Movie Review Round-Up: The New Releases

It's a big weekend for Harry Potter fans as Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald opens in cinemas. But if it's witch-driven horror you're after, try Suspiria.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ***1/2

In this second instalment of the Fantastic Beasts series, fans will delight at the Harry Potter Easter eggs, shocking reveals and cinematic magic, though it does feel expositionary at times.

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Following on from the events in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) is in custody in MACUSA and the film kicks off with him showing the extent of his powers of magic and persuasion as he sets his escape plan in motion.

Now on the loose, Grindelwald goes to Paris to try to recruit witches and wizards to his cause; giving pure-blood wizards power to rule over the wizarding and muggle worlds. But he doesn't do it in the Voldemorty way of killing those in his path; he is more concerned with building a loyal following devoted to his beliefs and having the appearance of being a fair and worthy leader. Read our full review here.

Suspiria ****

November not cold enough for you? Try this.

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After basking in the Lombardy sun with Call Me by Your Name, director Luca Guadagnino's new adventure in the screen trade has taken him to a chilling Berlin in 1977 as he puts his own spin on a horror that left quite the mark on audiences in that very year and in the four decades since: Dario Argento's Suspiria.

From the get-go, Guadagnino said his Suspiria would be "a homage", not a remake of a film that has fascinated him since he first saw the poster all those years ago.

He's been true to his word. Read our full review here.

Still Showing:

The Grinch ***

The Grinch returns in a stunningly animated, whimsical outing that is ideal Christmas viewing for a young audience.

The Grinch (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) lives on the outskirts of Whoville, a place inhabited by Christmas-loving, festive-spirited Whos who go all out in terms of decorations, gifts and carol singing.

The animation is extraordinary and the vibrant world of the film is simply marvellous. While it's all about the Grinch, and Cumberbatch's voice shines yet again, the real star of the show is his sidekick, Max. The little dog brings many of the laughs and is so expressive and endearing, he's sure to become an audience-favourite. Read our full review here.

Widows *****

Well, that's film of the year sorted.

British director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Hunger) has taken a massive step into the centre of the mainstream with this pretty flawless flick that's much, much more than a heist movie.

Adapted by McQueen and Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, Widows is based on a 1980s UK TV crime-drama of the same name, written by Lynda La Plante, best known for the classic British TV series Prime Suspect.

The basic premise is as straightforward as they come: a group of criminals are wiped out when a robbery goes wrong, leaving four of their disparate (and desperate) widows to pick up the pieces and go for the major robbery that the gang leader had planned. Read our full review here.

They Shall Not Grow Old *****

Anyone who has major reservations about the whole hackneyed, maybe even disrespectful, concept of film colourisation may be forced into a radical rethink while watching Peter Jackson's masterful documentary about World War One.

The director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy has sorted through hours and hours of archive footage of the Great War and, along with a team of colourists and editors, has delivered what may be the definitive film document of what life was really like in the trenches for millions of men between 1914 and 1918.

As a technical feat They Shall Not Grow Old bears comparison with Jackson's LOTRs films, but it is the human story that will stay with you. Read our full review here.

Good Favour ****

Good Favour is a narratively experimental film which follows the strange events that occur following the arrival into a Central European religious community of a young man bearing the signs of trauma.

There are shades in Irish director Rebecca Daly's film of Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1968 tour de force, Teorema, wherein a mysterious figure known as 'The Visitor' and played by Terence Stamp, inveigles his way into a bourgeois Italian family and effects all manner of domestic disruption.

You will certainly leave the cinema musing and reflecting about what you have just seen. Read our full review here.

Overlord ****

If your idea of the perfect weekend is a suitcase full of Commando comics and a seemingly endless supply of Maltesers, then action-horror Overlord should deliver the same pulpy, pile-on-the-pounds high in under two hours. And just like the Commandoes and Maltesers, it's very moreish.

Hitting that B-movie trifecta of savagery, set-pieces and snarkiness, Overlord overcomes a bit of hokey CGI at the start and a flatpack French village, and turns into a life-affirming, lock-and-load treat.

There's no post-credits sequence, either - proper old school. Read our full review here.

Wildlife ****

Fourteen-year-old Joe watches his parents' marriage teeter nervously in the town of Great Falls, Montana where the family are blow-ins and wild fires are blowing hot.

We see the whole scenario essentially through Joe's eyes in this compelling film, which is directed at a sensible pace by actor Paul Dano in his directorial debut. Read our full review here.

Movie Review Round-Up: The New Releases

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