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  Certificate: 12A Running time: 192 minutes  Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, Trinity Bliss, Jack Champion  Directed by: James Cameron The story: Set many years after the events of Avatar, the sequel follows Jake and Neytiri’s family as they fight to keep each other safe. The verdict: Full disclosure - I have never liked Avatar. I would even go so far as to say that I think it’s one of the most overhyped films of all time. So with that being said, I went into this film with zero expectations fully anticipating a long and frustrating watch with plenty of eye rolling. I could have not been more wrong. Granted, in the first twenty minutes or so I wasn’t convinced and wondered if James Cameron might be the most self indulgent filmmaker of all time. But I’m more than happy to admit when I’m wrong and James I’m sorry - I was wrong. I realised quite quickly that I had gone from someone who had ...

  Certificate: 18 Running time: 131 minutes  Starring: Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, Anna Cobb, André Holland Directed by: Luca Guadagnino The story: Abandoned by her father, a young woman meets a drifter and together they embark on a journey together across the country to find her mother. The verdict: Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name is one of my favourite films of all time and so I went into this film with high expectations. Happily, my expectations were more than met and possibly even exceeded. Bones and All is by no means the only film of its ilk and yet it felt incredibly unique. I came away with the feeling that I’d never seen a film quite like it before and even now it lingers. Set in the eighties, Bones and All has a distinct look and feel. Shot on film in 35mm, the film looks timeless and beautiful. The location of the backroads of America adds to the tone and enhances the feeling of the characters’ isolation as the roads stretch out before ...

  Certificate: 12A Running time: 139 minutes Starring: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr, Jessica Henwick Directed by: Rian Johnson The story: World class detective Benoit Blanc returns to solve another mystery, this time travelling to the Greek island of a billionaire tech mogul. The verdict: I saw Knives Out in one of the most stony faced screenings I’d ever been in. I was the only person who laughed aloud and seemed engaged in the film, and as you can imagine it did rather affect my enjoyment of it. Subsequent rewatches proved to me that the film was just as great as I’d first thought. However, as I went into my screening of Glass Onion, I couldn’t help but be apprehensive that this might again turn out to be another impassive audience. In fact the complete opposite occurred and even in our small screening, laughter filled the theatre throughout. This time the action brings Benoit Blanc to the sun-drenched clim...

  Certificate: 15 Running time: 107 minutes  Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Nicolas Hoult, Hong Chau, John Leguizamo Directed by: Mark Mylod  The story: A young couple travels to an isolated island to experience an exclusive menu created by a legendary chef. The verdict: As soon as The Menu began, I knew I was really going to like it. Part of that was to do with how it started and I loved how there was absolutely no preamble or prologue - The Menu is like an event that the audience is invited to and as such we start as the event begins. The Menu has a great cast and in spite of there being little time to get to know everyone, each character successfully inhabits a distinct personality. Very quickly the audience comes to know the characters and has a very good idea of who they are. This demonstrates very proficient writing and The Menu has a sharp and witty script.  The cast is great and in particular it was great to see Ralph Fiennes in another villainou...

  Certificate: 12A Running time: 162 minutes  Starring: Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Tenoch Huerta, Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke Directed by: Ryan Coogler The story: In the wake of King T’Challa’s death, Wakanda faces a mysterious new threat. The verdict: The Marvel Cinematic Universe is well known for providing audiences with films that are world building and character driven. Along with those elements are impressive action packed sequences that often become the focal point of the films. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is arguably one of the few MCU instalments where the character driven element overrides the action. It is important to note that certainly doesn’t mean that the action is not good or that the film lacks action, but this film is definitely more about the characters and how they deal with the aftermath of King T’Challa’s death.  With the above in mind, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has a much more introspective and sombre tone. There is...

  Certificate: 15 Running time: 114 minutes  Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleason, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan Directed by: Martin McDonagh The story: When his best friend suddenly and without reason ends their friendship, one man struggles to understand what went wrong. The verdict: The Banshees of Inisherin is a film that appears on its surface to be rather simple. Set on an isolated island in 1923, our characters have little to do other than tend to their animals and gather each afternoon in the pub. Yet there is no such thing as a simple existence and beneath appearances, the two men at the heart of this film are nursing a number of complex emotions.  The Banshees of Inisherin is a film about friendship and family. It is a film about longing and loneliness and despair and desire. It is a film about the different kinds of grief and how those kinds of grief are dealt with. It is also a film that looks in some part at masculinity and how men might quash their emo...

  Certificate: 18 Running time: 103 minutes  Starring: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long, Matthew Patrick Davis Directed by: Zach Cregger The story: When a woman arrives at her Airbnb only to discover that someone else is already staying there, she decides against her better judgment to stay the night. The verdict: Barbarian is a slightly tricky film to review. Not because of its quality or lack of but because this is a film best gone into with as little prior knowledge as possible. With that in mind, this review will be reasonably short but equally reasonably sweet.  Barbarian was brilliant fun. Not only is it a film with three very distinct acts, it is a film that wrongfoots the audience from the start and in the best possible way. Barbarian sets up the perfect horror scenario and then flips it in a brutal and shocking way. The way that the rug is pulled out from the audience’s feet makes it such an engaging watch but also it hits all those horror notes...

  Certificate: 12A Running time: 125 minutes  Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Viola Davis, Sarah Shahi, Pierce Brosnan, Quintessa Swindell, Noah Centino Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra The story: Five thousand years after being bestowed with the powers of the Egyptian gods, an almighty champion is freed from his tomb. The verdict: It wouldn’t be unfair to say that The DC Extended Universe has had its share of ups and downs. However, the universe has appeared to find its feet in recent times with films like Shazam! and The Suicide Squad, and tv show Peacemaker, proving popular with both audiences and critics alike. That being said, there was still room for some new characters to make their entrance into the DCEU and shake things up, and who better to do that than Black Adam played by the almighty Dwayne Johnson?! You would have had to have been living under a rock (naturally occurring solid mass) to not have heard of The Rock (former wrestler turned actor) and as suc...

  Certificate: 15 Running time: 123 minutes  Starring: Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde, Gemma Chan Directed by: Olivia Wilde The story: Alice and Jack live an idyllic life in the close knit community of Victory. Whilst the husbands go to work each day at the experimental company, the wives live the ideal housewife life enjoying all the perks of paradise. However when Alice starts to notice cracks in the seemingly perfect Victory, her dream life soon becomes a nightmare.  The verdict: There are arguably two types of audiences when it comes to watching a film. There are those who relish a film that leaves them with much to discuss and ponder, and then there are those who prefer to have everything wrapped up and explained. If you are in the latter type of audience then you may struggle with Don’t Worry Darling and if you are in the former type of audience then hello and welcome to Victory. Don’t Worry Darling is likely to leave you with a myriad of qu...

  Certificate: 15 Running time: 130 minutes  Starring: Keke Palmer, Daniel Kaluuya, Steven Yeun, Brandon Perea  Directed by: Jordan Peele The story: When an alien like phenomenon in the sky starts causing odd occurrences, a horse wrangler decides to investigate further.  The verdict: Director Jordan Peele has scored a hat trick with the release of Nope. Just as Get Out and Us did previously, Nope is yet another film which takes the audience on a visually astounding, provocative and thematically rich journey. Although Nope joins its predecessors in its quality, it does differ slightly in its accessibility. Nope is a lot more disjointed and a lot less linear. The story moves from the past to the present and back again, and is broken into different segments. With that in mind, undoubtedly there will be some audiences who find Nope a bit harder going. However, even when I felt the film was slightly too fragmented, there was not one second of Nope where I wasn’t engag...