REVIEW: Mickey 17

Mickey 17, Bong Joon-ho’s latest, is a Frankenstein’s Monster of a movie, but one that fails to come to life.

Our titular iterative protagonist, hapless sad-sack Mickey (Robert Pattinson; endearing, like a naïfish Looney Tune), discovers that intergalactic travel isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, when he realises he’s signed up to be an Expendable.…

REVIEW: Nosferatu (2024)

Robert Eggers’ remake of F.W Murnau’s prototypical horror classic is a gothic fever dream of carnal obsession and spiritual repulsion.

Winter, 1838: Estate agent Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult; acquitting himself as the thwarted hero) departs Wisborg, Germany. His destination is the castle of Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård; essaying another classic movie monster), his firm’s mysterious new client, in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania.…

REVIEW: Conclave [London Film Festival 2024]

What happens when a group of men, sworn to humility, are given the power to elect the Vicar of Christ? Can personal fallibility be kept in check when the stakes are divine?

Conclave, directed by Edward Berger and based on Robert Harris’ novel, explores these questions as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) reluctantly presides over the election of a new Pope after the sudden death of the current pontiff.…

REVIEW: Joker: Folie à Deux

2019’s Joker was a comic book movie for people who don’t like comic books. Its newly-released sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, is both that and a musical for people who don’t particularly like musicals.

I told myself I wasn’t going to be sarcastic, but it’s tough when the director of the film you’re reviewing doesn’t seem to have much of a feel for the genre in which he’s working.…

REVIEW: Sing Sing

We open onstage, blue light and garlands.

We are in the presence of Divine G (Colman Domingo), wreathed and quietly commanding. One line he utters, essaying the role of Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, could serve as a statement on the whole film that is to follow: “And ere a man hath power to say ‘Behold!’”…

REVIEW: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

He’s back, baby.

Before Michael Keaton was Batman, he was Beetlejuice.

In Tim Burton’s 1988 film of the same name, Keaton portrayed the titular ghoul; a lecherous, foul-mouthed “bio-exorcist” hired by the recently deceased Maitlands (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) to scare away the new occupants of their home.…

REVIEW: The Crow (2024)

Finally released from development hell, Rupert Sanders’ The Crow feels tailor-made for Netflix.

Its gritty, “realistic” visuals and its try-hard Hot Topic aesthetic have all the genuine edge of a safety razor. Gone is the brooding Gothic camp of the original, replaced with… very little.…

REVIEW: Alien: Romulus

Alien: Romulus, Fede Álvarez’s addition to the iconic franchise, starts as lean, atmospheric thriller, but, like a face-hugger proboscis down the oesophagus, is forcibly impregnated with clumsy fan service.

Rain (Cailee Spaeny, effective but largely wasted in a straightforward heroine role), our new Ripley, is desperate to escape from the grimy, tenebrous mining colony of Jackson’s Star.…

REVIEW: You Can’t Run Forever

You Can’t Run Forever is a thriller with strong cinematic roots, but it’s one that doesn’t quite bear dramatic fruit.

When traumatised teen Miranda (Isabelle Anaya) gets in the car with her well-meaning stepdad, Eddie (Allen Leech), for a day trip, they can’t know what’s waiting for them out on the highway – an amiably murderous sociopath, Wade (J.…

REVIEW: Late Night with the Devil

A year on from its debut at the South by Southwest Film Festival, with accolades including a rapturous review from horror maestro Stephen King, Late Night with the Devil finally arrives on the public stage.

A found-footage-style horror film with a twist, Late Night with the Devil presents itself as a recently rediscovered episode of a fictional second-tier talk show from the 1970s.…