world-cup

Rating: 3.0★

Chocolat (1988)

There's a moment in Chocolat where you sense Claire Denis is doing something genuinely special, something quiet and loaded and precise. And then the film just... continues being quiet. And loaded. And precise. For another hour or so. I'd heard a lot about this one, and

Rating: 3.5★

Ben Fogle and the Buried City (2023)

There's a street in Plymouth, Montserrat, buried under metres of volcanic ash and debris, where you can still make out the rooftops of houses that were someone's home. That image stays with you long after the credits roll on Ben Fogle and the Buried City, and

Rating: 3.0★

Hardcore Henry (2015)

There's a certain kind of cinema that doesn't just ask you to suspend your disbelief. It grabs you by the collar and drags you headfirst into the chaos. Hardcore Henry is exactly that kind of film, and from the very first frame, it makes absolutely no

Rating: 2.0★

Anaconda (1997)

There's a version of Anaconda that works. A giant snake, a panicked crew trapped on a river boat in the Amazon, a scenery-chewing villain, and a cast you'd never expect to share a screen together. That's a recipe for a genuinely enjoyable B-

Rating: 1.0★

Dhanmalhi (1993)

Sometimes you watch a film not because you want to, but because it's the only one available. That's the uncomfortable truth sitting at the heart of my experience with Dhanmalhi. For most international viewers, this 1993 Maldivian production directed by Reeko Moosa Manik isn't

Rating: 4.0★

Yi Yi (2000)

There's a scene in Yi Yi where a man performs a simple card trick, and in the space of a few silent gestures, you feel the weight of everything he's never been able to say out loud. No dramatic music swell, no close-up designed to

Rating: 3.0★

Flow (2024)

The hype around Flow had been building for months by the time I finally sat down with it, and I'll be honest: I went in expecting something genuinely special. What I got was a decent, engaging animated film that left me a little cold, and mostly because critics

Rating: 4.5★

Mustang (2015)

There's a moment early in Mustang where five sisters play in the sea with their male classmates, laughing and splashing in the kind of uncomplicated, sun-drenched joy that feels utterly universal. By the time that same afternoon is used against them, recast as scandal and shame by

Rating: 2.0★

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)

There's a moment in Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives where a man sits at a dinner table making polite conversation with the ghost of his dead wife and the glowing-eyed spirit of his long-lost son, and everyone just... gets on with it. No

Macca's Must Watch

All That's Left of You (2025)

Where do you even begin? That's the question I kept asking myself as the credits rolled on All That's Left of You, and I still don't have a clean answer. What I do have is the feeling of something sitting heavy in my chest,

Rating: 3.5★

A River Called Titas (1973)

There's a particular kind of admiration you can have for a film that sits completely apart from actually enjoying it. That tension is exactly where I spent most of my time with Ritwik Ghatak's A River Called Titas, a film I watched as part of my

Rating: 1.0★

Max Havoc: Curse Of The Dragon (2004)

Some films are bad in an interesting way. Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon is not one of them. It's bad in the way a damp Tuesday afternoon is bad: no drama, no spectacle, just a grey stretch of time you'll never get back. I watched