Reviews by Andrew Robertson

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Wish (2023)

  Review preview for Wish

  Wish feels like one granted, a treat from start to finish.

  A young girl named Asha wishes on a star and gets a more direct answer than she bargained for when a trouble-making star comes down from the sky to join her.
• 
  The Three Musketeers: Milady (2023)

  Review preview for The Three Musketeers: Milady

  Dumas may have provided the mettle but everyone here has sharpened it.

  D'Artagnan is forced to join forces with Milady to save Constance, who was kidnapped before his eyes. But as war is declared and Athos, Porthos and Aramis have already joined the front, a secret from the past shatters old alliances.
• 
  The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (2023)

  Review preview for The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan

  It's big, traditional, film-making, anchored in some quality performances.

  D'Artagnan arrives in Paris trying to find his attackers after being left for dead, which leads him to a real war where the future of France is at stake. He aligns himself with Athos, Porthos and Aramis, three musketeers of the King.
• 
  Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure Of Foggy Mountain (2023)

  Review preview for Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure Of Foggy Mountain

  The Treasure Of Foggy Mountain isn't worth leaving home for, and to be honest I'm not sure it's worth any time on your sofa either.

  Three friends realise that they don't like their life trajectory, so set off in search of a golden treasure that is rumored to be buried on the nearby mountain.
• 
  Wonka (2023)

  Review preview for Wonka

  Sweet, light, funny and perhaps most merrily, musical.

  With dreams of opening a shop in a city renowned for its chocolate, a young and poor Willy Wonka discovers that the industry is run by a cartel of greedy chocolatiers.
• 
  Melk (2023)

  Review preview for Melk

  Jacob Oostra's work in sound design is part of an overwhelming naturalism, an intimacy of sensation and a sense of intimacy.

  A mum who has lost her baby tries to work through her grief as she attempts to donate her milk.
• 
  Napoleon (2023)

  Review preview for Napoleon

  Even at its most epic there's something lacklustre about it all, as if the whole thing were being printed in ink-saving mode.

  An epic that details the checkered rise and fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine.
• 
  Bottoms (2023)

  Review preview for Bottoms

  There may be other movies this year that'll give you the wisdom of "gay Yoda" or that reflect the slippery "hobbies to terrorism" pipeline. There won't be many with public address announcements that blur the lines between unreliable narration and inner ear disorders

  Two unpopular girls in their senior year start a fight club to try to impress and hook up with cheerleaders.
• 
  The Marvels (2023)

  Review preview for The Marvels

  Bright, breezy, and most importantly fun.

  Carol Danvers gets her powers entangled with those of Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau, forcing them to work together to save the universe.
• 
  The Killer (2023)

  Review preview for The Killer

  There's a disassociation between the original's ennui and what might be the consequences of sleep deprivation. There's also a rebalancing of its violence, and it might be that which most discomfits.

  After a fateful near miss, an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.
• 
  The Mission (2023)

  Review preview for The Mission

  As indicative as John's story is, there's barely room in nearly two hours to cover much beyond the basics.

  A portrait of the life and death of young missionary John Allen Chau.
• 
  Saltburn (2023)

  Review preview for Saltburn

  Its unreliable geographies, human and physical, make it even more beguiling.

  Struggling to fit in at Oxford University, Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.
• 
  Dream Scenario (2023)

  Review preview for Dream Scenario

  Despite its scale this is a small story, and at that level it's classic science fiction.

  A family man discovers he has begun to appear in other people's dreams making him an overnight celebrity.
• 
  Killers Of The Flower Moon (2023)

  Review preview for Killers Of The Flower Moon

  It is Scorsese at his, one hesitates to say peak, but absolute.

  Members of the Osage tribe in the United States are murdered under mysterious circumstances in the 1920s, sparking a major FBI investigation involving J Edgar Hoover.
• 
  The Old Oak (2023)

  Review preview for The Old Oak

  Will anyone see this who wouldn't anyway?

  A musing on the future of The Old Oak, the last remaining pub in a village in Northeast England, where people are leaving the land as the mines are closed. Houses are cheap and available, thus making it an ideal location for Syrian refugees.
• 
  The Creator (2023)

  Review preview for The Creator

  Detail abounds. Glorious detail.

  A post-apocalyptic thriller involving a future impacted by a war between humans and AI.
• 
  The Expend4bles (2023)

  Review preview for The Expend4bles

  Tired, bloated, crude, stumbling, and showing its age, Expendables as a franchise is perhaps a reflection of some of its cast.

  Armed with every weapon they can get their hands on, the Expendables are the world's last line of defence and the team that gets called when all other options are off the table.
• 
  The Lesson (2023)

  Review preview for The Lesson

  The Lesson is a treat. It's properly constructed, beautifully played. It might not quite cleave to classical unities but it knows enough to weave its course among them.

  A young novelist eager to make a name for himself begins tutoring the son of one of the most influential writers in the world. Good intentions soon give way to suspicion as darker motivations surface and the lines of master and protégé are blurred.
• 
  A Haunting In Venice (2023)

  Review preview for A Haunting In Venice

  It seems some alloy of leaden and brazen.

  In post-World War II Venice, Hercule Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a séance. When one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer.
• 
  Cobweb (2023)

  Review preview for Cobweb

  If there's a key to unlocking the mystery it's pretty clearly signposted, shining even.

  Eight-year-old Peter is plagued by a mysterious, constant tap, tap from inside his bedroom wall – a tapping his parents insist is all in his imagination. His concerned schoolteacher starts making enquiries after Peter shows clear evidence of trouble at home. But as Peter’s fear intensifies, he believes that his parents could be hiding a terrible, dangerous secret.
• 
  Blue Beetle (2023)

  Review preview for Blue Beetle

  To give new talent these budgets and underexplored characters and knock out this kind of assembly line nonsense is what got printed comic books into the doldrums that they're still in.

  An alien scarab chooses Jaime Reyes to be its symbiotic host, bestowing the recent college graduate with a suit of armour which is capable of extraordinary powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the superhero known as Blue Beetle.
• 
  Choose Irvine (2023)

  Review preview for Choose Irvine

  In search of authenticity that is a lot of artificiality.

  Profile of the Trainspotting author.
• 
  The First Slam Dunk (2022)

  Review preview for The First Slam Dunk

  The basketball sequences grab the eye as firmly as the players grasp the ball.

  Hanamichi Sakuragi is a delinquent with a long history of getting dumped by girls. After enrolling in Shohoku High School, Hanamichi becomes interested in a girl named Haruko who loves the game of basketball.
• 
  Oppenheimer (2023)

  Review preview for Oppenheimer

  God might play dice, but Nolan is a watchmaker.

  The story of American scientist J Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.
• 
  Confess, Fletch (2022)

  Review preview for Confess, Fletch

  This isn't just light but unserious. One has the sense that those involved were having fun and watching it so did I.

  After becoming the prime suspect in multiple murders, Fletch strives to prove his innocence while simultaneously searching for his fiancé's stolen art collection.
• 
  Asteroid City (2023)

  Review preview for Asteroid City

  Anderson has absolute command of his craft and his cast are moulded to it.

  The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer convention is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
• 
  Carl's Date (2023)

  Review preview for Carl's Date

  There's something bittersweet about it, differently so than Up.

  Carl Fredricksen reluctantly agrees to go on a date with a lady friend, but has no idea how dating works these days. Ever the helpful friend, Dug steps in to calm Carl's pre-date jitters and offer some tried-and-true tips for making friends - if you're a dog.
• 
  Elemental (2023)

  Review preview for Elemental

  It's got too many things going on and in the process it goes wrong.

  Elemental creatures made of fire, water, earth or air share a city.
• 
  Hypnotic (2023)

  Review preview for Hypnotic

  Amounts to a criminal thriller with extra magic

  A detective investigates a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government programme.
• 
  Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (2023)

  Review preview for Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny

  There's a difficult place between homage and pastiche, between nostalgia and the new.

  As the tentacles of an all-too-familiar evil return in the form of an old rival, Indy must don his hat and pick up his whip once more to make sure an ancient and powerful artefact doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
• 
  Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

  Review preview for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

  There's that big stunt in the trailer, a motorcycle jump, and even knowing that it's coming the build up to it is thrilling. There's more, some going on for longer than seems useful.

  Ethan Hunt and his IMF team must track down a dangerous weapon before it falls into the wrong hands.
• 
  Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (2023)

  Review preview for Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

  There are some astonishing sequences that leverage the freedom animation has to move perspective.

  Miles Morales catapults across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-people charged with protecting its very existence. When the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles must redefine what it means to be a hero.
• 
  War Pony (2022)

  Review preview for War Pony

  Everything here has a depth, a richness.

  The interlocking stories of two young Oglala Lakota men growing up on the Pine Ridge Reservation. At 23, Bill just wants to make something of himself. Whether it’s delivering goods or breeding poodles, he is determined to hustle his way to the American Dream. Meanwhile, 12-year-old Matho can’t wait to become a man.
• 
  Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts (2023)

  Review preview for Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts

  Would you like to see things you've seen before, slightly re-organised, and often louder?

  During the Nineties, a new faction of Transformers - the Maximals - join the Autobots as allies in the battle for Earth.
• 
  Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 (2023)

  Review preview for Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3

  This is filmmaking that paints by numbers and with Key Performance Indicators in mind.

  Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own - a mission which, if unsuccessful, could mean the end of the Guardians.
• 
  The Flash (2023)

  Review preview for The Flash

  I have to give credit for The Flash understanding it is derivative, repetitive, even repeating elements of its opening for comic effect.

  Barry Allen uses his super speed to change the past, but his attempt to save his family creates a world without super heroes, forcing him to race for his life in order to save the future.
• 
  Renfield (2023)

  Review preview for Renfield

  Though Hoult is as oddly charming as his abilities allow, Nicholas goes as close to the Full Cage as I've seen in a while.

  Renfield is forced to procure Dracula's prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debasing - but now, after centuries of servitude, he's ready for a life outside the shadow of the Prince of Darkness.
• 
  Beau Is Afraid (2023)

  Review preview for Beau Is Afraid

  There is no key to unlock it. Doors are held open to interpret, wedged with countless other stories.

  Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.
• 
  The Boogeyman (2023)

  Review preview for The Boogeyman

  Traditions include what might be monstrous punishment for moral failings, suspect chronology, a muddy line between those who may and may not deserve it, and a cavalier disregard for common sense.

  A troubled man talks to a psychiatrist about the 'murders' of his three young children, describing the events of the past several years. His first two children died mysteriously of apparently unrelated causes when left alone in their bedrooms. Their closet doors were found slightly ajar.
• 
  Sorry To Bother You (2018)

  Review preview for Sorry To Bother You

  I've seen it described as a film with a twist but that suggests it's got just one. It's full of them, it's made of them, it reels and gyres and tumbles into something special.

  In a speculative and dystopian not-too-distant future, black telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success – which propels him into a macabre universe.
• 
  Sisu (2022)

  Review preview for Sisu

  Owing debts to grindhouse, or more specifically its latter impersonations, it's somewhere between a latter oater and other outposts of the relentless revenger.

  After a solitary prospector strikes gold in the wilderness of Lapland, he runs into a retreating detachment of Nazi soldiers who set their sights on claiming the bounty. Unfortunately for the stormtroopers, this is no ordinary miner.
• 
  The Little Mermaid (2023)

  Review preview for The Little Mermaid

  The presence of human faces in some places makes this no less an act of animation than anything made solely of ink on paper.

  A young mermaid makes a deal with a sea witch to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince.
• 
  Assassin Club (2023)

  Review preview for Assassin Club

  If it has a saving grace it's that it's not two hours long, and one hopes that those involved had some nice evenings out in Turin while filming.

  An assassin is given a contract, but finds he is simultaneously the target.
• 
  Polite Society (2023)

  Review preview for Polite Society

  There's unbridled talent on display here, behind and before the camera.

  Aspiring martial artist Ria Khan believes she must save her older sister, Lena, from her impending marriage. With the help of her friends, Ria attempts to pull off the most ambitious of all wedding heists in the name of independence and sisterhood.
• 
  The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry (2023)

  Review preview for The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry

  It may waver, but it knows where it is going, and in the journey has something to say.

  Harold is an ordinary man who has passed through life, living on the side lines, until he goes to post a letter one day...and just keeps walking.
• 
  Little Richard: I Am Everything (2023)

  Review preview for Little Richard: I Am Everything

  For all the debt owed to Sister Rosetta Tharpe the essence here is not translation uncovered but transgression buried. That makes the decision not to further explore these hidden histories all the more surprising.

  This celebration of Little Richard reveals the Black queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, finally exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music.
• 
  The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

  Review preview for The Super Mario Bros. Movie

  More two-dimensional than many of the videogames it borrows from.

  The story of The Super Mario Bros. on their journey through the Mushroom Kingdom.
• 
  Irati (2022)

  Review preview for Irati

  A tale that has a textured solidity, a mythological weight.

  Christian nobleman Eneko must fulfil the promise he made to his late father, to protect and lead his people into the new era. To do so, he must recover his father’s body, buried next to Charlemagne's treasure. However, despite his faith, he needs the help of his childhood friend, the pagan Irati.
• 
  Amerikatsi (2022)

  Review preview for Amerikatsi

  The physicality extends past harm to outright comedy.

  A refugee returning to Armenia after growing up in the US is arrested and sentenced to prison for wearing a tie. When an earthquake ruptures the prison wall, he begins to spy on the couple in the adjacent apartment, gradually forging a connection with a culture he knew nothing about.
• 
  Tetris (2023)

  Review preview for Tetris

  I was entertained, but unlike an actual game of Tetris I didn't want to go straight back to it.

  A thriller based on the true story of American video game salesman Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) and his discovery of Tetris in 1988. When he set out to bring the game to the world, he entered a dangerous web of lies and corruption behind the Iron Curtain.