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round up
Cinema / 25 June 2026
25 June 2026

ANDY HEDGECOCK, FIONA O’CONNOR and MARIA DUARTE review The Last Viking, Blue Heron, 500 Miles, How To Live On Earth, and Supergirl

Jodie
Film of the Week / 25 June 2026
25 June 2026

MARIA DUARTE goes down a bilingual rabbit hole with an impressive Jodie Foster

fotw
Film of the week / 21 May 2026
21 May 2026

ANDY HEDGECOCK is astonished by a portrait of contemporary Greece, complete with political protest, organised crime and people trafficking, told from the point of view of — wait for it — runaway poultry

fotw
Film Of The Week / 14 May 2026
14 May 2026

LEO BOIX recommends a film that portrays how fascism feeds on ignorance, machismo and myth in isolated communities abandoned by the state

Olive Gray as Maria and Slavko Sobin as Vlad in Surviving Earth / Pic IMDb
Film of the week / 23 April 2026
23 April 2026

ANDY HEDGECOCK recommends a gripping and touching drama, based on a true story, about a Serbian refugee rebuilding his life in Bristol

round up
Cinema / 19 March 2026
19 March 2026

JOHN GREEN, MICHAL BONCZA and BELLA KATZ review The Good Boy, Broken English, and Don't Be Prey

fotw
Film of the week / 19 March 2026
19 March 2026

ANDY HEDGECOCK peers into the US psyche to find deluded ambition, toxic aggression and an obsession with fame

MEMORABLE: Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver / pic IMDb
Culture / 16 March 2026
16 March 2026

Taxi Driver at 50: Martin Scorsese’s film remains a troubling reflection of our times, writes ALEXANDER HOWARD

cuba ff
Screen Cuba Film Festival 2026 / 6 March 2026
6 March 2026

In the face of Trump’s brutal aggression, DODIE WEPPLER and TRISH MEEHAN invite you to share some of the masterpieces of Cuban cinema

Berlin FF
Berlin Film Festival 2026 / 24 February 2026
24 February 2026

RITA DI SANTO points out that political films at Cannes, and overtly pro-Palestinian statements by film-makers, contradict the apolitical stance of the jury

round up
Cinema / 19 February 2026
19 February 2026

JOHN GREEN, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare, Man on the Run, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and Cold Storage

fotw
Film of the Week / 29 January 2026
29 January 2026

JOHN GREEN savours an elegy to black farmers in the deep south of the US: a vanishing way of life redolent with poetic and political meaning

round up
Cinema / 22 January 2026
22 January 2026

MARIA DUARTE and MICHAL BONCZA review The History of Sound, H Is For Hawk, Saipan, and Mercy

fotw
Film of the week / 18 December 2025
18 December 2025

MARIA DUARTE is swept along by the cocky self-belief of a ping-pong hustler in a surprisingly violent drama

el gouna
El Gouna Film Festival 2025 / 4 November 2025
4 November 2025

RITA DI SANTO points out the social experience of exploitation and oppression that inform the popular winners at this year’s festival

palestine 36
Film of the Week / 30 October 2025
30 October 2025

ANDY HEDGECOCK recommends a cinematic glimpse of the role of the British in establishing the zionist state

REBELS: Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar in Nadia Fall’s powerful debut feature Brides [Pic: IMDb]
Cinema / 25 September 2025
25 September 2025

MARIA DUARTE, LEO BOIX and ANGUS REID review Brides, Dead of Winter, A Night Like This, and The Librarians

one battle
Film of the Week / 25 September 2025
25 September 2025

MARIA DUARTE is entertained by a wry portrait of befuddled resistance to US authoritarianism

round up
Cinema / 14 August 2025
14 August 2025

MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Materialists, Unmoored, Together, and Bambi: A Tale of Life in The Woods

cannes
Cannes Film Festival 2025 / 30 May 2025
30 May 2025

RITA DI SANTO reports on the films from Iran, Spain, Belgium and Brazil that won the top awards

round up
Cinema / 29 May 2025
29 May 2025

The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Along Came Love, The Ballad of Wallis Island, The Ritual, and Karate Kid: Legends

fotw
Film of the Week / 29 May 2025
29 May 2025

MARIA DUARTE recommends the powerful dramatisation of the true story of a husband and wife made homeless

backlash
Cinema / 8 May 2025
8 May 2025

The Star's critics MARIA DUARTE and MICHAL BONCZA review Backlash: The Murder of George Floyd, The Uninvited, The Surfer, and Motel Destino

Maiwene Barthelemy and Clément Faveau in Holy Cow
Cinema / 10 April 2025
10 April 2025
The Star's critics ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARTIN HALL, MICHAL BONCZA, ANGUS REID reviews Holy Cow, One to One: John and Yoko, King of Kings, Panda Bear in Africa
(L) REDISCOVERED ALLIES: The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru; (R)
Cinema / 20 March 2025
20 March 2025
The Star's critics review The Sinking Of The Lisbon Maru, Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other, American Dreamer, When Autumn Falls, and Flow
BLOOD ON THE TRACKS: Xilun Sun as the mysterious interloper
Film of the Week: / 20 March 2025
20 March 2025
ANGUS REID recommends an exquisite drama about the disturbing impact of the one child policy in contemporary China
Film of the Week: / 27 February 2025
27 February 2025
MARIA DUARTE recommends an homage to the iconic showgirl that understands them as working-class women 
HAUNTING: Lucy Liu in Presence
Cinema / 24 January 2025
24 January 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Presence, Flight Risk, Emanuelle and Back in Action
THE REAL THING: Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, Civil Rights March
Opinion / 21 January 2025
21 January 2025
DAVID YEARSLEY compares Timothee Chalamet’s impersonation of Dylan to the real thing
STUNNING: Ethan Herisse and Brandon Turner in Nickel Boys
Cinema / 10 January 2025
10 January 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Nickel Boys, Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger, Babygirl, and Maria
LAS VEGAS HERE WE COME: Mark Eidelshtein and Mikey Madison,
Cinema / 31 October 2024
31 October 2024
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Anora, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, Blitz, and Heretic
(L) Saoirse Ronan in The Outrun; (R) Shia LaBeouf in Megalop
Cinema / 26 September 2024
26 September 2024
Decline and fall of the US empire, rehab in Orkney, the younger self, and lone wolves
(L) Speak No Evil; (Centre) The Queen Of My Dreams; (R) My F
Cinema / 12 September 2024
12 September 2024
Iranian late-bloomers, holiday chums, the poison pen, and Pakistani lesbians: The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews My Favourite Cake, Speak No Evil, The Critic, and The Queen Of My Dreams
NAZIDAMMERUNG: Marion Cotillard in Lee
Film of the Week: / 12 September 2024
12 September 2024
MARIA DUARTE recommends the story of surrealist turned photojournalist Lee Miller
(L) The Brutalist, directed by Brady Corbet; (R) Youth Homec
Venice Film Festival 2024 / 9 September 2024
9 September 2024
RITA DI SANTO selects seven of the best films from this year’s line-up to watch for in cinemas
IMPERIAL DECADENCE: Caligula
Cinema / 8 August 2024
8 August 2024
Domestic abuse, orgies revisited, baby trouble, and Hollywood claptrap: MARIA DUARTE reviews It Ends With Us, Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, Babes, and Borderlands
Agent of Happiness
Cinema / 11 July 2024
11 July 2024
Happy sadface, moonshot scullduggery, trouble sleeping and Cage animal: The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Agent of Happiness, Fly Me To The Moon, Sleep, and Longlegs
Features / 22 June 2024
22 June 2024
The award-winning documentary on British anti-apartheid heroes has already sparked passionate discussions — now trade unions and progressives must integrate it into training and education courses, argues ROGER McKENZIE
Marvin Hagler (r) catches Alan Minter (l) with a vicious rig
Men's Boxing / 21 June 2024
21 June 2024
JOHN WIGHT on boxing legends make such great film subjects
THE REAL THING: Abdellatif Masstouri and Ayoub Elaid in Houn
Cinema / 13 June 2024
13 June 2024
Posh environmentalism, Moroccan lumpenproletariat, US survivalism and cartoon adolescence
Anthony Hopkins as Sigmund Freud
Film of the Week: / 13 June 2024
13 June 2024
MARIA DUARTE recommends a drama that brings together a superstar Atheist and a born-again Christian in a psychoanalytic consulting room
CONQUERING FEARS: (L) Young Woman and the Sea; (R) Sting
Cinema / 30 May 2024
30 May 2024
Channel swimming, forgetting the ex-bf, therapeutic cycling and scary spiders: The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Young Woman and the Sea, The Beast, Hard Miles, and Sting
NO HUMAN NEEDED? Editing, storyboarding and animation all fa
Features / 8 May 2024
8 May 2024
After the recent writers' and actors' strikes, the bosses in film and TV are embracing the cost-cutting potential of AI even faster than before — barely acknowledging that what they will be cutting is livelihoods, writes DENNIS BROE
HUMAN VALUES: Lina Soualem’s documentary, Bye Bye Tiberias
El Gouna Film Festival 2023 / 28 December 2023
28 December 2023
RITA DI SANTO visits El Gouna film festival in Egypt to witness a programme of films and discussions in solidarity with Palestinians
PRELUDE TO INDIANA JONES: (Above) Eadweard Muybridge: Arab H
Science and Society / 11 October 2023
11 October 2023
ROX MIDDLETON and LIAM SHAW examine the early scientific investigations that enabled film to become an artistic medium
Lola Campbell as Georgie in Scrapper
Film of the Week: / 24 August 2023
24 August 2023
MARIA DUARTE is delighted by a coming of age story, that goes in reverse
Color photograph of the Trinity test, 15 July 1945; J. Rober
Opinion / 24 July 2023
24 July 2023
CAROL TURNER points out the failure of the film Oppenheimer to face up to the real-life consequences of nuclear warfare
(L to R) Barry Ward as Leon and Liam Carney as Iver
Cinema / 15 June 2023
15 June 2023
MARIA DUARTE reviews of Sunlight, You Can Live Forever, Inland and Greatest Days
Alexandra Burke as and Natey Jones as Travis
Film of the Week: / 15 June 2023
15 June 2023
MARIA DUARTE recommends an intelligent exploration of family conflict and taboo subjects
Ken Loach's The Old Oak (left) and Aki Kaurismaki’s Fallen
Film Festival / 29 May 2023
29 May 2023
Star critic RITA DI SANTO recommends two outstanding depictions of working-class lives in England and Finland as the pick of the bunch
Leaving to Remain
Film of the Week / 27 April 2023
27 April 2023
MARIA DUARTE recommends the inside story of what happens when Roma people are rescued from discrimination
Marie Colomb in The Beasts (2022)
Film / 23 March 2023
23 March 2023
MARIA DUARTE is gripped by a complex thriller set amidst the rural beauties and resentments of Spanish Galicia
QUALITY CARE: a scene from Alan Bennet's Allelujah
Film / 16 March 2023
16 March 2023
MARIA DUARTE recommends a film that unashamedly wears its heart on its sleeve
REVOLUTIONARY: (L to R) De Cierta Manera (One Way or Another
Cinema / 6 March 2023
6 March 2023
YAHILY HERNANDEZ PORTO interviews film historian Garcia Yero and prize-winning author Luis Alvarez Alvarez about the extraordinary achievement of Sara Gomez, the rediscovered star of revolutionary Cuban cinema
MEMORABLE: Chrissie, Shake Hands and Loggo from Boys from th
BenchMarx / 3 March 2023
3 March 2023
JOHN GREEN reflects on the history of working-class access to broadcast media
(L to R) Ali Junejo and Alina Khan in Joyland
Cinema / 24 February 2023
24 February 2023
The Star's film critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Joyland, What's Love Got To Do With It, Cocaine Bear and Creature
Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tar in Todd Field's film TAR
Film of the Week: / 12 January 2023
12 January 2023
Despite the film’s length, MARIA DUARTE is impressed by Cate Blanchett’s portrayal of a groundbreaking conductor at the height of her powers
Mariana Trevino as Marisol and Tom Hanks as Otto Anderson
Cinema / 5 January 2023
5 January 2023
MARIA DUARTE reviews of A Man Called Otto, Piggy and The Enforcer
(L to R) Toby Jones as Norman and Olivia Colman as Hilary
Film of the Week / 5 January 2023
5 January 2023
MARIA DUARTE recommends a personal testimony of human endurance in the face of adversity
ALONE TOGETHER: (Left) Lokita (Joely Mbundi) and Tori (Pablo
Film of the Week / 1 December 2022
1 December 2022
MARIA DUARTE recommends a heartbreaking film about two young children from Africa, who must endure the inhumanity of Europe’s attitude to refugees
A scene from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Cinema / 24 November 2022
24 November 2022
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Bones And All, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio and Utama
EXISTENTIAL THREAT: The closing of marketplaces and the erad
Film / 24 November 2022
24 November 2022
(L to R) Saudi General Ahmad Asiri confronted by protesters;
Documentary Film Review / 3 November 2022
3 November 2022
WILL STONE recommends a must-see documentary that exposes the shameful double standards at the heart of British governance
Aline Küppenheim as Carmen and Nicolas Sepulveda as Elias
BFI London Film Festival 2022 / 18 October 2022
18 October 2022
MARIA DUARTE’S attention is caught by three films in which strong and determined women confront prejudice, misogyny and repressive legislation
EFFERVESCENT: Blind Ambition
Cinema / 11 August 2022
11 August 2022
Maria Duarte reviews Blind Ambition, Where is Anne Frank, Eiffel, and Between Two Dawns
Film Of The Week: / 30 June 2022
30 June 2022
MARIA DUARTE recommends a chilling dramatisation of a gun massacre that ravaged a Tasmanian town in 1996, and which highlights how easily another mass shooting could happen in Australia today.
Khansa as Mohammad
Cinema / 16 June 2022
16 June 2022
RITA DI SANTO reels off her disappointment at Sundance 2022 Festival's tedious mediocrity
Udo Kier in Swan Song
Cinema / 9 June 2022
9 June 2022
The Star's critic Maria Duarte reviews Swan Song, Leave No Traces, All My Friends Hate Me and Jurassic World: Dominion
(L to R) Baptiste Sornin, Pablo Schils as Tori and Mbundu Jo
Film Festival / 29 May 2022
29 May 2022
Although impressed by the overall quality of the films on offer, RITA DI SANTO believes Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Tori and Lokita merited the Palme D’Or
Film Of The Week / 26 May 2022
26 May 2022
MARIA DUARTE recommends a film exploring the punishing world of work endured by poor women in France, and the ethical questions raised by seeking to highlight their plight
Film Of The Week: / 10 March 2022
10 March 2022
MARIA DUARTE recommends a dark comedy set in a blue collar US town on the cusp of the Trump era
Jim Broadbent in The Duke
Film of the Week / 24 February 2022
24 February 2022
MARIA DUARTE recommends a film celebrating the man who stole a masterpiece from the National Gallery in his campaign for free TV licences for the elderly
Film Of The Week: / 10 February 2022
10 February 2022
MARIA DUARTE recommends a heart-wrenching, animated documentary about an Afghan refugee’s flight to Denmark, where he comes to terms with his past, and himself
BLURRED VISION: (L to R) Gierek among workers, in the film,
Opinion / 1 February 2022
1 February 2022
ETHAN CHAN casts a critical eye on the recently released film Gierek - a confusing cinematic story about the controversial communist leader of Poland of the 1970s
(L to R) Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons as Phil and
Opinion / 19 January 2022
19 January 2022
JONAH RASKIN meditates about the periodic, Phoenix-like rise of the genre that was once a Hollywood staple
Jeremy Irons as Neville Chamberlain
Opinion / 9 January 2022
9 January 2022
JOHN GREEN takes issue with critics’ praise for a biopic that glosses over facts to paint a fake and revisionist picture
George MacKay in Munich — The Edge of War
Film Of The Week / 6 January 2022
6 January 2022
MARIA DUARTE is intrigued by a gripping what-if tale based on the fateful Munich Agreement between Chamberlain and Hitler in 1938
A screenshot from Matthew Heineman's The First Wave
Cinema / 25 November 2021
25 November 2021
The Star's critics Van Conner and Maria Duarte review The First Wave, Encanto, Lapwing, Rebel Dykes and Dying to Divorce
Adam Driver (left) as Maurizio Gucci and Lady Gaga as Patriz
Film Of The Week / 25 November 2021
25 November 2021
MARUA DUARTE recommends the stranger-than-fiction story of the rise and fall of the Gucci family’s billion-dollar fashion empire
PREDICTABLE NOMEN OMEN: ‘Vadimir’ (Dave Bautista) as lea
OPINION / 1 November 2021
1 November 2021
Dune is a prophetic tale about the environmental apocalypse that boundless Western greed has subjected the Earth to in 21st century, writes OLI MOULD
Film Of The Week: / 16 September 2021
16 September 2021
MARIA DUARTE recommends a shocking documentary about the ecological devastation caused by the intensive agriculture which feeds our desire for meat and dairy products