Reviews by Andrew Robertson

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Air (2023)

  Review preview for Air

  With another cast this would be an also ran, but Bateman, Tucker, Damon and Davis all put their backs into it.

  The story of of shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball: Michael Jordan.
• 
  Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023)

  Review preview for Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

  We're told you can't do everything with magic, but the film does manage to make much magical.

  A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.
• 
  Mummies (2023)

  Review preview for Mummies

  I didn't hate it.

  An animated adventure following three mummies who wake up in present-day London and embark on a journey in search of an old ring belonging to the Royal Family, stolen by the ambitious archaeologist Lord Carnaby.
• 
  Practice (2022)

  Review preview for Practice

  It's rare to see the near-naked intimacy here outwith a documentary context.

  A man tries to pluck up the courage to get into the dating game, but his nerves get the better of him.
• 
  The Möbius Trip (2022)

  Review preview for The Möbius Trip

  The small details might include the tape on the tape-deck and the tape within the tape-deck but the big loud details include a quantity of effing and geoffing that sits somewhere between Tarantino and Scotland.

  A road trip pushes a dysfunctional family to the brink after their journey descends into a claustrophobic hallucinatory nightmare. The Möbius Trip is a raw and experiential portrayal of a family unit, void of connection, confined in a car and trapped in their fated familial roles.
• 
  My Name Is Beth (2022)

  Review preview for My Name Is Beth

  Director Sayee Gogate and writer Alice Clarke have constructed something that shows a willingness to dig in, to dig deep, and harvest the results.

  Beth, a teenage girl in desperate need of a place to stay, visits her estranged grandmother in the remote Scottish countryside. To her surprise, Verity, her grandmother, mistakes Beth for a council worker.
• 
  Anarchism At Two O'Clock (2023)

  Review preview for Anarchism At Two O'Clock

  There's real delicacy within the performances.

  In 1940s Spain, two young seamstress sisters have their lives changed during the Civil War. In resistance to the Franco dictatorship, the anarchists leave their house every day at two o'clock.
• 
  John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

  Review preview for John Wick: Chapter 4

  I can't really fault the action sequences. I can take issue with just about everything else.

  Wick faces a new foe.
• 
  Swallow Flying To The South (2023)

  Review preview for Swallow Flying To The South

  A stunning work full of personality and dedication.

  Spring 1976, 5-year-old Swallow is abandoned at a public boarding preschool in central Beijing. When the persimmons are ripe, Swallow masters how to cry, but doesn't forget how to fly.
• 
  Runaway (2023)

  Review preview for Runaway

  Sandro Baidarashvili's role is a strong one, the awkwardness of adolescence, look and glance and differing diffidence.

  Ten-year-old Gigi lives with his family in the back of a small Georgian café that they own and run in a Moscow suburb. Gigi’s life takes a drastic turn when his father is pressured into sheltering a stranger who turns out to be a criminal on the run.
• 
  Questbound - Forbidden Ventures Of The Undead Soul (2023)

  Review preview for Questbound - Forbidden Ventures Of The Undead Soul

  It is archly self-aware, delightfully so, to the extent that its weaknesses become strengths because they serve as winks to knowing audiences.

  When a brave knight arrives at a castle to try to overthrow an aged, skeletal king, the king, mistaking his intentions, begins to flirt with him.
• 
  Fly High (2023)

  Review preview for Fly High

  A thing itself to wonder at.

  In a modern metropolitan city, amidst tall skyscrapers and busy streets, the unexpected sight of a man flying undisturbed in the sky disrupts the busy coming and going of people.
• 
  Bloody Gravel (2023)

  Review preview for Bloody Gravel

  I felt sick after watching it and watched it again.

  Roya and Bashir are in love and because of the restrictions in Afghanistan they are forced to flee. They hope to enter Iran illegally. Roya is pregnant and the child was not planned. What happens at the border puts the people smugglers they have hired to an unexpected test.
• 
  9 - 5 (2023)

  Review preview for 9 - 5

  Tonally awkward, deliciously so, a film full of textures.

  An inexperienced copywriter must face the pressures of work and the expectations of his surroundings, which have an increasing impact on his sex life.
• 
  Shazam! Fury Of The Gods (2023)

  Review preview for Shazam! Fury Of The Gods

  You'll be entertained, at least a bit, but that might be all of it.

  The continuing story of teenage Billy Batson who, upon reciting the magic word "Shazam!" is transformed into his adult Super Hero alter ego, Shazam.
• 
  The Five Devils (2022)

  Review preview for The Five Devils

  While it's a road well-travelled, here it's a road travelled well.

  Eight-year-old Vicky possesses a special power: a hyperacute sense of smell. She spends her days exploring this gift, and lives happily with her mother Joanne, a swimming teacher whom she adores exclusively - to the despair of her firefighter father. When her mysterious aunt Julia suddenly reappears in their lives, secrets from their past resurface both violently and magically.
• 
  Chevalier (2022)

  Review preview for Chevalier

  This is hardly a bastion of accuracy, but it does cover its ground well.

  The true story of composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner, who rises to heights in French society as a composer before an ill-fated love affair.
• 
  Villeneuve Pironi (2022)

  Review preview for Villeneuve Pironi

  What is clear is the genuine affection held for its subjects, but that makes some elements of it all the more galling.

  Consideration of the infamous 1982 F1 season when rival teammates Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi were part of the sport's most controversial moments.
• 
  Creed III (2023)

  Review preview for Creed III

  As a first-time director, Jordan acquits himself well.

  Boxer Adonis has been thriving in both his career and family life, but when a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy resurfaces, the face-off is more than just a fight.
• 
  Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

  Review preview for Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania

  It's okay. Relentlessly okay. Non-stop, wall-to-wall okay.

  Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne, along with Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, explore the Quantum Realm, where they interact with strange creatures and embark on an adventure that goes beyond the limits of what they thought was possible.
• 
  Magic Mike's Last Dance (2023)

  Review preview for Magic Mike's Last Dance

  Pleasant enough.

  Mike takes to the stage again, following a business deal that went bust, leaving him broke and taking bartender gigs in Florida. He heads to London with a wealthy socialite who makes him an offer he can't refuse.
• 
  Epic Tails (2022)

  Review preview for Epic Tails

  There's some action, excitement, lashings of snot and vomit, and excellent examples of problem-solving through teamwork and self-belief.

  A young, adventurous mouse and the cat she adopted unwittingly help Jason and the Argonauts to protect their city from the wrath of Poseidon.
• 
  Knock At The Cabin (2023)

  Review preview for Knock At The Cabin

  While it's familiar enough to ring a bell, it struggles to straddle a line of uncertainty.

  While vacationing, a girl and her parents are taken hostage by armed strangers who demand that the family make a choice to avert the apocalypse.
• 
  The Awakening Of The Insects (2021)

  Review preview for The Awakening Of The Insects

  The art itself just on the edge of real, the spectre of the special economic region, the consequences of colony.

  When an elderly Hong Kong gentleman loses his memory, he receives an unexpected visit from a Taoist exorcist who is determined to chase out the demons lodging in his head.
• 
  Journey (2021)

  Review preview for Journey

  Small touches like the shape of the buzzing of a phone give us room to reminisce.

  An animated journey by rail.
• 
  All The Beauty And The Bloodshed (2022)

  Review preview for All The Beauty And The Bloodshed

  The intimacies are staggering.

  The story of artist Nan Goldin and the downfall of the Sackler family, the pharmaceutical dynasty often blamed for the US opioid epidemic.
• 
  Plane (2023)

  Review preview for Plane

  As functional as Plane is, it's nuts and bolts, by the numbers, and for much of the time pedestrian.

  A pilot finds himself caught in a war zone after he's forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm.
• 
  Alice, Darling (2022)

  Review preview for Alice, Darling

  In its subtleties and strength it finds new ways to explore difficult ground.

  A young woman trapped in an abusive relationship becomes the unwitting participant in an intervention staged by her two closest friends.
• 
  A Fox In The Night (2022)

  Review preview for A Fox In The Night

  Isabel-Olsini Edwards' production design might not seem more than bottles and floors but all of them tell a story as heavy with implication as mention of rugby or kerbs.

  A South London story in which opposites attract, appearances deceive and bravery reaps rewards.
• 
  Your Mountain Is Waiting (2022)

  Review preview for Your Mountain Is Waiting

  It does not seek to put ducks in a row but it still endeavours to array animal, vegetable, mineral.

  A woman stops listening to her intuition and her life begins to suffer. After a strange encounter, she starts to reassess and begins her journey of self-discovery.
• 
  Cop Car (2015)

  Review preview for Cop Car

  The action might take place over just a few hours, but in a tight hour and a half it's got a huge amount of tension.

  Two 10-year-old boys steal an abandoned police car.
• 
  An Irish Goodbye (2022)

  Review preview for An Irish Goodbye

  Despite a strong performance from Martin it feels a half-hearted black comedy, never quite finding its pitch.

  In rural Northern Ireland, a pair of estranged brothers reunite following their mother's untimely death.
• 
  The Flying Sailor (2022)

  Review preview for The Flying Sailor

  A life might flash before eyes before us, but it's a thing constructed.

  A sailor's life flashes before him after an explosion.
• 
  Avatar: The Way Of Water (2022)

  Review preview for Avatar: The Way Of Water

  Ponderous but glorious.

  Jake Sully lives with his newfound family formed on the extrasolar moon Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the army of the Na'vi race to protect their home.
• 
  The Menu (2022)

  Review preview for The Menu

  This may become a cult movie.

  A couple travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.
• 
  Blackbird (2022)

  Review preview for Blackbird

  Like a reduced for quick sale ham and cheese sandwich from a garage.

  A troubled secret agent abruptly retires from service and opens a luxurious nightclub in the Caribbean to escape the dark shadows of his past. An old flame arrives and reignites love in his life, but brings danger with her.
• 
  Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

  Review preview for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

  It feels like the diktats of the Marvel Story Parliament have weighed almost as heavily as the loss of their star.

  The people of Wakanda fight to protect their home from intervening world powers as they mourn the death of King T'Challa.
• 
  Black Adam (2022)

  Review preview for Black Adam

  Did it meet my expectations? They weren't high, but no, not really.

  Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods - and imprisoned just as quickly - Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.
• 
  The Cabbie (2000)

  Review preview for The Cabbie

  Now feels like a charming period film

  When a cabbie falls for a cop, he comes up with a ruse to catch her eye.
• 
  Where Am I Going? (2018)

  Review preview for Where Am I Going?

  I can scarcely commend this enough

  An old man lives alone in a small hut by the railway which is soon to be demolished. He spends his days cycling and looking for work mending windows until one day his routine is interrupted by figures that appear to be different to everyone else…
• 
  A Taxi Of Coldness (2017)

  Review preview for A Taxi Of Coldness

  As Joonha Kim's only credit, it shows talent in both writing and direction.

  Drama in a taxi is sparked by the offer of chewing gum.
• 
  Can You Hear Me? (2021)

  Review preview for Can You Hear Me?

  Can You Hear Me? manages not just to tell a satisfying story but in continuing action over its credits to create a coda that grants a different depth.

  Jhong wakes up and finds himself dead. He watches his family dealing with his death over breakfast. Although his wife can’t hear him, she can somehow comprehend what is on his mind.
• 
  Siren (2017)

  Review preview for Siren

  For all its intent to sharpness, Siren is perhaps a little too blunt in its spread.

  A break-in reveals bias and misjudgement.
• 
  The Moisture (2022)

  Review preview for The Moisture

  Rural teaching gives us shades of Wake In Fright, the continual quest for a lack of discomfort and intermittent mobile signal an echo of Parasite.

  A teacher is grappling with child custody issues and a mischievous child in his class.
• 
  Snow In September (2022)

  Review preview for Snow In September

  As Davka, Sukhbat Munkhbaatar is adolescent perfection, all gangle and angle.

  A violent event in a boy’s life subtly consumes him.
• 
  A Companion for Amateur Cinematographers: Vol. I (2022)

  Review preview for A Companion for Amateur Cinematographers: Vol. I

  Federico Di Corato's film is, as is often the case with documentary, self-reflexive.

  Against the backdrop of Italy in the years of the Fascist dictatorship, a man of wealth but unknown to history scrutinises the world with his little film camera, guided by a handbook.
• 
  Nocomodo (2022)

  Review preview for Nocomodo

  The second film for Halifa-Legrand, Nocomodo shows a fiery talent.

  A little girl confronted with a brutal reality begins a rebellion.
• 
  Love Forever (2022)

  Review preview for Love Forever

  Earle Dresner's camerawork is as confident and uncertain as adolescence.

  A girl from Canberra navigates the treacherous waters of first love with a boy from Sydney’s Northern beaches.
• 
  Thor: Love And Thunder (2022)

  Review preview for Thor: Love And Thunder

  A merchandising rather than mythologising opportunity..

  Thor's retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher, who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg, and his ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster.
• 
  Licht - Stockhausen's Legacy (2022)

  Review preview for Licht - Stockhausen's Legacy

  Licht is a document of brutal honesty.

  The story and work of composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.