Calm with Horses review - a stirring debut

★★★★ CALM WITH HORSES A stirring debut

Stark Irish drama with a sympathetic heart

Nick Rowland marks his breakout from TV drama with this very competent feature, an adaptation of Colin Barrett’s short story. Set in a bleak, rural Ireland, Cosmo Jarvis plays Arm, an ex-boxer with an estranged girlfriend, a non-verbal, autistic five-year-old son and the kinds of friends who get him into trouble.

First Love review - Miike delivers thrills and spills

★★★★ FIRST LOVE Takashi Miike delivers thrills and spills

Renowned director is the ultraviolent gift that keeps on giving

He's one of Japan's foremost directors, and if you’ve witnessed one of his films before, you know what to expect from a Takashi Miike yakuza film. High-octane, boundary pushing fun from first frame to last. And that’s exactly what First Love is.

Asking For It, Birmingham Repertory Theatre review - victim-blaming and abuse in small town Ireland

★★★★ ASKING FOR IT, BIRMINGHAM REPERTORY THEATRE Victim-blaming and abuse in small town Ireland

Story of sexual consent leaves the audience squirming

In a world where the contentious report of a young English woman gang raped by teenage boys in Cyprus last year continues to make headlines, Asking For It is more than relevant. Such scenarios are by no means new but are once again making news. 

Birds of Prey review - the DCU is back on track

★★★ BIRDS OF PREY Margot Robbie steals the show in Cathy Yan’s irreverent Suicide Squad spin-off

Margot Robbie steals the show in Cathy Yan’s irreverent Suicide Squad spin-off

Back in 2016, David Ayer’s infantile Suicide Squad burst upon us in a wash of lurid greens and purples. Ayer’s film had a myriad of problems, not least the hyper-sexualisation of Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie. While controversy abounded, Robbie’s performance remained a highlight. A manic mix of Betty Boop and Fatal Attraction’s Alex Forrest, she stole the film. 

The Lighthouse review - shiver me timbers

★★★★★ THE LIGHTHOUSE Dafoe and Pattinson on top form

Dafoe and Pattinson on top form as keepers struggling to keep madness at bay

A creepy lighthouse on a remote island, a blistering storm, a mermaid languishing on the shore and two fabulously bewhiskered actors chewing up the scenery like there’s no tomorrow. The Lighthouse feels like it’s been washed up in a bottle, a film from another time with a story sprung from ghost stories or nightmares.

The Gentlemen review - it ain't woke but don't fix it

★★★★ THE GENTLEMEN It ain't woke but don't fix it

Guy Ritchie's rambunctious caper movie is just like old times

Guy Ritchie enjoyed his greatest commercial success with 2019’s live-action fantasy Aladdin, the most atypical project of his career, but The Gentlemen finds him back on his best-known turf as a purveyor of mouthy, ultra-violent geezerism. It’s 21 years since his debut hit with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, but its shaggy-dog story-telling and spirit of high-wire anarchy resurface intact.

The Nightingale review – revenge without redemption

★★ THE NIGHTINGALE Colonial tragedy set in 18th-century Tasmania misses the mark

Colonial tragedy set in 19th-century Tasmania misses the mark

Writer-director Jennifer Kent knows that Australia’s colonial past shouldn’t be beautified, and she drives that fact home in every gloom-drenched shot of The Nightingale (her second feature after The Babadook from 2014). This is an immensely ambitious film and an unrelenting long haul of suffering that confronts themes of sexual violence and Indigenous dispossession.

Knives Out review - marvellous murder mystery

★★★★ KNIVES OUT Daniel Craig heads a classy ensemble as a Southern sleuth

Daniel Craig heads a classy ensemble as a Southern sleuth on the hunt for a country house killer

The world’s most successful mystery writer is found dead on the morning after his 85th birthday. In attendance in his Gothic pile are his bickering family, each of whom might wish him dead, and a colourful detective ready to determine whodunnit.  

Ophelia review - tragic no more

★★★ OPHELIA Retelling of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' puts the doomed maiden centre stage

Retelling of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' puts the doomed maiden centre stage

Ophelia is one of Shakespeare’s most iconic yet underdeveloped dramatic roles. A sweet and naïve girl, she’s driven mad by Hamlet’s wavering affections and her father’s death. She was often the subject of paintings, yet rarely of novels until the 21st century.