Reviews

For many it has been a rough year, full of all sorts of political and social tribulations. In film at least, I think 2016 has been a pretty damn good year. Yes, yes, there have been plenty of crappy films ...

It’s the last big blockbuster of the year, a sci-fi extravaganza with top dollar effects and two of the biggest names in the industry in the starring roles: Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. Passengers tells the story of two people ...

The positive reviews started flooding in, giving me hope – but I’ve been burned before and I’ll be burned again. Are these critics seeing the same films I’m seeing? Rogue One is yet another example of what is wrong with ...

Well, damn. It isn’t often you pick up a book, race through it, then wonder why the hell it took you so long to get to it (in fairness, my to-read pile is massive). Nimona was so good that it ...

In Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, Paterson lives in Paterson, New Jersey, driving the bus along the central Paterson route. It’s a film about finding artistry and meaning in everyday life, emphasising the humdrum routine as our hero gets up, has breakfast, ...

One of the perils of being a book reviewer is accepting an author review copy of a book in a series when the book is not the first in the series. If you have no prior knowledge of the series ...

Arriving at last, after months of hype and acclaim from Japan and its screenings at various film festivals, Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name has finally reached the UK. This gender swap teenage drama has been universally lauded, with Shinkai being heralded ...

It might simply been that I was spoiled by Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but why are there no good period spy dramas anymore? Last year’s wildly overpraised Bridge of Spies saw Spielberg provide an uncharacteristically humdrum affair. I’ll ...

Is it possible to find that spark again – that special something that made a series brilliant the first time around? Networks and services like Netflix, Hulu, Dave, Yahoo, etc certainly think so, pouring money into nostalgia projects like Gilmore ...

Buried somewhere under the Warner Bros lot, Rupert Grint is turning in his grave. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the newest addition to the Potter-verse, tenuously linked to a little supplemental bestiary published during the original Harry ...