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3.5/5
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Frankenstein
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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The plot broadly follows Shelley’s novel but the director does significant rewrites that I suspect will lead to suggestions this is a woke Frankenstein...I think the changes neutralise the power of one of the most influential works of fiction yet written.
Posted Oct 28, 2025
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2.5/5
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Frankenstein
(2025)
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Nikki Gemmell
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Del Toro’s Frankenstein is an overlong, relentlessly violent and indulgent mash-up of the original. It takes the bare bones of Shelley’s story and kills its clear, clean clarity.
Posted Oct 28, 2025
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3.5/5
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After the Hunt
(2025)
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Nikki Gemmell
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This one isn’t among Guadagnino’s most resonant, but it’s a film of now; providing a corrective, perhaps, a rebuke to the recent past. It proves that nothing is black and white – or in terms of the oeuvre of a boldly compelling filmmaker, predictable.
Posted Oct 17, 2025
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2/5
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Roofman
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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I think more Roofman, less Toys R Us squatter would have made this a more entertaining film.
Posted Oct 17, 2025
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3.5/5
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Beast of War
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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It’s old-fashioned film-making and I think we need more of it.
Posted Oct 10, 2025
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4/5
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Homebound
(2025)
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Nikki Gemmell
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The film stands powerfully alongside Gallipoli, Withnail and I, Brokeback Mountain and Moonlight as a moving paean to the bindings of brotherhood.
Posted Oct 04, 2025
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3.5/5
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The Smashing Machine
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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You don’t have to be into MMA or sport in general to engage with the characters. Watch it for the human drama and the fine acting.
Posted Oct 04, 2025
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2/5
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Spinal Tap II: The End Continues
(2025)
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Nikki Gemmell
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This sequel feels as long as an extended guitar solo you did not ask for, in a concert that started two hours late.
Posted Oct 04, 2025
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4/5
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One Battle After Another
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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Indeed the whole movie is non-stop for 162 minutes, propelled by the camerawork, the whiplash script, the outstanding performances and the musical score by Jonny Greenwood, from English rock band Radiohead.
Posted Sep 26, 2025
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3/5
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One Battle After Another
(2025)
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Nikki Gemmell
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A sophisticated chase film, with added flavour of society breaking down, yet it’s not done as provocatively as Alex Garland’s Civil War.
Posted Sep 26, 2025
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4/5
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Kangaroo
(2025)
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Nikki Gemmell
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Kangaroo follows the predictable path of children’s films, but it’s elevated by the sheer force of its plucky personality, thanks to its dry-as-a-bone wit from scriptwriter Harry Cripps (The Dry, Penguin Bloom.)
Posted Sep 26, 2025
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3.5/5
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Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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This movie is a pleasure to watch. It is beautifully shot (cinematographer Ben Smithard) and gloriously costumed (costume designer Anna Robbins).
Posted Sep 20, 2025
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3/5
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Il ragazzo dai pantaloni rosa
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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[The film] has moments of cruelty and sadness, but also of resistance and beauty.
Posted Sep 20, 2025
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3/5
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Sorry, Baby
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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This is a different approach to trauma drama. Parts of it are too heavy-handed but overall this film, co-produced by Barry Jenkins, director of the 2016 Oscar winner Moonlight, is a strong debut feature.
Posted Sep 12, 2025
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3.5/5
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Caught Stealing
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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This is a straightforward, entertaining crime thriller.
Posted Sep 12, 2025
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2/5
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Splitsville
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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It takes some interesting ideas, such as monogamy versus open relationships, adds general coupledom anxieties, but fails to follow through on them in any meaningful way.
Posted Sep 12, 2025
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3.5/5
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The Roses
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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The dazzling script is thespian heaven for the stars, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch, who put a wicked British spin on this remake of Danny DeVito’s 1989 movie The War of the Roses...
Posted Sep 05, 2025
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3/5
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Kangaroo Island
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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This is a solid debut film by the advertising creative director (full name Timothy David Piper) who came up with the green gecko character for tyre manufacturer Bridgestone Australia.
Posted Sep 05, 2025
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2/5
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Honey Don't!
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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The director throws a lot of dead bodies in the air but doesn’t land them in a convincing storytelling way.
Posted Sep 02, 2025
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3/5
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An Ordinary Case
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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The French film [An Ordinary Case] doesn’t have as much drama in the witness box as I would like, but it makes up for that outside the courtroom.
Posted Sep 02, 2025
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4/5
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The Ballad of Wallis Island
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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This is a fish-out-of-water, odd couple, art and romance dramedy that reminds me of terrific television series such as Hamish Macbeth (1995-97) and Northern Exposure (1990-95). It is charming throughout, humorous and moving.
Posted Sep 02, 2025
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3/5
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The Life of Chuck
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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This film should be better than it is. It relies far too much on spoken exposition... Its best moments are when it is showing – such as Hiddleston and Pajak dancing – rather than telling.
Posted Aug 21, 2025
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3.5/5
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Chopper
(2000)
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Stephen Romei
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This movie was Bana’s breakthrough and he is mesmerising.
Posted Aug 21, 2025
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3.5/5
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Eddington
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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If you like films you can discuss for hours afterwards – in the sense of What was that all about? – then this one is for you.
Posted Aug 15, 2025
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3.5/5
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Weapons
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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This is a smart, entertaining horror movie that will keep you guessing until the end, and probably afterwards.
Posted Aug 15, 2025
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2/5
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Freakier Friday
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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The sequel, Freakier Friday, is freakier in the sense that the mind-body switch goes further, but it isn’t funnier, or even funny full stop.
Posted Aug 11, 2025
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3.5/5
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Mr. Burton
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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It’s a solid biopic that simplifies aspects of Richard Burton’s early life and exaggerates others for dramatic effect.
Posted Aug 11, 2025
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3.5/5
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The Friend
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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...The Friend [is] a thoughtful and tender-hearted adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s 2018 novel.
Posted Aug 04, 2025
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3/5
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Four Letters of Love
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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This movie is melodramatic, sentimental and overwrought but I enjoyed it.
Posted Jul 25, 2025
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2/5
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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The dialogue is weak, especially the attempts at humour. Nothing much of interest happens. The superhero movie franchise has its ups and downs. This one is definitely on the downside.
Posted Jul 25, 2025
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3.5/5
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Auction
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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I don’t know a lot about art but I’m interested in films and books that interrogate the intricacies and personalities of this world, and this film more than satisfies that interest.
Posted Jul 17, 2025
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3/5
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Friendship
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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We all have our own funny bones and this movie doesn’t tickle mine. Robinson’s I Think You Should Leave does because it is absurdist. Friendship on the other hand feels close to an unsettling reality.
Posted Jul 17, 2025
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Grenfell: Uncovered
(2025)
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Graeme Blundell
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...[Grenfell: Uncovered is] not only heartbreaking to watch but it enrages that so many who were responsible have never been brought to account. You can’t watch and by its end not think, “They all knew”.
Posted Jul 11, 2025
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4/5
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Superman
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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This is the funniest superhero movie I have seen and the good news is the humour is deliberate. It’s also action-packed, visually spectacular, has decent twists and is full of knockout performances...
Posted Jul 11, 2025
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Mike Birbiglia: The Good Life
(2025)
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Helen Trinca
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...[Mike Birbiglia: The Good Life] is a joy, because while he tackles complex issues – like not wanting to be a father and not really liking his own father – Birbiglia can’t help delivering life-affirming, optimistic messages.
Posted Jun 27, 2025
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4/5
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28 Years Later
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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This is a terrific film that will scare you, make you laugh and make you think.
Posted Jun 26, 2025
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3/5
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N'avoue jamais
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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There are moments that are sad and moments that are beautiful.
Posted Jun 26, 2025
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3.5/5
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Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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This is an intelligent, well-directed, well-acted movie that, at its heart, just wants to have a bit of fun.
Posted Jun 24, 2025
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3.5/5
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Dangerous Animals
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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Jai Courtney delivers the performance of his career in Dangerous Animals…
Posted Jun 24, 2025
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3.5/5
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Materialists
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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This sharp contemporary take on material value versus love, respect and trust doesn’t mark Song as a filmmaker to watch – she already has ticked that box – but as one whose next film will be eagerly awaited.
Posted Jun 24, 2025
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3/5
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F1 The Movie
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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There have been better motor racing movies -- including Michael Mann’s recent Ferrari -- but F1 has its thrilling moments, and its 156-minute run time goes by almost as fast as Hayes drives.
Posted Jun 20, 2025
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4/5
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The Great Lillian Hall
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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[Jessica Lange] brings her skills to The Great Lillian Hall in a performance that deserves another Oscar nomination.
Posted Jun 12, 2025
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2/5
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Ballerina
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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This movie is more or less two hours of Eve killing people. The plot is full of holes and the only good lines in the script come when John Wick reappears.
Posted Jun 12, 2025
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4/5
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El 47
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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One of the key messages of this film...is that dignity is not something abstract. For the people of Torre Baro...it is water, electricity, a roof over their heads, paved roads and, in this case, a bus.
Posted Jun 12, 2025
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3.5/5
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The Phoenician Scheme
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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You know the expression “It’s more than the sum of its parts”? Wes Anderson’s new film, The Phoenician Scheme, is entertaining, humorous and visually striking but its parts...are the reason not to take a toilet break.
Posted Jun 09, 2025
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4/5
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Bring Her Back
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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[Bring Her Back is] scarier without resorting to chainsaws or any of the other instruments of mayhem that on-screen psychopaths are fond of. It’s tense from start to finish and it shows [Danny and Michael Philippou's] strengths as filmmakers.
Posted Jun 06, 2025
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3/5
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Beating Hearts
(2024)
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Stephen Romei
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If you go to this film be prepared for it to be a bit melodramatic, a bit over the top, a bit showy, a bit purple in its prose, a bit like a Billy Idol song. Once I realised that and got into its over-self conscious groove I quite enjoyed it.
Posted May 30, 2025
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3/5
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Wilding
(2023)
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Stephen Romei
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This documentary contains moments of wonder, and of hope for endangered species, but only tells part of the story.
Posted May 30, 2025
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The Phoenician Scheme
(2025)
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Geordie Gray
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It’s a typically Andersonian caper – ornate, silly, and faintly melancholic.
Posted May 23, 2025
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4/5
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Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
(2025)
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Stephen Romei
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It’s amazing to look at and pure, heart-racing entertainment from start to finish.
Posted May 23, 2025
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