Reviews by Nick Da Costa

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

  Review preview for Pan's Labyrinth

  Del Toro's film is a welcomingly strange mix of simplistic, questing fairytale and dark, Spanish Civil War-era drama.

  In the midst of the Spanish Civil War, a lonely girl encounters a mysterious faun.
• 
  Inception (2010)

  Review preview for Inception

  It’s less a magician thrilling the people with his showmanship and story, more one with their back turned, too fascinated by their own ingenuity to finesse their narrative.

  DiCaprio's dream spy takes on the ultimate inside job.
• 
  The Last King Of Scotland (2006)

  Review preview for The Last King Of Scotland

  Perfectly encapsulates what was and still might be Britain's naive political approach towards Africa.

  Ugandan dictator's rise to power as seen through the eyes of a young doctor.
• 
  The Last Of The Mohicans (1992)

  Review preview for The Last Of The Mohicans

  Mann creates a perfect balance of action and mood.

  The adopted son of a chief tries to protect the daughter of a British colonel.
• 
  Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007)

  Review preview for Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

  director David Yates has wonderfully twisted the rather stuffy, privileged atmosphere of the previous films and opened it up to the harsh reality of the Muggle world.

  Harry Potter and friends find themselves in trouble as a mysterious stranger seizes power at Hogwarts.
• 
  Brooklyn's Finest (2009)

  Review preview for Brooklyn's Finest

  Has a brooding and moody power that makes up for what it lacks in originality.

  Trouble brews for three New York cops.
• 
  Let The Right One In (2008)

  Review preview for Let The Right One In

  Offers a fresh transfusion that obliterates the anaemia of what has gone before.

  A touching story of first romance... with a side-serving of horror.
• 
  The Hurt Locker (2008)

  Review preview for The Hurt Locker

  Bigelow fetishises action and forces us to confront it in the same way Peckinpah did.

  An elite bomb disposal unit struggles to function in the heart of the Iraq war.
• 
  The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007)

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

  Instead of this being a simple tale of early media obsession in Western form, the film posits Ford and Jesse as mythologically entwined, almost biblically.

  The title says it all...
• 
  Robin Hood (2010)

  Review preview for Robin Hood

  Not so much the dashing outlaw and his band of Merry Men. Think glum Union Steward and his embittered workers.

  Robin goes back to his roots before the hood.
• 
  Iron Man 2 (2010)

  Review preview for Iron Man 2

  Unfortunately, the sad realisation about Iron Man 2 is that it suffers from its own success.

  Tony Stark faces new challenges and meets new enemies, both in his own life and in that of his alter-ego, Iron Man.
• 
  Dear John (2010)

  Review preview for Dear John

  Tawdry and shamelessly manipulative.

  A soldier on leave has a whirlwind romance with a college student.
• 
  Moon (2009)

  Review preview for Moon

  Jones almost outdoes classics of the genre with a refusal to dish out simple answers. He respects us far too much for that.

  An astronaut starts to lose the plot at the end of a mission to the moon - but is there something else going on? Plus read our exclusive interview with Duncan Jones
• 
  The International (2009)

  Review preview for The International

  Tour-de-force filmmaking.

  An Interpol agent and a lawyer try to uncover an international banking scandal.
• 
  Whip It (2009)

  Review preview for Whip It

  For all the fun, frothy fusion of periods that it elicits, the film could have benefited from less sugar-coated fantasy.

  A bored suburban girl discovers a new way to live when she attends a roller derby and meets a tough team of competitive skaters.
• 
  Kick-Ass (2010)

  Review preview for Kick-Ass

  Sad to say, but Cage is both the best and worst thing in the movie.

  Following an accident, a young man decides to dress up and reinvent himself as a superhero.
• 
  The Blind Side (2009)

  Review preview for The Blind Side

  It’s the friendly face on something tantamount to facism.

  Biopic of football star Michael Oher.
• 
  Millennium: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009)

  Review preview for Millennium: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

  Tension between two locations enables Oplev to almost get away with an early glacial pace.

  A disgraced journalist and a computer hacker stumble on a chain of undiscovered serial killings.
• 
  Enemies Of The People (2010)

  Review preview for Enemies Of The People

  The juxtaposition of natural cycle and human genocide is subtly and deeply conveyed.

  A young journalist whose family was killed by the Khmer Rouge befriends the perpetrators of the Killing Fields genocide.
• 
  Legion (2010)

  Review preview for Legion

  The thriller elements are, on the whole, so meagre and limply staged that the film is better seen as an examination of divinely dysfunctional families.

  A fallen angel tries to save humanity from the wrath of God.
• 
  The Crazies (2010)

  Review preview for The Crazies

  In among the obligatory ‘boo’ scares are some unsettling moments of horror.

  A mysterious toxin in the water supply drives most of the people of a small town crazy, so that they turn upon their friends and neighbours in this remake of the George Romero classic.
• 
  Crazy Heart (2009)

  Review preview for Crazy Heart

  One thing’s for sure, beneath this three-star movie there’s yet another five-star performance from Bridges.

  A washed up country singer forms an unexpected relationship with a journalist.
• 
  The Lovely Bones (2009)

  Review preview for The Lovely Bones

  If Jackson was hoping for ethereal over corny, he’s failed decisively

  A murdered young girl observes her family from limbo.
• 
  Daddy Longlegs (2009)

  Review preview for Daddy Longlegs

  What directors Benny and Josh Safdie have done here is show the destructive effects of fairytale.

  A happy-go-lucky man tries to bond with his kids but can't quite get the hang of responsibility.
• 
  Splice (2009)

  Review preview for Splice

  This movie has some of the strangest moments you’ll see on film this year.

  An experiment gets out of control after scientists go on the run with their human-animal hybrid creation.
• 
  Happythankyoumoreplease (2010)

  Review preview for Happythankyoumoreplease

  This is a movie in serious need of pruning.

  A mumblecore romcom following a group of friends struggling with their relationships.
• 
  Hesher (2010)

  Review preview for Hesher

  An odd mixture of the striking and the squandered.

  A mysterious, anarchical trickster descends on the lives of a family struggling to deal with a painful loss.
• 
  The Killer Inside Me (2010)

  Review preview for The Killer Inside Me

  Required viewing.

  Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is a pillar of the community in his small Texan town - patient, polite and well liked... until he starts killing people.
• 
  Welcome To The Rileys (2009)

  Review preview for Welcome To The Rileys

  While this might sound like a trite story of redemption, it’s one infused by both a unique aesthetic and compelling central performances.

  On a business trip to New Orleans, a damaged man seeks salvation by caring for a wayward young woman.
• 
  Winter's Bone (2010)

  Review preview for Winter's Bone

  An unrelenting, yet utterly mesmerising cinematic vision.

  An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.