Ben is Back (2018)
★★★☆☆
Julia Roberts plays a mother fighting to hold onto her relationship with her son in the face of his drug problems in writer/director Peter Hedges’ drama Ben is Back.
USA
Out of Blue (2018)
★★☆☆☆
Out of Blue by Carol Morley, the director of Dreams of a Life, is a metaphysical neo-noir, a Schrödinger’s cat of a film.
The Kindergarten Teacher (2018)
★★★★☆
The pursuit of artistic desire goes too far in writer/director Sara Colangelo’s slow burning drama The Kindergarten Teacher based on the 2014 Israeli film and showcasing a tremendous performance from Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Us (2019)
Review to follow.
★★★★☆
Us is Jordan Peele’s truly scary, more-than horror, state-of-the-nation follow-up to his acclaimed Get Out.
Under the Silver Lake (2018)
★★★☆☆
Under the Silver Lake is David Robert Mitchell’s dreamlike, rationality-transcending contemporary noir, starring Andrew Garfield.
What They Had (2018)
★★★☆☆
Writer and director Elizabeth Chomko’s drama What They Had centres around that familiar concept of a crisis bringing a family together and drawing them closer to each other.
A Private War (2018)
★★★☆☆
Rosamund Pike in Matthew Heineman’s A Private War is a perfect incarnation of the legendarily fearless war reporter Marie Colvin.
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
Vice (2018)
★★★★☆
The career of notorious US Vice-President Dick Cheney is given The Big Short treatment by Adam McKay in dark satire Vice.
Destroyer (2018)
★★★☆☆
Nicole Kidman plays startlingly against type in Karyn Kusama’s LA noir Destroyer.
Monsters and Men (2018)
★★★★☆
Reinaldo Marcus Green’s outstanding feature debut Monsters and Men is so heartfelt it hurts.
Colette (2018)
★★★★☆
As French cultural icon Colette, Keira Knightley charms and shocks in 19th century Paris in Wash Westmoreland’s intriguing biopic.
The Front Runner (2018)
★★★★☆
The Front Runner, Jason Reitman’s absorbing dredge into presidential favourite Gary Hart’s downfall is a timely take on US politics and morality then and now.
Lizzie (2018)
★★★★☆
Chloe Sevigny strikes her axe blows against an oppressive patriarchy in Craig William Macneill’s Lizzie – with superb support from Kristen Stewart.