Another Disney remake and, sadly, another negative review. The two go hand-in-hand and it’s important to make clear that this is a crying shame. Criticising Disney just feels cruel, doubly so when the film in question can sell out a cinema on a weekday evening and is so clearly designed for families and young people. With that said, The Little Mermaid continues this run of bad form on this incessant journey to remake the classics, adding nothing much of note to proceedings. I

The ‘office-based, true story thriller/drama’ has got to sneakily be one of the best genres in film. Generally touting all-star casts and behind-camera talent and needing to be laser-sharp in terms of script to hold audience interest, films like Spotlight, Moneyball, All the President’s Men, The Post et al. (also throwing Margin Call into this list, despite not being a ‘proper’ true story) are some of film’s best. Ostensibly, these films usually revolve around journalists but

There’s bound to be a lot of tearful goodbyes amongst Marvel’s Phase 5 output. Sadly, a lot of that will be down to boring ‘real world’ stuff like contracts and existing characters not fitting into the upcoming slate, but one component that we do look to be losing in their current incarnation is the Guardians with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 supposedly representing their last hurrah. It’s a shame as, barring Captain America and Spider-Man, these films sit at the top table

Here we go again with the seemingly endless attempt to make a good ‘videogame’ movie. That was my imagined first line prior to stepping into the cinema to catch both Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and The Super Mario Bros. Movie but, I’m delighted to say, here we have two examples of just how to do this thing properly. Studios perhaps have cottoned on to a formula that works: subtly skewer an existing IP so fans get the joke, cater to all audiences so kids and those

The best 'videogame' movies are always those not actually based on an existing IP. Think Wreck-It Ralph and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and add to that list John Wick: Chapter 4, not so much a film as a perfect spoof of a modern action game. Going back in and adding to the exemplary trilogy was always going to be a brave move but there was a sense of unfinished business. With everyone returning, Chapter 4 just dials up on everything we've seen before in the series, stretching

Ok, let’s cut straight to the chase: for its first two-thirds Shazam! Fury of the Gods is well in the running to be the DCEU’s best film. That’s definitely something not many saw coming, with the first a cloying, infuriatingly old-fashioned CGI mess with no tangible links to the rest of its ‘dark and serious’ brethren. That this also comes with more questions than answers as to the standing of this character in James Gunn’s new refreshed slate (with key characters confirmed t

In a cinematic landscape awash with sub-franchises, shared universes and a seemingly considered tactic to make film runtimes longer, a sub-90-minute, entirely original, London-set romantic comedy might just be the film of the year so far. First time director Raine Allen-Miller’s Rye Lane is a wildly enjoyable, laugh-out-loud and stylistically invigorating film in a genre that has quietly been shoved aside in recent times (remember the days when a Richard Curtis film would be

There are many perilous and taxing journeys in film history. From Frodo’s arduous ring delivery service to Han Solo somehow completing the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs, despite that being a unit of distance rather than time. I’ve got to put forward the 15km in Adam Driver’s new film 65 as nearing the top of the list of gruelling undertakings I’d like to complete the least. A lean and mean, 90-minute thriller; 65 is just as stressful as directing duo Bryan Woods and Scot

How do you settle the great debate about who’s the MCU’s greatest villain? In Creed III, the decision to put two of the challengers into a boxing ring is actually a pretty good idea! Jokes aside, the third (and, hopefully, final) film in the excellent Creed series is a suitably solid chapter. Even without Ryan Coogler behind the camera (with Michael B. Jordan doing an excellent job taking over the reins as director) and Sylvester Stallone (whose own lack of involvement has ca

What have the Barden Bellas and a black bear on Class A drugs got in common you ask? Elizabeth Banks follows the brilliant Pitch Perfect trilogy (and her Charlie's Angels reboot) with a film that, to all intents and purposes, should be a slam-dunk with a trailer that got some feverish word of mouth. An embellished (very embellished) story of a drug drop gone wrong which resulted in a bear consuming a fatal amount of cocaine, the film is an 80’s B-movie pastiche trying to capi

Take a trip to the Quantum Realm. They’ve got Star Wars-like cantinas, talking pieces of broccoli and beautiful, if trippy, natural vistas. You might even spot Bill Murray. Probably not ATOL-protected. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (get tit – quANTuMANia has Ant-Man in the title) kicks off the MCU’s Phase 5 and the second part of the ‘Multiverse Saga’ with exactly what you’d expect: a fun, exciting, villain-introducing romp sealed with Marvel’s usual wit, pizzazz, stacked

Would you sacrifice a member of your family to save the world? That’s the very simple but gripping premise of the latest film from M. Night Shyamalan: Knock at the Cabin. Based on the similarly named novel: The Cabin at the End of the World, this film doesn’t have any pretence in going above or beyond that set up. Four strangers interrupt a blissful family holiday to deliver that exact ultimatum, leaving Jonathan Groff’s Eric, Ben Aldridge’s Andrew and their seven-year-old da