Mort la révolution! Why UK film loves a failed rebellion
Paul Greengrass’s Peasants’ Revolt epic, The Uprising, is just the latest in a long line of movies depicting an unsuccessful attempt at remaking the nationThe British are perverse. We fetishise our failures, even if they are essentially tangential to a…
Wildwood review – Laika’s pleasingly old fashioned stop-motion magic-forest odyssey
The makers of Coraline return with their distinctive animation style in a magical tale of a secret world of strange beasts, talking animals and evil governessesHere is an engaging family movie from the Portland-based Laika studio that created Coraline.…
Ray Gunn review – Brad Bird’s animated film-noir sci-fi caper is an old-school family classic
Sam Rockwell voices the gumshoe who becomes embroiled with Scarlett Johansson’s femme fatale in this big-hearted and beautifully designed fantasy spectacularBrad Bird, the Spielberg of animation, applies his masterly authorial touch to a terrific family…
Amélie allowed me to embrace my neurodivergence
Watching a DVD of the French film alone in my room, I saw for the first time a character who moved through the world like I doAmélie likes the sound of cracking creme brulee with a teaspoon, plunging her hand into a sack of grain, and turning around in…
From The Social Reckoning to Harriet Kemsley: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Jeremy Strong plays Mark Zuckerberg in Aaron Sorkin’s sequel to The Social Network, and the Last One Laughing star reckons with divorce in her new standup tourThe Social ReckoningOut nowThe David Fincher-directed The Social Network has only come to seem…
14th review – Ava DuVernay’s galvanizing documentary is a remarkable achievement
New York film festival: the director has made a fascinating and troubling companion piece to her Netflix documentary 13th, which takes a fiery look at American injusticeIt feels at once like the blink of an eye and an eternity since Ava DuVernay’s…
Lost generation: the AI threat to Britain’s next great directors
Commercials once launched careers from Ridley Scott to Guy Ritchie, now automated production is cutting costs – and the chance to learn by doingWhen Ridley Scott was awarded the UK’s highest accolade for a glittering career directing films from Alien and…
‘Old-timey fascism was kept secret. Now you don’t have to hide it’: Martin McDonagh, John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell on Wild Horse Nine
McDonagh’s latest film has Malkovich and Rockwell shooting the breeze as CIA agents in 1973 on Easter Island. They discuss grandchildren, swimming with turtles and who shot JFK‘Earmuffs!” says Sam Rockwell, pausing his gushing tribute mid-flow and…
Animals review – Ben Affleck’s dull Netflix thriller is lacking in bark and bite
Actor-director’s listless LA-set crime thriller makes for a surprisingly anonymous effort and one that feels very similar to many other, better filmsBen Affleck has pushed through multiple Hollywood comebacks, at least one predicated on his facility…
Matchbox: the Movie review – as pointless as a film based on a toy car could be
John Cena and Jessica Biel collect paychecks in a soulless and synthetic slab of corporate product that hints at what we can expect from the Paramount-Warner mergerAfter a windy road, this week it finally happened. The day that Hollywood, and many of…