Movie reviews of Rob Wallis

The Comeback Trail is a cheesy, intermittently charming comedy caper elevated by the strength of its cast.

Luckily, Black Widow succeeds enough on its own merits and, with the MCU shortly to make a return to its more cosmic scale, it’s good to spend a bit of time away from the gods and aliens.

The Tomorrow War never rises much above the proficient, but nor does it dip too below it. Come for the decent action and spurious science, stay for a father-daughter relationship that may the best I’ve seen onscreen this year.

It that all sounds pretty simple, if a bit vague, then No Sudden Move makes a virtue of it – it’s a film of simple pleasures.

Jonathan Hensleigh’s script focuses too much on thinly-sketched characters – primarily, Mike blames Gurty for the loss for their jobs – and not enough on the mechanics of the jeopardy they are facing.

The airy, vibrancy of Enola Holmes, a winningly self-aware YA romp that feels it was scripted by Phoebe Waller Bridge.

The Devil All The Time is a slick American Gothic epic with interweaving narratives playing out over three decades.

If not exactly groundbreaking, Host makes full use of its limited budget and resources for an efficient and genuinely unsettling case study on how technology and the supernatural do not mix.

An American Pickle feels more like an admirable curio, full of interesting ideas, than an unmitigated success that brings them all together.

After all that critical adulation, it’s a punchline worthy of the Clown Prince of Crime himself that Joker isn’t very good.

If you’re looking for a film adaptation to bring Dickens to life for a bunch of disinterested students, you could do worse than this witty, imaginative take.

For all of the talent involved, Colour Out Of Space is cosmically adequate. Colour me disappointed.

Bad Education is a case study of how easily people are misled – even by themselves. The danger is when we stop questioning ourselves.

Mark Jenkin’s Bait feels like a treasure carved out of the rocky Cornish coastline.

A joyous movie leaving you with an aching face after ninety-minutes of smiling.

Ciro Guerra’s Waiting For The Barbarians is a finely tempered adaptation of J.M. Coetzee’s elegantly allegorical novel about the brutal, self-defeating ironies of colonial oppression.

In Pain & Glory, Pedro Almodóvar strips away the kitsch and melodrama for an understated study of what can happen when pain interferes with passion.

Why choose between flamethrowers and feeling when you can have both?

Crawl is a perfectly evolved creature feature. A high-concept survival thriller, it keeps low to the ground and shows that all you need to ratchet tension is a confined space, a ticking clock, and maybe a couple of alligators.

With Us, Peele has created a perfect companion piece that nevertheless feels totally distinct from his feature debut.

Marielle Heller’s direction is sharp and sympathetic, allowing us to feel innate sympathy for Lee even at her least likeable.

The film is nothing if not expertly made; a big, handsome, empty Cadillac, well-upholstered but lacking much behind the engine.

High concept sci-fi, streamlined world-building, and heart – Alita: Battle Angel is refreshingly not machine engineered.

Cluttered and frenetic, it seems like the sort of filmmaking of which Marie Kondo would not approve, but there’s little here that’s not at least designed to bring joy.