Movie Reviews

Here you can find all the latest movie reviews of films new to the cinema and out on DVD. IndieMoviesOnline publishes movie reviews in time for US and UK release dates and aims to cover most new films. We always love to hear what you think of films you've watched, so please feel free to post mini-movie reviews of your own in the comments section.

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Beloved
Beloved
Beloved

Cannes (Closing Film) – Beloved is an all-star French musical which spans nearly half-a-century in its characters’ lives. Paul Martin is a perennially ill-tempered Englishman with a beaky conk and an ongoing feud with Islington council. This review is an account of what happened when they met.

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Melancholia
Melancholia
Melancholia

Cannes (Official Selection) – It was one of the most talked-about films at Cannes 2011, with Kirsten Dunst carrying off the best actress award (as co-star Charlotte Gainsbourg did for Antichrist two years ago) and director von Trier banned for half of the festival. All the fuss is quite fitting, says Emma Rowley, for a film that sees the world end with a bang.

Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre

Cannes (Official Selection) – It flew under the judges' radar in Cannes and had neither controversy nor sex symbols on the red carpet to grab headlines but Le Havre is the hidden gem of the main competition, says Emma Rowley. No surprise, as it represented Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki's fourth nomination for the Palme D'Or.

The Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea (The Murderer)
The Yellow Sea (The Murderer)

Cannes (Un Certain Regard) – The director of 2008's critically-acclaimed thriller The Chaser has reunited with leads Ha Jung-Woo and Kim Yun-Seok for his follow-up. This time around, drama segues effortlessly into an action pile-up, says an impressed Emma Rowley.

Code Blue
Code Blue
Code Blue

Cannes (Directors' Fortnight) – Urszula Antoniak's film, whose title references the hospital code for a patient in need of resuscitation, follows a lonely nurse who believes that death is sometimes the kindest treatment. The writer/director herself calls it “challenging”. Emma Rowley agrees.

This Must be the Place.
This Must be the Place
This Must be the Place

Cannes (Official Selection) – We've all seen the on-set pics of Sean Penn looking like an overgrown goth, now we finally get the chance to run the rule over Paolo Sorrentino's English-language debut. We, in the latter case, meaning Paul Martin, 'cause he's the bloke that's reviewing it, like.

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, directed by Takashi Miike.
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai

Cannes (Official Selection) – Via his blood-spattered multitude of movies, director Takashi Miike has cut out more intestines than most over the years. Now he gets to do it in gloriously gory 3D. Paul Martin dons those silly little glasses. Again.

The Skin I Live In, starring Antonio Banderas, and directed by Pedro Almodovar.
The Skin I Live In
The Skin I Live In

Cannes (Official Selection) – When plastic surgery goes bonkers, Pedro Almodóvar is the director spinning a yarn around such unpleasantness. Scrubbed and gowned, Paul Martin makes a beeline for the operating theatre.

Drive, starring Ryan Gosling, and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn.
Drive
Drive

Cannes (Official Selection) – Ryan Gosling and Nicolas Winding Refn team up a tale of burning rubber in the LA underworld. Paul Martin tags along for the ride.

Oslo, August 31st, starring Anders Danielsen Lie, and directed by Joachim Trier.
Oslo, August 31st
Oslo, August 31st

Cannes (Un Certain Regard) – Joachim Trier fired a gust of fresh air up the arse crack of European cinema with his 2006 debut, Reprise. Can he repeat the trick with his second feature? Paul Martin finds out.

Skoonheid, starring Deon Lotz and directed by Oliver Hermanus.
Skoonheid
Skoonheid

Cannes (Un Certain Regard) – South African-born director Oliver Hermanus pitches up in Cannes with his second feature, and he's not yet even 30. Makes you sick, doesn't it? The last sliver of solace for an underachieving Paul Martin will be if the movie turns out to be cobblers. So, does it?

The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life

Cannes (Official Selection) – Premiering at the busiest press screening at Cannes, expectations were at fever pitch for the latest film from Terrence Malick. Emma Rowley takes a look at a film that situates the universal within the autobiographical.

Take Shelter, directed by Jeff Nichols.
Take Shelter
Take Shelter

Cannes (Critics' Week) – Look out! A storm is brewin'! The newly-commissioned General Zod, Michael Shannon, faces up to the end of the world in an American indie which has already impressed at Sundance. Paul Martin battens down the hatches and settles in for the night.

Benda Bilili, out now on UK DVD and Blu-ray.
On DVD: Benda Bilili!
On DVD: Benda Bilili!

Moulin Rouge! The Informant! Them! Tora! Tora! Tora! Nothing like an extraneous exclamation mark or three to really provide some additional oomph, eh? On that note... Paul Martin! Turns his ear! To an African! Music! Sensation!

The Artist, directed by Michel Hazanivicius.
The Artist
The Artist

Cannes (Official Selection) – The historical switch from silent to sound cinema has already sired one legendary screen chronicle, in the shape of Singin' in the Rain. Does The Artist deserve to be mentioned in such exalted company? Paul Martin investigates. 

The Other Side of Sleep
The Other Side of Sleep
The Other Side of Sleep

Cannes (Directors' Fortnight) – A corpse in the forest unsettles a rural Irish community and unnverves a local girl. Emma Rowley takes a look at a first feature that successfully combines social and psychological threads.

Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Cannes (Out of competition) – We know Johnny Depp can delight as Cap'n Jack Sparrow, but can Rob Marshall's supporting movie match up to its main attraction? And, wonders Paul Martin, can this blockbuster be the one to span the treacherous sea that's opened up between Tinseltown and its critics?

The Silence of Joan.
The Silence of Joan
The Silence of Joan

Cannes (Directors' Fortnight) – Given the sheer volume of art, literature and, yes, cinema she's inspired over the years, you really need to do something special to make your particular Joan of Arc stand out from the crowd. Paul Martin checks out the latest screen version.

Love Like Poison.
Love Like Poison
Love Like Poison

One from last year's Cannes Film Festival, as Love Like Poison, the debut feature from Katell Quillévéré, arrives in UK cinemas. Paul Martin gets to grips with a small town drama, featuring what looks like a familiar old friend...

We Need to Talk About Kevin
We Need to Talk About Kevin
We Need to Talk About Kevin

Cannes (Official Selection) – Lynne Ramsay's third feature is her most ambitious to date, a clever adaptation that makes for exciting cinema. But it's the phenomenal central performance from Tilda Swinton that'll get everyone talking, says Emma Rowley.

Hard Labor.
Hard Labor
Hard Labor

Cannes (Un Certain Regard) – A first-time feature from a directorial duo still blessed with the gift of jeunesse (Marco Dutra is 31, Juliana Rojas just 29), Hard Labor unleashes a wellspring of horror in the unlikely environs of a São Paolo supermarket. Paul Martin checks out a story of darkly comic dread which proves to be anything other than hard work.

Attack the Block
Attack the Block
Attack the Block

With writer/director Joe Cornish (one half of the British TV comedy favourite The Adam and Joe Show), actor Nick Frost and producing partners Edgar Wright and Nira Park involved, there's a wealth of talent behind this British comedy-horror. But does Attack the Block live up to the promise made by its makers' reputations? Angela Burton finds out.

Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids

In prior comedies, Kristen Wiig has always been the bridesmaid, never the bride. Which is no longer a negative, states Kimberly Gadette, as the emphatically unbridled Wiig takes the wedding cake to delicious new lows.

Everything Must Go
Everything Must Go
Everything Must Go

In his second dramatic role, Will Ferrell plays a man struggling with alcoholism. Perhaps, says Kimberly Gadette, Ferrell's struggle may have been more compelling if the film itself had struggled to convey a greater significance.

Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty

Cannes (Official Selection) – Australian writer/director Julia Leigh's debut film takes the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty and transforms it into a tale of self-effacement and sexual perversion. Emma Rowley finds herself wooed but not won over.

Midnight in Paris, directed by Woody Allen.
Midnight in Paris
Midnight in Paris

Cannes (Opening film) – The French adore the little tyke, in spite of some of his more recent cinematic snooze-fests, and now Woody Allen is all ready to let them know that he hearts them too, as he sends a love letter to their capital city and its artistic heritage. Paul Martin horns in on the mutual appreciation society – could this tête-à-tête become a ménage a trois?

Priest
Priest
Priest

After the Biblical mayhem of Legion, visual effects specialist turned director Scott Charles Stewart and British thesp Paul Bettany get back together for another religious romp in the desert. Angela Burton puts on her 3D glasses and gets ready for the sun to go down.

13 Assassins, directed by Takashi Miike and screening as part of the Venice Film Festival 2010.
13 Assassins
13 Assassins

Lights... camera... action! And then some, as director Takashi Miike puts his unique spin on a 1963 samurai saga. With the blood flowing like a mountain river, Paul Martin is on hand with tissues and band-aids.

Thor.
Thor
Thor

The Easter hols might have been late this year, but blockbuster season is starting early, as Marvel unleashes its newest extravaganza before the month of May is even upon us. In keeping with typical British bank holiday behaviour, Paul Martin goes to get hammered.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Hot Docs, Toronto (Gala Premiere) – With the question of Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts so topically answered, Spurlock has returned to the commercial concerns of his first, hit documentary, Super Size Me. This time around, he wants us to think about the ads, not the fries, we're so carelessly consuming. Christi Franceschini gets brand-aware.