Alex Garland’s Civil War is his sharpest, most brutal dystopia
The British director’s film imagines a present day America that has fallen into internecine violence.
ByFilm reviews
Explore the world of cinema with our selection of film reviews, providing in-depth analysis, thoughtful critiques, and captivating insights into the latest releases and timeless classics.
Drive-Away Dolls should be a classic Coen caper – but isn’t
Ethan’s first feature film without Joel sounds like a romp, but misses every beat. Do the brothers need each other…
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Dune Part 2 is pure spectacle
Denis Villeneuve has finally made Frank Herbert’s novel into a successful franchise, with no self-consciousness – or irony.
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In The Iron Claw, Zac Efron stands out
Efron is an underrated actor, and this is a star-making performance.
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Why The Taste of Things is more than just “food porn”
The movie was derided by French critics as indulgent, with undertones of rancid conservatism. Actually, it’s a love story.
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American Fiction is a bold and bracing satire of publishing’s race problem
Cord Jefferson’s adaptation of Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure shows the “African-American experience” as far richer than it’s often allowed…
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The Zone of Interest is a Holocaust film like no other
Jonathan Glazer’s astonishing adaptation of Martin Amis’s novel is the antidote to Schindler’s List.
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Why The Holdovers deserves Oscars
In a competitive awards season, this film may seem a modest proposition: but we should reward a funny, sad story,…
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All of Us Strangers makes the personal universal
This intensely specific film shows a kind of genius for English humdrum understatement about the most wrenching matters.
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Why make another Mean Girls?
The musical update of the popular high-school movie is entertaining, but bewildering.
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The genius of The Bear
The thrill of this ensemble series about brutish kitchen culture, winner of six Emmys at last night’s awards, lies in…
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Poor Things is Yorgos Lanthimos’s best film yet
In a brilliant comic fable, Emma Stone is a rude, punky and modern Frankenstein’s monster that puts Barbie to shame.
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How Japan’s wartime history haunts its popular culture
In two new blockbusters – Godzilla Minus One and The Boy and the Heron – Japanese filmmakers grapple with atomic…
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The 20 best films and TV shows of 2023
Our choice of the year’s essential screen entertainment.
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The 10 best Christmas films of all time
Featuring Muppets, gremlins, elves and an assassin.
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Inside Elvis’s dollhouse
Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla Presley biopic shows how the singer groomed his teenage wife – but his obsession with young girls…
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Timothée Chalamet is a sweeter – but weaker – Wonka
The Warner Bros origin story for the chocolatier adds songs and removes nastiness from Roald Dahl’s tale – for the…
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Bradley Cooper’s thrill-seeking Leonard Bernstein
In Maestro, Cooper emphasises the composer’s ambition and hedonism. But Carey Mulligan is the film’s roaring heart.
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Ridley Scott’s fast and furious Napoleon biopic
In this ruthlessly efficient and entertaining epic, starring Joaquin Phoenix, facts are beside the point.
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May December is a moral provocation disguised as soap opera
Todd Haynes’s sophisticated melodrama pits Julianne Moore against Natalie Portman in a bitingly funny duel.
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