The Brutalist review: A masterfully designed film January 24, 2025 As we head into Oscars season, one of the front runners this year is Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist. Already a Golden Globe winner, it is the director’s third and most ambitious feature following 2015’s The Childhood Of A Leader and 2018’s Vox Lux. That ambition has more than been realised. Adrien Brody plays László Tóth, [...]
Wolf Man review: A werewolf movie that lacks bite January 22, 2025 Universal seems to be determined to make its classic monster movies work for a new generation. After failed reboots in the 2000s and 2010s, some success was found just before the pandemic with Leigh Whannell’s thriller The Invisible Man, a modern, stripped-down take on the classic horror story. If it can work once, Hollywood will [...]
Presence review: Chiller where audience becomes the ghost January 22, 2025 While he made his name in the mainstream with the Magic Mike and Ocean’s Eleven films, Steven Soderbergh has experimented with genre and form in a number of smaller movies. In the horror genre, he made 2011’s frighteningly prescient pandemic horror Contagion, and delved into the darker corners of the mind with 2018’s Unsane. Now, [...]
Here film review: de-aged Tom Hanks can’t save soulless flop January 16, 2025 Robert Zemeckis is known for his love of cinema innovation, using motion capture to make Jim Carrey into Scrooge, or bring to life The Polar Express. In Here, he takes some of Hollywood’s biggest names through the different stages of life. It’s about a house, and the people who have lived on that spot, from [...]
Vermiglio review: Italian drama is a serious Oscar contender January 16, 2025 Vermiglio review and star rating: | ★★★★☆ With the Oscars on the horizon, Vermiglio will be hoping to make the cut as the Italian entry for Best International Feature. The title refers to a remote Italian village struggling to cope with the impact of the Second World War as it comes to an end. The family [...]
A Complete Unknown: Bob Dylan biopic gets the mercurial genius January 16, 2025 A Complete Unknown | ★★★★☆ One of Hollywood’s favourite sons takes on the lofty role of an American icon in A Complete Unknown. Timothee Chalamet plays Bob Dylan in the period that made him a megastar. Starting in 1961 where he was an anonymous folk singer looking to make his name in New York’s Greenwich [...]
Babygirl review: Nicole Kidman wows again in sexy drama January 9, 2025 Movies about sex can often be lost in sensational headlines, any message overshadowed by the intrigue of a famous person being naughty on-screen. Babygirl, nominated for Best Picture – Drama at last weekend’s Golden Globes, will be hoping Oscar voters see the story behind the shagging. Nicole Kidman stars as Romy Mathis, a powerful chief [...]
Christmas Day TV: why the new Wallace and Gromit is today’s must-watch film December 25, 2024 A British Christmas tradition returns in Aardman’s Wallace and Gromit, the animated duo that have warmed our hearts since their first appearance 35 years ago. There’s been little from the witless inventor and his canine chum ever since 2008’s A Matter of Loaf and Death, but a new deal with Netflix has seen them ride again. [...]
Better Man: Robbie Williams biopic is a Christmas must-watch December 24, 2024 Think about Jamie Foxx studying Ray Charles for 2004 Oscar winner Ray, or Rami Malek transforming into Freddie Mercury for Bohemian Rhapsody: there are some excellent musical biopics. But for Better Man, the story of Robbie Williams, the singer took a different route, eschewing a lookalike for a CGI ape. Yes, you read that correctly. [...]
Our film editor’s 15 best movies of 2024, from Dune to Poor Things December 21, 2024 It’s been a hugely significant year for the movies: Hollywood got back to work after the 2023 strikes, the superhero genre continued to nosedive and nostalgic sequels were all the rage. As the year wraps up, City AM Film Editor Victoria Luxford picks her 15 best movies of the year. The Holdovers (January) Destined to [...]
