​PROFILE ★★★★☆
D: Timur Bekmambetov (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Wanted, Day Watch, Night Watch).
S: Valene Kane, Shazad Latif.

Like SEARCHING, an inventive, tense film using a computer screen as the cinema frame. Social media, online communication, etc are utilised to create a heart-in-your-mouth journalistic thriller.


WILD ROSE ★★★☆☆
D: Tom Harper (The Woman in Black 2).
S: Julie Walters, Jessie Buckley, Sophie Okonedo.

Charm and positivity in spades. BILLY ELLIOT with country music. The climax hits the heartwarming notes.

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SUNSET ★★★☆☆
D: László Nemes (Son of Saul).
S: Juli Jakab, Vlad Ivanov, Susanne Wuest, Björn Freiberg, Judit Bárdos, Mónika Balsai.

The eve of the end of an empire, from the perspective of a woman with impressive focus. The film feels unnecessarily opaque. A disappointment compared to the director's debut.


3 FACES ★★★★☆
D: Jafar Panahi (Taxi Tehran, Closed Curtain, This Is Not a Film, Offside, Crimson Gold, The Circle).
S: Behnaz Jafari, Jafar Panahi, Marziyeh Rezaei.

Jafar Panahi is one of the top 10 directors working today. He continues to examine humanity compassionately, in endlessly fascinating ways.

THE FRONT RUNNER ★★★½☆
D: Jason Reitman (Tully; Men, Women & Children; Labor Day, Young Adult, Up in the Air Juno, Thank You for Smoking).
S: Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, Molly Ephraim, Kaitlyn Dever, Ari Graynor, Sara Paxton, J.K. Simmons.

Well written but annoying camerawork. A dissection of the implosion of a presidential political career. Has a myriad of sympathies.


VOX LUX ★★★★★
D: Brady Corbet.
S: Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin.

As with Ali Abbasi's BORDER (2018), this is that rarest of movie offerings: A work that feels like a cinema island of its own creation. Natalie Portman is a force of nature.


DESTROYER ★★★★★
D: Karyn Kusama (The Invitation, Jennifer’s Body, Aeon Flux, Girlfight).
S: Nicole Kidman, Sebastian Stan, Bradley Whitford, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Beau Knapp, Scoot McNairy.

With this and WIDOWS, cinema is reclaiming the crime thriller from television in spectacular fashion. Nicole Kidman eviscerates the screen as a broken detective hunting a bank robber.

It is actor Mia Wasikowska’s birthday. His top 5 films:

- DAMSEL
- JANE EYRE
- MAPS TO THE STARS
- STOKER
- THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

ROMA ★★☆☆☆
D: Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Y Tu Mamá También).
S: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey, Carlos Peralta, Marco Graf.

For me, 2018's biggest cinema disappointment. Are the themes being articulated in a particularly surprising way? Parsimonious characterisation. Director Alfonso Cuarón's trademark technical prowess is shifted to the background.

NON-FICTION ★★★★★
D: Olivier Assayas (Personal Shopper, Clouds of Sils Maria, Something in the Air, Carlos, Summer Hours).
S: Guillaume Canet, Juliette Binoche, Vincent Macaigne, Christa Théret.

Is this director Olivier Assayas's funniest film? There's even an OCEAN'S 12 Julia Roberts-style meta joke. Ostensibly concerning the publishing industry, but the film is about so much more.

​THE SPY GONE NORTH ★★★½☆
D: Jong-bin Yoon (Kundo: Age of the Rampant, Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time).
S: Jung-min Hwang, Sung-min Lee, Jin-Woong Cho.

A politically piercing espionage flick. Perhaps two-thirds of the way in, the film imperceptibly ramps up the gears. So much of the runtime is scrutinising personalities and agendas. The pay-off is (mostly) worth it.


DUPLICATE ★★½☆☆
D: Bill Oliver.
S: Ansel Elgort, Patricia Clarkson, Suki Waterhouse.

Not particularly a compliment, but this feels like a Drake Doremus movie (ZOE, EQUALS): High-concept sci-fi tied to character navel-gazing and romantic melodrama.

TUMBBAD ★★★★☆
Ds: Rahi Anil Barve, Anand Gandhi, Adesh Prasad.
S: Sohum Shah, Ronjini Chakraborty, Anita Date.

An ambitious Indian horror film spanning three decades. 
My review: http://www.filmaluation.com/tumbbad.html

It is actor Hugh Jackman’s birthday. His top 5 films:

- HAPPY FEET
- THE FOUNTAIN
- THE PRESTIGE
- X-MEN 2
- X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

​THE NIGHTSHIFTER ★★☆☆☆
D: Dennison Ramalho.
S: Daniel de Oliveira, Fabiula Nascimento, Bianca Comparato.

What a start! The dead talk to a morgue attendant. It is a striking effect. Instead of something distinct and other-worldly, the promise is squandered for a generic supernatural horror.

WIDOWS ★★★★★
D: Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Shame, Hunger).
S: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Carrie Coon, Jacki Weaver, Jon Bernthal, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya, Brian Tyree Henry, Garret Dillahunt, Cynthia Erivo, Robert Duvall.

I live for films like this. An electrifying crime action thriller, with something to say about the world we live in. Up there with my second favourite movie of all time, HEAT.
My review: http://www.filmaluation.com/widows.html