Evening Standard - Film

Sex and the sixties in An Education

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:16:38 GMT

An adaptation of journalist Lynn Barber's memoir of her days as a suburban schoolgirl brilliantly captures the spirit of its age in An Education.

A captivating love story in Bright Star

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:47:44 GMT

Jane Campion's Bright Star is full of confidence about its artistic vision and genuinely poetic, says Andrew O'Hagan

Enjoy a thrill ride with A Christmas Carol

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:43:17 GMT

Robert Zemeckis's A Christmas Carol is splendidly mounted and visually imaginative animated 3D version of the classic novel

Romance in Paper Heart

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:20:55 GMT

You will find cheaply made American independent docudrama Paper Heart, charming or faintly irritating

1 Day is impressively non-moralistic

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:20:55 GMT

Made on the unlovely streets of Birmingham, 1 Day has been labelled the first British hip-hop musical

High school vampire teasing in Jennifer's Body

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:20:55 GMT

Jennifer's Body, starring Megan Fox, is no ordinary splatter movie but one written by Diablo Cody, who penned Juno

Clooney's barmy army in The Men Who Stare At Goats

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:37:06 GMT

The Men Who Stare At Goats, taken from Jon Ronson's non-fiction book about the US Army's attempt to use paranormal powers, doesnt quite cut it.

Innovations aplenty in Citizen Kane

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:31:30 GMT

Made by Orson Welles at the tender age of 25 in 1941, Citizen Kane is certainly the most stunning debut film

The Horseman is an undeniably well made film

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:31:30 GMT

Steven Kastrissios's debut has Peter Marshall as a devastated father seeking bloody revenge in The Horseman

Dead Man Running is entertaining enough

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:31:30 GMT

If you think Rio Ferdinands form on the football field has suffered lately, it could be that he has been fretting about his cockney crime caper Dead Man Running

God and perversion in Love Exposure

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:31:30 GMT

If you can stand its length, this winner of the International Critics Prize at the Berlin Film Festival - Love Exposure - has some extraordinary things in it

Laughter in face of tyranny in Tales From The Golden Age

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:31:29 GMT

Written by Cristian Mungiu, this portmanteau film has five stories, each helmed by a different but unnamed Romanian director, which comment on the surreal and comic urban myths of the time - most of which are substantially true

Artist Sam imagines stunning vision of young Lennon

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:32:38 GMT

What a pleasure, and what a fitting end to an excellent 53rd London Film Festival. Sam Taylor-Wood's film about John Lennon's teenage years is a moving and accomplished debut

Curious clips do little to resurrect Jacko in This Is It

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:40:59 GMT

This Is It shows Jackson centre stage throughout, always moving, often singing and sometimes looking like he is genuinely enjoying himself.

Bovine gags in horrendous The Goods

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:17:01 GMT

With a halfway decent screenplay and a director who is not Neal Brennan, gross-out comedy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, might have worked

Stalked by a psychopath in Coffin Rock

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:17:01 GMT

Coffin Rock is an Australian version of Fatal Attraction which is well-shot and directed, and more than decently acted

Cirque du Freak is a mess of it's own making

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:17:00 GMT

Cirque du Freak can never quite make up its mind whether it's about the circus or the vampires

Dolphin friendly in The Cove

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:17:00 GMT

Cast in the form of a thriller, The Cove unites free-divers and other activists in the plot to uncover some fishermen's guilty secrets

Making the boy soldiers in Johnny Mad Dog

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:46:16 GMT

Writer-director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire's film, Johnny Mad Dog, is not an easy watch but it drums home a lesson

Fantastic Mr Fox is a bright-eyed bushy tale

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:15:34 GMT

Director Wes Anderson chooses homemade kookiness over CGI trickery for his take on Roald Dahls classic Fantastic Mr Fox the result is charming.

Fantastic Mr Fox is a bright-eyed bushy tale

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:44:52 GMT

Director Wes Anderson chooses homemade kookiness over CGI trickery for his take on Roald Dahls classic Fantastic Mr Fox the result is charming.

Liam Neeson's solid turn in erotic thriller Chloe belies own grief

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:08:17 GMT

Atom Egoyan's film, Chloe, is a glossy, erotic thriller with an arthouse veneer.

Penny Woolcock: A life of grime

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:51:28 GMT

After being violently mugged late one night in Archway, film-maker Penny Woolcock writes, she was inspired to make a musical about what goes on in the city after dark.

Strange happenings in Pontypool

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:21:11 GMT

Pontypool is an original take on genre movies of its kind

A Single Man has coolness bordering on the chilly

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:21:11 GMT

Colin Firth gives an impeccably restrained performance in the lead role of A Single Man, an accomplished period piece from Tom Ford