Reviews by Angus Wolfe Murray

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  An Unfinished Life (2005)

  Review preview for An Unfinished Life

  The film is so slow, slugs feed off it.

  A woman moves in with her estranged father who is trying to come to terms with grief.
• 
  The Appeared (2007)

  Review preview for The Appeared

  The film is made with commitment, even passion, and the terror tactics are effective until the plot loses itself in a miasmic mist of incomprehension.

  Siblings are terrified by tortured ghosts and a brain dead father's legacy in Argentina.
• 
  April Snow (2005)

  Slow musings on betrayal and redemption.
• 
  Apt Pupil (1998)

  Review preview for Apt Pupil

  The motivation at the centre of Bryan Singer's follow up to his scintilating debut, The Usual Suspects, is not so much dubious as blurred.

  A boy blackmails a neighbour, who he believes is a Nazi war criminal.
• 
  Arachnid (2001)

  A group goes to island to discover the presence of man eating giant spiders.
• 
  Ararat (2002)

  Review preview for Ararat

  The complexity of Egoyan's construction enlightens, rather than confuses. How the pieces fit together is a sleight of cinema.

  Fictionalised re-examination of the Armenian genocide.
• 
  Are We Done Yet? (2007)

  Review preview for Are We Done Yet?

  Laugh? You’ll beg for mercy. As for sentimentality, it’s like poison ivy spreading across every scene.

  Townies buy country mansion, with disastrous results.
• 
  Ariane's Thread (2014)

  Review preview for Ariane's Thread

  What might have been a comic cliche with a cast of oddballs is so much more humane

  A woman alone on her birthday heads for adventure in Marseille.
• 
  Arlington Road (1999)

  Review preview for Arlington Road

  Only at the end does credibility falter.

  A bereaved lecturer begins to think his neighbour is a terrorist.
• 
  Around The World In 80 Days (2004)

  Chop-socky remake of Jules Verne classic.
• 
  The Art Of Being Straight (2008)

  Review preview for The Art Of Being Straight

  Rosen has captured that moment in a young man’s life when he crosses a line that will change him forever.

  Questioning sexuality in L.A.
• 
  The Art Of Survival (1997)

  Review preview for The Art Of Survival

  At the heart of this 25-minute doc is a serious study of a genuine problem.

  Documentray explores the plight of Bosnian refugees in London.
• 
  Asoka (2001)

  Review preview for Asoka

  The acting is not realistic.

  Prince Asoka falls in love, sings songs, dances and kills hordes of people in second century BC.
• 
  The Assassination Of Richard Nixon (2004)

  Review preview for The Assassination Of Richard Nixon

  Being a loser is like dying by degrees. Mueller, with co-writer Kevin Kennedy, reflects this most accurately and Penn's performance runs contrary to anything he has done before.

  A bad salesman with a broken marriage loses the plot and buys a gun.
• 
  Assessment (2005)

  Running along a beach through the centuries to the music of The Beta Band.
• 
  Asterix and Obelix take on Caesar (1999)

  Review preview for Asterix and Obelix take on Caesar

  The effects do not enhance the comedy, rather override it, exposing a dearth of imagination.

  Live-action version of the comic book.
• 
  As Far As You've Come (2006)

  Review preview for As Far As You've Come

  Writer/director Vincent Hunter stays close to his actors, who respond magnificently. The mood is dark, the emotions muted.

  Caring for a wounded man in the rubbish tip.
• 
  Atlantis - The Lost Empire (2001)

  Review preview for Atlantis - The Lost Empire

  Flat from the start

  Animated adventure about a quest to find the lost city.
• 
  August Rush (2007)

  Review preview for August Rush

  The film's sugar content is off the scale and it doesn’t help that everyone who comes in contact with Evan are sooo nice it reaffirms your belief in human nature – well, almost.

  Boy on the run discovers he is a musical prodigy.
• 
  The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)

  Review preview for The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman

  Jane’s story has enough drama to fill the spaces between post civil war ennui and 20th century repression.

  The life of a freed slave in the American Deep South, from the end of the civil war to the black protest movements of the Sixties.
• 
  The Autograph Hunters (2005)

  Two eccentric autograph hunters from Dunfermline go to the Edinburgh Festival.
• 
  Avalon (2001)

  Review preview for Avalon

  There are moments when the imagery resembles The Matrix and others when it could be the second half of Full Metal Jacket, with Tarkovsky standing in for Kubrick.

  Youngsters in a futuristic world become addicted to a potentially lethal video game.
• 
  Avril Tungsten: Conceptual Lookalike (2005)

  Review preview for Avril Tungsten: Conceptual Lookalike

  This is so daft, it's lovely.

  Dippy lookalike talks about her art.
• 
  Babylon (1980)

  Review preview for Babylon

  Filmed in the style of Scorsese’s Mean Streets, it stands the test of time and the performances of the young cast are exemplary.

  Racial tensions and the battle of sound systems in Brixton's black streets in the late Seventies.
• 
  Baby Driver (2017)

  Review preview for Baby Driver

  This is not a serious film, rather a parody. Every attribute of style over content is here

  His name is Baby and he’s a young and exceptionally talented getaway driver for a criminal gang. Pedal to the metal, music cranked up on his headphones, and flashing lights in the rear-view mirror. Just one last job and Baby can make a fresh start.
• 
  The Bachelor (1999)

  Confirmed bachelor has two days to find a bride or lose his inheritance.
• 
  Bad Company (2002)

  Review preview for Bad Company

  The jokes dry up, because Rock is a one-gag guy

  Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock conduct a sting on Russian Mafia in Prague.
• 
  Bad Guy (2001)

  South Korean pimp becomes obssessed with a shy, new girl in the brothel.
• 
  Bad Santa (2003)

  Review preview for Bad Santa

  The anarchic nature of this dark comedy is the perfect antidote to family friendly Christmas movies, starring Tim Allen, now that Macaulay Culkin has learnt to shave.

  A foul-mouthed, child-hating, alcoholic safe-cracker dons a false beard for the in-store day job.
• 
  Ballerina (2016)

  Review preview for Ballerina

  There is nothing here to be afraid of and a whole bunch of sweetness to wrap around a girl who makes you want to say YES!!

  Set in 1879, an orphan girl dreams of becoming a ballerina and runs away to Paris where she impersonates someone else and accedes to the position of pupil at the Grand Opera House.
• 
  Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress (2002)

  Review preview for Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress

  The film's strength lies in its simplicity and humanity.

  Boys sent for re-education get the hots for local seamstress.
• 
  The Banger Sisters (2002)

  A pair of groupies reunite years later.
• 
  Bank Robbery (2009)

  Review preview for Bank Robbery

  This is an odd, often charming road movie, in which sentimentality is held in check.

  Ex-con and nephew take a road trip in search of a bride.
• 
  Baran (2001)

  Review preview for Baran

  An emotionally strong and politically potent piece of cinema.

  A strange passion erupts on an Iranian building site among illegal Afghan workers.
• 
  The Barbarian Invasions (2003)

  A dying man with a troubled past searches for peace, surrounded by ex-lovers and friends.
• 
  Barbershop (2002)

  Review preview for Barbershop

  As an ensemble movie with a social agenda, it speaks the gospel of community over commercialism.

  Ensemble feelgood soap operatic take on life in a Chicago East Side hair cutting joint.
• 
  Barber Of Siberia (1998)

  Review preview for Barber Of Siberia

  Visually the film is stunning, recapturing a sense of wonder, even madness, that incorporates the soul of Mother Russia.

  Epic story about a woman trying to help an eccentric inventor raise cash in 19th century Russia, who falls for a young officer she meets on a train.
• 
  Barnyard (2006)

  Learning responsibility is a boyman thing for a cowbull, called Otis, in the funfun farmyard.
• 
  Bastille Day (2016)

  Review preview for Bastille Day

  Makes for a series of violent encounters, a twist or two to liven up the already lively proceedings and a feeling that you have been here before, and before, and before...

  A CIA agent and a pickpocket attempt to uncover police corruption in Paris with the dubious help of an activist's ex girlfriend
• 
  Battle Of Wits (2006)

  Review preview for Battle Of Wits

  The film is beautifully orchestrated, involving the simplicity of one man’s endeavour, with battles that dazzle the eye.

  The art of surviving a siege in ancient China.
• 
  Battle Royale (2000)

  Review preview for Battle Royale

  The pornography of violence is a phrase banded about by armchair critics. What does it mean? It means Battle Royale.

  Futuristic Japanese survival gameshow where school children fight for their lives.
• 
  The Babadook (2014)

  Review preview for The Babadook

  Jennifer Kent's film creates something original, even frightening

  A character in a pop up book haunts the nightscape of a six-year-old boy
• 
  Babe: Pig In The City (1998)

  Review preview for Babe: Pig In The City

  The story has imaginative flashes that burst through the mists of fear.

  Porky sequel sees the sheep pig head to town.
• 
  Back To The Future Part II (1989)

  Review preview for Back To The Future Part II

  All the humour, excitement and pleasure of the first film are intact.

  The continuing story of Marty McFly and Doc Brown, in which they discover bad things in the future.
• 
  Back To The Future Part III (1990)

  Review preview for Back To The Future Part III

  The western genre, with its classic cliches, tends to bog down the story.

  Marty and the Doc head back to the Wild West.
• 
  Bad Boys II (2003)

  Review preview for Bad Boys II

  The film never seems to want to end.

  Sequel to the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence action comedy about drugs and cops and explosions.
• 
  Bagdad Cafe (1987)

  Review preview for Bagdad Cafe

  The look is as unforgettable as the power that drives your emotional response.

  After a German woman falls out with her husband in the Mojave desert, she storms off to a truck stop, where she begins to transform - and be transformed by - the people who live there.
• 
  Bandits (2000)

  Review preview for Bandits

  Willis turns on the charm and is so laid back, he lets Thornton and Blanchett steal scene after scene.

  Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton are bank robbers in a menage a trois caper.
• 
  Barton Fink (1991)

  Review preview for Barton Fink

  The film has the maverick nature of originality, constantly surprising, never explaining.

  An intellectual screenwriter comes to Hollywood to write a script for a wrestling B movie.
• 
  Basic (2003)

  Review preview for Basic

  It cheats so blatantly that the early tension, invoked through performance, interrogation and story telling is wasted.

  A Special Forces training exercise in the Panama jungle ends in mystery and murder.