Reviews by Amber Wilkinson

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Angels In The Dust (2007)

  Review preview for Angels In The Dust

  In essence, the story of the indomitable nature of the human spirit, the resilience and commitment of a few to help the many and a triumph of hope in adversity.

  Documentary about a wealthy, privileged family who build a community for children whose lives have been devastated by HIV/AIDS.
• 
  Animals (2017)

  Review preview for Animals

  The puzzles here are of the sort intended to be enjoyed for their twists and turns rather than their resolution.

  Reality starts to shift after a couple take a break to try to rebuild their marriage.
• 
  Animal Kingdom: Let's Go Ape! (2015)

  Review preview for Animal Kingdom: Let's Go Ape!

  These apes aren't great, they grate.

  An ape takes the first steps of human evolution.
• 
  The Anniversary Party (2001)

  Review preview for The Anniversary Party

  Enjoyable and witty, all the more impressive when you discover that it took only 19 days to shoot.

  A couple's anniversary proves to be a test of their fidelity as well as of friendship.
• 
  Anomalisa (2015)

  Review preview for Anomalisa

  His - and Johnson's - real triumph in Anomalisa comes in the smaller gestures and human moments

  Stop-motion tale of a man who struggles to connect with other people.
• 
  Another Cinderella Story (2008)

  Review preview for Another Cinderella Story

  Gomez and Seeley have plenty of sparkle and Lynch, Perkins and Isabelle provide a decent level of pantomime humour.

  Love and talent blossom in a re-imagining of the classic fairytale. Out to own on DVD on October 27th.
• 
  Antares (2004)

  Review preview for Antares

  Antares is another nail in the coffin of brevity.

  Multi-layered plotlines around the inhabitants of an apartment complex.
• 
  Any Day Now (2012)

  Review preview for Any Day Now

  Laugh out loud funny and heartbreaking without resorting to neat Hollywood set-ups or resolutions.

  A gay couple fight for the right to look after a Down's Syndrome teenager.
• 
  An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power (2017)

  Review preview for An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power

  This documentary feels confined by constraints that should have been stripped away in the filming process.

  Al Gore continues his crusade to stop climate change.
• 
  An Ordinary Execution (2010)

  Review preview for An Ordinary Execution

  It is the casual nature of Stalin's cruelty that makes this film such a compelling watch.

  An imagined encounter between the ageing Joseph Stalin and a young doctor with extraordinary healing abilities.
• 
  Les Apaches (2013)

  Review preview for Les Apaches

  Peretti lets his violence resonate, keeping it mostly offscreen but letting it echo ominously in the animalistic tendencies of the teens.

  A casual theft leads to trouble for a group of young friends.
• 
  The Apostate (2015)

  Review preview for The Apostate

  It's light tone and sprightly 80-minute length belie the depth of Veiroj's film, which is almost bursting at the seams with ideas about self-definition.

  The tale of a man desperate to escape the faith passed down from his parents as he looks back over his past, his scars, the marks left by guilt and desire.
• 
  Apparition (2014)

  Review preview for Apparition

  The situation of women is emphasised, showing that no matter what the station in life, it is patriarchy - however unjust - that dominates the outcome, even after death.

  Family secrets come home to roost.
• 
  Argo (2012)

  Review preview for Argo

  Affleck knows how to keep a tight grip on a story, gets better at ratcheting tension with every film, and displays a fearlessness when it comes to mixing genre.

  A CIA agent attempts to rescue six trapped Americans during the 1979 Iranian revolution.
• 
  The Armor Of Light (2015)

  Review preview for The Armor Of Light

  In the current climate, the film suggests, taking up a gun seems to be much easier than wielding words against them.

  Documentary tracks an evangelical minister as he tries to advocate better gun control.
• 
  Around The Bay (2008)

  Review preview for Around The Bay

  The direction of Alejandro Adams is reassuringly muscular – it makes its presence felt but is always pushing the story forward rather than preening.

  A summer in the lives of a fractured family.
• 
  The Artist And The Model (2012)

  Review preview for The Artist And The Model

  More sedate than scintillating, it is nevertheless impressively shot by newcomer Daniel Vilar - a name to look out for - and beautifully acted.

  An elderly sculptor, tired of life and mankind’s folly, rediscovers the desire to work again, thanks to the arrival of a young Spanish woman who has escaped from a refugee camp.
• 
  The Art Star And The Sudanese Twins (2007)

  Review preview for The Art Star And The Sudanese Twins

  Not long into this documentary, you begin to think in double punctuation marks, namely ?!

  An artist's obssessive attempt to adopt twins in Darfur.
• 
  The Aryan Couple (2004)

  Review preview for The Aryan Couple

  Feels like a not-terribly-good ITV drama.

  A rich German Jew makes a deal with the devil to ensure safe passage to Switzerland.
• 
  Ashes Of Time Redux (2008)

  Review preview for Ashes Of Time Redux

  Each of these storylines wash over one another, refusing to take on a fully-fledged shape and yet they have a surprisingly cohesive cumulative effect.

  The director's rescored, re-cut and restored version of his 1994 tale of love and regret.
• 
  Asterix And Obelix In Britain (2012)

  Review preview for Asterix And Obelix In Britain

  With enjoyable performances, particularly from Lacoste and Gallienne and a decent stab at an 'importance of friendship' message underlying the laughs, Asterix is pleasant company, even if this isn't quite as magic as his potion.

  The heroes from Gaul head to Britain to repel the Romans
• 
  Astronauts (2005)

  Review preview for Astronauts

  Quirky and high quality.

  Animated spacemen are affected by lack of gravity and competence.
• 
  Attack (2006)

  Things are never black and white.
• 
  The Aura (2005)

  Review preview for The Aura

  Tense and twisty, this is what thrillers should be about.

  An epileptic taxidermist finds himself caught up in a heist.
• 
  Austenland (2013)

  Review preview for Austenland

  This is a warm-hearted pleasure for comedy romance lovers - Austen readers or not - everywhere.

  A Pride & Prejudice obsessive goes on a kill or cure Austen-themed holiday.
• 
  Au Pair (2011)

  Review preview for Au Pair

  Emotionally charged food for thought.

  Exploration of the lives of Filipino au pairs in Denmark.
• 
  Avatar (2006)

  Review preview for Avatar

  The story is somewhat confusing, but quite artistic.

  Computer animation set in space.
• 
  Away From Her (2006)

  Review preview for Away From Her

  Christie is brilliant as steely but brittle Fiona, a woman who knows her mind completely and yet, in the end, cannot hang on to it, while Pinsent eloquently portrays the gradual ebbing away of a partnership, as delicate and unstoppable as snow-melt.

  A married couple come to terms with Alzheimer's. Enjoying a limited Valentine's re-release in some London cinemas.
• 
  Babies (2010)

  Review preview for Babies

  Do you think babies are cute? Do you find their interaction with one another and an assortment of domestic animals adorable? Then this film is for you.

  Observational documentary tracks four children across the globe.
• 
  Baby (1954)

  Review preview for Baby

  Baby shows him learning to go with the flow and capture the moment in a way that is evident in later films.

  A little girl's day out at the zoo.
• 
  Baby Bump (2015)

  Review preview for Baby Bump

  Emotionally, his film is fully loaded and he nimbly mixes the imagined horror of Mickey's situation with absurd humour and, on the rare moments there is time to draw breath, even a bit of pathos.

  Growing up is not for children.
• 
  Back Home Tomorrow (2008)

  Review preview for Back Home Tomorrow

  An observational and utterly uncompromising document of the lives of two children touched by war.

  The lives of two children touched touched by war.
• 
  Back To The North (2015)

  Review preview for Back To The North

  Hao certainly has an eye for a strong image, using the starkness of black and white photography to emphasise light and shade, hot and cold.

  When a young woman discovers she isn't well, she tries to persuade her parents to have another baby.
• 
  Badgered (2005)

  Review preview for Badgered

  The more I thought about the cuddly critter after I'd watched this funny and heart warming short, the more I liked him.

  A badger with the bedtime blues.
• 
  Bad Day For The Cut (2016)

  Review preview for Bad Day For The Cut

  Baugh and his co-writer Brendan Mullin have a good feel for how they can push the absurdity of the situation without turning the whole thing into farce.

  When a farmer's mum is murdered, he finds himself on a path for vengeance.... and a journey into her past.
• 
  Baldy McBain (2004)

  Review preview for Baldy McBain

  Gail Porter may be many things but even in this briefest of brief outings it is clear that an acting career does not beckon.

  A boy comes to terms with the loss of his mum
• 
  Balibo (2009)

  Review preview for Balibo

  Despite its structural instability, Connolly still manages to find plenty of poignancy and to gather an emotional head of steam.

  As Indonesia prepares to invade the tiny nation of East Timor, five Australian based journalists go missing, a month later a veteran correspondent follows them, determined to find out the truth.
• 
  Ballroom Dancer (2011)

  Review preview for Ballroom Dancer

  Bonke and Keofoed have crafted a compelling portrait that asks questions about the nature and inherent dangers of competition, ambition, sacrifice and commitment both on and off the dance floor.

  A former world number one Latin dancer bids to make a comeback.
• 
  Bamako (2006)

  Review preview for Bamako

  Issue-driven drama has rarely been so polemic as it is in this fierce attack on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s role in African poverty.

  Scathing attack on the World Bank and IMF's role in African poverty, set within a loose narrative framework.
• 
  Bananaz (2008)

  Review preview for Bananaz

  Everything about this film is rough and ready...but fans of Gorillaz will doubtless enjoy its edge.

  Backstage look at the brains behind Gorillaz.
• 
  The Bang Bang Club (2010)

  Review preview for The Bang Bang Club

  Silver offers no easy way out of his moral maze, just an unflinching look at conflict and its impact both on the perpetrators and those who watch.

  The story of combat photographers in South Africa's apartheid era.
• 
  Bargain (2005)

  A bargain hunting mockumentary that involves black market bog roll.
• 
  Barney's Version (2010)

  Review preview for Barney's Version

  More often than not, when emotion is called for, Michael Konyves lays on the scripting far too thick.

  Four decades in one man's life, told as a personal confessional.
• 
  Barre'$ Silence (2013)

  Review preview for Barre'$ Silence

  The camerawork is rough around the edges but Ahmadpour and Peyda aren't scared to get in the thick of the action and they also show a keen eye for a framing shot.

  Documentary on bullfighting, Iranian style.
• 
  Bart Got A Room (2008)

  Review preview for Bart Got A Room

  Easily the best comedy I saw in 2008 and the first I can remember in years that I’ve wanted to immediately watch again.

  It's tick-tock, tick-tock for Danny as the prom approaches, and he still doesn't have a date...
• 
  Bastard! (2005)

  Politically pushy pop music video.
• 
  Battle For Terra (2007)

  Review preview for Battle For Terra

  There are some nice set pieces here and there but, like the air on Terra, everything feels stodgier than normal.

  An alien girl on an idyllic planet must save her homeland from human invaders.
• 
  Baab (2025)

  Review preview for Baab

  Al Kahja takes a confident but slow-burn approach.

  A woman's life begins to unravel as she tries to discover the truth behind her sister's death.
• 
  Babyteeth (2019)

  Review preview for Babyteeth

  Milla might be dying but she's also, paradoxically, finding her way in the world and working out what she wants, even if time is short.

  Comedy, sees a family whose seriously ill daughter falls for a drug dealer discover that it might not be such a terrible thing after all.
• 
  Baby Done (2020)

  Review preview for Baby Done

  This sunny-side up romantic comedy from New Zealand is well worth a watch if the gloom of mid- winter is starting to bite.

  A woman who finds out she's pregnant becomes determined to tick off a bucket list before she has the baby... much to the concern of her other half.