Reviews by Andrew Robertson

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024)

  Review preview for Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

  It's just not very captivating.

  Home movies and personal archives reveal how Christopher Reeve went from unknown actor to iconic movie star as the ultimate screen superhero. He learned the true meaning of heroism as an activist after suffering a tragic accident that left him quadriplegic and dependent on a ventilator to breathe.
• 
  Juror #2 (2024)

  Review preview for Juror #2

  Both sides of the political spectrum have arguments about how the law and justice are not the same. While Callahan and his .44 were making that case one bullet at a time, Juror #2 is a lot slower, with plenty more sitting down.

  A family man, serving as a juror in a high profile murder trial, finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma when he realises that he could sway the jury verdict and potentially convict - or free - the wrong person.
• 
  Anora (2024)

  Review preview for Anora

  What isn't untrue is that Anora is brilliant.

  Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch.
• 
  Dundee Courier: Production Of A Great Daily Newspaper (1911)

  Review preview for Dundee Courier: Production Of A Great Daily Newspaper

  Though it's relatively long it's so packed with incident and detail that it flies by.

  Commissioned to celebrate the Dundee Courier's 50 years as a daily newspaper, the film illustrates the various newspaper activities from reporting, editing, setting the linotype to the final printing.
• 
  The Apprentice (2024)

  Review preview for The Apprentice

  It finds room for those who despise weakness, and are weaker for it, and is stronger because of it.

  A dive into the underbelly of the American empire. It charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn.
• 
  Transformers One (2024)

  Review preview for Transformers One

  It's fun. It's quite unabashedly so, which is something too many movies based on this sort of property are afraid of.

  The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but who once were friends, bonded like brothers, who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.
• 
  Phantom Of The Paradise (1974)

  Review preview for Phantom Of The Paradise

  Again and again there are elements that will be echoed in later works, mirrors and masks and little friends, split screens and thrills and untimely ends.

  A disfigured composer sells his soul for the woman he loves so that she will perform his music - but an evil record tycoon betrays him and steals his music to open his rock palace, The Paradise.
• 
  Never Let Go (2024)

  Review preview for Never Let Go

  Lines around victimhood are rarely clean. Here they're jagged and brittle, fearsome and fearful.

  A family that has been haunted by an evil spirit for years. Their safety and their surroundings come into question when one of the children questions if the evil is real.
• 
  Carnival Is Over (2024)

  Review preview for Carnival Is Over

  Coimbra's touch is assured, Ulisses Malta Jr's cinematography helps create something that looks as crisp as shadows on clean concrete.

  After a man and wife inherit part of a mob gambling business, they attempt to scheme their way to the top.
• 
  Trap (2024)

  Review preview for Trap

  Serves as a reminder of a talent who despite some failures hasn't forgotten how to direct thrillers.

  A father and his teen daughter attend a pop concert only to realise they've entered the heart of a dark and sinister event.
• 
  Reagan (2024)

  Review preview for Reagan

  Quaid and Miller's performances do a lot to carry a film that seeks neither to deify or demonise. If it weren't for their chemistry some sections would fall flat.

  Biopic of the former US president, told through the voice of a former KGB agent.
• 
  Kneecap (2024)

  Review preview for Kneecap

  It's got the musicality that proper swearing should.

  There are 80,000 native Irish speakers in Ireland. 6,000 live in the North of Ireland. Three of them became a rap group called Kneecap. This anarchic Belfast trio becomes the unlikely figurehead of a civil rights movement to save the mother tongue.
• 
  Alien: Romulus (2024)

  Review preview for Alien: Romulus

  In the opening sequence we're shown a relief carving of a xenomorph. Such a thing could be used as a mould, but the film is so intent on replication that it doesn't break it, or free.

  A group run into trouble while exploring a derelict space station.
• 
  It Ends With Us (2024)

  Review preview for It Ends With Us

  Despite a difficult subject matter, It Ends With Us is a powerful piece that features several strong performances, most notably its co-leads.

  Lily overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life. A chance meeting with a neurosurgeon sparks a connection but Lily begins to see sides of him that remind her of her parents' relationship.
• 
  Borderlands (2024)

  Review preview for Borderlands

  The film takes its name from a space defined by boundaries, but it doesn't even bother to colour inbetween the lines.

  Based on the best-selling videogame, this all-star action-adventure follows a ragtag team of misfits on a mission to save a missing girl who holds the key to unimaginable power.
• 
  Harold And The Purple Crayon (2024)

  Review preview for Harold And The Purple Crayon

  I was surprised to be as pleasantly surprised.

  Inside of his book, adventurous Harold can make anything come to life simply by drawing it. After he grows up and draws himself off the book's pages and into the physical world, Harold finds he has a lot to learn about real life.
• 
  Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

  Review preview for Deadpool & Wolverine

  Deadpool & Wolverine is more of the same.

  Wolverine is recovering from his injuries when he crosses paths with the loudmouth Deadpool. They team up to defeat a common enemy.
• 
  Blur: To The End (2024)

  Review preview for Blur: To The End

  It's entertaining enough if you're familiar.

  Portrait of the band as they prepare an album.
• 
  Twisters (2024)

  Review preview for Twisters

  It's big and loud and works very hard to signify nothing, but like the eye of a hurricane, gaps can be important.

  A retired tornado-chaser and meteorologist is persuaded to return to Oklahoma to work with a new team and new technologies.
• 
  Despicable Me 4 (2024)

  Review preview for Despicable Me 4

  Good enough.

  Gru, Lucy, Margo, Edith and Agnes welcome a new member to the family, Gru Jr, who is intent on tormenting his dad. Gru faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal and his girlfriend Valentina, and the family is forced to go on the run.
• 
  In A Violent Nature (2024)

  Review preview for In A Violent Nature

  Not necessarily successful, but nonetheless compelling, even hypnotic

  The enigmatic resurrection, rampage, and retribution of an undead monster in a remote wilderness.
• 
  Fly Me To The Moon (2024)

  Review preview for Fly Me To The Moon

  For all its star-power there's not much shining.

  Marketing maven Kelly Jones wreaks havoc on NASA launch director Cole Davis's already difficult task. When the White House deems the mission too important to fail, the countdown truly begins.
• 
  Longlegs (2024)

  Review preview for Longlegs

  What Longlegs has in mind worked better by implication.

  In pursuit of a serial killer, an FBI agent uncovers a series of occult clues that she must solve to end his terrifying spree.
• 
  The Dead Don't Hurt (2023)

  Review preview for The Dead Don't Hurt

  A small and human story in the sweep of a West both mythic and mundane.

  A fiercely independent French Canadian woman embarks on an affair with a Danish immigrant.
• 
  The Fall Guy (2024)

  Review preview for The Fall Guy

  Film is an assemblage, a team effort, and in foregrounding the unsung The Fall Guy gets its mix wrong.

  A battle-scarred stuntman, is drafted back into service when the star of a mega-budget studio movie - directed by his ex - goes missing.
• 
  Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

  Review preview for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

  You've seen it all before, but that's its strength. That cranked footage, those desperate eyes, the obscuring sand.

  Prequel about the young Furiosa, who is snatched by a biker gang.
• 
  The Garfield Movie (2024)

  Review preview for The Garfield Movie

  It's a stodgy interpretation of something that wasn't that fresh to begin with.

  After Garfield's unexpected reunion with his long-lost father, ragged alley cat Vic, he and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered lives to join Vic on a risky heist.
• 
  If (2024)

  Review preview for If

  While Framestore and Cadence have notionally brought the various creatures to 'life' they've not got that vital spark one would hope for.

  A young girl who goes through a difficult experience begins to see everyone's imaginary friends who have been left behind as their real-life friends have grown up.
• 
  Hoard (2023)

  Review preview for Hoard

  Hoard goes further, creeps around, becomes something you can start to smell, to taste.

  1984, London: Seven-year-old Maria and her mother live in their own loving world built on sorting through bins and collecting shiny rubbish. One night, their world falls apart, and we join Maria a decade later, living with her foster mother.
• 
  The Invisible Fight (2023)

  Review preview for The Invisible Fight

  Sometimes the rumblings are of the Shaw Brothers, at others the Marx Brothers.

  A kung-fu comedy set in an Orthodox Monastery in 1970s Soviet Union.
• 
  Civil War (2024)

  Review preview for Civil War

  I think that Civil War succeeds but I'm still not sure what it's hoping to say.

  A journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.
• 
  The Book Of Clarence (2023)

  Review preview for The Book Of Clarence

  Simply put, I don't know what it's trying to do, and I don't know if it does either.

  A man tries to turn the rising celebrity of Christ to his own advantage.
• 
  Monkey Man (2024)

  Review preview for Monkey Man

  There are places where constraint has given Monkey Man opportunities to invent and flourish and it has been fruitful.

  An anonymous young man unleashes a campaign of vengeance against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother and continue to systemically victimise the poor and powerless.
• 
  Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire (2024)

  Review preview for Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

  Video game storytelling has advanced quite a bit, to be clear, but as with so many things large chunks of Godzilla X Kong are trapped in the early 1980s.

  Two ancient titans, Godzilla and Kong, clash in an epic battle as humans unravel their intertwined origins and connection to Skull Island's mysteries.
• 
  Mother's Instinct (2024)

  Review preview for Mother's Instinct

  Chastain and Hathaway have tremendous chemistry, screen presence.

  Alice and Celine live a traditional lifestyle with successful husbands and sons of the same age. Life's perfect harmony is suddenly shattered after a tragic accident. Guilt, suspicion and paranoia combine to unravel their sisterly bond.
• 
  Bill Douglas - My Best Friend (2023)

  Review preview for Bill Douglas - My Best Friend

  This is more an introduction to Douglas as a man than a creator.

  An elegiac tribute to the hugely influential Scots filmmaker featuring contributions from the life-long friend who knew him best, Peter Jewell, as well as directors Lynne Ramsay and Lenny Abrahamson.
• 
  Woman In The Park (1967)

  Review preview for Woman In The Park

  Uncertainty is drawn to different poles like a malfunctioning compass.

  A Hitchcockian psychodrama about an introverted man who pursues a woman with whom he becomes obsessed.
• 
  Still Life (1968)

  Review preview for Still Life

  Never did a doily indicate such doom, nor the vain hope of a banner on a Coronation mug convey such gloom.

  An elderly woman is admitted to an asylum and all her possessions are removed by the council.
• 
  Gracemary (1966)

  Review preview for Gracemary

  Even these fantasies are grounded in locale.

  A young woman runs to catch the last post with her weekly pools coupon, whilst imagining a more glamorous life for herself.
• 
  Drive-Away Dolls (2024)

  Review preview for Drive-Away Dolls

  This is one of the few films I've seen where a length of ribbon drew a round of applause.

  Jamie regrets her breakup with her girlfriend, while Marian needs to relax. In search of a fresh start, they embark on an unexpected road trip to Tallahassee. Things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals.
• 
  Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

  Review preview for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

  Painting by numbers and staying comfortably within the lines might pass time but I wouldn't call it entertainment.

  When the discovery of an ancient artefact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age.
• 
  Argylle (2024)

  Review preview for Argylle

  Argylle isn't a delicate or even restrained construction, thread-bare and candy-coloured to the point that if it were underwear it'd be both crotchless and edible.

  A reclusive author who writes espionage novels about a secret agent and a global spy syndicate realises that the plot of the new book she's writing is starting to mirror real world events, in real time.
• 
  Dune: Part Two (2024)

  Review preview for Dune: Part Two

  While it's pretty, and often startlingly so, I was and am disappointed. I thought some of the changes made brave, even bravura, but others feel like capitulation.

  Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.
• 
  Dune: Part Two (2024)

  Review preview for Dune: Part Two

  Dune at least looks, sounds, amazing, though not always.

  Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.
• 
  The Beekeeper (2024)

  Review preview for The Beekeeper

  There's a credited law enforcement consultant, and I will spare their blushes because I actually suspect that there's a more credible depiction of tactics and techniques in the Paw Patrol movies.

  One man's brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organisation known as Beekeepers.
• 
  Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom (2023)

  Review preview for Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom

  What I most noted the return of was not kings but pacing issues.

  Aquaman balances his duties as king and as a member of the Justice League, all while planning a wedding. Black Manta is on the hunt for Atlantean tech to help rebuild his armor. Orm plots to escape his Atlantean prison.
• 
  Eileen (2023)

  Review preview for Eileen

  There are so many shots through things, boundaries, borders, thresholds, that we are primed for other barriers crossed. Those transgressions are not light ones, but in them is an abject honesty.

  Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counsellor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.
• 
  Next Goal Wins (2023)

  Review preview for Next Goal Wins

  It's pleasant enough.

  A story about the American Samoa soccer team, who suffered the worst loss in World Cup history, losing to Australia 31-0 in 2001. With the 2014 World Cup approaching, the team recruits a down on his luck, maverick coach in the hope that he can turns its fortunes around.
• 
  Godzilla Minus One (2023)

  Review preview for Godzilla Minus One

  When Godzilla Minus One shines it is devastating.

  Post war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.
• 
  The Inseparables (2023)

  Review preview for The Inseparables

  I did laugh a few times.

  A puppet and an abandoned stuffed animal toy they cross paths in Central Park and pair up for an epic adventure in New York City.