Feature Essays
“It comes from not growing up at all” | Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
A corrupt media tycoon (Jonathan Pryce) attempts to start a war to profit from the news coverage. Only two people seem placed to prevent the ...
REVIEW: Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) is a New York economics professor in a relationship with the charming but secretive Nick (Henry Goldman). Nick invites Rachel to meet his family in Singapore, leading her to discover his family is the richest in Singapore and that Nick's mother (Michelle Yeoh) is not going to allow their relationship to ...
REVIEW: The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)
Audrey (Mila Kunis) lives a dull suburban life with her best friend Morgan (Kate McKinnon), only to discover in explosive fashion that her ex-boyfriend Drew (Justin Theroux) is a secret agent. When Drew is assassinated in Audrey's apartment, she and Morgan go on the run and try to complete his mission on his behalf. It ...
REVIEW: Leave No Trace (2018)
Debra Granik is one of the USA's most essential filmmakers. She works slowly, directing just four films in the last 14 years, but every one has been both exceptional and unmissable. She is a superb social realist, grounding her films with a impeccably researched sense of place. She also tells deep human stories with the ...
REVIEW: Mission: Impossible (1996)
With Mission: Impossible Fallout hitting cinemas today, it really is worth taking a step back and acknowledging just how long the franchise has been running. The first Mission: Impossible film was released back in 1996. It's twenty-two years old. It strikes me as one of Hollywood's slower movie franchises. There has been an average of four-and-a-half years between films. James Bond, ...
REVIEW: The Last Painting (2017)
On the day of the 2016 Taiwan election, police find a mutilated body of a young woman in an apartment. Her naked body has been painted white, and her eyes have been cut out and removed from the scene. Four months earlier, the victim Yang Chieh (Chang Ning) moves into the same apartment - sharing ...
REVIEW: Mission: Impossible Fallout (2018)
Whatever you think of Tom Cruise, you cannot fault his dedication to making entertaining cinema. In his long-running Mission: Impossible movie franchise, here hitting its sixth instalment in 22 years, he has consistently attempted to raise the stakes each time with hair-raising stunts, chases and action set pieces - more often than not with his personal safety ...
REVIEW: Funny Cow (2018)
In northern England in the 1970s, a troubled woman (Maxine Peake) doggedly pursues a career as a stand-up comedian. It is extremely important to note two things about Funny Cow, the new feature film from director Adrian Shergold. Firstly, despite its title and subject matter (the making of a stand-up comic) it isn't a comedy. Secondly, ...
