Film review archive

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H — 719 results

• Hot Spring Shark Attack (2024)

  Review preview for Hot Spring Shark Attack

  This is not, it must be admitted, the most scientifically accurate of shark films.

  There have been cases of mysterious disappearances of onsen visitors in Atsumi city in S prefecture. The victims were eventually found dead with signs of severe injuries to their bodies resembling a vicious shark attack.
• Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

  Review preview for Hot Tub Time Machine

  What ensues is an odd combination of comedy types, which despite being more muddled than a frat house 'cocktail' still manages to maintain a level of charm.

  A group of friends get transported back to 1986.
• Hot Water (2026)

  Review preview for Hot Water

  It’s not that the journey is unpleasant but the stakes are very low and the lack of tension leads it to feel overstretched as a result.

  After he’s kicked out of his Indiana high school, an American kid and his Lebanese mom hit the road west.
• Hounded (2022)

  Review preview for Hounded

  Whilst Hounded doesn’t have a great deal to add to the premise, it does have well-drawn characters and a capable young cast who are well worth watching.

  A stately home robbery takes an evil turn one night when a gang of young thieves are caught by the owners of the house and then hunted across the estate for the proprietor's entertainment.
• Hounds (2023)

  Review preview for Hounds

  Some films take time to gather momentum, but there’s a sense of movement right from the off in Kamal Lazraq’s debut feature.

  A fateful night in the life of a father and son after a kidnapping goes awry.
• The Hourglass Sanatorium (1973)

  Review preview for The Hourglass Sanatorium

  In the Seventies, films like this had the status of arthouse. Now that CGI is sexier than life and you are only a multiplex away from Action City, they look like leftovers from an intellectual’s doodle.

  A young man searches through delapidated dreamscapes for his dead/live father.
• The Hours (2002)

  Review preview for The Hours

  It would be difficult to overestimate the quality of this film.

  Three women from different decades connect through the writing of Virginia Woolf.
• Hours Of Ours (2023)

  Review preview for Hours Of Ours

  If the film is a bit baggy in places it serves to underline the boredom that can come with living in limbo.

  A filmmaker who has founded a bond with a refugee Sudanese family documents their wait in Thailand for a move to Canada.
• House! (1999)

  Review preview for House!

  The film feels comfy, like a knitted cardigan, and everyone works well together.

  Feel good drama sees plucky locals try to save a British bingo hall after it comes under threat from a big entertainment centre.
• House (1977)

  Review preview for House

  A not insignificant proportion of viewers will find House completely unwatchable. Others will adore it.

  A group of teenage girls go to stay at a country house only to realise it's haunted as they begin to disappear one by one.
• Housekeeping For Beginners (2023)

  Review preview for Housekeeping For Beginners

  For all the apparent chaos, this is a tightly controlled piece of work which fully delivers on the promise of Stolevski’s earlier films.

  A lesbian suddenly finds herself responsible for her partner’s two daughters.
• The Housemaid (2010)

  Review preview for The Housemaid

  Steamy, bold entertainment with a dark sense of humour and a lush setting.

  Remake of the 1960 classic about a man's affair with the family's servant.
• The Housemaid (2016)

  Review preview for The Housemaid

  It's astoundingly beautiful, with the costumes, set decoration and cinematography all sumptuous.

  A peasant girl who embarks on a romance with the landowner she serves begins to suspect that the spirit of his dead wife resents her.
• The House By The Cemetery (1981)

  Review preview for The House By The Cemetery

  The House By The Cemetery will, as would be expected, offer viewers a shocking and gut-churning expose of Fulci’s directorial penchant for gore.

  A deranged killer lives in the basement of an old mansion and pops out occasionally to commit grisly murders that include beheadings...
• A House In Jerusalem (2023)

  Review preview for A House In Jerusalem

  The house has an older past which, at her tender age, [Rebecca] has not reckoned with, and her discovery of this goes hand in hand with her developing awareness of the political climate surrounding her.

  After a grieving dad and his daughter move from England to Israel, she encounters a little girl that only she can see.
• A House Is Not A Disco (2024)

  Review preview for A House Is Not A Disco

  There is a sense of living in the moment but for the future, a deep connection with nature and a willingness to face whatever happens together.

  What if you really did put all the gays on an island? In this vibrant portrait of queer paradise Fire Island Pines, past and present blur as the iconic beach town bands together to celebrate its legacy and redefine itself for a new, inclusive era.
• The House I Live In (2012)

  Review preview for The House I Live In

  Jarecki, as always, does a good job of presenting a huge amount of information in bite-size chunks.

  Does the War on Drugs do more harm than good?
• A House Made Of Splinters (2022)

  Review preview for A House Made Of Splinters

  There’s a rare intimacy about it.

  In eastern Ukraine, follow the daily life of children and staff in a special kind of home: an institution for children who have been removed from their homes while awaiting court custody decisions. Staff do their best to make the time children have there safe and supportive.
• The House Of Angels (1998)

  Review preview for The House Of Angels

  Margreth Olin's documentary has access to wonderful material.

  Documentary about life in a Norwegian old people's home.
• A House Of Dynamite (2025)

  Review preview for A House Of Dynamite

  In A House Of Dynamite the uncertainties are propulsive, what we learn unsettling. Each tick of the clock reorients our understanding of the same events.

  When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.
• House Of Flying Daggers (2004)

  Review preview for House Of Flying Daggers

  The action is exquisite, the cinematography sublime.

  Knives, passion, police, bamboo, disguise, a blind dancer, a dangerous quest in 9th century China.
• House Of Gucci (2021)

  Review preview for House Of Gucci

  An inconstancy of detail might be forgivable if it were not matched by inconstancy elsewhere.

  When an outsider from humble beginnings marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel their legacy, leading to a spiral of betrayal and violence.
• House Of Hummingbird (2018)

  Review preview for House Of Hummingbird

  House Of Hummingbird centres on a quiet yet never passive performance from Park, who draws us into Eun-hee's world as we watch her absorbing and processing the events going on around her.

  She roams the neighbourhood with her best friend, attempts to fall in love, is sent to the hospital with an unclear diagnosis. Untethered from the wider world, 14-year-old Eun-hee floats through Seoul.
• The House Of Mirth (2000)

  Review preview for The House Of Mirth

  This is a long, slow and supremely well-written film.

  A New York socialite faces financial ruin after falling victim to the rumour of an affair.
• House Of Sayuri (2024)

  Review preview for House Of Sayuri

  House of Sayuri plays like a peculiar rather than fully accomplished movie

  A vengeful ghost decimates a family until a counterattack from a bold grandmother brings a startling new dynamic into the house.
• House Of Screaming Glass (2024)

  Review preview for House Of Screaming Glass

  Lani Call is magnificent, her approach so pared down and free of egotism that it’s easy to think of her character as rational until her journey has taken her to a point where it’s hard to turn back.

  A troubled young woman who has lived an isolated life inherits her grandmother's schoolhouse. There she begins to experience strange visions and terrifying dreams.
• House Of The Wind (2026)

  Review preview for House Of The Wind

  Ultimately, it is the universality of a diasporic child judging an older parent’s decisions through the distorting lens of distance, age and solitude that will resonate with many.

  Josette (80) lives alone in Yaoundé, Cameroon. All her children have left for the West. She encourages them to build houses in Cameroon, a ploy to bring them back to her. But the unexpected bond she forms with Sarah, a young woman from her neighborhood, shatters everything she has built her life on: her family, her responsibilities, and her hopes.
• The House Of Usher (1960)

  Review preview for The House Of Usher

  With its claustrophobic themes of madness, suffocation and despair, The House Of Usher is a classic of Gothic horror.

  A brother fiercely refuses to let his sister marry her fiance - but are his motives rooted in something darker than mere jealousy?
• House On Haunted Hill (1999)

  Review preview for House On Haunted Hill

  An interesting example of technically inventive pastiche.

  A millionaire offers $1 million to anyone who can spend the night in a haunted asylum.
• The House That Jack Built (2018)

  Review preview for The House That Jack Built

  Dillon makes a fair fist of the role of Jack.

  A serial killer's life story is told through the murders that defined him.
• The Howling (1981)

  Review preview for The Howling

  Essential viewing for anyone with a serious interest in the history of the genre.

  After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem.
• Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

  Review preview for Howl's Moving Castle

  Anime at its very finest - lightning paced, visually stunning, feverishly creative and overrun by a logic all its own.

  A magical tale in a troubled kingdom on the brink of war.
• Howl Of The Underdogs (2022)

  Review preview for Howl Of The Underdogs

  Allowing that people can listen to the music elsewhere, it focuses on providing context for some of its underlying themes.

  The story of the popular Norwegian metal band Madder Mortem, their struggles with mental health issues, and their 20th anniversary tour in Europe.
• How It Ends (2021)

  Review preview for How It Ends

  The end result is sweet but its best ideas are underdeveloped, leaving it with the slightness of something conceived on the hoof.

  A woman and the embodiment of her younger self try to find closure on the day before the Apocalypse.
• How I Killed My Father (2001)

  Review preview for How I Killed My Father

  The film works at a depth that would drown Hollywood.

  The impact of a prodigal father on the family of his eldest son, a successful doctor in Versailles.
• How I Spent My Summer Vacation (2012)

  Review preview for How I Spent My Summer Vacation

  Gibson effortlessly resumes the back-talking bad-ass of Riggs and Porter with self-assured aplomb

  A tough criminal imprisoned in a foreign jail learns how to survive from a nine year old boy.
• How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)

  Review preview for How Stella Got Her Groove Back

  Every opportunity is missed in favour of sentiment and gloss.

  Career babe is forced to reconsider her life while on holiday in Jamaica.
• How The Gringo Stole Christmas (2023)

  Review preview for How The Gringo Stole Christmas

  Though we don’t get to know everybody very well, they work as an ensemble, creating a believable family dynamic – chihuahua included.

  A young Mexican American woman takes her white boyfriend home for Christmas.
• How To Be Normal And The Oddness Of The Other World (2025)

  Review preview for How To Be Normal And The Oddness Of The Other World

  It is a ride, okay, and it is a bit nauseating and therefore not sterile.

  Freshly released from psychiatric hospital, Pia moves back in with her parents to rebuild her life. In a world that feels as unsteady as herself, she juggles jobs, heartbreak, her meds and social stigma as she searches for equilibrium.
• How To Build A Girl (2019)

  Review preview for How To Build A Girl

  Where the narrative is hampered by a lack of self awareness, Feldman finds a way to turn it into something more poignant.

  A bored schoolgirl reinvents herself as a professional music critic.
• How To Die In Oregon (2011)

  Review preview for How To Die In Oregon

  Make no mistake, this is a difficult film to watch - but it is also a surprisingly uplifting one.

  A look at Oregonians who choose physician-assisted suicide - and those battling to bring in similar laws in other states.
• How To Fix Radios (2021)

  Review preview for How To Fix Radios

  Although it's shot on a low budget and lacks the polish of most of today's successful queer films, How To Fix Radios has an important contribution to make.

  When a narrow-minded teenager in a rural Ontario community starts a new job, he meets somebody who changes his outlook on life.
• How to Get Ahead In Advertising (1989)

  Review preview for How to Get Ahead In Advertising

  Robinson makes careful use of movement and perspective to keep us guessing whether the boil is real or a product of Bagley's disordered imagination.

  An advertising executive suffering a crisis of conscience grows a boil on his shoulder - and then it starts talking.
• How To Have An American Baby (2023)

  Review preview for How To Have An American Baby

  Beyond exploring the intricacies of a disturbing illicit business, the documentarist takes a deep interest in the women who take enormous risks for a shot at a better family future.

  A look into the booming shadow economy catering to pregnant Chinese tourists who travel to America to give birth in order to obtain US citizenship for their babies.
• How To Have Sex (2023)

  Review preview for How To Have Sex

  A fresh spin on territory that has been frequently explored.

  Three friends contend with peer pressure in their decision to “do it”.
• How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024)

  Review preview for How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies

  This kind of layered story construction is a difficult thing to pull off and it makes the film shine.

  A man quits work to care for his dying grandmother, motivated by her fortune. He schemes to win her favour before she passes.
• How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire (2011)

  Review preview for How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire

  The couple's love of old Soviet style filmmaking techniques manifests gloriously in images that charm and delight.

  A documentary maker exploring his family history uncovers a story that prompts him to take a on a life-changing business venture.
• How To Rob A Bank (2024)

  Review preview for How To Rob A Bank

  So strange is the tale that unfolds that one is never quite sure where it will turn.

  In this true-crime documentary, a charismatic rebel in 1990s Seattle pulls off an unprecedented string of bank robberies straight out of the movies.
• How To Start A Revolution (2011)

  Review preview for How To Start A Revolution

  Offers a humanistic and optimistic flipside to the all-too frequent films detailing nothing but seemingly unending, bloody conflict.

  The story of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Gene Sharp, the world's leading expert on non-violent revolution.
• How To Survive A Plague (2011)

  Review preview for How To Survive A Plague

  This is not just a piece of history, it's a how-to guide with lasting relevance.

  The story of Act Up and the ordinary people who transformed the tratment of AIDS.