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

Lethal Weapon  ★★★★ THERE is a strong argument that Mel Gibson is Australia’s greatest film star. Not any more of course. For the past 20 years he has been fighting to get out of Hollywood’s black book due to some of his personal issues and opinions. But from Mad Max […]

When Mel was mad…and good

God is a Bullet ★★★½ AROUND 20 years ago I read a terrific book called God Is a Bullet by Boston Teran. It was the American author’s first novel, a brutal and nihilistic thriller about a father searching for the people who killed his wife and kidnapped his daughter. Apart […]

God is a Bullet a brutal affair

How To Blow up a Pipeline ★★★½  IN 2021 a non-fiction book by Andreas Malm caused a stir. The book is a call to arms for environmentalists willing to commit crimes to get their message across. It’s called called How to Blow Up a Pipeline and has now been adapted […]

Call to action in taut thriller

Memories of Murder ★★★★ SIXTEEN years before he won the Oscar for Parasite, South Korean director Bong Joon-ho announced himself as a talent to watch with just his second feature. Memories of Murder is a fascinating crime thriller that examines the causes of evil, humanity’s flawed response and the random […]

Korean master’s brilliant debut