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Search: Starring Ewan McGregor

  • Angels & Demons (2009)
    Review preview for Angels & Demons

    This film explains why the public are so reluctant to fund universities.

    Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
    The Catholic Church calls on its old adversary Robert Langdon to save it from an Illuminati threat.
  • August: Osage County (2013)
    Review preview for August: Osage County

    We witness the best ensemble acting in a film with actresses in leading roles that Hollywood has produced this year.

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
    A dysfunctional family comes together to deal with a crisis.
  • Amelia (2009)
    Review preview for Amelia

    The script is weak, relying heavily on travelogue-style scenes of Earhart’s flights, passages from her diaries and newsreel footage and headlines.

    Leanne McGrath · 2 out of 5
    Biopic of pilot Amelia Earhart.
  • American Pastoral (2016)
    Review preview for American Pastoral

    McGregor's character paradoxically gets too much and not enough. Swede feels clogged with sentiment for his daughter, with little room for other emotions.

    Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
    Seymour “Swede” Levov, a once legendary high school athlete, is now a successful businessman married to Dawn, a former beauty queen. But turmoil brews beneath the polished veneer of Swede’s life.
  • Beginners (2010)
    Review preview for Beginners

    A refreshingly intelligent entry in the romance canon that also takes a wide ranging look at human relationships more generally.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A young man is rocked by two announcements from his elderly father: that he has terminal cancer, and that he has a young male lover.
  • Black Hawk Down (2001)
    Review preview for Black Hawk Down

    Scott surpasses himself. The visual quality of the action sequences is exceptional.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
    Attempt by US Special Forces to arrest Somali war lords in Mogadishu goes hideously wrong.
  • Bleeding Love (2023)
    Review preview for Bleeding Love

    The acting and the visuals are of the highest order, especially given the sensitive and personal nature of some of the revelations.

    Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
    After overdosing on benzodiazepines and opioids, a young woman is picked up from the hospital by her father and the two embark on a road trip together. He was absent during most of her childhood due to addiction. In a last ditch effort to save her, he attempts to convince her to get sober.
  • Beauty And The Beast (2017)
    Review preview for Beauty And The Beast

    You see the money on the screen, which is good, but not the love

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
    Live action version of the Disney animated fairy tale in which a spoilt prince is turned into a beast and a pretty girl from the village proves that looks aren't everything
  • Big Fish (2003)
    Review preview for Big Fish

    Something has happened to Tim Burton. The darkness has left him... The film fails on every level.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 1.5 out of 5
    A teller of tall tales remembers the adventures of his youth.
  • Cassandra's Dream (2007)
    Review preview for Cassandra's Dream

    Allen's most morally challenging work since Crimes And Misdemeanors, this takes what is in essence a simple story and finds depths within it which will continue to haunt the viewer long after the closing credits have rolled.

    Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
    Two brothers in need of money are confronted with a terrible proposition.
  • Deception (2008)
    Review preview for Deception

    As a thriller, a piece of soft porn, or a character study, the film is room temperature.

    Chris · 2.5 out of 5
    Softcore thriller about a Wall Street auditor brought into a world of sleaze.
  • Down With Love (2003)
    Pastiche comedy romance about a philandering journalist and a feminist best selling author.
  • The End Of Oak Street (2026)
    Review preview for The End Of Oak Street

    When the rubber meets the road of The End Of Oak Street it doesn't quite grip

    Andrew Robertson · 2 out of 5
    The Platt family bands together to navigate new surroundings after a cosmic event transports a suburban neighborhood to someplace unknown.
  • Eye Of The Beholder (1999)
    Review preview for Eye Of The Beholder

    Elliot's script is pretentious and preposterous.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 1 out of 5
    A (no) intelligence agent, falls for a stalker.
  • Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
    Review preview for Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

    What does it mean to be a real boy? Perhaps the answer doesn’t lie in flesh and bone.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Stop-motion musical version of the tale of the puppet who wanted to be a real boy.
  • The Ghost (2010)
    Review preview for The Ghost

    A suspenseful, intelligent thriller.

    Andrew Grant · 4 out of 5
    A ghost writer recruited to pen the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister gets caught up in a web of political intrigue, lies and corruption.
  • Haywire (2011)
    Review preview for Haywire

    Soderbergh lays the pretension on thick in flashbacks to the Barcelona job that is clearly at the root of her problems, with slo-mo here and black and white there doing nothing to distract from the fact that it has all the substance of a chocolate bar adv

    Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
    A betrayed agent goes rogue in search of revenge.
  • The House Of Magic (2013)
    Review preview for The House Of Magic

    The charm levels are high

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
    An abandoned kitten finds refuge in a magician's house that is filled with talking animals and animated objects
  • The Island (2005)
    Review preview for The Island

    Fast, furious and Calvin Klein-ad slick.

    The Exile · 3 out of 5
    Futuristic clone colony action escape drama (in clinging white bodysuits).
  • The Impossible (2012)
    Review preview for The Impossible

    Director Juan Antonio Bayona spins the focus in on a single family caught up in the disaster, personalising the horror and bringing it home in unashamedly melodramatic fashion on its very own tidal wave of emotion.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A family's quiet Thailand holiday turns into a nightmare when a huge tsunami engulfs the grounds of their hotel.
  • Incendiary (2008)
    Review preview for Incendiary

    If a member of cast could save a film, Michelle Williams would be the person to hire, since her central performance in this muddle of a movie is the only thing that stops it being unwatchable.

    Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
    A London mum tries to cope with the grief of the loss of her family in a terror attack.
  • I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)
    Review preview for I Love You Phillip Morris

    What makes it work is that the film sticks so close to the form of a traditional Hollywood romance, ignoring the tropes of gay indie cinema.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    Having learned to lie about his sexuality, Steve finds he just can't kick the habit, even after he comes out and falls in love.
  • Jane Got A Gun (2016)
    Review preview for Jane Got A Gun

    Westerns require action and pace not brooding silences and broken dreams

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 2.5 out of 5
    A woman asks her ex-lover for help in order to save her outlaw husband from a gang out to kill him.
  • Jackboots On Whitehall (2010)
    Review preview for Jackboots On Whitehall

    Jackboots On Whitehall isn't afraid of stomping on a few tender sensibilities and its smut level is set to 'stun'.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    Animated re-imaginging of a German invasion during the Second World War
  • Last Days In The Desert (2015)
    Review preview for Last Days In The Desert

    García's cautiousness clogs up the human drama.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    An imagined chapter at the end of Jesus's fasting in the desert.
  • Lipstick On Your Collar (1993)
    Review preview for Lipstick On Your Collar

    Potter succeeds here in providing a truly imaginative and artistically inspired piece of television and, while the series eludes the tangible success of his previous work, it embodies some of his best writing and brilliantly creative verve.

    Merlin Harries · 4 out of 5
    A Whitehall intelligence office clerk finds the Suez crisis can't compete with dreams of romance.
  • The Land Of Sometimes (2026)
    Review preview for The Land Of Sometimes

    In places the film feels skeletal, the bones of the story barely covered, let alone properly fleshed out.

    Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
    Twins Alfie and Elise find a magical watch on Christmas Eve and are swept by the Wish Collector into the musical Land of Sometimes, where they learn that wishes have consequences.
  • A Life Less Ordinary (1997)
    Review preview for A Life Less Ordinary

    While both McGregor and Diaz are watchable enough as a likeable loser and a redemptive bitch, there's never any sense that they're 'made for each other'.

    Stephen Carty · 1.5 out of 5
    A sacked caretaker takes his bosses daughter hostage... but two fallen angels are determined to make the pair fall in love.
  • Miles Ahead (2015)
    Review preview for Miles Ahead

    Cheadle attempts to give us the feel of the man rather than the real essence.

    Luke Shaw · 3.5 out of 5
    A biopic of legendary musician Miles Davis.
  • The Men Who Stare At Goats (2009)
    Review preview for The Men Who Stare At Goats

    An enjoyable if uneven feel-good swipe at both US military and human endeavours.

    Paul Griffiths · 4 out of 5
    A reporter stumbles on the story of a lifetime when he meets a former 'psychic soldier'.
  • Miss Potter (2006)
    Review preview for Miss Potter

    Renée Zellweger inhabits the role of Beatrix with the warmth of a fluffy bunny and the perspicacity and determination of a woman artist struggling to be recognised in a man's world.

    Chris · 4 out of 5
    The creator of Peter Rabbit meets Mr McGregor.
  • Moulin Rouge! (2001)
    Modern romantic musical based around the mythology of a famous Parisian nightclub in 1900. On re-release.
  • Nora (1999)
    Review preview for Nora

    McGregor's charm seeps through, however hard he tries to surpress it.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
    Biopic, tracing James Joyce's relationship with a hotel maid.
  • Our Kind Of Traitor (2016)
    Review preview for Our Kind Of Traitor

    You have to know your enemy. If everyone is an enemy, where's the tension?

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
    Caught between the British Secret Service and the Russian mafia, an oligarch with nefarious secrets uses an English teacher on holiday in Morocco to help secure political asylum.
  • Perfect Sense (2010)
    Review preview for Perfect Sense

    There's an awareness here that's missing from many such tales, a more astute take on how disability and society interact.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A chef and an epidemiologist fall in love, just as the world is falling apart.
  • Robots (2005)
    Review preview for Robots

    Robots has a glittering voice cast and astonishing CGI animation and yet is over endowed with too much of this, too much of that and too much of everything.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
    Animated idealism meets corporate ruthlessness in Rivet Town.
  • Rogue Trader (1999)
    Review preview for Rogue Trader

    You wish movies told the truth a bit more. Neeson as working-class hero doesn't wash.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 2 out of 5
    Ewan McGregor plays the man that broke Barings bank.
  • Salmon Fishing In The Yemen (2011)
    Review preview for Salmon Fishing In The Yemen

    Blunt and McGregor do what they can but they, like their characters, are swimming upstream in a river of syrup to a soundtrack that came from the drawer marked Now That's What I Call Celtic.

    Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
    When an idealistic sheikh persuades a fisheries expert to try and introduce salmon to the Yemen, the expert soon finds himself himself out of his depth, but love blossoms along the way.
  • Scenes Of A Sexual Nature (2006)
    Review preview for Scenes Of A Sexual Nature

    Light and dissatisfying.

    Paul Griffiths · 2.5 out of 5
    Everyone's at it on Hampstead Heath.
  • Son Of A Gun (2014)
    Review preview for Son Of A Gun

    It's a pity the plot doesn't offer more in the way of surprises

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
    Heist thriller about a tough young hoodlum who teams up with a ruthless con and finds himself attracted to a smart, street-savvy young woman.
  • Shallow Grave (1994)
    Review preview for Shallow Grave

    Danny Boyle directs with the right balance of tension and wit, never forgetting that violence begets violence as one thing leads to another.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
    Thriller showing what happens when three flatmates find and keep a suitcase of money.
  • Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (1999)
    Review preview for Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace

    The dialogue is carved in marble, as if the power of speech never progressed beyond Ronald Reagan and the art of the autocue.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
    Lucas's Star Wars origins story returns to the big screen in 3D.
  • Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack Of The Clones (2002)
    Review preview for Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack Of The Clones

    Where is the magic?

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 2 out of 5
    Obi-Wan and Anakin are put in charge of protecting the Naboo senatoress after an attempt on her life.
  • Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge Of The Sith (2005)
    Review preview for Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge Of The Sith

    Revenge Of The Sith is a reminder of what made the original trilogy so good; character driven stories, along with a pot-boiling plot keeping things in check.

    Scott Macdonald · 4 out of 5
    Anakin's personal struggle against the Dark Side becomes more difficult as rebellious robots and an enemy within threaten to topple the Republic.
  • Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)
    Review preview for Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

    This is perhaps less a swansong than a familiar sunset

    Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
    The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once more in the final chapter of the Skywalker saga.
  • Stay (2005)
    Review preview for Stay

    Not so much a thriller, with an unexpected twist, as a schizophrenic character study, a portrait of the artist as a disturbed young man, still exercising his creative imagination to the very end.

    Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
    A psychiatrist tries to stop a young man committing suicide on his 21st birthday.
  • Stormbreaker (2006)
    Review preview for Stormbreaker

    The film will appeal perfectly to its age group. There is nothing too violent and nothing too serious.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
    Alex Rider is a junior James Bond for the 21st century
  • T2 Trainspotting (2017)
    Review preview for T2 Trainspotting

    A unique piece of cinema, superbly performed and dangerously directed

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 5 out of 5
    Renton returns to Edinburgh after running off with the money to find the city changed and his mates in various degrees of rage and despair.
  • Trainspotting (1996)
    Review preview for Trainspotting

    Its comedy leaps barricades.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 5 out of 5
    Black comic drama about the Edinburgh drugs scene. On re-release.
  • Valiant (2005)
    Review preview for Valiant

    This one's a little bit more for the kids, as far as funny goes, but if that's a bit of a turn off, think of it as a good way to introduce youngsters to an important part of British history.

    The Dude · 4 out of 5
    An unlikely hero leads the way in the Allied WWII victory.

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