly the 1970s who likely gave meaning to the term ‘sleepwalking through a role’. Apart from when he […]

Eastwood edges sleepwalker Bronson

The Creator ★★★½ GARETH Edwards’ The Creator is one of the most under-rated films of 2023. It’s another science-fiction film that explores the future impact of artificial intelligence, but there are two aspects that make the film interesting and set it apart from others in the same vein. Firstly, it’s […]

Under-rated Creator worth a watch

Outback ★½ IF YOU’RE going to wander around the outback of Australia there are a few basic things you should do and take with you. 1 Tell a relative or good friend when you’re leaving and around when you expect to get there 2 Let them know you got there. […]

How to get yourself killed

A Good Person ★★★ IT’S interesting, but perhaps not altogether surprising, how many films improve as you watch them. The majority of straight, minimal location dramas are shot as close as possible to script order as possible, primarily to help the actors’ performances and the audience’s understanding of the narrative. […]

Cast grow into good roles

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