Reviews by Angus Wolfe Murray

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  The Actors (2003)

  Michael Caine persuades Dylan Moran to impersonate gangsters in a Dublin money fraud.
• 
  Adam & Paul (2004)

  Review preview for Adam & Paul

  There are films that make you want to kill yourself. Adam & Paul is one of these.

  Rambling encounters with two Irish vagrants in a soulless urban wasteland.
• 
  Adrift (2006)

  Review preview for Adrift

  Adrift doesn't have sharks, only human fallibility and naked panic.

  Six party-goers find themselves stranded in the ocean, unable to get back aboard their yacht. Out to own on DVD from December 26.
• 
  The Adventures of Elmo In Grouchland (2000)

  Review preview for The Adventures of Elmo In Grouchland

  A sock chorus in one of the musical numbers is particularly enjoyable.

  Elmo goes on an adventure to get back his beloved blanket.
• 
  Ae Fond Kiss (2004)

  Review preview for Ae Fond Kiss

  Yaqub is quite exceptional.

  Dangerous liaison between a lapsed Irish Catholic and a first generation Pakistani Muslim.
• 
  The Affair Of The Necklace (2001)

  Hilary Swank is an unlikely countess in the court of Marie Antoinette just before the revolution.
• 
  Afterlife (2003)

  Review preview for Afterlife

  Without wanting to sound like the marketing director for Cliché City, the film is heartwarming, life enhancing and full of love.

  A man goes on a personal voyage of discovery with his Down Syndrome sister.
• 
  Agent Cody Banks (2003)

  Review preview for Agent Cody Banks

  The boy has style.

  A teenage CIA agent attempts to thwart a dastardly plan to set metal-eating robots loose in US.
• 
  Aileen: The Life And Death Of A Serial Killer (2003)

  Hard-hitting documentary about the serial killer.
• 
  Aimee And Jaguar (1999)

  Lesbian love affair between Jewish resistance worker and wife of German officer in Berlin, 1943.
• 
  The Alamo (2004)

  Tragic defence of a flyblown fort in Texas against a superior Mexican army.
• 
  Albatross (2010)

  Review preview for Albatross

  Somewhere a story of love and courage lies buried beneath the silt of mediocrity.

  Coming of age comedy drama, with strong central performances from two fast rising British actresses.
• 
  Alfie (2004)

  Remake of Sixties film about womanising lad about town who gets his comeuppance.
• 
  Alice Et Martin (1998)

  Review preview for Alice Et Martin

  Alice Et Martin has all the ingredients of a wallow.

  Star-crossed lovers struggle in Paris.
• 
  Alice Through The Looking Glass (2016)

  Review preview for Alice Through The Looking Glass

  Anything can happen and nothing makes sense and reality is a word as plain as it is pointless

  Alice returns to Wonderland to save the Mad Hatter.
• 
  Alien: Covenant (2017)

  Review preview for Alien: Covenant

  Its use of blood and slime and razor teeth is more inventive than a 12-year-old needs watch.

  A spaceship full of colonists check out another planet where man eating monsters are starving for fresh meat
• 
  Ali G Indahouse (2001)

  Ali G becomes an MP and spends most of his time leching after babes and upsetting the PM.
• 
  All Eyez On Me (2017)

  Review preview for All Eyez On Me

  Messy, unstructured and deeply disappointing

  Biopic of the late rapper, actor, poet and activist Tupac Shakur.
• 
  All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane (2007)

  Review preview for All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane

  Anthea may be dull, but she’s nice. Michael may be passive, but he’s sweetly charming. You care enough about them to wonder whether they kiss better than camels on heat.

  Restless twenty-somethings can't decide whether to stay or leave or fall in love. Touring.
• 
  All Or Nothing (2002)

  Review preview for All Or Nothing

  Despite the depressing nature of the subject matter, the film is heartfelt and uplifting.

  Mike Leigh investigates the sad, heartfelt lives of high-rise South Londoners.
• 
  All The Real Girls (2003)

  Review preview for All The Real Girls

  Green's script is filled with understanding and honest reflection.

  Desperation and first love in the beautiful decay of small town Appalachia.
• 
  All Tomorrow's Parties (2009)

  Review preview for All Tomorrow's Parties

  Where these genius guys who put All Tomorrow’s Parties together succeed beyond expectation is in capturing the fierce and beautiful commitment of everyone involved.

  Celebration of creative energy in anti-festival venues that give music back to those who appreciate its anarchic roots.
• 
  Alone In Four Walls (2007)

  Review preview for Alone In Four Walls

  If this is a true representation of what Russian reform schools can achieve, it is remarkable.

  Inside a juvenile Russian reform school.
• 
  Along Came A Spider (2000)

  Review preview for Along Came A Spider

  If serial killers are the new rock'n'roll, Gary Soneji is heavy metal.

  Morgan freeman is back as cop Dr Alex Ross... this time on the trail of a nutty serial killer.
• 
  American Cousins (2003)

  Review preview for American Cousins

  The film has oodles of charm and avoids the obvious pitfalls of comic Mafia spoofs.

  Mafiosi hide out with their Scottish cousins, who run an ice cream parlour with chips.
• 
  American Pie (1998)

  Review preview for American Pie

  For a movie that treats penetration with military precision, it is not as radical as it appears. Traditional rites-of-passage sentiments surrounding the Prom remain intact.

  High-schoolers enter a pact to lose their virginity.
• 
  American Pie 2 (2001)

  Review preview for American Pie 2

  The level of humour has plummeted.

  Virginal high shool kids have party fun after freshman year at college.
• 
  American Pie: The Wedding (2003)

  Review preview for American Pie: The Wedding

  Despite Stifler's antics, the film is more sophisticated than you might expect.

  Third installment in the randy boys' saga of sexual misdemeanours, this time in a marital context.
• 
  Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

  Review preview for Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

  Burgundy's ability to survive cockups on an industrial scale is impressive

  San Diego's 70s TV newscaster and his team of idiots take on the graveyard shift on a new 24hour New York channel with surprising (manic) results
• 
  Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (2004)

  Review preview for Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy

  This is what used to be known in the sixth form lavs as bike shed humour - infantile male gags about the female anatomy, genitalia, show-off swaggering and sexual innuendos, so broad they flatten subtlety and boil boob gags until they pop.

  TV news channel farce, with bike shed humour and sexist innuendo.
• 
  And There In The Dust (2004)

  A short legacy of child rape.
• 
  And When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007)

  Review preview for And When Did You Last See Your Father?

  The boy discovers his father’s failings as he grows up and is hurt by them. His mother has always known, but she is of an older generation where wives were expected to suffer in silence.

  Memories of living with a popular dad.
• 
  Angela's Ashes (1999)

  Review preview for Angela's Ashes

  It looks like a commercial for the land of the free.

  Robert Carlyle and Emily Watson star in Alan Parker's adaptation of of Frank McCourt's best-selling account of his poor Irish upbringing.
• 
  Angel Eyes (2001)

  A tough Chicago cop falls for a drifter with a dodgy past.
• 
  Anger Management (2003)

  A businessman attends anger management sessions with comic consequences.
• 
  The Animal (2001)

  Review preview for The Animal

  The script never leaves the lavatory.

  Comedy where a file clerk is reengineered with animal parts by crazy surgeon.
• 
  Annabelle: Creation (2017)

  Review preview for Annabelle: Creation

  In the dark no one can hear you die

  Several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon becoming the target of the dollmaker's possessed creation, Annabelle.
• 
  Anna And The King (1999)

  Non-singing version of the story about how the King of Siam fell for a British school maam.
• 
  Anna Spud (2003)

  Review preview for Anna Spud

  The animation is inspired, the script hilarious.

  Who wants holidays if getting there is beyond ruin?
• 
  Annotate (2003)

  Review preview for Annotate

  Hugely imaginative.

  Discourse on electricity - the hows and whats - with moveable graphs and animated thingies.
• 
  Another Day in Paradise (1999)

  Junkies go on a spree of devastation.
• 
  Antitrust (2000)

  Competition is murderous in the high-tech world of digital convergence and global internet control.
• 
  Antwone Fisher (2002)

  A man comes to terms with his painful past.
• 
  Anywhere But Here (1999)

  Mum makes movie star plans for her unwitting daughter.
• 
  Any Given Sunday (1999)

  Oliver Stone takes a gladiatorial look at the world of American football.
• 
  Any Way The Wind Blows (2003)

  Review preview for Any Way The Wind Blows

  The film has soul rather than unity of purpose.

  Ensemble movie defined as "Antwerp on a Friday in June".
• 
  An Affair (1998)

  Review preview for An Affair

  The passion and pain are more real than madness.

  Heart-rending tale of illicit love.
• 
  An Autumn Tale (1998)

  The best pals of a French fortysomething try to set her up with romance. The final part of Rohmer's Four Seasons series.
• 
  An Everlasting Piece (2000)

  Review preview for An Everlasting Piece

  However hard they try, the actors cannot lift the movie out of its time and place.

  Selling toupees to the IRA is a moral, as well as a business decision for two likely lads.
• 
  An Ideal Husband (1999)

  Review preview for An Ideal Husband

  The performances are rapier sharp

  Stilted Oscar Wilde adaptation.