John Bleasdale
15 January 2026
The canonisation of David Lynch
A year after his death, the Twin Peaks director is universally loved. Would this Don of darkness really be happy about that?
Read the full article10 January 2026
Death to the celebrity documentary
From the Beckhams to Eddie Murphy and Charlie Sheen, they promise truth but deliver reputation-laundering dressed up as intimacy
Read the full article06 January 2026
Why Hamnet doesn’t get Shakespeare
Chloé Zhao’s film is deeply felt and beautifully made – but misses the essence of what made the playwright so great
Read the full article31 December 2025
More close encounters: the must-see movies of 2026
A new Spielberg, a remake of The Bride of Frankenstein and an exploration of the Moroccan outdoor rave scene are among the films to watch out for this year
Read the full article29 December 2025
The trouble with Brigitte Bardot
The actor, activist and icon didn't care what anyone thought of her. That was both her greatest strength and her fatal flaw
Read the full article26 December 2025
Renate Reinsve’s impossible journey
The star who began in children's theatre in a Norwegian forest is Oscar-bound with Sentimental Value
Read the full article24 December 2025
The weird and dangerous history of Hollywood snow
The white stuff in big movies isn’t real - sometimes it’s bleached cornflakes, sometimes fire extinguisher foam.. and it used to be asbestos
Read the full article19 December 2025
Avatar is the biggest film franchise that no-one really cares about
James Cameron’s CGI sci-fi epics are a box-office phenomenon - but also completely forgettable
Read the full article17 December 2025
Why The Shining is a Christmas film
Forget Die Hard. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is the perfect Christmas movie
Read the full article16 December 2025
Rob Reiner understood what Trump never will: Love and being funny
The president’s social media messages about the murdered director reveal him as a humourless, bitter bigot
Read the full article08 December 2025
When did George Clooney lose it?
The suave star once tested himself by working with prestige directors. Now he’s phoning it in in fluff like Jay Kelly
Read the full article03 December 2025
Leatherface and me: the Chainsaw that won’t stop
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the most terrifying film ever made. So why did I watch it when I was 11, and why does it still have a hold on me?
Read the full article02 December 2025
Train Dreams is the year’s most beautiful film
Joel Edgerton’s career-best performance underpins a modern classic that owes s substantial debt to Terrence Malick
Read the full article26 November 2025
Will HAL kill Hollywood?
After years of scary AI movies, the tech is now portrayed as heroic – just as the industry’s humans come into its sights
Read the full article22 November 2025
Why do people hate Sydney Sweeney?
The White Lotus actress is a registered Republican, but that isn’t a reason to troll her – our idea of liberal Hollywood is a myth
Read the full article19 November 2025
The beatification of Martin Scorsese
A new documentary series turns the director into a Hollywood saint – and dulls some of his brilliance
Read the full article06 November 2025
Are the movies finally getting mental illness right?
Starting with Jennifer Lawrence’s Die My Love, a new wave of women-led films is showing what it really means to come undone
Read the full article31 October 2025
Is it time Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos got divorced?
Bugonia is their fifth film together, and for some, the magic is wearing thin
Read the full article24 October 2025
Why nuclear war movies are blowing up
Kathryn Bigelow’s excellent thriller A House of Dynamite is part of a mushrooming trend
Read the full article22 October 2025
Kill, stream, repeat: has our obsession with true crime gone too far?
The mysterious serial killer who terrorised Florence is the subject of yet another true crime Netflix show
Read the full article18 October 2025
Could you ever love a robot?
A sci-fi film from 2013 was meant to offer a utopian vision of the future – in fact it is a perfect picture of our age of techno nihilism
Read the full article14 October 2025
The festival that shows why silent films still speak loudly
The reels from Palestine and Italy might be a century old – but they feel shockingly of the moment
Read the full article01 October 2025
Claudia Cardinale, the woman who made the world stand still
Mysterious, graceful and defiant, Cardinale transcended the male gaze and wrote her own legend
Read the full article01 October 2025
What the f**k will Marc Maron do next?
Just when America most needs dissenting voices, the comedian is retiring from his brilliant WTF podcast after 16 years
Read the full article17 September 2025
Robert Redford, last of the golden gods
Robert Redford’s death reminds us of his effortless greatness - and that the age of the Hollywood giant is itself fading into history
Read the full article17 September 2025
The Gazan child who spoke to the world
The Voice of Hind Rajab, about the last hours of a five-year-old, is breaking audiences and winning awards
Read the full article08 September 2025
The Golden Lion goes to men… again
Indie director Jim Jarmusch scooped the award with Father Mother Sister Brother - but what does this say about the future of film festivals?
Read the full article03 September 2025
No Other Choice, the new Parasite
Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice is a masterfully savage comedy of murder and capitalist ruin
Read the full article30 August 2025
The new film capital of the world is… Oslo
Norway’s new wave is winning awards and acclaim. But will funding problems kill off the boom just as audiences take notice?
Read the full article27 August 2025
Crime scene cinema from Gaza
Two films about unfolding tragedy shock the Locarno Film Festival
Read the full article23 August 2025
When will Quentin Tarantino shut the f*** up?
The director has given another self-aggrandising interview. He should be making better films instead
Read the full article13 August 2025
What makes Sexy Beast so good?
Jonathan Glazer’s British gangster film hit screens 25 years ago. What is the secret to its success?
Read the full article