MA 15+, 158 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury The defiant, scowling figure slouching on the French throne on the flyers that advertise Ridley Scott’s latest epic, need not feel too defensive about the latest film made about him. As a biopic, it barely scratches the surface and leaves so many questions about… Continue reading Napoleon
Saltburn
MA 15+, 131 minutes 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury For someone hanging out for an invitation to stay with members of the English upper class on their country estate, this clever, queasy drama may give them pause. Equally, welcoming a stranger as a house guest may give their moneyed, potential hosts pause too.… Continue reading Saltburn
Paris Memories
M, 103 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury It is hardly surprising that filmmaker Alice Winocour felt the need to tell a story connected with the Paris terrorist attacks of November 2015, when her younger brother, Jeremie, had witnessed it first-hand. He was at the rock concert at the Bataclan on the night… Continue reading Paris Memories
Foe
M, 110 Minutes 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury Late into the evening, a car travels through arid, spectral landscape before stopping outside an isolated farmhouse. The young couple inside do not seem to be expecting anyone at such a late hour, but soon it isn’t quite clear who between them knows quite what.… Continue reading Foe
Monolith
M, 93 minutes 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury In an age of blockbusters with budgets over 200 million dollars, here is a movie that confirms some things can still be done. Every now and then a very low-budget film like Monolith comes along showing that a film that didn’t need buckets of money… Continue reading Monolith
Killers of the Flower Moon
M, 206 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury The latest movie from living legend, Martin Scorsese, brings together two of the actors that he has made famous, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, but the character at the centre of Killers of the Flower Moon is a calm, softly spoken First Nations woman… Continue reading Killers of the Flower Moon
Nyad
M, 120 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury While a film about a long-distance swimmer wasn’t a subject that you might expect to hold your interest over the course of a feature length movie, it’s a fair bet that a documentary about a rock climber wasn’t either, until Free Solo appeared a short… Continue reading Nyad
The Crime is Mine
M, 102 minutes 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury Two heads are better than one. So it goes, for two young women, an actress and a lawyer, who share an apartment together in Paris in the 1930s. It’s hard to get by in a world when the competition in their line of work is… Continue reading The Crime is Mine
Fair Play
MA 15+, 115 minutes 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury It’s great to know that at least some of the people can find time for a personal life, some of the time, in the world of financial services, an industry that has taken a well-earned drubbing lately. It’s what Fair Play would have… Continue reading Fair Play
Shayda
M, 118 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury As a woman trying to escape an abusive marriage and start over in a new land, the actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi gives a delicate, transcendent performance. It is perhaps informed by her own experience of having to flee Iran in her twenties and build a… Continue reading Shayda
Past Lives
M, 106 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury This subtle, understated romantic drama involves three people who we first see having a drink together at a bar in New York. A voiceover playfully suggests that others are watching on, wondering what prompts the animated conversation and why one of the trio, the… Continue reading Past Lives
BlackBerry
M, 120 minutes 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury This tale is one for our fast-changing times. It is about how a small technology innovator got together with a hard-headed entrepreneur to create a cool gadget that commanded nearly half of the smartphone market, before emerging rivals stepped in. Leaving it without any skin… Continue reading BlackBerry
Asteroid City
M, 105 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury To reassure anyone who may get lost along the way, the new film from Wes Anderson begins with a droll explanatory prologue delivered in sonorous tones by its host, Bryan Cranston. There are chapter intertitles along the way and there is even an epilogue of… Continue reading Asteroid City
The Miracle Club
PG, 90 minutes 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury It is a bit of a surprise to see a film like this arrive on the big screen. Not just because it’s a period drama about women who go on a pilgrimage but because the tale and its telling is rather dated, despite some gentle… Continue reading The Miracle Club
Barbie
PG, 114 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury Just how does a professional bimbo some say set the feminist movement back 50 years get to be the centrepiece of a must-see movie? Even those who swore against watching it, now want to know what all the fuss is about as Barbie storms box-office… Continue reading Barbie
Alcarras
M, 120 minutes, subtitled 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury From deep within a farm in Catalonia where peaches grow in abundance, there is little to see of the outside world in this intergenerational family drama, though it does make its presence felt. There are festivals in town and there are clubs and bars… Continue reading Alcarras
Sugar and Stars
M, 110 minutes, subtitled 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury This story of a young chef so dedicated to his craft that he camped on the beach while an apprentice, is a new French title that sets out to show how a boy incumbered by a poor start in life can make good. And… Continue reading Sugar and Stars
Carmen
M, 117 minutes 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury This new take on the ravishing gypsy woman who can never belong to anyone is striking. From its raven-haired lead actor to the scrubby desert she crosses in search of a new life, to the city backstreets where she finds sanctuary, the look is nothing… Continue reading Carmen
The New Boy
M, 116 minutes 5 Stars Review by Jane © Freebury In startling opening scenes, a boy trying to escape from police is felled by a boomerang, bundled into a sack and loaded onto a goods train. He is headed for a place where they will train him to wear a shirt, shorts and sandals, comb… Continue reading The New Boy
Other People’s Children
M, 107 minutes, subtitles 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury This gentle, relatable relationship drama set in the city of love and romance explores a sadly common situation. A 40-year-old Parisian teacher who spends each working day with other people’s teenage children, comes to quickly realises how much she will miss out on if… Continue reading Other People’s Children