Challengers ★★★ LUCA Guadagnino knows how to make a romantic film with a difference. Call Me by Your Name and Bones and All are emotionally challenging and wonderfully engaging examples. The Italian director’s latest, Challengers, has many of the same qualities but doesn’t quite reach the same high standards. It’s […]

Luca’s challenging threesome

All Hallow’s Eve ★★½ A WARNING to caulrophobics – stay well clear of Damien Leone. The American writer/director is the creator of Art the Clown who is about to wreak havoc in a fourth film. Art first appeared in short films in 2008 and 2011 before a feature-length treatment in […]

Origin of an evil clown

Miller’s Girl ★★½ EVEN the talents of Jenna Ortega can’t lift Miller’s Girl to any great heights. This drama, written and directed by Jade Halley Bartlett, also features a mostly miscast Martin Freeman as a teacher who has a relationship with one of his students. Bartlett’s script was apparently much […]

Southern sex drama limps along

The Wild Geese ★★★½ ROGER Moore was allowed some time out from his main gig as James Bond in the mid-70s to join Richard Burton and Richard Harris in South Africa for a few months. The formidable trio joined director Andrew V. McLaglen for filming of The Wild Geese, an […]

Best of Brits in The Wild Geese

Ghostwatch ★★★ FOUND footage is now a major sub-genre of horror cinema. If you think the origin is 1999’s The Blair Witch Project you’re nearly 20 years out. That honour belongs to the infamous and frequently banned Italian film Cannibal Holocaust released in 1980. What we don’t see as much are […]

Fake doco a found footage milestone

The Hitcher ★★★★ EVEN though he has had a prolific career in Hollywood for several decades, Dutch actor Rutger Hauer has never been able to fully replicate the enormous impact he made in 1982’s Blade Runner. He has appeared in a lot of semi-successful films, but one of the best […]

The Hitcher a stripped-back, nihilistic affair

Mute Witness ★★½ LOW-BUDGET British thriller Mute Witness is a surprisingly decent effort. Directed by Anthony Waller and released in 1995 it draws comparisons to better-known works by the likes of Brian de Palma, such as Dressed to Kill and Body Double. American special effects and makeup artist Billy Hughes […]

Mute Witness worth talking about

Last Night of Amore ★★★½ THERE are two main reasons to watch Italian crime thriller Last Night of Amore. Firstly, the lead role is played by the always interesting Pierfrancesco Favino and, secondly, it’s the third film from actor turned writer/director Andrea Di Stefano. Favino, the star of many a […]

Amore’s last night one to remember

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ★★★★ THE latest and fifth entry in the Mad Max franchise, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, gives audiences one hell of a ride. Like its immediate predecessor, 2015’s Fury Road, it revels in incredible, fast-paced action set within a strangely realistic dystopian wasteland. This bleak […]

Strap yourself in for new Mad Max epic

The Wages of Fear (1953) ★★★★ Sorcerer (1977) ★★★★ The Wages of Fear (2024) ★★½ FOUR men transport nitroglycerine in trucks across treacherous roads. It’s a simple but brilliant premise devised by French author Georges Arnaud in his novel The Wages of Fear published in 1950. The premise has been depicted […]

The Wages of Fear – versions x 3

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire ★★½ THE latest film in Universal’s so-called ‘MonsterVerse’ franchise is pretty standard fare. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is actually the 38th film to feature Godzilla and the 13th featuring King Kong. What all that means is that director Adam Wingard has his work […]

Little new in Godzilla x Kong

Love Lies Bleeding ★★★★ IT’s two from two for English writer/director Rose Glass. Her extremely well received debut film in 2019 was the psychological horror film Saint Maud. She has followed up five years later with an event better effort in the noir romantic thriller Love Lies Bleeding. This is […]

Love Lies Bleeding worth the wait