The Little Mermaid deserves a progressive remake. This isn’t it
Its black Ariel caused a racist backlash, but Bridgerton-style casting isn’t enough to give Disney's new version any cultural depth.
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.
Paul Schrader’s Master Gardener is inexcusably nasty – and yet I loved it
This story of an ex-white supremacist and a mixed-race woman tending to the grounds of a former plantation will make…
By
Beau Is Afraid is a cartoonishly Freudian horror
Ari Aster’s black comedy about malign maternal influence is full of cod-psychology that makes Psycho look like a Mother’s Day…
By
The Eight Mountains is a rare portrait of male friendship
This moving film takes on a truly unusual subject: a durable, unstated, non-sexual relationship between two men.
By
A Thousand and One understands the effects of gentrification
In this sensitive debut about a mother who steals her son from care, AV Rockwell maps the contours of a…
By
Kristoffer Borgli’s Sick of Myself: the worst people in the world?
The wretchedly self-absorbed lead and her artist boyfriend are truly, absurdly awful. To what end?
By
Hail the assassins
The American youth has lost its radical temper – Daniel Goldhaber’s film How to Blow Up a Pipeline is an…
By
The Night of the 12th: a grim look at an unsolved murder
The director Dominik Moll is known for his tightly-plotted French thrillers. Now, he takes on an unsolved true crime.
By
God’s Creatures is a powerful portrait of a toxic mother-son relationship
Paul Mescal and Emily Watson bring inner darkness to this story of trauma in a tiny Irish town.
By
The rise of Mia Goth mania
In the horror films Pearl and Infinity Pool, the 29-year-old actor delivers two pleasingly unhinged performances.
By
Rye Lane is a bright, euphoric south London romcom
Raine Allen-Miller’s visually dynamic debut turns a boy-meets-girl story into a joyous fantasy.
By
A Winnie-the-Pooh horror film? Welcome to the public domain
From Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey to The Gay Gatsby, the expiry of copyright on popular literature has seen…
By
Why Everything Everywhere All at Once deserves every Oscar going
The anti-superhero film encapsulates our dissatisfied, lonely age with wit and originality.
By
Allelujah is Alan Bennett’s ode to the NHS
His 2018 play, set in a Yorkshire geriatric ward, is now a starry movie – with a pandemic-focused final act.
By
How The Fabelmans, a box-office bomb in the US, became an instant classic in France
French critics have hailed Steven Spielberg’s belated coming-of-age movie as a “magisterial” and “Truffaldian” masterwork.
By
Lukas Dhont’s Close explores the abrupt end of boyhood
This is a tender portrait of an innocent, intimate relationship between two best friends. So why must it veer into…
By
The degradation of Marilyn Monroe
In death as in life, the actress has been used, abused and commodified. Netflix’s film Blonde is just the latest…
By
Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin: a brilliantly nasty Irish fable
The director reunites Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell in a timeless film full of heartbreaking sunsets and superb knitwear.
By
Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale is dismal, claustrophobic and sometimes cruel
Brendan Fraser’s performance as an obese shut-in could win him an Oscar, but this bleak, suffocating film is hard to…
By
Spielberg’s The Fabelmans is a major and personal work
The director’s 34th feature – and the first to turn the camera on himself – ranks as one of his…
By