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T
David G. Hughes
20 December 2021

The cult of Diana Spencer returns to the silver screen, and suffering ensues

Spencer (Pablo Larraín, 2021, UK-US)
A
Bobby Vogel
20 December 2021

A prayer for Kurt Eugene Kunkle

Spree (Eugene Kotlyarenko, 2020, US)
A
Savina Petkova
25 June 2021

After Love grieves the crisis of identity: marital, religious, and transnational

After Love (Aleem Khan, 2021, UK)
C
David G. Hughes
20 June 2021

Crazy Samurai: 400 vs. 1 is a unique meditation on violence, heroism, and aesthetics

Crazy Samurai: 400 vs. 1 (Yûji Shimomura, 2020, Japan)
T
Ruairí McCann
12 June 2021

The Amusement Park: Romero’s metamorphosis

The Amusement Park (George A. Romero, 2019)
T
David G. Hughes
6 December 2020

Toxic masculinity, intoxicating: psychosexual gym drama Muscle understands spiritual impoverishment in Britain today

Muscle (Gerard Johnson, 2019, UK)
A
David G. Hughes
25 October 2020

Another Round is a spirited examination of midlife crisis on the European continent

Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg, 2020, Denmark)
N
Savina Petkova
23 October 2020

Nomadland entwines a lyrical American West with the corroding effects of capitalism and age

Nomadland (Chloé Zhao, 2020, US)
R
John McKeown
20 October 2020

Rebecca is light entertainment with something to savour

Rebecca (Ben Wheatley, 2020, UK)
B
Patrick Preziosi
17 October 2020

Beguiling Berlin fairytale Undine smoulders in erotic and emotional hunger

Undine (Christian Petzold, 2020, Germany)
T
Patrick Preziosi
3 October 2020

The Salt of Tears interrogates the callowness of male youth with clear-eyed filmmaking

The Salt of Tears (Philippe Garrel, 2020, France)
R
Patrick Preziosi
3 October 2020

Rigorous and free-flowing, Days locates tenderness in duration

Days (Tsai Ming-liang, 2020, Taiwan)
Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu), DCP, colour, sound, 201 minutesM
Patrick Preziosi
20 September 2020

Malmkrog transcends the conventions of both the period drama and the conversation piece

Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu, 2020, Romania)
M
Edward Weech
20 September 2020

Making and unmaking a cinematic icon in True History of the Kelly Gang

True History of the Kelly Gang (Justin Kurzel, 2019, Australia)
Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue / Yi zhi you dao hai shui bian lan (Jia Zhangke, 2020), mk2 films, China, DCP, colour, sound, 112 minS
Ruairí McCann
20 September 2020

Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue is a literary documentary bound for the fields, the seacoast, and the vicissitudes of time

Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue (Jia Zhangke, 2020, China)
S
Patrick Preziosi
16 September 2020

Schemers is a music autobiography with a a touch of fun and a heap of self-satisfaction

Schemers (David McLean, 2019, UK)
She Dies Tomorrow (Amy Seimetz, 2020), Blue Finch Films, USA, colour, sound, 86 minsA
Savina Petkova
28 August 2020

Absurdist thriller She Dies Tomorrow channels today’s existential dread

She Dies Tomorrow (Amy Seimetz, 2020, US)
T
Patrick Preziosi
21 August 2020

Tesla is a biopic of the mystery-shrouded inventor that revels in the anachronistic appeal of cinema

Tesla (Michael Almereyda, 2020, US)
R
David G. Hughes
20 August 2020

Road rage thriller Unhinged follows its pulp convictions to a satisfying conclusion

Unhinged (Derrick Borte, 2020, US)
The Traitor / Il Traditore (Dir. Marco Bellocchio, 2019), Modern Films, Italy, DCP, colour, sound, 153 minutes, Tommaso Buscetta (Pierfrancesco Favino)M
Ruairí McCann
25 July 2020

Mafia epic The Traitor examines theatrical machismo and Italian identity

The Traitor (Marco Bellocchio, 2019, Italy)
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Bill and Turner Ross, 2020), Department of Motion Pictures, USA, colour, sound, 98 minutesB
Patrick Preziosi
20 July 2020

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is a boozy last call for the documentary film as we know it

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Bill Ross & Turner Ross, 2020, US)
C
John McKeown
18 July 2020

Canadian psychological thriller Disappearance at Clifton Hill cites David Lynch but falls short

Disappearance at Clifton Hill (Albert Shin, 2019, Canada)
Greyhound (Dir. Aaron Schneider, 2020), Apple TV, USA, DCP, colour, sound, 91 minsG
David G. Hughes
15 July 2020

Gentlemen prefer righteous wars: Greyhound is Tom Hanks’ impressionistic tribute to values-driven warfare

Greyhound (Aaron Schneider, 2020, US)
The King of Staten Island (Dir. Judd Apatow, 2020), Universal, USA, 35mm, colour, sound, 136 minutes, Scott Carlin (Pete Davidson)T
Patrick Preziosi
30 June 2020

The King of Staten Island sees Pete Davidson given the signature Apatow treatment and the jokes transpire organically

The King of Staten Island (Judd Apatow, 2020, US)
The Wretched (Dir. Brett Pierce & Drew T. Pierce), Vertigo Releasing, USA, colour, sound, 95 minsT
Grayson Lazarus
20 June 2020

The Wretched shows solid horror craft on a small budget

The Wretched (Brett Pierce & Drew Pierce, 2019, US)
The Ground Beneath My Feet / Der Boden unter den Füßen (Marie Kreutzer, 2019), Light Bulb Film Distribution, Austria, 35mm, colour, sound, 108 mins, Elise (Mavie Hörbiger), Lola (Valerie Pachner)M
David G. Hughes
14 June 2020

Madness and civilisation: Austrian drama The Ground Beneath My Feet finds neurosis at the core of late-capitalist society

The Ground Beneath My Feet (Marie Kreutzer, 2019, Austria)
A
John McKeown
1 June 2020

A Rainy Day in New York is a sensuous ode to rainswept chance encounters

A Rainy Day in New York (Woody Allen, 2019, US)
The Last Full Measure (Todd Robinson, 2019), Parkland Entertainment, USA, DCP, Colour, Sound, Scott Huffman (Sebastian Stan)A
John McKeown
23 May 2020

A cast of veteran actors can’t elevate saccharine war drama The Last Full Measure

The Last Full Measure (Todd Robinson, 2019, US)
Capone (Josh Trank, 2020), Vertical Entertainment, USA, DCP, colour, sound, 104 minutes, Al Capone (Tom Hardy)C
Patrick Preziosi
20 May 2020

Capone hedges its bets on a signature Tom Hardy performance

Capone (Josh Trank, 2020, US)
Throw Down / 柔道龍虎榜 (Johnnie To, 2004), Eureka Entertainment, Hong Kong, 35mm, colour, sound, 95 minutes, Sze-to (Louis Koo)T
Ruairí McCann
19 May 2020

Throw Down is a formally adventurous judo musical in salute of Kurosawa

Throw Down (Johnnie To, 2004, Hong Kong)
Villain (Philip Barantini, 2020), Vertigo Releasing / Saban Films, UK, colour, sound 97 minutesP
David G. Hughes
18 May 2020

Polished British gangster flick Villain hits with surprising emotional depth

Villain (Philip Barantini, 2020, UK)
Liberté (Albert Serra, 2019), Cinema Guild, France/Portugal/Spain, DCP, colour, sound, 132 minutesL
Patrick Preziosi
6 May 2020

Liberté pushes cinematic limits but the results fall short of intended subversion

Liberté (Albert Serra, 2019, France)
E
Patrick Preziosi
4 May 2020

Ema couches conventionality in otherwise vibrant cinematic tricks

Ema (Pablo Larraín, 2019, Chile)
Time to Hunt / 사냥의 시간 (Yoon Sung-hyun, 2020), Netflix, South Korea, DCP, colour, sound, 134 minutesR
Ruairí McCann
3 May 2020

Rote direction and extraneous world-building hampers dystopian heist movie Time to Hint

Time to Hunt (Yoon Sung-hyun, 2020, South Korea)
We Summon the Darkness (Marc Meyers, 2019), Signature Entertainment, USA, colour, sound, 91 minutesH
Grayson Lazarus
2 May 2020

Ham-fisted messaging doesn’t take away the dark and playful subversion of We Summon the Darkness

We Summon the Darkness (Marc Meyers, 2019, US)
Camino Skies (Noel Smyth and Fergus Grady, 2019), Curzon Home Cinema, Australia / New Zealand, DCP, colour, sound, 80 minutesC
Patrick Preziosi
28 April 2020

Camino Skies is a polite travelogue that fails both its setting and subjects

Camino Skies (Fergus Grady & Noel Smyth, 2019, New Zealand)
Kwaidan / 怪談 / Ghost Stories (Masaki Kobayashi, 1964), Eureka Entertainment, Japan, 35mm, colour, sound, 183 minutesK
Ruairí McCann
26 April 2020

Kwaidan is an uncanny anthology of Japanese ghost tales that mixes experimental with traditional forms

Kwaidan (Masaki Kobayashi, Japan, 1964)
Extraction (Sam Hargrave, 2020), Netflix, USA, DCP, colour, sound, 116 minutesB
David G. Hughes
25 April 2020

Bombastic action thriller Extraction isn’t as slick as it thinks it is

Extraction (Sam Hargrave, 2020, US)
Planet of the Humans (Jeff Gibbs, 2020), Huron Mountain Films, USA, DCP, colour, sound, 100 minutesP
David G. Hughes
22 April 2020

Planet of the Humans exposes the hypocrisy and fallacy of the green movement

Planet of the Humans (Jeff Gibbs, 2020, US)
Trick (Patrick Lussier, 2019), The Movie Partnership, USA, colour, sound, 97 minutesA
Grayson Lazarus
13 April 2020

All trick but no treat in slasher fare that misunderstands the joys of genre

All trick but no treat in slasher fare that misunderstands the joys of genre
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman, 2020), Focus Features, USA, 16mm, colour, sound, 100 minutes, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan)N
Patrick Preziosi
10 April 2020

Never Rarely Sometimes Always is a startling and empathetic feature that channels its importance within the smallest gestures

Eliza Hittman’s startling empathetic feature is one of rigorous restraint, channeling its importance within the smallest gestures
Inventing the Future (Isiah Medina, 2020), QTY, Canada, 16mm / DCP, colour, sound, 98 minutes,I
Ruairí McCann
9 April 2020

INVENTING THE FUTURE

Isiah Medina’s long-awaited second feature brings a new vision for the future, and for cinema
System Crasher / Systemsprenger (Nora Fingscheidt, 2020), Germany, colour, sound, 125 Minutes, Bernadette "Benni" Klaaß (Helena Zengel)S
Patrick Preziosi
23 March 2020

SYSTEM CRASHER

Combustible, if predictable, Nora Fingscheidt anchors her debut in one truly nerve-shredding child performance
The Rest of Us (Aisling Chin-Yee, 2020), Canada, colour, sound, 80 minutes, Aster (Sophie Nélisse), Cami (Heather Graham)T
Grayson Lazarus
22 March 2020

The Rest of Us is a propulsive but emotionally unconvincing Canadian drama

A propulsive but emotionally unconvincing Canadian drama
Bacurau (Juliano Dornelles & Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2020), Brazil / France, DCP, colour, sound, 131 minutes, Michael (Udo Kier)B
Ruairí McCann
21 March 2020

BACURAU

Colonial violence finds new form in this fresh Brazilian Western
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