Liverpool Theatre News & Reviews
This Week's Best Movie Releases & Discounted Liverpool Cinema Tickets
Below, we've rounded up the 19 best films currently screening in Liverpool cinemas together with the 10 best releases new to the streaming services this week. (Updated 15 Feb 2025):
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1 ~ THE BRUTALIST.
~ 2025 Oscar Nominee: Best Film + Best Actor (Adrien Brody) + Best Supporting Actor (Guy Pearce) + Best Supporting Actress (Felicity Jones) + Best Director (Brady Corbet) + Best Original Score (Daniel Blumberg) + Best Cinematography + Best Original Screenplay + Best Editing + Best Production Design.
★★★★★ An astonishing film. ~ The Irish Times.
★★★★★ Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones star in a majestic historical epic from the director Brady Corbet. This may be the film to beat at the Oscars. ~ The Times.
★★★★★ Brody is tremendous as a visionary architect in Corbet’s towering third feature, a state-of-the-US historical epic with the colour and fizz of a classical Hollywood comic drama. ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★★ In a superb performance, Brody plays a Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor who comes to the US and begins a distinguished career under the patronage of a wealthy man. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Brody is Oscar-worthy in a mighty, discordant anthem to the birth of modern America. ~ Time Out.
★★★★★ A life writ large on the screen that deserves such maximalist treatment. ~ Financial Times.
★★★★★ Brady Corbet’s seismic drama reaches for the sky as it surveys the soul of a man and a nation. There will be Oscars. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ It is impossible not to recognise The Brutalist as anything other than a filmmaking triumph. ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★★ A staggering achievement in every conceivable way. ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★★ An unmissable giant of a film that deserves all the Oscars. ~ NME
★★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★★ ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★★ ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★★ ~ The i.
★★★★✭~ RTE.
★★★★ ~ The Irish Independent.
★★★★ ~ The Observer.
Watch at Odeon - up to £6 off tickets
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2 ~ BRIEF ENCOUNTER ~ 80th Anniversary
~ 1947 Oscar Nominee: Best Actress (Celia Johnson) + Best Director (David Lean) + Best Screenplay.
★★★★★ One of cinema's classic love stories. ~ The Times.
★★★★★ Co-adapted by Noël Coward from his own one-act play Still Life, this is one of the finest films ever made in Britain. Radio Times.
★★★★★ The loveliest period piece imaginable. ~ The Independent.
★★★★★ An irresistible romance with glorious old world values. ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★★ If you can stomach the suspicious intimation that the lower classes have no emotional life and the excruciatingly affected portrayal of the English middle classes, you'll have, at the very least, a lump in your throat. Less cynical souls will weep buckets. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ It's a passionate romance, as exciting in its way as something by Hitchcock. It is Noel Coward's masterpiece. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
3 ~ PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (50th Anniversary 4K Restoration)
~ 1977 BAFTA Winner: Best Cinematography.
★★★★★ A fascinating film that is by turns fascinating and mysterious. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ An eerie and profound masterpiece. There’s a suggestion, that the girls are the sacrificial victims of colonial naivety, consumed by a landscape they can never fully comprehend. ~ The Times.
★★★★ It's a very sexy picture, which stares an enigma straight in the eye and, in the process, proved to the world that the new Australian cinema was capable of making films other than those that featured gnarled and drunken sheep-shearers. ~ Radio Times.
4 ~ BEFORE SUNRISE (30th Anniversary Reissue)
★★★★★ Not a romcom, not a romantic drama, but just … a romance, a brief encounter on a train without heartache, a strange and wonderful moment-by-moment miracle that never seems cloying or absurd. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Richard Linklater’s film from 1995 is now re-released for its 30th anniversary, a stretch of time that gives us a chance to ponder the characters’ time-travel musings about their future selves. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ When American slacker Ethan Hawke meets French student Julie Delpy on a train to Vienna, the romantic sparks fly as they spend one eventful night together in Linklater's exhilarating drama. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ Linklater’s brief encounter defies romantic convention. Undistracted by smartphones in 1995, Hawke and Delpy talk away one night in Vienna without resolution but with huge charm. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ Too intelligent to be soppy and too damn good to be ignored. While the loose, talkative style may not settle well with those of a more wham-bam persuasion, this most natural of love stories succeeds in feeding the noggin as well as warming the cockles. ~ Empire.
5 ~ THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG.
~ 2025 Oscar Nominee: Best International Film.
★★★★★ This Oscar-nominated thriller is a blistering attack on the Iranian regime. If Mohammad Rasoulof was to make just one film worth having to flee Iran for, this gripping family thriller would be it. ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★★ After fleeing arrest, Rasoulof has made this tense political parable-thriller about state paranoia and misogyny. No wonder Iran wants to lock up this brilliant dissident director. ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★ The exiled director’s story of officialdom’s misogyny and theocracy in his home country may be flawed, but its importance is beyond doubt. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★ ~ The Observer.
★★★★ ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
Watch at Odeon - up to £6 off tickets
6 ~ A REAL PAIN.
~ 2025 Oscar Nominee: Best Supporting Actor (Kieran Culkin) + Best Screenplay.
★★★★ Jesse Eisenberg writes, directs and stars in a film that manages to be ruefully perceptive and laugh-out-loud funny, often at the same time. ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★★ His story about two cousins on a Jewish tour to Poland is perfectly weighted between bleak and warm, poignant and irreverent. ~ The Times.
★★★★★ There is a lot going on in here, but Eisenberg is in full control. A Real Pain is funny and intelligent, a sort of buddy road comedy that knows when to laugh at itself and when to take matters seriously. ~ The Irish Independent.
★★★★★ The writer, director and actor effortlessly walks a tonal tightrope in this masterpiece about Jewish American cousins on a Holocaust tour in Poland. But Kieran Culkin steals the show as the more mischievous cousin.~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Eisenberg has done the world a favour with this movie. At a time when empathy seems to be diminishing across the globe, he's delivered a touching, intelligent, funny and achingly sad tale of love, loss and grief. ~ RTE.
★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ ~ The Irish Times.
★★★★ ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★ ~ The Observer.
★★★★ ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
Watch at Odeon - up to £6 off tickets
7 ~ THE WILD ROBOT.
~ 2025 Oscar Nominee: Best Animated Film + Best Original Score (Kris Bowers) + Best Sound.
★★★★ An artificially intelligent robot learns to adapt to the natural world in this inspired animation. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ The most moving animation in decades. Recent studio animation hardly lacks technological dazzle, but it’s hard to recall a time when the state-of-the-art felt this much like art. ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★★ This superb family film could become a classic. Lupita Nyong’o and Pedro Pascal star in what is the best feature cartoon from a major studio in years. ~ Irish Times.
★★★★ ~ The Financial Times.
★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★ ~ The Observer.
★★★★ ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
Watch at Odeon - up to £6 off tickets
8 ~ HARD TRUTHS.
~ 2025 BAFTA Nominee: Best British Film + Best Actress (Marianne Jean-Baptiste).
★★★★★ In his stunning new drama, Mike Leigh portrays living, breathing, flawed but good people, with Marianne Jean-Baptiste starring, in what is sure to be one of the best performances of the year. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ Hard Truths is magnificent - the Oscars got it wrong; Jean-Baptiste deserved to be nominated for her leading role as the prickly, difficult Pansy in Leigh's towering study of everyday misery. ~ The i.
★★★★★ A moving return to the domestic miseries of North London. ~ Irish Times.
★★★★ The story of two siblings with very different attitudes to life, it's a potent examination of not only sisterhood but also marriage and mental ill health. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ A scorchingly funny drama of depression, rage – and love, anchored by Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s incendiary performance, this portrait of a woman broken by grief is biting and bleakly witty. ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★★ One of the most fascinating and rich characters in any film this century. ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ Awards beckon. ~ Irish Independent.
★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★ ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★ ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
★★★★ ~ RTE.
9 ~ CONCLAVE.
~ 2025 Oscar Nominee: Best Picture + Best Actor (Ralph Fiennes) + Best Supporting Actress (Isabella Rossellini) + Best Original Score (Volker Bertelmann) + Best Adapted Screenplay + Best Editing + Best Production Design + Best Costume.
★★★★ A papal thriller that treads on eggshells, Conclave is one of the year’s most deftly balanced films. Pulpy and pensive in equal measure. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ Sinfully entertaining and divinely provocative all while breaking bread on modern day power struggles. ~ RTE
★★★★★ Ralph Fiennes gives one of the performances of the year as a cardinal assailed on all sides in Edward Berger’s elegant adaptation of Robert Harris’s Vatican bestseller. ~ The Observer.
★★★★★ When the time comes to look back at his long career, a new high point has arrived in the form of this beleaguered papal gumshoe trying to solve a riddle. ~ Irish Independent.
★★★★★ Berger’s account of cardinals battling to be the new Pope is a thrilling succession story, and the Oscar-worthy astonishing Ralph Fiennes is simply hypnotic. ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★ A high-camp gripper, like the world’s most serious Carry On film. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ Financial Times.
★★★★ ~ The Irish Times.
★★★★ ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ The i.
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10 ~ I'M STILL HERE.
~ 2025 Oscar Nominee: Best Movie + Best International Film + Best Actress (Fernanda Torres)
★★★★ From The Motorcycle Diaries to On the Road, Walter Salles is a great celebrator of liberation, both personal and political. The two come together in stirring and poignant ways here. You can feel the shadow of a contemporary Brazilian leader, Jair Bolsonaro, hanging over it. ~ Time Out.
★★★ Salles’s imperfect, hobbled film tells us that hope springs eternal and that joy is a given and that most happy families will find a way to survive. ~ The Guardian.
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11 ~ MEMOIR OF A SNAIL.
~ 2025 Oscar Nominee: Best Animated Film.
★★★★ A unique Aussie stop-motion animation about coming out of your shell. ~ Time Out.
★★★★ This Oscar-nominated animation with Sarah Snook is a darkly funny, oddball delight. Adam Elliot’s stop-motion tale of twins separated as children in Australia is an enchantingly weird life lesson for us all. ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★ A charming, poignant tale of troubled twins. ~ The Guardian.
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12 ~ SEPTEMBER 5.
~ 2025 Oscar Nominee: Best Original Screenplay.
★★★★★ When it came to the snubs on the recent Oscars shortlist, this excellent docudrama received just one nomination - Best Original Screenplay - when it deserved a handful. It also deserves to be seen by the widest audience possible. ~ RTE.
★★★★★ Dramatising the efforts of American TV network ABC to cover the hostage crisis at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Tim Fehlbaum’s film transforms the unfurling chaos into a drum-tight procedural. ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★ The story of the terrorist massacre – in which 11 Israeli hostages were killed by the Palestinian Black September group, dying along with five members of the group and one West German police officer – is retold by the Swiss director and co-writer as a taut, tense thriller. The film leaves it up to us to make what we will of modern parallels. ~ The Guardian.
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13 ~ SEPTEMBER SAYS.
~ 2024 Cannes Nominee: Un Certain Regarde.
★★★★ Ariane Labed has adapted Daisy Johnson’s gothic novel, Sisters, into an unsettling modern fable that’s fired by the tension between the siblings’ claustrophobic bond and their surreal interactions with the world at large. ~ The Times.
14 ~ BETTER MAN.
~ 2025 Oscar Nominee: Best Visual Effects.
★★★★★ This Bonkers Robbie Williams chimp biopic is an unexpected triumph. ~ Irish Independent.
★★★★ An honest, entertaining and endlessly endearing spectacle that seems certain to play well with a crowd. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ Even more than with The Greatest Showman, director Michael Gracey has created a fun, bombastic, brilliant choreographed and totally enthralling film. ~ Time Out.
★★★★ "This Robbie Williams chimpanzee biopic is a bananas gamble that pays off." ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ ~ Financial Times.
★★★★ ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★ ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★ ~ The Observer.
★★★★ ~ Irish Times.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
★★★★ ~ RTE.
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15 ~ THE FIRE INSIDE.
★★★★ Barry Jenkins is back with a blazing biopic of Olympic boxer Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields, featuring rising star Ryan Destiny and ‘Atlanta’ actor Brian Tyree Henry. ~ Independent.
★★★★ The story of the gold medal-winning boxer makes for a gutsy crowd-pleaser with a fantastic performance from Henry as her coach. ~ The Guardian.
Watch at Odeon - up to £6 off tickets
Watch at Vue - up to £3.59 off tickets
16 ~ NOSFERATU.
~ 2025 Oscar Nominee: Best Cinematography + Best Make Up + Best Production Design + Best Costume.
★★★★★ An earthy, erotic masterwork, Robert Eggers realises a lifelong dream in reimagining the tale of Count Orlok, with spellbinding results. ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★★ One of the most profoundly frightening horror films in years, a magnificent Lily-Rose Depp is the convulsing, hysteric target of Bill Skarsgård’s vampire, in this star-studded adaptation co-starring Nicholas Hoult, Emma Corrin and Willem Dafoe. ~ The Independent.
★★★★ A vampire film with 'so much to sink your teeth into. ~ BBC.
★★★★✭ ~ RTE.
★★★★ ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★ ~ The Observer.
17 ~ BABYGIRL.
★★★★ A film that’s liable to get people talking, arguing and flirting. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ A raw, sexy and surprising examination of an illicit affair between a high-powered CEO and her much younger intern. ~ RTE.
★★★★★ Nicole Kidman’s 21st-century Fatal Attraction is a complete knockout. This electrifying film rewires current neuroses into a merciless torture machine. ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★ Director Halina Reijn portrays a torrid office affair in all its messy complexity – it's moving and darkly funny. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ A hot erotic mess. Bondage has seldom been as playful. ~ The Irish Times.
★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ ~ Financial Times.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
★★★★ ~ NME.
Watch at Vue - up to £3.59 off tickets
18 ~ BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY.
★★★★★ Now in her 50s, Renée Zellweger’s Bridget is a singleton once more – and what a joy it is to see her back on our screens. There's big laughs and even bigger emotions in her best film yet. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ This is the best film since 2001's original – a deeply moving and joyful look at grief, friendship and love that is a triumph in its own right. ~ The i.
★★★★ ~ Irish Independent.
★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★ ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ ~ Irish Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
Watch at Odeon - up to £6 off tickets
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19 ~ WICKED.
~ 2025 Oscar Nominee: Best Film + Best Actress (Cynthia Erivo) + Best Supporting Actress (Ariana Grande) + Best Original Score (John Powell & Stephen Schwartz) + + Best Visual Effects + Best Make Up + Best Sound + Best Editing + Best Production Design + Best Costume.
★★★★★ This candy-coloured treat of a Broadway adaptation is carried by the phenomenal talent of Ariane Grande and her co-star Cynthia Erivo. ~ The i.
★★★★★ If you're a Wicked fan, it's hard to imagine you could want anything more from this thrillifying film adaptation. Grande's and Erivo's performances as Glinda and Elphaba will have you defying gravity. ~ Total Film.
★★★★ The stars enchant as young rival witches in Jon M Chu’s impossibly slick first instalment of his two-part adaptation of the musical juggernaut. ~ The Observer.
★★★★ The smash stage musical by Stephen Schwartz - inspired by The Wizard of Oz - gets the film treatment with this opulent, if slightly indulgent, adaptation. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ What an enjoyable spectacle it is. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ ~ Financial Times.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
★★★★ ~ NME.
★★★★ ~ RTE.
Odeon Cinemas - Save up to £6 on tickets
Cineworld Cinemas - Save up to £4 on tickets
Vue Cinemas - Save up to £3.59 on tickets
Apollo Theatre, London ~ Until 4 Jan 2026.
ALSO SCREENING:
★★★✭ Presence.
★★★✭ The Monkey.
★★★✭ A Complete Unknown.
★★★✭ Becoming Led Zeppelin.
★★★✭ Dog Man.
★★★✭ Paddington in Peru.
★★★✭ Bring Them Down.
★★★✭ We Live in Time.
★★★✭ The Last Showgirl.
★★★ The Sloth Lane.
★★★ Companion.
★★★ Moana 2.
★★★ Wolf Man.
★★★ Mufasa: The Lion King.
★★✭ Flight Risk.
★★✭ Sonic The Hedgehog 3.
★★✭ Heart Eyes.
★★ Captain America: Brave New World.
★★ Here.
★✭ Love Hurts.
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NEW TO STREAMING:
(Updated 14 Feb 2025):
CHANNEL 4 ~ MEAN STREETS
★★★★★ Rereleased for its 50th anniversary, Martin Scorsese’s miraculous ultraviolent urban pastoral early masterpiece is a blistering classic which remains thrilling, sensual, dangerous and effortlessly fluent" ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ The Godfather made the mob glamorous. Mean Streets made it real. Scorsese's ferocious, grimy 1973 classic is just as good as Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, but it shows us criminal life lower down the food chain: the footsoldiers struggling to make a buck without getting shot up. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ Terrific. Top shelf talent at the top of their game, working immediately before they would change Hollywood. ~ Empire
★★★★★ The movie's blazing energy is still astounding; the vérité street-scenes are terrific and Scorsese's pioneering use of popular music is genuinely thrilling. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ This explicitly European-influenced film establishes Scorsese's masterful use of music, mixing a 1960s pop soundtrack with grubby pool-hall violence. The result is a keystone of 1970s American cinema. ~ Radio Times.
NETFLIX & AMAZON PRIME ~ CAROL
~ 2016 Oscar Nominee: Best Actress (Cate Blanchett) + Best Supporting Actress (Rooney Mara) + Best Original Score (Carter Burwell) + Best Adapted Screenplay + Best Cinematography + Best Costume.
★★★★★ Patricia Highsmith's controversial, keynote lesbian novel The Price of Salt is brought lovingly to the screen by director Todd Haynes, in resplendent Far from Heaven fashion. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ Carol isn’t quite the masterpiece that Far From Heaven was. Yet it has a furtive soulfulness that sneaks up on you. It’s the real thing – a true romance – merged with a resonant riff on what might be called the metaphysics of toleranced. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ Haynes’s 50s-set drama in which a superb Cate Blanchett’s divorcing woman falls for Rooney Mara’s doe-eyed shop assistant is an intoxicating triumph. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ ~ Sunday Irish Independent.
★★★★★ ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★★ ~ Irish Independent.
★★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★★ ~ The Telegraph.
★★★★★ ~ The Observer.
★★★★★ ~ Irish Times.
★★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★★ ~ Total Film.
★★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★★ ~ RTE.
★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★ ~ Sunday Times.
★★★★ ~ Sky Cinema.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
CHANNEL 4 ~ 12 YEARS A SLAVE
~ 2014 Oscar Winner: Best Film + Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o) + Best Adapted Screenplay.
★★★★★ While it is not the role of critics to tell people which films to see and which to avoid (audiences make those decisions for themselves), let me begin by saying that if you have any interest in cinema – or, for that matter, in art, economics, politics, drama, literature or history – then you need to watch 12 Years a Slave. ~ Mark Kermode, Observer.
★★★★★ At the very least, director Steve McQueen's adaptation of Solomon Northup's memoir (which was previously adapted for TV in 1984, starring Avery Brooks) represents essential viewing for correcting the imbalance that there have been precious few films about slavery in the US told from the point of view of the enslaved. The added bonus is that it's also a tremendously powerful piece of cinema, a tale of suffering, endurance, courage and abiding humanity about a freeborn man kidnapped and sold into slavery, which packs all the more wallop for the elegance with which it's made. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ 12 Years a Slave isn't simply a masterpiece, it's a milestone. This, at last, really is history written with lightning. ~ Daily Telegraph.
★★★★★ ~ Irish Independent.
★★★★★ ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★★ ~ Financial Times.
★★★★★ ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★★ ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ ~ Irish Times.
★★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★★ ~ RTE.
★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ ~ Total Film.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
BBC iPLAYER ~ BLUE VELVET
~ 1987 Oscar Nominee: Best Director (David Lynch).
★★★★★ David Lynch's suburban nightmare is often named the best American film of the 1980s. ~ Time Out.
★★★★★ Still inventive, sexy and bizarre, this macabre, intensely 80s drama coolly retains a sense of the toxic fear hiding in plain sight of picket-fence America. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ This is the most complete of David Lynch's films, made before his disturbing black vision of small-town American life veered into self-parody. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ A film that exists both on a level of absolute reality and out-and-out nightmare. Love it or hate it, see it you must. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Every viewing yields new insights. A berserko modern classic. It still wields an intense, singular, evil power. ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★★ A neo-noir nightmare about a cheery town's "strange world," Blue Velvet is the quintessential David Lynch film. Delving into the sordid underside of heartland America, Lynch's tale of murder, greed, sexual deviance, and sado-masochism unequivocally revealed his cinematic gift for merging deadpan humor, aching sincerity, and unspeakable brutality. ~ AllMovie.
★★★★★ What makes Lynch's modern masterpiece so special, though, is the way in which Lynch turns this simple set-up into a psychosexual drama that would make even Freud shake his head in disbelief. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ Isabella Rossellini’s singer Dorothy is a heart-rending open wound, Dennis Hopper’s Frank Booth one of cinema’s great nutjobs, and Lynch’s control a thing of nightmarish beauty. ~ Total Film.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
AMAZON PRIME ~ THE LIGHTHOUSE
~ 2020 Oscar Nominee: Best Cinematography.
★★★★★ For his follow-up to The Witch, Robert Eggers launches a salty story of two men trapped in a turret. Think Steptoe and Son at sea and in hell. A sublime maritime nightmare. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ Totally unexpected and hilarious, Eggers masters the dangerous mix of horror and comedy. ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★★ ‘The Shining’ meets ‘Moby Dick’ in the most gripping horror of the year. An extraordinary, unsettling film that will stay with you long after the final credits. ~ NME.
★★★★★ A film that will make your head and soul ring. ~ Telegraph.
★★★★★ Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson dazzle in this luminous exercise in maritime madness. ~ Total Film.
★★★★★ Robert Eggers’ hallucinatory film is about two men getting sick of each other. In terms of plot, that’s all there is to it. But when I say that those two men could be Captain Ahab from Moby Dick and Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood, and that they are trapped in what could be the holiday cottage from Withnail and I, and that their stir-craziness recalls Jack Torrance from The Shining, you’ll get some sense of how exhilaratingly strange and violent their ordeal is. ~ BBC.
★★★★★ Dafoe is the best screen villain since Daniel Day Lewis, while Pattinson’s easy naturalism curdles into something unnerving and evil. ~ Irish Times.
★★★★★ Conjuring menace and mystery from solitude and seagulls, The Lighthouse is a folk tale, a black comedy, a horror, a mystery, a (platonic?) romance — and something more still, something unspeakable. Something like a masterpiece, perhaps. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ A swirling descent into madness that takes the breath away. ~ Time Out.
★★★★★ A claustrophobic horror filled with sweaty desire, sickly jealousy, and unbridled rage. As with Eggers’ last film and directorial debut, ‘The Witch’, there’s a clear desire for historical accuracy in language, look, and tone. But the film doesn’t feel stiff. ~ The Independent.
★★★★★ A deeply atmospheric, maniacal horror, The Lighthouse feels like it’s been washed up in a bottle, a film from another time with a tale sprung from ghost stories or nightmares. ~ The i.
★★★★★ Shot in a jagged, expressionist black and white, this is chiaroscuro with the emphasis on scuro, and confirms writer-director Robert Eggers as a major talent. ~ Financial Times.
★★★★★ You'd need one almighty manifest for all the delights here. Pattinson traces his lineage back to the monochrome masters; modern-day man of a thousand faces Dafoe delivers a side-splitting, nail-biting tour-de-force that ranks with anything on his CV; Blaschke's cinematography is phenomenal 4x3 and Eggers brings everything together in a film that deserves to keep company with one of his biggest inspirations, David Lynch's The Elephant Man. ~ RTE.
★★★★ ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★ ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
BBC iPLAYER ~ THE ELEPHANT MAN.
★★★★★ This beautiful, measured and rather atypical movie by David Lynch from 1980 is now on re-release. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ This stylish, poignant drama is based on the true story of the profoundly disfigured John Merrick (played by a superb, unrecognisable John Hurt), who battled the prejudices of Victorian society. ~ Radio Times.
★★★★★ It would take a heart of stone not be moved by this quite heart-rending tale of a pure soul struggling to be heard over the prejudice of the many. ~ BBC.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
CHANNEL 4 - SHOPLIFTERS
~ 2018 Cannes Film Festival: Palme d'Or Winner.
★★★★★ A Japanese masterpiece that creeps up on you. ~ The Irish Times.
★★★★★ This Palme d’Or-winning drama about a Japanese family of crooks who lift a lost little girl from the streets is a satisfying and devastating gem. ~ The Guardian.
★★★★★ A beautiful, ambiguous twist on Oliver Twist. ~ Financial Times.
★★★★★ A thrilling, beautiful tale of Toyko's down-and-outs. ~ The Telegaph.
★★★★★ This fascinating and twisty melodrama from the Japanese maestro Hirokazu Koreeda (After the Storm, Nobody Knows) is his best film yet. ~ The Times.
★★★★★ Don't let the prize or the subtitles, or the fact critics like it, put you off. It's deceptively simple, sweet, often funny, thought-provoking, moving but never mawkish and really accessible. ~ Sunday Irish Independent.
★★★★★ A film of rare depth and quality, which evokes everything from Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story to Oliver Twist. ~ Irish Independent.
★★★★ ~ The Independent.
★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★ ~ Sunday Times.
★★★★ ~ The Observer.
★★★★ ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
★★★★ ~ RTE.
BBC iPLAYER - EIGHTH GRADE
★★★★★ A simple story with the emotions of a cinematic epic. ~ The Independent.
★★★★★ Bo Burnham’s brilliant coming-of-age debut is a note-perfect tale of a shy teenager’s struggle with our internet-obsessed culture. ~ Mark Kermode, The Observer.
★★★★★ Powerful, emotional, funny, smart and empowering, Eighth Grade scores a perfect A. ~ Total Film.
★★★★★ ~ Irish Independent.
★★★★★ ~ Evening Standard.
★★★★★ ~ Financial Times.
★★★★★ ~ Irish Times.
★★★★✭ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ ~ The Scotsman.
★★★★ ~ Sunday Times.
★★★★ ~ The Telegaph.
★★★★ ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ ~ The Times.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ Empire.
CHANNEL 4 & AMAZON PRIME ~ THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY
~ 1982 BAFTA Nominee: Best Actor (Bob Hoskins).
★★★★★ A benchmark British gangster classic with spot-on performances all round and a near wordless end scene that diplays some of the finest screen acting ever from Bob Hoskins. ~ Empire.
★★★★★ Sheer, ground-breaking brilliance; a superb script and great turns from Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren are the making of John Mackenzie’s classic London gangland thriller. ~ Mark Kermode, The Observer.
★★★★★ Although The Long Good Friday is firmly rooted in a very different era - early 1980s Britain is another country entirely - the film still feels fresh and uncompromisingly tough. ~ The Times
★★★★ ~ Little White Lies.
★★★★ ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ ~ Radio Times.
★★★★ ~ Total Film.
★★★★ ~ Time Out.
★★★★ ~ AllMovie.
★★★★ ~ BBC.
FREEVEE & AMAZON PRIME ~ BANG! THE BERT BERNS STORY
An affectionate but still eye-opening look at songwriter and producer Bert Berns and his impact on 1960s rock music. ~ Film Journal International.
If you love the music Berns made, you'll love this movie; if you don't, I feel for you, but "Bang!" might nevertheless entertain with its dish. ~ New York Times.
Both the editing in “Bang!” and Steven Van Zandt’s narration are too stiff, and the occasional dramatic re-creations feel misjudged. But it’s hard to complain when Solomon Burke, Paul McCartney, Keith Richards and Van Morrison are offering insights into Berns’ personality and craft. ~ Los Angeles Times.
FREEVEE & AMAZON PRIME ~ THE LOST WEEKEND: A LOVE STORY
★★★★ This vivid documentary about May Pang, the woman with whom John Lennon had an affair during his marriage to Yoko Ono, reveals that Ono was pulling the strings ~ The Guardian.
★★★★ Judging from the lack of Lennon music included, Yoko can't have been particularly impressed with this version of events. But Pang tells her tale with modesty and balance, and does all Beatlemaniacs a service by giving them an intimate glimpse of what Lennon was like in and out of the spotlight. ~ Radio Times.
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