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5/5
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Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(1975)
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Sarah Cartland
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Doing for bunnies what Benchley and Spielberg did for Great Whites, Holy Grail is still a hoot - a meandering delight that also firmly skewers the genial pointlessness of quests and kingship, medieval myth-making, and much more.
Posted Apr 05, 2024
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2/5
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Madame Web
(2024)
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Sarah Cartland
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Not great but not the worst film ever made, and I didn’t even have to award a consolation star for the cat.
Posted Feb 25, 2024
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4/5
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Dagr
(2024)
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Sarah Cartland
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Blair Witch meets AbFab as found footage collides with fashion darlings giving overpriced clothes the Jean-Luc Goddard treatment. Moritz and Duckles are terrific as a pair of supremely confident, if breathtakingly naive, ethical YouTubers.
Posted Feb 10, 2024
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3/5
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65
(2023)
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Sarah Cartland
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It was the worst of times, it was the end of times. For the characters anyway. Not as bad I had heard, 65 is improved by the performances and also the constant pummelling that pre-historic Earth doles out to poor old Mills.
Posted Jan 21, 2024
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3/5
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Saltburn
(2023)
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Sarah Cartland
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Emerald Fennell's definition of subtlety is bashing us over the head with a small Le Creuset frying pan rather than one of their massive casserole pots.
Posted Jan 19, 2024
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3/5
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The Boys in the Boat
(2023)
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Sarah Cartland
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While Clooney’s Oscar-eyeing earnestness leaves much of the film plodding, it is spectacularly saved by the race scenes, which are both riveting and exhilarating.
Posted Jan 13, 2024
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3.5/5
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A Haunting in Venice
(2023)
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Sarah Cartland
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Enjoyably melodramatic and nicely unnerving, though the tendency to shoot from above and at odd angles becomes headache-inducing, especially when one is trying to work out whodunnit (or indeed woohoodunnit). Camille Cottin and Emma Laird are stand-outs.
Posted Jan 01, 2024
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3/5
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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
(2023)
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Sarah Cartland
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Overlong if enjoyably bonkers, there's also an undercurrent of chaos, with bits of key turning up everywhere; at times it felt like there were enough for everyone to have a spare set.
Posted Oct 27, 2023
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2/5
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Meg 2: The Trench
(2023)
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Sarah Cartland
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There's an enjoyable disdain for empathy as extras get munched, though mostly it's just not that exciting, and B movie tropes that should evoke knowing enjoyment seem simply dull. The green-washing makes it worthy, if not see-worthy.
Posted Oct 26, 2023
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2.5/5
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The Bounty Hunter
(2010)
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Sarah Cartland
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Overlong, trope-filled and derivative, there’s still an endearing charm to Milo’s puppyish dimwittery — and it boasts a proper movie villain, who with his chiselled cheekbones and air of real menace looks like an evil Max Headroom (ask your A.I. nan)
Posted Jun 03, 2023
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3/5
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One True Loves
(2023)
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Sarah Cartland
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A slight, slushy yet just-endearing-enough romcom. It does look like an old-fashioned TV movie though, and the flashback to the world’s windiest wedding reception, everyone trying to ignore the waving gazebo, doesn’t help.
Posted Apr 08, 2023
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4.5/5
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John Wick: Chapter 4
(2023)
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Sarah Cartland
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Deadly serious yet madly entertaining, John Wick Chapter 4 offers up a stream of astonishing, sometimes numbing battles broken up by aphorisms. Its callbacks to the first film reveal a man who can never escape his past or his path.
Posted Mar 26, 2023
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3/5
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Follow the Dead
(2020)
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Sarah Cartland
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A movie about Millennials reviewed by a Gen Xer. What could go wrong! Luckily this Irish zomcom is funny, chilling, and thoughtful about how a safe space can become a prison, as a family of slackers faces two threats — only one of which is already dead.
Posted Mar 22, 2023
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4/5
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Plane
(2023)
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Sarah Cartland
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Solid and enjoyable filmmaking that knows its limits. No overflowing passenger lists, no shoehorned subplots, it does exactly what it says on the tin, and then some. Truly, "redemption can be found in the most unusual places."
Posted Mar 18, 2023
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3/5
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Precognition
(2018)
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Sarah Cartland
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Technology itself is morally neutral. But Tedder has done a good job showing us how easily it can be twisted, and how a combination of carrot and stick can make us give up our most basic freedoms.
Posted Jan 30, 2023
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3.5/5
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See How They Run
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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Frenetic, amiable and supremely well-paced; and as a whodunnit it’s certainly more AgFab than whocares.
Posted Oct 09, 2022
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2.5/5
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Arthur & Merlin: Knights of Camelot
(2020)
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Sarah Cartland
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For a stripped-back Arthur, a character study of a king who has lost faith in himself and his role, there’s an awful lot thrown in here, without the time, budget or real insight to do it all justice.
Posted Oct 05, 2022
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2/5
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Reed's Point
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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Clunky and awkward, with risible dialogue and a damp squib ending; though director Dale Fabrigar does offer us an impressive monster, and Anthony Jensen has fun as local guide Hank.
Posted Oct 05, 2022
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2/5
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Maneater
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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Not a good film — with limited, repetitive shark footage and often lazy writing — though there’s a good turn from Trace Adkins as hoary old sea dog Harlan.
Posted Sep 22, 2022
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4/5
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When the Screaming Starts
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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Very funny, very British and drowning in fake blood. And unlike a murderous cult breaking into your house while you’re having a dinner party, it never outstays its welcome.
Posted Sep 21, 2022
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3/5
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The Reef: Stalked
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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Sharks make good allegories, and unlike zombies they work best with only one, which is cheaper. The Reef Stalked is a welcome entrant in this genre - a scary, solidly entertaining shark drama as much about grief and guilt as about the toothy terror.
Posted Aug 01, 2022
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2/5
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Persuasion
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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There are some witty flashes and Cosmo Jarvis is excellent, a rumbling volcano of just held in check emotion. But this is an uneven disappointment, with Anne too frequently coming across as a Regency Bridget Jones.
Posted Jul 26, 2022
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3/5
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Gatlopp
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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Surely a metaphor for Monopoly, which is the definition of hell and goes on for an eternity, GATLOPP is enjoyably believable, thanks to nuanced, sharply timed performances from all four actors. Emmy Raver-Lampman and Jon Bass are particularly impressive.
Posted Jul 01, 2022
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2.5/5
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Jurassic World Dominion
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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There are some stunning visuals and the new dinosaurs are terrific, especially the one that looks like an angry chicken; though they often seem like extras in an overlong potboiler thriller.
Posted Jun 22, 2022
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5/5
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Top Gun: Maverick
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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Old relics assemble! A superbly thrilling, witty and crowd-pleasing modern blockbuster, well worth the 36-year wait.
Posted May 31, 2022
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3/5
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Senior Year
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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Yes it's derivative and heavily signposted but it's also exuberant and witty, a reminder to teenagers to let their hair down and to their parents not to assume that (and I’m showing my age here) modern life is rubbish.
Posted May 24, 2022
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3/5
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Sonic the Hedgehog 2
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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Overstuffed with plot and not as witty as the first film, though a late surge gives it the oomph to make it through an enjoyable final third. Thanks to Carrey, Robotnik remains a perfect villain for children: extremely powerful and eternally bumptious.
Posted May 20, 2022
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4/5
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Operation Mincemeat
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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Not the "Colin Firth looking stoic in a Royal Navy-issue jumper" outing I was expecting - instead I discovered a surprisingly funny, consistently gripping and often moving film about war's imperfect stalwarts, working in the shadows.
Posted Apr 17, 2022
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3.5/5
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Let the Wrong One In
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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Grossly funny, peppered with great one-liners, this is also a touching paean to family and fake blood, which drenches proceedings in frankly extraordinary quantities. There's more gushing here than from British luvvies at the BAFTAs.
Posted Apr 07, 2022
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3.5/5
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Death on the Nile
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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Gorgeous, great fun and brutally funny in a way, that everyone there to celebrate Linnet's marriage also has reason to greatly dislike her. (To be fair some of the best weddings are like that.)
Posted Apr 03, 2022
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2.5/5
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Deep Water
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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It does, finally, get under the skin, if you can make it through the tepid sex and stretches of tedium. Melinda and Vics transgressiveness may not be explained, or believable, but it eventually becomes oddly compelling.
Posted Mar 21, 2022
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3/5
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Moonfall
(2022)
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Sarah Cartland
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An enjoyable, old-fashioned blockbuster (yes, there is a pet) let down by an absence of humour (which might have lightened its rather lumpen earnestness).
Posted Feb 06, 2022
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3.5/5
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Silent Night
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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Shorter than many family Christmas dinners that do actually feel like the end of the world, Silent Night bounces along until almost the end; beautiful, bitterly funny and bizarrely realistic.
Posted Dec 30, 2021
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3/5
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Last Train to Christmas
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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An overlong but moving tale. It says something for the writing and performances that the most jarring element of this story is how many spare seats there are in a British Rail train at Christmas.
Posted Dec 20, 2021
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3/5
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A Castle for Christmas
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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Mostly does what it says on the (Quality Street) tin, though its premise of two older, slightly broken people falling in love means welcome spikiness to offset the sugar.
Posted Dec 01, 2021
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2/5
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Home Sweet Home Alone
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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Neither great nor terrible. Despite the slapstick violence it lacks the darkness of a children's classic - everyone is just too nice, even the estate agent (who is actually the best thing in this).
Posted Nov 14, 2021
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5/5
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Yield to the Night
(1956)
|
Sarah Cartland
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A stunning film, its oppressive sadness feeling like a physical weight by the time we reach those final devastating yet inevitable scenes. Dors and Mitchell are superb.
Posted Nov 11, 2021
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4/5
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Finch
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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Miguel Sapochnik skilfully steers his affecting family drama away from the pitfalls of sentimentality. Landry Jones is terrific as Robot Jeff, a synthetic made sympathetic, struggling to understand the contradictions of the man who made him.
Posted Nov 06, 2021
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3.5/5
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Spencer
(2021)
|
Sarah Cartland
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Both compelling and irritating, sometimes simultaneously.
Posted Nov 06, 2021
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4.5/5
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No Time to Die
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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As the closing of a chapter No Time To Die works exceptionally well, a heady yet comforting mix of nostalgia and the shock of the unexpected.
Posted Oct 10, 2021
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2/5
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Diana: The Musical
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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I do love a rhyming couplet, and in this respect it does not disappoint, unless you're Shakespeare.
Posted Oct 08, 2021
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4/5
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Deerskin
(2019)
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Sarah Cartland
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Absurdly funny and very bloody. Dujardin is both hilarious and deeply melancholic as a man with the world's first interesting midlife crisis.
Posted Oct 02, 2021
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4/5
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The Wonderful: Stories From The Space Station
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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Full of fascinating insights and much about family. Those familiar images of the Earth, hanging like a frosted blue Christmas bauble in space, still stun.
Posted Sep 26, 2021
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4/5
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The Green Knight
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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A bold, gorgeous and darkly comic cautionary tale about the making of legends, and heroes who don't even own their own story.
Posted Sep 26, 2021
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5/5
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Oasis Knebworth 1996
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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Funny, sincere and wistful. Turn it up.
Posted Sep 23, 2021
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2.5/5
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Gunpowder Milkshake
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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Gunpowder Milkshake starts off like space dust sweets, all-too-briefly crackling on the tongue before dissolving to nothing; though it does pick up later, dragging us along for the ride.
Posted Sep 17, 2021
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3/5
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The Colony
(2021)
|
Sarah Cartland
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It's grim and the ending is baffling, but it also has a rusting melancholy beauty.
Posted Sep 12, 2021
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4/5
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Copshop
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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A lurid, sweaty, snarky B-movie. Alexis Louder is always compelling as the inexperienced cop trying to keep her cool at the centre.
Posted Sep 10, 2021
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2.5/5
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The Last Bus
(2021)
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Sarah Cartland
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I love public transport and I cry at the drop of a genuine 1950s trilby hat, but The Last Bus is simply too earnestly clunky. Spall is terrific though, and Tom's tragedies movingly revealed.
Posted Aug 31, 2021
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5/5
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The Nest
(2020)
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Sarah Cartland
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A cautionary tale told with an unflinching gaze that suits the boldness of the decade in which it is set. It fairly whizzes by, compellingly, gruesomely, fascinating.
Posted Aug 28, 2021
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