Out this Friday in cinemas and streaming, Italian anti-Semitism drama Kidnapped is an earnest and moving historical epic that still manages to keep a surprising sense of entertainment and fun with its villainous portrayal of the Catholic Church

blackwellfilm.com/2024/04/22/kid…

CIVIL WAR - Alex Garland's absolutely thrilling war story/road movie uses its American backdrop to tell an almost placeless story about the limits of empathy and journalism, peppered with stunningly immersive gunfights

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/04/13/civ…

CLOSE YOUR EYES - Victor Erice's first film in decades is an exceedingly gentle and unhurried work of self-reflection that does feel a bit too glacial at times, though it does possess a couple of transcendently lovely moments

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/04/12/clo…

TEACHERS LOUNGE - a genuinely tense school/office politics thriller that undoes itself in a sadly unconvincing second half and some notably poor writing for all the kids

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/04/10/the…

SCOOP - I'm not sure the Emily Maitlis / Prince Andrew interview really warranted a full movie, and there's a shallowness in confronting Andrew's actual crimes, but a tremendous performance from Rufus Sewell keeps things consistently engaging

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/04/06/sco…

IO CAPITANO - Matteo Garrone's sweeping Migrant Crisis epic is moving and horrifying in its portrayal of the brutal realities of fleeing Africa for Europe but also genuinely refreshing in how much agency it grants its central characters

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/04/05/io-…

NEW EMPIRE - though it is sad to see the Hollywide side of the Godzilla franchise pretty much completely give up on the awe and grandeur of past entries, this second Monsterverse Kong crossover is an undeniably fun monster mash

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/04/03/god…

DISCO BOY - a visually striking debut with a solid performance from Franz Rogowski at the centre, this tale of colonialism and the French Foreign Legion is ultimately far too hollow to make a mark, mistaking generic dreaminess for depth

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/03/27/dis…

FROZEN EMPIRE - the absolute worst Ghostbusters instalment to date (and that’s saying something after Afterlife), with an empty and lifeless story that takes ages to go nowhere and a litany of simply awful performances

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/03/26/gho…

ROAD HOUSE - Doug Liman's remake is sleazy dumb fun with inconsistent but mostly exciting fight sequences really sold by a never-more hench Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor having a blast in his movie debut

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/03/23/roa…

ROBOT DREAMS - maybe a little too gentle and definitely a little too long, this wordless animation is still a very sweet and gorgeously rendered ode to friendship, letting go, and the New York of the 1980s

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/03/22/rob…

INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL - a ridiculously assured slow cinema debut that makes exceptional use of Vietnam’s natural and urban beauty to immerse you in a dreamlike story of lost purpose and faith

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/03/12/ins…

DUNE 2 - stranger and slower than part 1, but also richer and more complete, Denis Villeneuve’s second trip to Arrakis is somehow even more immersive than the first, making for an absolutely thrilling and singular blockbuster

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/03/03/dun…

Out on Friday in cinemas and online (but really deserving a big screen trip), Robin Campillo’s Red Island is a perfect escape from the lingering UK winter, a stunningly, intoxicatingly beautiful trip to ‘70s Madagascar in all its light, heat, and colour

blackwellfilm.com/2024/02/26/red…

PERFECT DAYS - Wim Wenders’s gentle and poetic ode to Tokyo, late middle-age, and the joys of a predictable routine makes for a surprisingly compelling and genuinely soothing experience

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/02/20/per…

Out on Friday, Memory strikes a perfect balance of harrowing and hopeful, with sublime lead performances from Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard who should, in a better world, have made much more headway into this year's awards season

blackwellfilm.com/2024/02/19/mem…

EUREKA - Lisandro Alonso's anti-narrative tone poem starts with some intrigue but soon degenerates into one of the most relentlessly, even insultingly, boring films I've seen in years

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/02/16/eur…

Out this Friday, The Iron Claw is easily one of the best films you’ll see all year (and definitely should have been Oscar nommed), harrowing and heartbreaking yet with just enough hope to keep it lodged in your mind for days after the credits roll

blackwellfilm.com/2024/02/05/the…

ARGYLLE - 2024's first blockbuster sets a dismally low bar, Matthew Vaughn's twisty and meta spy thriller far more irritating than it is exciting with some excruciatingly ugly visuals

My review:

blackwellfilm.com/2024/02/03/arg…

In cinemas on Friday, with some (free!) preview screenings at Team Picturehouse cinemas through the week, American Fiction is one of the best and funniest satires in ages, managing to be both an obvious awards player and also blindingly entertaining

blackwellfilm.com/2024/01/29/ame…