It’s a satisfying moment where the cultural significance and influence of a film or series is realised in real time. It doesn’t happen to a lot of modern films as so much has been done before but, after a watch of Dev Patel’s Monkey Man, it’s clear that the John Wick franchise has cemented itself as an influential and important pillar of action cinema (with a mention, as well, to The Raid, 3 years the senior.) Monkey Man is no mere pastiche or homage to these modern touchston

The Book of Clarence isn’t quite what you may expect with this subject matter and with LaKeith Stansfield in the title role. Of course, directors are usually those who have a set ‘style’ and actors are largely known for their versatility (indeed, Stansfield has performed brilliantly within lots of genres) but, given the film’s marketing and his predilection for particularly prescient, intelligent and insightful projects like Get Out, Sorry to Bother You, Judas and the Black M

The ‘sequel to the reboot’ has become it’s own bonafide subgenre in recent times and is an unfortunate example of studio apprehension and diminishing returns for franchise blockbuster filming. There’s been a few decent examples but, quite often, these are cynical cash-grabs trying to push more nostalgia and familiarity onto families who’ve got to fork out a fair amount to venture into the cinema. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is the most recent entrant into this most peculiar o

Sometimes, you just need a sub-90-minute, screwball comedy/crime caper to blow the cobwebs off. Drive-Away Dolls is the latest example, following in a long and great lineage of short and sweet firecracker movies surely designed to catch eyes on streaming services for groups looking for a quick hit. This is in the top league of such fare with a cracking cast littered with starry cameos, a fresh, funny, sharp and original queer spin on the formula and an actual Coen brother (Et

A film that explores the way a story can change when looked at from different perspectives, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster is an absolutely gripping watch. Ostensibly a simple and small-scale story of two boys, their respective single parents and their teacher, this film becomes an all-encompassing treatise on everything by the time the credits roll. Keeping the outline details this small really works for the premise. Relaying the story three times leads to every dropped detail

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we get a surprise at the Oscars this weekend and American Fiction walked away with Best Picture. It may even get my vote if I was lucky enough to get a say in the selection of that Holy Grail of trophies. There are a lot of ‘moral,’ ‘socially conscious’ and ‘culturally satirical’ films but not many that so deftly and gently traverse these particular waters without slapping the audience round the face, without pandering or demeaning them and w

Despite it being advertised as a culture-clash comedy, The Persian Version is, first and foremost, a truly moving and nuanced mother/daughter family drama that just happens to be lightened at opportune moments with some hilarious comedy. It’s a striking and original film, happy to move quickly through fourth-wall breaks, random dance sequences, stylised montages and entire swathes of generational flashbacks. It doesn’t stop moving but always keeps things entertaining and watc

Dune: Part Two is sci-fi/fantasy filmmaking on such a ridiculously epic scale, it might be better to make a comparison with some kind of theme park ride rather than a film. As we wrap the story of book one (with a mooted Part Three set to adapt the next book in the series) we could be on for another all-timer movie trilogy. The collective power of Christopher Nolan’s ‘hard science’ films and Game of Thrones' ‘accessible hard fantasy’ have paved the way for Denis Villeneuve to

You can tell just by the title of new biopic Bob Marley: One Love what kind of film you’re going to get. By and large, the music biopic falls into one of two categories: the arthouse, ‘true’ depiction of events (Control, Walk the Line, Rocketman) and the slightly too commercialised, play to the back of the audience, mass appeal (and, therefore, a little sanitised) option like Bohemian Rhapsody and, sadly, this one (expecting the forthcoming Back to Black to fall here too.) Th

How do you go about making a film, ostensibly a leisure activity and source of entertainment, with nigh-on zero redeemable characters? In fact, a film where the majority are completely irredeemable to the point of representing true evil? Jonathan Glazer’s remarkable The Zone of Interest achieves this and not just by presenting ‘film as message’ or ‘film as experience,’ although it certainly is both of these things. It’s a horror film without being a horror film but enough to

Matthew Vaughn dives back into the espionage field but, somewhat surprisingly, comes off of the Kingsman franchise in favour of Argylle. A film that was ostensibly advertised as being an adaptation but is actually not. Instead, the ‘book’ on which the spy Agent Argylle is based becomes a bit of a MacGuffin in a film that delivers a more mainstream, more family friendly take on Kingsman and, potentially, sets up another franchise for Vaughn. Confused? Don’t be. Argylle is basi

It’s not often you can describe something as achingly romantic but simultaneously nightmarish. Same goes for incredibly grounded but also strangely sci-fi-esque. All of Us Strangers is not like most films and contains multitudes. This is a film about everything and nothing, loneliness and companionship, love and loss. Beautiful and haunting, this is quite the trip into the psyche of painfully lonely Adam. In writing about his long-gone parents, he suddenly finds himself able