Reviews by Andrew Robertson

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  The Golden Spurtle (2025)

  Review preview for The Golden Spurtle

  Constantine Costi's film is charming, allowing its subjects to speak for themselves and directly to camera.

  Documentary charting a porridge-making contest in the Highlands.
• 
  Bulk (2025)

  Review preview for Bulk

  It's not a map, it's a blueprint, a means of telling fortunes and a handsome puzzle to boot.

  Sci-fi nightmare fusing head scrambling multiverse and a conspiracy of global proportions that might mean the end of the world as we know it.
• 
  Concessions (2026)

  Review preview for Concessions

  It is faint praise to say that it's pleasant enough, but faint praise is what I can muster.

  Oddball staff, wacky clientele and ageing Hollywood idols cross paths in a small town cinema on the day of its closure.
• 
  Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)

  Review preview for Jurassic World: Rebirth

  That so much of the product placement is different kinds of candy is what's going on here: it's more of the same, maybe with one new ingredient, but familiar, safely packaged, brightly coloured, and quick.

  An expedition braves isolated equatorial regions to extract DNA from three massive prehistoric creatures for a groundbreaking medical breakthrough.
• 
  2000 Meters To Andriivka (2025)

  Review preview for 2000 Meters To Andriivka

  The smoke, the blasts, the spinning of ejecting shell casings, yells that become cries, the front-line as it becomes frantic.

  Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realise that this war may never end.
• 
  The Naked Gun (2025)

  Review preview for The Naked Gun

  If we dare to be stupid, and The Naked Gun does, we can have a pretty good time.

  Police Squad is back in action, with Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr on hand to save the day.
• 
  The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

  Review preview for The Fantastic Four: First Steps

  This is not just the best of the filmed Fantastic Fours but top drawer MCU, a film that entertained me as a thing itself, as a comics connoisseur, as someone who's done their Marvel miles.

  Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, the Fantastic Four must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer.
• 
  The Bad Guys 2 (2025)

  Review preview for The Bad Guys 2

  The Bad Guys 2 is proper entertainment.

  The Bad Guys are struggling to find trust and acceptance in their newly minted lives as Good Guys, when they are pulled out of retirement and forced to do 'one last job' by an all-female squad of criminals.
• 
  Bring Her Back (2025)

  Review preview for Bring Her Back

  A strong cast put flesh on the bones of strong ideas, but ultimately what animates it all is imagination.

  A brother and sister uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother.
• 
  Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

  Review preview for Final Destination: Bloodlines

  On the big screen Bloodlines was close to an amusement park ride, the steady click of anticipation paired with the knowledge of the impending drop. On small screens that sense of fun will be preserved, though perhaps not as immersively.

  Plagued by a recurring violent nightmare, a college student returns home to find the one person who can break the cycle and save her family from the horrific fate that inevitably awaits them.
• 
  Harvest (2024)

  Review preview for Harvest

  At times the discomfort that Harvest causes is not from dirt or despair but the room it leaves for interpretation.

  Over seven hallucinatory days, a village with no name, in an undefined time and place, disappears.
• 
  Superman (2025)

  Review preview for Superman

  There's so much that borrows from other places that Superman doesn't feel indebted as much as hollowed out.

  Superman must reconcile his alien Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as reporter Clark Kent. As the embodiment of truth, justice and the human way he soon finds himself in a world that views these as old-fashioned.
• 
  F1: The Movie (2025)

  Review preview for F1: The Movie

  Seated in the front-row of the cinema, it's hard not to lean into corners. Once you're committed to that the rest follows.

  A Formula One driver comes out of retirement to mentor and team up with a younger driver.
• 
  28 Years Later (2025)

  Review preview for 28 Years Later

  Alfie Williams is tremendous. In a cast that includes figures like Ralph Fiennes and Jodie Comer he more than holds his own.

  A group of survivors of the rage virus live on a small island. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors.
• 
  Lethal Weapon: Director's Cut (1987)

  Review preview for Lethal Weapon: Director's Cut

  A scene where Riggs challenges a school shooter is disturbingly relevant even with 40 years of distance.

  Two newly paired cops who are complete opposites must put aside their differences in order to catch a gang of drug smugglers.
• 
  Ballerina (2025)

  Review preview for Ballerina

  When we're told "One bullet well placed can be a magical thing," it feels less metaphorical than metaphysical.

  An assassin trained in the traditions of the Ruska Roma organisation sets out to seek revenge after her father's death.
• 
  Thunderbolts* (2025)

  Review preview for Thunderbolts*

  Thunderbolts* comes much closer to being worthwhile as a standalone than a large number of its companions in the Disney/Marvel juggernaut.

  After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes must go on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.
• 
  The Accountant (2016)

  Review preview for The Accountant

  The action sequences are alright, but The Accountant falls into the common superheroic trap (or trope) of confusing origin stories with character development.

  As a math savant uncooks the books for a new client, the Treasury Department closes in on his activities, and the body count starts to rise.
• 
  The Amateur (2025)

  Review preview for The Amateur

  As a spy story it's not great and as a revenge thriller it's not new and between them there's not much else to say.

  When his supervisors at the CIA refuse to take action after his wife is killed in a London terrorist attack, a decoder takes matters into his own hands.
• 
  Death Of A Unicorn (2025)

  Review preview for Death Of A Unicorn

  The alchemy of film means that sometimes this amount of gold can still feel leaden.

  A father and daughter accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where the father's billionaire boss seeks to exploit the creature’s miraculous curative properties.
• 
  Sinners (2025)

  Review preview for Sinners

  Wall to wall quality.

  Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
• 
  A Working Man (2025)

  Review preview for A Working Man

  The biggest difference between the book and the film is that I enjoyed the latter enough to want more.

  Levon Cade left his profession behind to work construction and be a good dad to his daughter. But when a local girl vanishes, he's asked to return to the skills that made him a mythic figure in the shadowy world of counter-terrorism.
• 
  The Ballad Of Wallis Island (2025)

  Review preview for The Ballad Of Wallis Island

  I laughed, and was not alone in doing so, out loud, and repeatedly.

  Eccentric lottery winner, Charles, dreams of getting his favorite musicians, Mortimer-McGwyer, back together. His fantasy turns into reality when the bandmates and former lovers accept his invitation to play a private show at his home on Wallis Island. Old tensions resurface as Charles tries desperately to salvage his dream gig.
• 
  Last Breath (2025)

  Review preview for Last Breath

  Establishing shots of boats and docks and archive footage are not only more genuine than the film's version of events but more convincing.

  A true story that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crewmate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface.
• 
  Black Bag (2025)

  Review preview for Black Bag

  A sophisticated palate will discern any number of flavours running through Black Bag, but these are glosses on a traditional recipe.

  When an intelligence agent is suspected of betraying the nation, her husband - also a legendary agent - faces the ultimate test: should he be loyal to his marriage, or to his country?
• 
  Captain America: Brave New World (2025)

  Review preview for Captain America: Brave New World

  There comes a point where ingredients stop being a recipe and start resembling a shopping list.

  Sam Wilson, the new Captain America, finds himself in the middle of an international incident and must discover the motive behind a nefarious global plan.
• 
  Companion (2025)

  Review preview for Companion

  The thing that most suggests Companion isn't based on a lost Philip K Dick story is that it has more developed female characters.

  A weekend getaway with friends at a remote cabin turns into chaos after it's revealed that one of the guests is a robot companion.
• 
  Luther: Never Too Much (2024)

  Review preview for Luther: Never Too Much

  It might be too much to expect a film to tell a bigger story, but that hope is borne in part because it doesn't really manage to tell a smaller one.

  Luther Vandross started his career supporting David Bowie, Roberta Flack, Bette Midler, and more. His undeniable talent earned platinum records and accolades, but he struggled to break out beyond the R&B charts. Intensely driven, he overcame personal and professional challenges to secure his place amongst the greatest vocalists in history.
• 
  Wolf Man (2025)

  Review preview for Wolf Man

  There's little new under the sun, and even less by moonlight.

  A family at a remote farmhouse is attacked by an unseen animal, but as the night stretches on, the father begins to transform into something unrecognisable.
• 
  Flight Risk (2025)

  Review preview for Flight Risk

  It feels like a mid-season episode of one of the interminable slew of acronym-based law enforcement shows.

  A pilot transports an air marshal accompanying a fugitive to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.
• 
  Saturday Night (2024)

  Review preview for Saturday Night

  If you're not already invested it's unlikely you'll care.

  At 11:30pm on October 11th, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. This is the story of the 90 minutes leading up to the first ever broadcast of Saturday Night Live.
• 
  William Tell (2024)

  Review preview for William Tell

  An ostensibly rousing speech is aiming for Braveheart but has all the grip one would expect from an address to an adhesive sales conference.

  William Tell has returned home weary after fighting with the Knights Templar in the Holy Land. Now he is called upon to help a farmer who is seeking revenge against the villains of the Hapsburg court.
• 
  A Complete Unknown (2024)

  Review preview for A Complete Unknown

  It purports to an authenticity that is itself imagined, a glossy act of nostalgia that feels antithetical to the shock of the new that Dylan's apparently meant to represent.

  Biopic - following Bob Dylan from folk-singer to a worldwide sensation
• 
  Babygirl (2024)

  Review preview for Babygirl

  Halina Reijn's film is a rewarding piece of work, in no small part because of how it challenges its subjects and its audience.

  A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern.
• 
  Maria (2024)

  Review preview for Maria

  It is gorgeous, both to look at and to listen to. It's perhaps Larrain's most accessible film, though that's as much to do with its star as its subject.

  Dramatisation of the life of the opera singer Maria Callas.
• 
  Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (2024)

  Review preview for Sonic The Hedgehog 3

  Unlike many adaptions it does want to have fun, worrying less about being pixel-perfect or po-faced than propulsive plotting.

  Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails reunite against a powerful new adversary, Shadow, a mysterious villain with powers unlike anything they have faced before. With their abilities outmatched, Team Sonic must seek out an unlikely alliance.
• 
  Nosferatu (2024)

  Review preview for Nosferatu

  Remake is perhaps less apt than revisitation, if not outright revision.

  A Gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the vampire who is infatuated with her, which brings untold horrors in its wake.
• 
  Kraven The Hunter (2024)

  Review preview for Kraven The Hunter

  A film doesn't have to have a message, or a moral; indeed if its only motive is mercenary then that's fine, as long as it entertains. Kraven just doesn't.

  Kraven's complex relationship with his ruthless father, Nikolai Kravinoff, starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.
• 
  2073 (2024)

  Review preview for 2073

  As much as 2073 mentions things, it digs no further.

  A futuristic docudrama lamenting the state of the world to come.
• 
  Better Man (2024)

  Review preview for Better Man

  Film's ability to change scale and scope turns Better Man from a jukebox musical into something at once more and less personal.

  A documentary portrait of pop music superstar Robbie Williams.
• 
  The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim (2024)

  Review preview for The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim

  To mix courtly and cavalry intrigue requires stable footing and the film is well poised.

  A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan, and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg.
• 
  Grand Theft Hamlet (2024)

  Review preview for Grand Theft Hamlet

  The absurdity is one of its delights.

  Shot entirely inside the video game Grand Theft Auto, this documentary charts the story of two out-of-work actors as they try to stage a full production of Hamlet within this notoriously violent digital world.
• 
  Conclave (2024)

  Review preview for Conclave

  Director Edward Berger and his director of photography Stephane Fontaine have made every frame art.

  Drama surrounding the election of a new Pope.
• 
  Wicked (2024)

  Review preview for Wicked

  For fans of the musical, this will give them more of what they already like, perhaps even too much. For those not yet fans I'm not sure this will give them enough.

  Elphaba, a misunderstood young woman because of her green skin, and Glinda, a popular girl, become friends at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. After an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads.
• 
  Nightbitch (2024)

  Review preview for Nightbitch

  Nightbitch is of an ilk that is off-kilter. It is unreliable and unstable. It is visceral and dark. It is taxidermy and what I think are freezer potato pancakes.

  A woman pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mother, but soon her domesticity takes a surreal turn.
• 
  Moana 2 (2024)

  Review preview for Moana 2

  The film again manages to balance the astonishing realism of textures like hair and sand and water with character designs that verge on the impressionistic.

  After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she's ever faced.
• 
  Gladiator II (2024)

  Review preview for Gladiator II

  Box-office and quality are at best occasional companions and there's a reason that we distinguish between critical and commercial success. It's likely that as in the film crowds will turn and thumbs will waver.

  A man seeks vengeance as a gladiator in Rome after his wife is killed in a raid.
• 
  Silent Men (2024)

  Review preview for Silent Men

  After award-winning shorts the deadpan documentarian has made his feature début, and it's a delight.

  An exploration of modern-day masculinity.
• 
  Small Things Like These (2024)

  Review preview for Small Things Like These

  I do not know that I could ever with a good conscience describe a film as 'perfect' but this comes close.

  A coal merchant discovers secrets being kept at a convent.
• 
  Heretic (2024)

  Review preview for Heretic

  An intense pop-cultural awareness permeates Heretic. This is the doctrinal dialogue of our age.

  Two young religious women are drawn into a game of cat-and-mouse in the house of a strange man.