Alien: Romulus
If this franchise has its Romulus in Ridley Scott, and ALIEN is his Rome, Fede Alvarez’s ALIEN: ROMULUS is the fall of the Roman Empire: a scattered jumble of icons and monuments faintly echoing a triumphant past.
Category Archives: Reviews
Black Dog
George Jaques’s BLACK DOG shows a lack of confidence in storytelling, but his next film can be great should the choices be bolder and more confident.
The Beast
Audacious in the extreme, THE BEAST delivers nothing new on each of its premises, but its combination is bold and stylish. The film does not rise above its shock value in commenting on society, but Seydoux and Mackay are in magnificent form.
La Chimera
Its odd tempo and mythic resonances make LA CHIMERA feel like a half-remembered story that you first heard years ago. The film’s surprising richness will bury itself in your mind in a way that finds you stumbling across it afterwards.
Love Lies Bleeding
In Rose Glass’s new feature, LOVE LIES BLEEDING, bodies are vessels that can barely contain what they feel inside. Something is always trying to burst out. Put simply, LOVE LIES BLEEDING rips.
The Teacher’s Lounge
A frog-in-a-kettle study of a societal microcosm under pressure, THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE leaves audiences turning over possible truths and futures for its characters long after the credits roll.
Yannick
YANNICK playfully imagines a complete breakdown of the relationship between artist and paying punter. It offers no solutions and barely contains an ending, but maybe in all of its madness, there is a quiet plea for any critical displeasure to be saved for our social media feeds.
Elaha
When ELAHA channels anger into something pensive, the film’s power is amplified, evolving from didactic frustration to something evocative and immensely powerful.
Dune: Part Two
DUNE: PART TWO improves on its predecessor in some crucial ways, but the reliance on spectacle leaves gaps in the storytelling and a frustratingly ephemeral interest in the most interesting ideas the film brings forward.
The Vourdalak
While THE VOURDALAK may not entirely succeed as a film, there is something fascinating about how this early vampire story emphasises the queerness that has always been part and parcel of vampire stories in folklore.