Steve Jobs movie review: insanely great (LFF 2015)
You’ve never seen such a compelling, entertaining movie about a genius jerk. As smart and as sleek as a Macbook Pro, and a compulsory bit of modern history.
1990s
The Program movie review: on your bike and follow the money (LFF 2015)
Pretty much strictly for fans of Ben Foster and Chris O’Dowd, who are both superb here. Probably not for fans of Lance Armstrong (if he still has any left).
Everest movie review: peak experience
A spectacular, heart-stopping adventure that has you catching your breath and gasping in shock. See it in IMAX 3D for an enrapturing you-are-there feeling.
Straight Outta Compton movie review: men’s anger, but only when it makes them righteous
The seething rage radiating from the screen elevates this above similar movies. But that rage is truncated in ways that are hard to ignore.
Precinct Seven Five (aka The Seven Five) documentary review: badfellas
A Scorsese-esque look, fascinating and horrifying, at the 1990s NYPD scandal that saw cops become the biggest, baddest gang on the city streets.
Woman in Gold movie review: more than just a pretty picture
A deeply moving and very satisfying piece of entertainment that knits up seemingly disparate elements in a tapestry of family pain and pride.
Wild movie review (London Film Festival)
A film full of spectacular landscapes of both the natural world and the human spirit. This is what it looks like when women get to be people onscreen.
A Walk Among the Tombstones movie review: only mostly dead
Liam Neeson’s good performance only just elevates the general seen-it-before-ness, including a risible appropriation of women’s pain for men’s redemption.
Jersey Boys movie review: it’s not only rock ’n’ roll…
Director Clint Eastwood’s discomfort with his own material is enormous and obvious. Does he just not get pop music, or is he actively disdainful and suspicious of it?
The Wolf of Wall Street review: legitimate businessman
A debauched end-of-empire horror story disguised as an outrageous comedy, with remarkable performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill.
