Reviews by Angus Wolfe Murray

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)

  Review preview for All About Lily Chou-Chou

  Beautiful to look at, as well as anarchic and contemporary.

  A disaffected teen finds solace in music and fan chat rooms.
• 
  All About My Mother (1999)

  Review preview for All About My Mother

  Far from dull, not as camp as you might expect, emotionally at a high pitch, expertly directed and nudgingly naughty.

  Melodramatic look at love and friendship.
• 
  All Is Lost (2013)

  Review preview for All Is Lost

  One man in a boat is too serious for jokes

  One man must battle to survive after his boat sinks in the ocean.
• 
  All The Pretty Horses (2001)

  Review preview for All The Pretty Horses

  The actor Billy Bob Thornton directs with the sensitivity of a cowpoke.

  A Forties cowboy goes looking for work in Texas with a pal... but all he finds is love and trouble.
• 
  Almost Famous (2000)

  Review preview for Almost Famous

  Captures the seriousness and the sweetness perfectly

  Autobiography of a suburban Californian boy's rites of passage.
• 
  Alpha (2018)

  Review preview for Alpha

  Sentimental tosh

  Ice age survival drama involving a wounded teenager and an injured wolf
• 
  Amadeus - The Director's Cut (1984)

  Review preview for Amadeus - The Director's Cut

  As a partnership of writer and actor, it is as close to perfection as is possible to witness.

  Superior biopic of the Austrian composer.
• 
  Amelie (2001)

  Review preview for Amelie

  Jeunet has such an imaginative approach to film that he creates an atmosphere of magic.

  A girl with an eccentric, repressed childhood grows up attracted to the odd detail in everyday life and to the strangest people.
• 
  American Animals (2018)

  Review preview for American Animals

  As a cinematic first the audacity and imagination of Bart Leyton's way of working breaks new ground

  Four young men mistake their lives for a movie and attempt one of the most audacious heists in US history.
• 
  American Beauty (1999)

  Review preview for American Beauty

  As a thumbnail analysis of the middle-class American psyche, Alan Ball's script is a devastating attack. It is also extremely funny.

  Satire is best when it has bite. Alan Ball gets his teeth into the psyche of middle America.
• 
  American Dreamz (2006)

  Review preview for American Dreamz

  Okay, it's not Shakespeare; it's not even Shakespeare's dim sister.

  Satire of American Idol, George Dubya and suicide bombers.
• 
  American Hustle (2013)

  Review preview for American Hustle

  American Hustle blows the cobwebs off every cliche in the crime section of contemporary film

  A con man is forced to work for a rogue FBI agent.
• 
  American Psycho (1999)

  Review preview for American Psycho

  What matters here is what is real and what is the figment of a sick imagination.

  Tales of a yuppie serial killer.
• 
  America's Sweethearts (2001)

  Review preview for America's Sweethearts

  The movie is fun, without being furious.

  Marketing boss of film studio attempts to placate warring husband-and-wife acting team.
• 
  Amistad (1998)

  Review preview for Amistad

  Amistad is one of [Spielberg's] deeply felt niche pictures that won't cause ripples on the stock market because of its uncompromising nature.

  Courtroom drama about a mutiny on a slave ship.
• 
  Amores Perros (1999)

  Review preview for Amores Perros

  Guillermo Arriaga Jordan's script is clever without being smart.

  Interlinking stories, connected by a car crash and dogs.
• 
  Amy Foster (1997)

  Love story between a servant girl and a Russian immigrant.
• 
  Analyze That (2002)

  Review preview for Analyze That

  Settle in for the Bill & Bob Show. They're back and they're better.

  Mafia boss is back for a second helping of psychotherapy.
• 
  Analyze This (1999)

  Review preview for Analyze This

  De Niro and Crystal are terrific, none the less, and Harold Ramis directs with assurance.

  Mob boss has mental health difficulties - wants to become a "normal, well-adjusted gangster"
• 
  Anastasia (1997)

  Review preview for Anastasia

  Who are those grown-ups weeping in the back row? Ignore them. They're historians.

  Animation about the trials and tribulations of the orphaned daughter of the last Russian tsar.
• 
  Anatomy Of Hell (2004)

  Review preview for Anatomy Of Hell

  What is missing from this voyeuristic torture chamber is humanity.

  French intellectual take on kinky sex between a gay man and a suicidal woman.
• 
  Animal Attraction (2001)

  Review preview for Animal Attraction

  As a romantic comedy, this slips into the smile zone easier than you might expect.

  Ashley Judd gets dumped by Greg Kinnear, so she takes revenge.
• 
  Anita And Me (2002)

  Review preview for Anita And Me

  Scratch the surface of Anita And Me, which originated as Syal's first novel, and you'll find a rites-of-passage story of teenage self-discovery.

  A 12-year-old British Asian girl gangs up with a 14-year-old bad girl in a quiet Midlands village in 1972.
• 
  Anon (2018)

  Review preview for Anon

  The future is data

  In the future data is transparent and a hacker can become invisible by eliminating personal detail. Even murder is an illusion. Possibly. A traditional detective, whose IT skills are last century, investigates
• 
  Antz (1998)

  Review preview for Antz

  The script is witty and the animation has moments of breathtaking imagery.

  A neurotic insect tries to win the heart of a princess.
• 
  An Affair of Love (1999)

  Review preview for An Affair of Love

  Sex has seldom been better served for discerning, romantic sensualists.

  Exploration of love and sex after two people meet through a small ad.
• 
  Apocalypse Now Redux (1979)

  Review preview for Apocalypse Now Redux

  Undoubtedly, a masterpiece, this three-and-a-half hour version puts body on the flesh of what was already a great movie.

  Coppola adds 50 mins and re-edits his classic Vietnam war movie, based on The Heart Of Darkness.
• 
  Apollo 13 (1995)

  Review preview for Apollo 13

  Whenever anyone complains that Hollywood movies are nothing but expensive effects imposed upon bland product, remember Apollo 13.

  Oscar-winning drama about an ill-fated moon mission.
• 
  The Apostle (1997)

  Review preview for The Apostle

  This is entirely Duvall's film. He gives himself a T-bone of a role, which he exploits with due diligence and compassion.

  A preacher on the run finds a new flock.
• 
  Aprile (1998)

  A documentary that is more about the documentary-maker than its subject.
• 
  Arabian Nights (1974)

  A collection of stories that tell of love, desert lands, sex, death and magic.
• 
  Arizona Dream (1993)

  A water authority worker gets suckered into helping with his uncle's car business, with unexpected consequences.
• 
  Armageddon (1998)

  Review preview for Armageddon

  The film goes for broke. No safety net. No apologies. Believing in itself.

  A drill team head to space to stop an asteroid destroying Earth.
• 
  Arthur And The Invisibles (2006)

  Review preview for Arthur And The Invisibles

  Besson breaks all the rules and doesn’t get away with it.

  An English boy in America seeks the help of miniature medieval Smurflings to save his Gran from being evicted.
• 
  The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007)

  Review preview for The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

  It is a character piece, an actor’s picture, supremely atmospheric and secure in its knowledge of place and time.

  The title says it all...
• 
  Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002)

  Live action cartoon with Gerard Depardieu and Christian Clavier helping to build a palace in Egypt.
• 
  As Good As It Gets (1997)

  Review preview for As Good As It Gets

  Nicholson gathers his bag of tricks and succeeds in making a terrible man endearing. Hunt is a wonder.

  An unlikely relationship between a obssessive compulsive, his gay neighbour and a waitress.
• 
  Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner (2000)

  Review preview for Atanarjuat, The Fast Runner

  Zacharias Kunuk's achievement with his mainly untrained actors is astonishing. Even the sexual chemistry works.

  First movie ever made in Inuit, it tells a tale of love, tradition and revenge.
• 
  Atomic Blonde (2017)

  Review preview for Atomic Blonde

  The pace squeezes your windpipe; the action pulverises your senses; the plot double crosses your preconception

  An undercover MI6 agent is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent.
• 
  At The Height Of Summer (2000)

  Close-knit Vietnamese family exposes secrets of an emotional/sexual nature.
• 
  Audition (1999)

  Review preview for Audition

  Flashbacks, hallucinations and nightmares crowd the narrative to the point where reality is blurred.

  A widower becomes infatuated with a shy ex-ballet dancer and her mysterious past.
• 
  August: Osage County (2013)

  Review preview for August: Osage County

  It is not a talkie so much as a shoutie

  A dysfunctional family comes together to deal with a crisis.
• 
  Austin Powers In Goldmember (2002)

  Review preview for Austin Powers In Goldmember

  The plot beggars belief and having begged moves on.

  Third instalment of the spy spoof which sees Austin travel to the Seventiess to rescue his kidnapped dad.
• 
  Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

  Review preview for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

  Familiarity encourages critical amnesia.

  The shagadelic sleuth retrieves his stolen sexual appetite from Dr Evil.
• 
  Auto Focus (2002)

  Review preview for Auto Focus

  The film's attempt at softcore titillation fails; it's like a tacky home movie, masquerading as social comment.

  Biopic of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane.
• 
  Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)

  Review preview for Au Hasard Balthazar

  What gives the film its strength is Bresson's refusal to compromise truth for the sake of expedience.

  The story of a maltreated donkey.
• 
  The Aviator (2004)

  Review preview for The Aviator

  There is nothing subtle about this film.

  The early years of movie mogul and planemaker, Howard Hughes.
• 
  The Abduction Club (2002)

  Review preview for The Abduction Club

  As a costume romance, based on real events, it is inept.

  Younger sons of aristocrats in Ireland, 1780, join a club and kidnap rich unmarried girls.
• 
  About Adam (2001)

  In Dublin, where charm grows on trees, joy matters more than blame.
• 
  About Schmidt (2002)

  Review preview for About Schmidt

  About Schmidt is about wasted lives. These people are dull, sad or whingesomely vulgar. You laugh at them, rather than with them, and feel guilty doing so.

  Jack Nicholson is a 66-year-old insurance man, recently widowed and retired, in Omaha, Nebraska