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Reviews
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
After waiting almost 28 years for a continuing of the franchise, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple comes hot on the heels of its predecessor. It’s an absolutely unhinged successor to the first film, providing a wild and visceral middle chapter to a trilogy which could have a very interesting ending. Last year’s film felt fresh and different whilst still honouring what came before. The Bone Temple keeps us very much in that world but luxuriates in the gore, the horror and the me
Hamnet
Hamnet seeks to find the source of Hamlet, one of history’s most famous stories. Chloe Zhao’s film is based on the book of the same name, a fictionalised account but rooted in what truth we do have of the years around the writing of William Shakespeare’s tragic play and the death of his young son that may have inspired it. It can therefore tow the line between historical interest and fiction and is at once achingly romantic and achingly tragic. Shakespeare and Agnes meet, mar
Marty Supreme
Marty Supreme is a frantic, kinetic, frenzied American epic and might be somewhere in the ‘best of the decade’ list by the time we reach 2030. Josh Safdie’s pseudo-sports non-biopic about semi-fictional table tennis player Marty Mauser is actually a treatise on the American Dream and all of its foibles. You can indulge as much or as little metaphor as you like on this tale. In some respects, the more you think of it in those terms the better it’ll seem (like There Will Be Blo
The Brighton Film Club's Films of the Year 2025
The Brighton Film Club presents the Films of the Year 2025 after another stacked year for our screens. As usual, these are films released into UK cinemas or made available on streaming sites in the UK between January and December 2025. After the customary squabbles and more shuffles than a Vegas casino, here then are The Brighton Film Club’s Films of the Year 2025: 30. F1 29. Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning 28. Pillion 27. I Swear 26. The Surfer 25. Friendship 24. Cau
Avatar: Fire & Ash
When does a magic trick cease to be a magic trick? How do you split judgement between the merits of something on a creative level and the actual underlying substance of what you are watching? Two (of many) questions to ponder when watching Avatar: Fire & Ash. This franchise is constantly baffling. It breaks ground in terms of the very fundamentals of film development and generates huge numbers at the box office. All the while it confounds critics and audiences whose bums no d
The Brighton Film Club's Albums of the year 2025
Another year where the number of albums in the below list has had to be bumped up and still doesn't do justice to what's been released. I present to you, after the customary squabbles and more shuffles than a Vegas casino, The Brighton Film Club’s Albums of the Year 2025: 50. Divorce - Drive to Goldenhammer 49. Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out 48. HotWax - Hot Shock 47. Heartworms - Glutton For Punishment 46. Little Simz - Lotus 45. Tyler, The Creator - DON'T TAP THE GLASS 44. Al
Eternity
Eternity is a film with a great idea that doesn’t quite reach the sum of its parts. It’s a common thing. The hook is so good that you expect everything else just to fall into place. Unfortunately, it’s easy to notice where this hasn’t quite cohered. It’s a shame as it really is a great idea and such an enjoyable film to watch. You’ll root for it, you’ll recommend it and it’s mostly delightful. In a Good Place-esque sci-fi depiction of the afterlife, Joan must choose between s
Wicked: For Good
Cinema box offices look to be getting another shot in the arm with the release of Wicked: For Good and it certainly proves the value in filming sequels back to back. It’s a great encore and finish to the story a year on from the first although it may just fall a little bit below its predecessor. Sometimes you just can’t argue with giant cinematic spectacle and this film rides its run time beautifully. As before, some of the musical sequences are extraordinary and performances
Nuremberg
It’d be easy to assume that Nuremberg, at two and a half hours, would feel like the sort of thing you’d have to sit through in history class. A worthy but rather weighty endeavour. The reality? This is as zippy and fast-moving as any action-based war film, just with court rooms replacing battlefields. The history here is, of course, of monumental importance and you may know your fair share but the film gives some hugely fascinating morsels of information and insight to the ev
Now You See Me: Now You Don't
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is in some ways just like a real magic trick. It’s designed for fun and entertainment and is hard to take your eyes off but, underneath it all, you know it’s an illusion. Unlike a magic trick, you can see right through this to the cash grab, rushed, manic and frankly baffling inadequacies that lie within. It’s such a strange experience. On the one hand a tone-deaf, woefully written, laughably poor sequel to a pair of films that, whilst not exactl
Predator: Badlands
You’ve got to give the Predator franchise some props for constantly trying different things. Like its titular hunters, it’s sneakily crept up on its competition in the action film genre and is getting to become a really strong franchise as a whole. This despite the respective films not exactly tying in to each other. Predator: Badlands is another striking addition and really goes for originality, putting a Yautja (the official name for the ‘Predator’ species) in the lead role
The Running Man (2025)
The Running Man (2025) is not quite a remake of the ‘80s Schwarzenegger movie but instead a different and more faithful version of the book written by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. It’s also the return of Edgar Wright and another chance for Glen Powell to stake his claim as THE current action star (who hasn’t yet been in a superhero film). Sadly and shockingly, it may not even be the best ‘Stephen King as Richard Bachman’ adaptation this year, let alone th
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