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A cross between an Agatha Christie whodunnit and the board game Clue, this is an old fashioned murder mystery wrapped up in a modern setting and stuffed with star talent. There are a few unintended head scratching moments, and some of the performances are a bit off. It's also fairly straightforward to figure out the puzzle detective Blanc is trying to solve, but watching all of the craven family members squirming over each other like a nest of vipers, and seeing everything play itself out to a satisfying conclusion is entertaining enough.

This is more about the main character's journey to connect with his father and how those things affect him psychologically than it is a traditional science fiction movie. Brad Pitt essays that emotional journey with a career best performance, and the production and sound design, and cinematography are all superb, so if you can gloss over the questionable science and a couple of unnecessary action scenes there's a beautiful and lyrical human drama to envelop yourself in.

There's not much in the way of dialogue here, the atmosphere is severely claustrophobic and there's no narrative to speak of. And yet... the beautifully dirty black and white photography and sound design are perfect, It's a joy to watch the interaction between Dafoe and Pattinson and the little dialogue that there is can be captivating. It drags a little at times and unless you go into it with the right frame of mind you might get a touch of cabin fever yourself but this is nevertheless an audiovisual experience to be savored.

A decent survival movie that doesn't resort to sensationalism or cheap tricks in order to grip the viewer. Mikkelsen's performance and the careful attention to small details is what draws the viewer in here. The addition of the female survivor partway through the movie gets in the way of things as her behavior doesn't make much sense and she knocks everything off course. The ending clashes with the rest of the film too.

It's refreshing to sit down and savour a movie from Hollywood that's about relationships and normal people. In the vein of Kramer vs Kramer this is simply the story of a marriage, or rather the dissolution of a marriage, between two reasonably sensible adults that doesn't seek to dramatize events any more than necessary. It features an award worthy performance from Adam Driver and really excellent writing from Baumbach. Thoroughly engrossing, occasionally amusing and often genuinely emotional.

It's obvious Jarmusch didn't come up with anywhere for this movie to go after about the midway point, and resorts to breaking the fourth wall in the worst way possible. It's hard to care what happens to anyone when the main characters keep pointing out it's only a movie. Bill Murray and Adam Driver's dry delivery works very well, and the cameos by Tom Waits and Tilda Swinton are fun but there just isn't any reason to continue watching this movie well before the end titles run. Disappointing to say the least.

The idea of a private detective with Tourette's Syndrome sounds like it would lead to some very interesting and possibly amusing scenarios, and it is front and center in Ed Norton's performance, but it isn't explored in any depth. What we're left with is a nice looking period gumshoe drama with a double helping of government corruption a la Chinatown, but the pacing is way off. It's not a terrible movie, but it's kind of generic and would benefit greatly from being about 45 minutes shorter.

There are a few scenes early on in this movie that point to it being an effectively creepy horror yarn, and Rebecca Ferguson does a good job of portraying the eerily restrained antagonist. However, the source material doesn't allow for it to follow it's own path. Had it been it would have fared much better. As it is once the action moves to the Overlook things take a nosedive and you can't help but worry that the tawdry finale might ruin your enjoyment of Kubrick's film next time you watch it.

The Painted Bird is stunningly photographed and directed, but narratively weak. We're simply on a gruesome journey with a young protagonist that we never get to know much about as he's exposed to brutal and violent characters one at a time, each more contemptible than the last. There are some effective set pieces, but it starts to feel more manipulative and thus less shocking as events unfold, and as there seems to be no particular reason behind them the whole thing seems a bit pointless in the end.

Zahler is an accomplished director, but the standard of his writing has dipped dramatically here. The script is full of dialogue that's meant to be funny and smart but is rarely either, and it drags the performances down. The heavy handed social commentary is also super cringe and the mostly failed attempts at characterization only serve to make the running time far too long for what the movie is. The third act is well done but overall this is not up to the standard of his previous films.

This movie is begging for a more strict editor, being about half an hour too long: Numerous scenes should have been outtakes, the few long Sharon Tate scenes disrupt the flow of the movie, cut up and sprinkled as they are throughout, and the scenes catering to Tarantino's female foot fascination are tiresome for most who don't share this enthusiasm. Having said that it's pretty funny, looks great and any time Pitt or DiCaprio are onscreen - which is most of the time - it's eminently watchable.

With two of the most reliable big name stars and some nicely edited car race scenes you might feel safe in assuming you'd have a winner here, but the reality is that no matter how good everything looks, or how watchable the actors are there's nothing remarkable about this committee made movie that Hollywood has come to specialize in over the years, where we're led through a standard story arc and by the numbers characterization with a cliched script. That's not good enough.

Engrossing drama of a dirt poor family infiltrating the home and lives of a rich family by getting hired one at a time to work for them through subterfuge and deception. It's well executed and acted, believable enough to maintain interest throughout and the odd moments of comedy or horror work flawlessly for the most part. It also features a few sequences as well put together as anything ever committed to film. It's maybe a little too long, and the finale, while also very well done, was at odds with where the tale seemed to logically be headed, but overall this is impressive and immersive cinema.

There's nothing particularly wrong with this, but anyone familiar with Scorsese's oeuvre will experience some serious deja vu. Scorsese is on autopilot, as are the players; DeNiro's performance is lacklustre, and the digital de-aging performed on his face does nothing to convince when watching him move around like an old man - it's distracting. Pesci fares the best from the main players, but it's not enough. If I'm in the mood for a Scorsese mobster movie and have a spare 3 hours I'm always going to pick Casino or Goodfellas over this.

If you're in the mood for some hitman action then this should hit the spot. Everything else is poor to wretched though. Matt Lucas for example is truly unwatchable, and every one of the silly goon squad tracking the protagonist is supremely annoying. Consequently the film drags when any of them are around. Luckily the vast majority of scenes feature Mikkelsen, who's great as always, and every scene he's in is worth watching, so if you're an action fan and a fan of Mads I'd say give it a go. There's a lot worse out there.

The first part was okay but this is redundant, and with a runtime of over two and a half hours it's a chore to sit through. It's basically the same movie, but this time with adults. It was half believable first time round, with innocent kids struggling against Pennywise but with adults it's a much harder sell. And talking of the mad clown that may be the film's biggest weakness, because I for one struggled to muster up any real fear of such an ineffectual and silly bad guy.

It may be cliched and a bit hokey at times, but the tale of how the Oxford English Dictionary came to be is a fascinating one. It doesn't take too many liberties with the truth, and when it does it serves to bring everything together in a dramatically satisfying way. It's also competently shot, and Penn and Gibson act their little hearts out. While this movie's certainly no masterpiece it deserved more exposure than it got.

This movie has taken dumb to the next level. No human could withstand the punishment dished out to Mr. Wick here, so prepare to do some eye rolling. The supporting characters are a problem too - they're either unlikeable (Halley Berry) or downright annoying (Marc Dacascos - who puts in a truly awful performance and distracts every time he opens his mouth). If I ever feel the urge to visit the Wick world again I'll re-watch the first or second installment, not this nonsense.

There's not much to be said about the Rambo franchise at this point. If you like all the sequels thus far you'll probably like this just fine, but it's really just a pretty nasty exploitation flick with a budget. Nothing makes sense from a narrative point of view, it's sloppily directed, the script is awful, resulting in some really wonky performances, and the violence is as over the top as the cartoonish villains. Other than a nicely edited training montage this has nothing to recommend it.

Now this is the kind of comic book movie I can get behind. It eschews all the brainless hokum present in the vast majority of comic books and is instead more of a character study of a psychologically unstable man trying to cope with a pretty tragic set of circumstances. It also serves as a more believable Joker origins story for The Dark Knight with the late Heath Ledger. Phoenix does justice to the role that Ledger made his own, and paves the way for a truly dark Joker/Batman movie in the future.

A relentlessly downbeat affair, but it's shot with vigor and Sandler delivers a compelling if somewhat one note portrayal of a character that's so self-centered it'll make your head spin. He's just human enough to root for though, considering some of the people he's dealing with, and his predicament is relatable enough to keep us invested throughout the chaos of his life as he stumbles headlong towards a fate that everyone except him sees coming. Great stuff if you have the constitution for it.