Operation Avalanche movie review: to the moon?
This Apollo-era would-be suspense-thriller mockumentary is more an exercise in “look how film-school cool and clever we are” than anything else.
historical
Hidden Figures movie review: triumph of the black girl geeks
The it’s-about-damn-time true story that puts paid to the notion that only white men had the Right Stuff. Often funny, ultimately feel-good, hugely exhilarating.
A United Kingdom movie review: a love that changed the world
Insistent chemistry between David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike fuels a true story of passionate romance with an urgent message about love as radical and political.
Allied movie review: movie spies with delicious old-fashioned mystique
An elegant potboiler that judiciously balances psychological and physical suspense, one that feels like a romantic drama from WWII only recently rediscovered.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie review: reparo movens ad imaginem
Forget about magical creatures: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them could use some help finding itself, and in figuring out who its protagonist is.
Moonlight movie review: the empathy machine in action (but only if you’re watching)
Luminous and plaintive, Moonlight is emotional virtual reality, transforming a unique human experience into something universal and unforgettable.
Bleed for This movie review: entirely bloodless
If there is something new to be said about boxing, Bleed for This doesn’t find it. Sucks all the energy out of a story that should have been a can’t-miss.
The Uncondemned documentary review: the horrors of Rwanda, on trial
Meet the dedicated young lawyers and activists who prosecuted and convicted the first person ever to go to prison for genocide and wartime rape.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children movie review: infodump, the movie
Relentlessly dull. A tour of a strange world and “characters” little more than their “peculiar” abilities isn’t enough to whip up fantastical excitement.
#LFF2016: Ma’ Rosa, Pyromaniac, All This Panic
Quick takes from the 60th London Film Festival, with public screenings from October 5th-16th, 2016.
