Film review archive

You can also browse our DVD archive and short film archive.

M — 1128 results

• Monster (2003)

  Review preview for Monster

  Construed by some as a blatant feminist sympathy trip, Theron's performance is a tour de force, picking up Jenkins's contentious baton with extreme gusto.

  Dramatised version of the life of serial killer Aileen Wuornos.
• Monster (2023)

  Review preview for Monster

  A beautifully constructed piece of work in which every detail serves the whole, putting the tools of the epic at the disposal of a story which is intimate and delicately realised.

  A mother is shocked when she learns what a teacher has said to her son, but the truth is more complicated.
• Monsters (2010)

  Review preview for Monsters

  If this is what the British director can achieve on a shoestring, one can only look forward to what a bigger budget may bring with monster expectation.

  A human/extra-terrestrial love story cum road movie.
• Monsters And Men (2018)

  Review preview for Monsters And Men

  Green isn't interested in demonising individuals but rather in considering the pressure points that can motivate violence and the code of silence it is easier for everyone to adopt rather than speaking out.

  This interwoven narrative explores the aftermath of a police killing of a black man. The film is told through the eyes of the bystander who filmed the act, an African-American police officer and a high-school baseball player.
• Monster's Ball (2001)

  Review preview for Monster's Ball

  Berry is open to the wounds of a role that stretches her beyond anything she has done before.

  Oscar-winning tale of uncoventional love.
• Monsters Inc (2001)

  Review preview for Monsters Inc

  Pixar cares enough to choose the best scriptwriters, the best voice talent, the most innovative animators.

  Disney animation where Zany monsters must deal with the unexpected intrusion of a little girl into their universe.
• Monsters University (2013)

  Review preview for Monsters University

  It's not that the new crowd aren't fun, but they're a distraction from those of us who would prefer to spend more time with the best buddy double-act in the Pixar universe.

  Mike and Sulley get some scary life lessons.
• Monster Family (2017)

  Review preview for Monster Family

  The plot stumbles into an abyss early. There is nothing left because there was nothing here in the first place

  A family is cursed by a witch and transformed into monsters.
• Monster House (2006)

  Review preview for Monster House

  The CGI animation is what they call in the trade 'top of the range' and the effects are eye boggling.

  Three teenagers investigate a haunted house which turns out to be a real live monster.
• Monster Seafood Wars (2020)

  Review preview for Monster Seafood Wars

  It is strongly advisable that you have sushi to hand.

  A young master at the Tsukiji Fish Market, accidentally drops his meal of mixed seafood into the Sumida River. Some time afterwards a gigantic mutated squid monster arises from the water.
• Monstrous (2022)

  Review preview for Monstrous

  The whole film hinges on Ricci’s performance and as such it provides a means for her to demonstrate that she’s still got what it takes.

  A woman who is traumatised by an abusive relationship runs away from her former husband with her seven-year-old son, but in their new, idyllic and remote sanctuary, they find they have another, bigger and more terrifying monster to deal with
• Monte Carlo (2011)

  Review preview for Monte Carlo

  This coy, chaste and overwhelmingly pink and fluffy story aims to bring sugary wish-fulfillment to pre-teens - all wrapped up in middle American packaging that's so conservative, even the most maiden of aunts might long for something

  Three young women vacationing in Paris find themselves whisked away to Monte Carlo after one of the girls is mistaken for a British heiress.
• Montreal, My Beautiful (2025)

  Review preview for Montreal, My Beautiful

  Desire does not arrive here as a clean break from domestic life. It appears as a tremor inside it.

  Feng Xia lives a life of dutiful servitude to her husband, children and community of Chinese ex-pats. When she finally decides to put herself first, and explore the sexuality that she has long concealed, she meets the free-spirited Camille.
• Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life (1983)

  Review preview for Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life

  In terms of comedy, belly laughs and unfortunate little accidents making a mess of the sofa, the Pythons has never been better.

  A sketch show on film from the makers of Life Of Brian.
• Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975)

  Review preview for Monty Python And The Holy Grail

  Overall, this is a silly romp through some of the best legends medieval Britain has to offer, intercut with some fabulously surreal animation.

  King Arthur and his Knights go on a much-interrupted and humorous search for the Holy Grail. Out on re-release.
• The Monuments Men (2014)

  Review preview for The Monuments Men

  The film becomes a mixture of Dad's Army and The Cockleshell Heroes (without the cockleshells).

  A Second World War platoon are given the job of rescuing artwork form Nazi thieves.
• Moon (2009)

  Review preview for Moon

  Moon represents a return to a more sedate and thoughtful science fiction of the Seventies and Eighties.

  An astronaut starts to lose the plot at the end of a mission to the moon - but is there something else going on? Plus read our exclusive interview with Duncan Jones
• The Moon (2023)

  Review preview for The Moon

  Director Kim makes good use of the combination of vast scale and claustrophobia, fame and isolation.

  A man is left in space due to an unfortunate accident while another man on Earth struggles to bring him back safely.
• Moonage Daydream (2022)

  Review preview for Moonage Daydream

  In this kaleidoscope life, montage becomes an essential tool, illustrating not only the artist’s own work but his many influences, along with the immediate context in which he was living.

  Documentary featuring a wealth of David Bowie archive.
• Moonbound (2021)

  Review preview for Moonbound

  Where charm might be lacking, wonder is not.

  A boy goes on a magical journey with June bug Mr. Zoomzeman and the Sandman to rescue his little sister from the evil Moon Man.
• Moonfish (2026)

  Review preview for Moonfish

  Simplicity is the name of the game, and he makes a virtue of it

  A grieving astronaut trying to make a mining quota, finds his grip on reality start to slide.
• Moonlight (2016)

  Review preview for Moonlight

  Jenkins doesn't just show us the experience of his young protagonist, he bathes us in it.

  Three-part narrative about the life of a gay African-American.
• Moonlight Sonata: Deafness In Three Movements (2019)

  Review preview for Moonlight Sonata: Deafness In Three Movements

  The film is refreshing in its willingness to countenance multiple viewpoints and look at what's right for individuals rather than taking sides in one of the more heated debates within the Deaf community.

  A deeply personal memoir about a deaf boy growing up, his deaf grandfather growing old, and Beethoven the year he was blindsided by deafness and wrote his iconic sonata. Their lives weave a story about what we discover when we push beyond loss.
• Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

  Review preview for Moonrise Kingdom

  The perfect summer movie for the eternally 12 who like to travel in style.

  Two children make a pact and run off, prompting the local community to go on the hunt for them.
• Moon, 66 Questions (2020)

  Review preview for Moon, 66 Questions

  This is impressionistic filmmaking and the young director handles it with extraordinary confidence.

  When a grave illness strikes down her father Paris, Artemis decides to return home to Greece after an absence of some years and the pair embark on a new beginning.
• Moon Garden (2022)

  Review preview for Moon Garden

  Ryan Stevens Harris’ Moon Garden invites viewers to explore not only another world but a very different perspective.

  A comatose five-year-old girl journeys through a dark industrial dreamscape, following her mother’s voice on a transistor radio to find her way back to consciousness.
• The Moon, The Sky And You (2023)

  Review preview for The Moon, The Sky And You

  The primary impression which you’re likely to take away from the film is admiration for its moments of startling beauty and the romantic quality which it achieves amidst all of that violence.

  A shy teenage boy who is devoted to his pet fish falls for a girl who is caught up with a gang of teenage assassins.
• The Moor (2023)

  Review preview for The Moor

  Cronin... perfectly captures the atmosphere of the little houses clustered around the moor, the distinctive quality of the light within them, the way that they feel like a small bastion of safety against the vastness of night.

  Claire was just a child when her best friend was abducted and murdered. 25 years later, Bill, the dead boy's father, has a plan to learn the truth about what really happened. With the help of psychic Eleanor, they venture deep into a haunted moor to find his son’s supposed resting place. But they find more than just the ghosts of dead children, for something dark and evil stirs at their presence.
• The Moo Man (2013)

  Review preview for The Moo Man

  This is first and foremost a celebration of life and life cycles but Heathcote's film also touches on deeper political issues surrounding the livelihoods of farmers.

  The year in a life of a dairy stockman and his herd.
• Morbius (2022)

  Review preview for Morbius

  In any film franchise there's got to be one that's the least good, and this is it.

  Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead.
• More (2017)

  Review preview for More

  Van Eck holds his own well in the central role whilst Taylan delivers a complex performance.

  Gaza lives with his father Ahad on the shores of the Aegean Sea. The intelligent kid would like to continue his studies, but Ahad sees his son’s future differently. He gets Gaza to help with his side business – smuggling refugees from the Mideast.
• Morelife (2026)

  Review preview for Morelife

  It’s a journey filled with quirky little incidents, as often in tales like this, but they all register a little differently in light of Shawn’s suicidality.

  A young man's plan to jump into an icy river at night is interrupted by a half-man half-fish there for the same reason. These two strike a bargain to find a rare morel mushroom, hoping it will provide something worth living for.
• Morgana (2019)

  Review preview for Morgana

  This leads to a degree of unevenness in the film, and at times it meanders in odd directions, but overall Hess and Peppard do a good job of pulling it back together.

  A lonely housewife's plan to end it all takes an unexpected turn when her last hurrah begins a radical journey of sexual exploration and personal re-invention.
• Morocco (1930)

  Review preview for Morocco

  The chemistry between Dietrich and Cooper sizzles.

  A womanising soldier in the Foreign Legion falls for a sultry nightclub singer. Out to own as part of Marlene Dietrich: The Collection 18-disc box set now.
• Moroni For President (2018)

  Review preview for Moroni For President

  Though focused on Moroni's campaign, this documentary explores wider issues around the election, politics in the Nation and the experiences of its young LGBTQ people.

  Moroni Benally is running for the presidency of the Navajo Nation, the largest Native American nation in the US. Young, gay, Mormon and highly educated, he sets out to confront the political establishment in a homecoming that challenges what he imagined home, and himself, to be.
• Mortician (2025)

  Review preview for Mortician

  This may be a two-hander but the constantly inventive framing from Kahani ensures that conversations never feel dull and his employment of light is impressive.

  A mild-mannered Iranian mortician in Canada forms an unexpected bond with a dissident singer in exile.
• The Mortuary Assistant (2026)

  Review preview for The Mortuary Assistant

  Holland does an impressive job of keeping viewers on her side despite becoming an unreliable narrator.

  When, a mortuary science graduate takes a night job at River Fields Mortuary, what begins with routine work soon turns sinister as she faces terrifying supernatural forces, in this adaptation of the computer game.
• The Mortuary Collection (2019)

  Review preview for The Mortuary Collection

  Brown gives the film the kind of iconic weight of past masters like Christopher Lee and Vincent Price.

  Sam inquires about a Help Wanted sign outside a funeral home and in her interview with owner Montgomery Dark, four gruesomely disturbing stories are told.
• Mosquitoes (2025)

  Review preview for Mosquitoes

  Shot in squared off 1.85:1 ratio – except for a handful of ‘world expanding’ moments – the choice is fitting for the intensity of the children’s gaze.

  1997 Linda is eight years old, has few teeth, a very rich grandmother and a beautiful, dangerous and disruptive mother. It will be the encounter with two peers, sisters Azzurra and Marta, that will teach her how to become a child.
• Mosquito State (2020)

  Review preview for Mosquito State

  The film's distanced, sometimes esoteric approach does nothing to diminish the sense of threat.

  August 2007. Isolated in his austere penthouse overlooking Central Park, obsessive Wall Street data analyst Richard Boca sees ominous patterns. His computer models are behaving erratically, as are the swarms of mosquitos breeding in his apartment, an infestation that attends his psychological meltdown.
• Moss (2017)

  Review preview for Moss

  The more dreamy the film gets, the better it is, the characters' conflicted feelings carried along by wistful scoring from Ian Hatton.

  Life brings unexpected adventures for a teenager on his 18th birthday.
• The Most Assassinated Woman In The World (2018)

  Review preview for The Most Assassinated Woman In The World

  There's some excellent effects work to recreate stage-blood and mummery, some real moments of tension and fright, but with four credited writers I wonder if it's trying in too many directions.

  A young journalist becomes convinced the Grand Guinol theatre is linked to a series of murders
• The Most Beautiful Boy In The World (2021)

  Review preview for The Most Beautiful Boy In The World

  Plays out as a not entirely satisfying mix of film history and a particularly melancholic episode of Who Do You Think You Are?

  Swedish actor/musician Björn Andresen's life was forever changed at the age of 15, when he played Tadzio, the object of Dirk Bogarde's obsession in Death in Venice – a role which led Italian maestro Luchino Visconti to dub him "the world's most beautiful boy".
• The Most Beautiful Couple (2018)

  Review preview for The Most Beautiful Couple

  In terms of the emotive arc offered to the viewer, this film does things that are completely unexpected, and in doing so it moves far beyond the usual scope of narratives about recovery or revenge.

  On holiday in Mallorca, Liv and Malte are attacked by three young men. Liv is raped and Malte is powerless to help her. They try to move on and rebuild their lives back in Germany but Malte cannot forgive himself. Then, one night in Cologne, he spots the guilty young man.
• Most Horrible Things (2022)

  Review preview for Most Horrible Things

  Its rather lurid colour palette, themed around Valentine’s Day, will no doubt help to make it stick in the mind, but there’s not much else here that really stands out.

  Six strangers are invited to a dinner party by a charming and enigmatic host, lured by the promise of substantial financial reward if they last the whole evening.
• The Most Precious Of Cargoes (2024)

  Review preview for The Most Precious Of Cargoes

  The choice of hand-drawn animation and its ability to demonstrate a magical realism allows the film to find the right distance from what is being depicted.

  Animation about a woodcutter and his wife whose lives are transformed after they rescue a baby thrown from a train that passes near their home.
• Mosul (2019)

  Review preview for Mosul

  Embedded Iraqi journalist Ali Maula acts as our guide and his musings on the situation in his homeland give this film an editorial and contextual anchor that will help viewers less familiar with the day-to-day socio-politics of Iraq.

  Documentary about the battle to liberate Mosul from Islamic State.
• Motel Destino (2024)

  Review preview for Motel Destino

  In this hothouse, madness easily exerts its grip.

  A young drifter finds shelter in a seedy motel and embarks on a dangerous love affair.
• Mother (2009)

  Review preview for Mother

  When it comes to subverting the audience’s expectations, Joon-ho proves he is a puppet master, pulling our strings without us ever suspecting it.

  A mother tries to prove her son's innocence.
• Mother (2019)

  Review preview for Mother

  There is something extremely sad about the collision of two women with each other.

  In Thailand, Pomm takes care of Europeans with Alzheimer’s. Separated from her children, she helps Elisabeth during the final stages of her life, as a new patient arrives from Switzerland.