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Search: Starring Imelda Staunton

  • Amulet (2020)
    Review preview for Amulet

    Garai has plenty of ideas and a willingness to embrace both more intellectual horror ideas and gore.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
    A homeless ex-soldier gets more than he bargained for when he agrees to help a young woman and her dying mother.
  • Another Year (2010)
    Review preview for Another Year

    Although the tragicomic episodes that make up Another Year seem casual and low-key, they encompass birth, death and everything in between.

    Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
    Mike Leigh drama about family, friendship and ageing.
  • Arthur Christmas (2011)
    Review preview for Arthur Christmas

    This simultaneously cool and cosy tale of families and Christmas spirit will have Aardman's pockets jingling all the way to the bank. And deservedly so.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    After a present is missed on Christmas Eve, Santa's son tries to deliver it.
  • The Awakening (2011)
    Review preview for The Awakening

    The Awakening is a film that will keep you guesing as multiple possible solutions to its puzzles appear and disappear.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A woman devoted to exposing psychic hoaxes is invited to investigate ghostly sightings at a remote boarding school.
  • A Bunch Of Amateurs (2008)
    Review preview for A Bunch Of Amateurs

    It’s all incredibly creaky, decidedly low budget and, despite being co-written by Private Eye’s Ian Hislop, all rather toothless and low on chuckles.

    Mike Davies · 2 out of 5
    A Hollywood agent tricks an ageing action star into appearing as King Lear in an amdram production.
  • Blackball (2003)
    British class comedy about a council estate lad with a tearaway talent for bowls.
  • Bright Young Things (2003)
    Review preview for Bright Young Things

    Where Fry succeeds so well is allowing the intrinsic innocence of these brittle butterflies to be exposed without mockery.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
    Biting satire on the Thirties party circuit in London.
  • Chicken Run (2000)
    Review preview for Chicken Run

    The beauty of Chicken Run is its refusal to accept modernity as having squatting rights in a Yorkshire state of mind. Park's heart is with the comics his dad read.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
    Plucky chicken caper sees farm birds bid for freedom.
  • Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget (2023)
    Review preview for Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget

    The action element of the film has the enjoyable verve of the original, particularly when the mechanics of the nugget-maker are involved, but the lack of a tight focus on characters in one place makes the emotional heart of the matter more diffuse.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    The chickens are forced to leave their idyllic haven when one of their young runs off to a high-security chicken funland.
  • David Copperfield (1999)
    Review preview for David Copperfield

    The quality of this production is seamless, and if there is a criticism you could say it lacks originality, remaining faithful to the novel, which, for purists, is a form of flattery.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
    Faithful adaptation of Dickens' novel about a boy growing up through troubled times.
  • Downton Abbey (2019)
    Review preview for Downton Abbey

    Padded in places and threadbare in others, like an old mattress.

    Jennie Kermode · 1.5 out of 5
    A big screen addition to the popular television series about wealthy owners of a large estate in the English countryside in the early 20th Century.
  • Finding Your Feet (2018)
    Review preview for Finding Your Feet

    A cast to die for? Certainly. And they almost do.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 2.5 out of 5
    When a snobbish woman discovers her husband has been having an affair, she takes exile with her bohemian sister on a council estate.
  • Freedom Writers (2007)
    Review preview for Freedom Writers

    Where the film succeeds beyond expectation is in its depiction of the kids and how the tribal lines are drawn in areas of this city where drive-bys are as common as parking tickets.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 5 out of 5
    How an idealistic, inexperienced teacher makes a difference in a Los Angeles ghetto high school.
  • Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007)
    Review preview for Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

    The Order Of The Phoenix is the best in the series.

    Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
    Harry Potter and friends find themselves in trouble as a mysterious stranger seizes power at Hogwarts.
  • I'll Be There (2003)
    Review preview for I'll Be There

    The film is so sentimental, it suffers from soft bone syndrome.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 2.5 out of 5
    Craig Ferguson is an alcoholic pop star who discovers that Charlotte Church is his daughter.
  • Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil (2019)
    Review preview for Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil

    An interesting side to this film is how Disney continue to stick two fingers up to the reactionaries.

    Jane Fae · 4 out of 5
    The Disney villain battles to save her realm.
  • Nanny McPhee (2005)
    Review preview for Nanny McPhee

    The movie becomes ridiculous.

    Stephanie Wolfe Murray · 2 out of 5
    A magic nanny sorts out the unruly children of an impoverished undertaker.
  • Paddington 2 (2017)
    Review preview for Paddington 2

    This is exactly what a sequel should be, respectful, goose bumpy and warm hearted

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 5 out of 5
    Paddington gets into a scrape over his Aunt Lucy's birthday present.
  • The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists (2012)
    Review preview for The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists

    These particular pirates may not be the greatest at, well, pirating, but if you're ready to set sail for adventure, they're the crew to join.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    In his quest to become Pirate of the Year, the Pirate Captain leads his crew into peril and risks losing a treasured shipmate.
  • Pride (2014)
    Review preview for Pride

    A feelgood parable of human nature's ability to extract the positive from a negative.

    Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
    A group of LGBT rights activists is determined to help the residents of a Welsh village who are struggling because of the 1984 miners' strikes.
  • & Sons (2025)
    Review preview for & Sons

    There are no weak links in the top-notch cast.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A writer tries to reconnect with his sons.
  • Taking Woodstock (2009)
    Review preview for Taking Woodstock

    A loving and gently funny take on one of the defining moments of America’s counter-culture era.

    Jeff Robson · 3.5 out of 5
    The story of the youngster who set the wheels in motion for the iconic music festival.
  • Three And Out (2008)
    Review preview for Three And Out

    Worth a look if you appreciate four top actors giving better performances than the material really deserves.

    Jeff Robson · 3 out of 5
    A Tube driver accidentally runs over two people, then hears of the ‘three and out’ rule, which offers a huge financial incentive to find someone suitably suicidal...
  • Testimony (2025)
    Review preview for Testimony

    Where state-recorded testimony was dry, often cut down by cautious lawyers or diminished by patronising questions, here it is led by the survivors themselves.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Women from Ireland's Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes are suing for justice, accountability, and legal action against church and state institutions, supported by Justice for Magdalenes.
  • Vera Drake (2004)
    Review preview for Vera Drake

    Once again, the power of Leigh's films derives primarily from his obsessive attention to detail.

    The Exile · 5 out of 5
    A cleaning lady performs abortions on the side in Fifties London.
  • The Wind In The Willows (2006)
    Review preview for The Wind In The Willows

    There is a certain hollowness about this production that reduces it to a lightweight comedy.

    Natasha Footman · 3 out of 5
    Live action retelling of Kenneth Grahame's children's novel about the adventures of Ratty, Badger, Mole and Toad.

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Festival coverage

Festivals
Cannes festival coverage, 2026

We're bringing you all the latest news and reviews from the Cheltenham International Film Festival, the Leeds International Film Festival, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and Tallinn Black Nights.



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