Inside Out 2 can’t live up to the triumphant original
The first film was funny, touching and universally relatable. The sequel is unwieldy and narrow.
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.
Hoard is a daringly original British film
Lewisham-born director Luna Carmoon has called her debut, about a young woman in foster care, “this thing that encompasses all…
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What Challengers understands about tennis
This is more than a sports movie – but it's also a film that grasps how uniquely competitive the tennis…
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La Chimera is a charming tale of history and myth
Alice Rohrwacher’s playful, Palme d’Or-nominated film about tomb raiders summons the ghosts of Italy’s past.
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Love Lies Bleeding is a fun, surreal lesbian romance
This Eighties-set film, in which Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian play star-crossed bodybuilders, is at its most original when it…
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Should romcoms be sincere or ironic?
The Fall Guy and The Idea of You offer two very different approaches to the genre – one playful, one…
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The contested afterlife of Amy Winehouse
In her life and music, she was beyond confessional. Can Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic tell us more about her than she…
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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.
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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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