Movie reviews of Rob Wallis

Thrives as a consistently dryly character-driven comedy and a few surreal touches.

Too bland and uninvolving to be truly terrible, The Dark Tower rewards neither die-hard fans nor casual viewers.

The reptilian icon makes a triumphant return to Toho Studios.

Isn’t a misfire exactly, but nor is it quite the blast you might have hoped for.

Makes up for in power what it lacks in subtlety.

Has too much world and too much time on its hands. Spend your latter somewhere else in the former, and give this one a miss.

Makes us care about the difficulty – and laugh a fair bit during it, too.

A flawlessly orchestrated exploration of what took place on those exposed sands, upon the changeable waters of The Channel, and in the skies above.

A strong contender for strangest film of the year...

Masterfully disciplined, subtle and compelling...

A bit more web-head, a bit less hot-head and this could have been a perfect blockbuster; as opposed to just a very good one.

This is moody, minimalist film-making and undeniably effective in some regards.

A stylish, energetic remix of the classic getaway movie...

Over-loud and overblown and a mess, but it’s not, for all its sins, boring.

Just a lot of hot air; refusing to draw on its predecessors, and squandering what it does deign to use...

Simply adequate in its inadequacy.

A paean to coming to terms with life’s disappointments and with it your own limitations.

The rocky, seeming inhospitable scrubland is utterly dwarfed by a vast expanse of sky.

A story of absence: absence of one young man among a generation of young men; absence of joy, absence of colour.

Both tragic and mundane, Graduation offers no easy answers to difficult social problems and, in the end, isn’t that sort of the point?

Patty Jenkins has a definite feel for the material – the need to balance lightness with sincerity; entertainment with definite stakes.

Feels both a little spiteful and a bit toothless.

Jonathan Perera blends the icy cynicism of Beau Willimon with the glossy populism of Frank Capra.

Both frustrating and beguiling.