Articles by Jack Blackwell

30 Jul 2023

Baato review – Nepal’s past and future collide in an immersive, fraught documentary

A mountain trek intertwines with a road-building project, granting incisive, if underpowered, insight into a much underseen world

28 Jul 2023

The Beanie Bubble review – a grim new low for the “corporate biopic” genre

With none of the saving graces of Tetris, Air, or Barbie, this ambition-free look at the Beanie Baby craze is pure mediocrity

28 Jul 2023

Everybody Loves Jeanne review – thoroughly modern fable of grief, romantic confusion, and climate anxiety

Celine Deveaux's French-Portuguese debut can be too quirky for its own good, but a fantastically written lead character keeps it afloat

27 Jul 2023

So Foul a Sky review – lyrical but meandering look at Venezuela’s competing national crises

This dreamlike doc might lack punch, but it's an effective study of the self-inflicted hopelessness of the 21st century world

23 Jul 2023

Iraq’s Invisible Beauty review – moving but scrappy look at a photographer and his flailing home country

As a tribute to pre-'80s Iraq, Sahim Omar Kalifa's doc is a touching affair, but it's hampered by dry exposition and terrible narration

21 Jul 2023

Barbie review – Ryan Gosling steals the show in Greta Gerwig’s hilarious and profoundly pink spin on the iconic toy

Packed with enough jokes and visual inventiveness to get around the corporate feel, this follow-up to Little Women is a vibrant treat

19 Jul 2023

A Rifle and a Bag review – a surprisingly gentle look at the lives of former Maoist insurgents in India

Though slow, this doc about the Naxalite movement and India's bureaucratic state offers great insight into an unexplored world

16 Jul 2023

The Deepest Breath review – fascinating but muddled look at one of the world’s most extreme sports

Netflix's freediving doc features some astonishing footage of terrifying ocean descents, but its storytelling feels oddly cynical

16 Jul 2023

Medusa review – surreal Brazilian protest film is a strange but unwieldy political object

Though it conjures up some compellingly freaky ways to visualise internalised misogyny, there's more to irritate than intrigue

14 Jul 2023

Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis) review – incredibly fun tour through rock and art history

Playfully reckoning with the legacy of the iconic design group, this is a compelling look at the ambitions of a long-gone era

08 Jul 2023

Insidious: The Red Door review – horror sequel is more frustrating than frightening

Patrick Wilson makes his directorial debut with this fifth entry, but it's impossible to recommend to anyone other than completists

04 Jul 2023

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars review – Bowie concert re-release is an extraordinary time at the movies

Half a century hasn't dulled the impact of the gig that "killed" Ziggy Stardust – it's still a perfect goodbye from a perfect performer

01 Jul 2023

La Syndicaliste review – Isabelle Huppert powers a shockingly bleak true story of corruption

The case of Maureen Kearney makes for a fury-inducing, though oddly slow, paranoid thriller of intimidation and harassment

01 Jul 2023

Mother and Son review – an intimate family epic that feels beautifully real

Leonor Serraille's gorgeous new film, about an Ivorian family in France, balances a grounded tale with splashes of the surreal

30 Jun 2023

Hello, Bookstore review – cheerful documentary about a beloved local bookseller

A love of literature, people, and cosy reading nooks fuels A.B. Zax's gentle, unhurried film that pays tribute to small-town togetherness

25 Jun 2023

The Last Rider review – fun cycling doc might have been better suited to a biopic

Alex Holmes’s film about the first American Tour de France winner is sometimes fascinating but could have used a little more punch

25 Jun 2023

Nimona review – gorgeous animation elevates a formulaic fantasy story

With stylistic flair and a very welcome wicked streak, this colourful Netflix adventure should be a real treat for families with older kids

20 Jun 2023

Eskape review – stylish and personal tribute to a remarkable mother

Adeline Neary Hay's documentary about her mother's flight from Cambodia compresses decades of family history into just 70 minutes

16 Jun 2023

The Flash review – run away as fast as you can from the worst superhero film since Morbius

Terrible jokes, cringe-worthy performances, and jaw-droppingly ugly VFX work make for a truly wretched blockbuster experience

16 Jun 2023

You Can Live Forever review – compassionate performances save an overly predictable tale of first love

The Quebecois Jehovah's Witness community makes for an interesting backdrop in an otherwise familiar Canadian debut

14 Jun 2023

Notes from a Low Orbit review – slight but magical doc about small-town Scottish life

Mark Lyken's film captures the mundane joys of Hawick life through a breezy 90 minutes that entertains without saying much

09 Jun 2023

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant review – Afghan war thriller brings recent headlines to exciting life

The Lock, Stock director stamps down on a lot of his usual flourishes for an earnest war movie about brotherhood and honour

08 Jun 2023

Leonie, Actress and Spy review – frustratingly indirect doc wastes a fascinating life story

With its haphazard structure and dull framing device, Annette Apon's biography of Leonie Brandt is made unnecessarily confusing

03 Jun 2023

Amanda review – hints of Lanthimos in sharply funny Italian debut

Carolina Cavalli's film about a friendless young woman brilliantly captures the anxiety and social ineptitude of the post-COVID youth

02 Jun 2023

Carmen review – loose opera adaptation runs out of ideas all too swiftly

Benjamin Millepied's debut film gets some heat out of Paul Mescal and Melissa Barrera but feels like an over-extended music video

27 May 2023

Hypnotic review review – slice of Nolan-esque hokum is too twisty for its own good

Robert Rodriguez's diverting but hollow latest starts at "super-hypnotists who rob banks" and only gets more ludicrous from there

26 May 2023

The Little Mermaid review – watery remake is an artless deluge of corporate sludge

Lacking the magic or beauty of the original while interminably expanding the runtime, Rob Marshall's redo is a punishing watch

19 May 2023

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret review – lovably bouncy adaptation of an iconic novel

Kelly Fremon Craig's take on the '70s coming-of-age classic strikes an unerring balance between laughs, giddiness, and poignancy

19 May 2023

Fast X review – a relentless, ludicrous, and eventually exhausting tenth instalment

Though Jason Momoa makes for an excellent villain, this latest chapter winds up as mostly empty and unsatisfying bombast

13 May 2023

Dead Shot review – thinly sketched but propulsive Troubles-set revenge story

The Guard brothers' '70s-set second feature uses the styles of the decade to set itself apart from the Brit-thriller pack

11 May 2023

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie review – a touching and fittingly frenetic biography

This documentary is inevitably filled with sadness, but also packed with laughs in the company of one of Hollywood's funniest actors

05 May 2023

The Blue Caftan review – carefully moving but low-energy Moroccan drama

Maryam Touzani's film is a slow, methodical thing, at its best when highlighting the specifics of an unorthodox relationship

30 Apr 2023

Little Richard: I Am Everything review – admirable reckoning with an immense musical legacy

Lisa Cortes's documentary paints an impressively complete picture of its remarkable subject, but lacks his magisterial creative verve

30 Apr 2023

Peter Pan & Wendy review – serviceable but just a bit pointless retread of a classic

David Lowery brings his earthy sensibilities to another remake in a muddled but thematically interesting swashbuckling adventure

28 Apr 2023

Young Soul Rebels review – story of a young, Black, queer London still feels revolutionary

Though the acting and plotting have not aged well, this is still a fascinating time capsule, balancing nostalgia with progressivism

21 Apr 2023

How to Blow Up a Pipeline review – eco-terrorism drama is as exciting and radical as its title implies

Daniel Goldhaber's film takes its cues from the paranoid thrillers of the '70s to craft a very fun but deeply serious ode to young activists

20 Apr 2023

Missing review – absurd tech thriller offers some enjoyably empty cinematic calories

The spiritual successor to Searching just about transcends its central gimmick thanks to some fantastically silly twists

10 Apr 2023

Cairo Conspiracy review – religion and politics collide in a thrilling Egyptian noir

Tarik Saleh's old-school paranoid thriller is a knotty, fearsome affair, elevated by its unique setting within an influential university

06 Apr 2023

Air review – a feature-length shoe advert elevated by a superb cast

Whilst its status as a corporate exercise is unavoidable, Ben Affleck's nostalgic underdog story has laughs and charm in spades

31 Mar 2023

Tetris review – far-fetched but fun video game origin story is an 8-bit Argo

The strange new genre of "corporate biopic" gets off to a decent start thanks to a charmingly optimistic turn from Taron Egerton

29 Mar 2023

The Night of the 12th review – compelling police procedural plays like a French Memories of Murder

Dominik Moll's queasy follow-up to Only the Animals is a sticky, damning indictment of the way men make the world less safe

27 Mar 2023

A Compassionate Spy review – story of a Manhattan Project scientist offers disturbing insights

Though its dramatic reenactment scenes weaken it, this doc about the post-war American psyche is a genuinely novel slice of history

24 Mar 2023

John Wick: Chapter 4 review – an honest-to-God action masterpiece

The latest in Keanu Reeves' most consistent franchise is its best, partly thanks to a better-than-perfect turn from Donnie Yen

20 Mar 2023

Shazam! Fury of the Gods review – DC sequel makes an uncompelling case for its own existence

Though there are a few nice ideas, this follow-up to the surprisingly good 2019 original is bogged down by the genre's worst instincts

15 Mar 2023

Their Algeria review – incredibly personal doc elevated by its charming subjects

Though structured in a rather uninteresting way, Lina Soualem's film shines in its interviews with her infectiously funny grandma

13 Mar 2023

Pearl review – sublime horror prequel exceeds the original in every way

Mia Goth gives a terrifyingly hypnotic, career-defining turn in Ti West's wildly entertaining and colourful confection of a movie

11 Mar 2023

Champions review – a crushingly formulaic underdog sports dramedy

Though there are sweet moments hidden within its generic story, the mediocrity of Bobby Farrelly's new film becomes exhausting

10 Mar 2023

Charcoal review – a family takes in a mob boss in an accomplished crime debut

Though a little devoid of incident, strong writing and performances make for an immersive slice of working class Brazilian life

08 Mar 2023

Words of Negroes review – fascinating but slight film about the legacy of slavery in Guadeloupe

Sylvain Dampierre's short, brisk documentary doesn't quite say anything new, but the milieu it uses to make its point is compelling

05 Mar 2023

Creed III review – Michael B. Jordan delivers a knockout threequel

The actor and now director plays the essential Rocky hits, all while confirming Jonathan Majors as Hollywood's Next Big Thing

03 Mar 2023

I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) review – lovable but slightly frustrating paean to working mums

This colourful, Sean Baker-esque story of the working homeless in COVID-stricken Los Angeles is surprisingly light on its feet

26 Feb 2023

What’s Love Got to Do with It? review – generic and charmless culture clash rom-com

Shekhar Kapur's London-set film clearly wants to emulate the Richard Curtis classics, but it can't even get the basics right

26 Feb 2023

Cocaine Bear review – this generation’s Snakes on a Plane, for better or worse

Elizabeth Banks's third directorial effort is effective whenever it's in slasher/horror mode, but painfully unfunny jokes drag it down

20 Feb 2023

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania review – trilogy capper barely has any interest in its title character

Enjoyable villains aside, this MCU Phase Five opener is a mostly ominous promise of more convoluted, stakes-free things to come

13 Feb 2023

Nostalgia review – sublime performances elevate a messy but affecting crime story

Pierfrancesco Favino is brilliant as a man returning to his home city of Naples in a film that starts strongly but runs out of steam

13 Feb 2023

The Inspection review – military autobiography makes for an impressive directorial debut

Though its visuals top the writing, Elegance Bratton's first feature is an affecting study of homophobia in the military and at home

11 Feb 2023

Magic Mike’s Last Dance review – Soderbergh’s reunion with Channing Tatum underwhelms

Though there are three great dance numbers here, their joy and verve is smothered by the downright boring story surrounding them

09 Feb 2023

Meanwhile on Earth review – amusingly surreal look at the mundane business of death

Though its presentation feels familiar, this Swedish doc is an entertaining look at the quotidian work that goes into funerals

01 Feb 2023

Knock at the Cabin review – taut thriller is M. Night Shyamalan’s best film since Signs

Balancing Old Testament Biblical scale with intimate human drama, the director sets a high bar for 2023's blockbuster crop

30 Jan 2023

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish review – a belated but triumphant return to the Shrek-verse

With gorgeous animation and a cracking ensemble cast, this sweet, funny follow-up is one of the year's most pleasant surprises

29 Jan 2023

Unwelcome review – much-delayed Irish horror finally lands with a bit of a thud

Despite some brilliant Gremlins-esque puppet work, Jon Wright's film wastes too much time on a sub-Straw Dogs plot

24 Jan 2023

Plane review – Gerard Butler thriller gets a little bumpy but mostly soars

Wider in scope than its amusingly direct title suggests, Jean-Francois Richet's muscular actioner is thinly written but exciting

22 Jan 2023

Alice, Darling review – resolutely realistic but slightly underpowered domestic abuse drama

Anna Kendrick is excellent in a dependable but limited character study of a woman pushed to the edge by her cruel boyfriend

20 Jan 2023

Radio Silence review – short but resonant doc spotlights a remarkable Mexican journalist

Juliana Fanjul's reverent film about censored radio host Carmen Aristegui is intermittently inspiring, if a little underpowered

12 Jan 2023

Chronicles of That Time review – migrant crisis doc is too opaque to make an impact

Drifting between the academic and the abstract, Maria Iorio and Raphaël Cuomo's film winds up feeling more like a museum exhibit

12 Jan 2023

The Last Stage review – a remarkably brave act of remembrance

This 1948 Holocaust drama - directed by an Auschwitz survivor - is a vital work of cinema history whose influence is staggering

03 Jan 2023

Till review – harrowing yet careful look at a heinous crime and an incredible mother

Chinonye Chukwu's latest film is a precise, exacting study of America's all-too recent history, centred on an incredible lead turn

03 Jan 2023

A Man Called Otto review – excruciatingly twee remake of a Swedish crowdpleaser

Tom Hanks stars in a dull and drab dramedy that makes a very early but very strong play for being one of 2023's worst films

31 Dec 2022

I Wanna Dance with Somebody review – another dully generic biopic from the writer of Bohemian Rhapsody

An artist like Whitney Houston deserves a tribute with far more energy and personality than this overextended and shallow montage

30 Dec 2022

Now Something is Slowly Changing review – intermittently fascinating Dutch self-help documentary

Presented without narration, this study of off-piste therapies and corporate team-building walks the line between amusing and sterile

23 Dec 2022

The Pale Blue Eye review – a flat literary origin story for Edgar Allen Poe

An enticingly snowy and spooky premise is wasted on an overlong, unsatisfying, and poorly acted murder-mystery from Scott Cooper

23 Dec 2022

Republic of Silence review – disorienting three-hour doc plays more like news footage B-Roll

Despite some fascinating elements and an ambitious scope, a complete aversion to accessibility and formal daring makes it a slog

19 Dec 2022

Babylon review – colossally entertaining tribute to the movies is a three-hour party

From its grand opening to its audacious ending, Damien Chazelle's latest drowns its flaws in a tidal wave of laughs, feeling and craft

16 Dec 2022

Citizen Nobel review – sweet and impassioned portrait of a stereotype-defying scientist

Stephane Goel's doc about biophysicist Jacques Dubochet is a breezy crowdpleaser that doesn't get bogged down in technicalities

15 Dec 2022

235 000 000 review – re-released Soviet doc is a hugely ambitious museum piece

Made to celebrate 50 years of the USSR, Uldis Brauns's film finds moments of everyday magic across the breadth of the Soviet Union

11 Dec 2022

Emancipation review – distressing and intense epic about the horrors of slavery

Will Smith's first "post-slap" performance elevates a sometimes-impressive, sometimes-misfiring drama from Antoine Fuqua

06 Dec 2022

The Silent Twins review – a surreal biopic that haunts like a waking dream

Letitia Wright stars in Agnieszka Smoczynska's stylish but deeply sad account of an infuriating, mind-boggling true injustice

06 Dec 2022

Rimini review – Ulrich Seidl’s wintry seaside tragedy is an acquired taste

There are undeniable flashes of brilliance in this study of a washed-up lounge singer, but it's also a demandingly grotesque slow-burn

05 Dec 2022

Three Minutes: A Lengthening review – rediscovered footage opens new historical doors

Both a tribute to and lament for the Jewish town of Nasielsk, this painstaking doc explores the powers and limits of film and memory

28 Nov 2022

Strange World review – Disney Animation stumbles with a sluggish adventure

Some fantastic environment and creature designs aside, poor pacing and a lack of jokes will leave parents and kids mostly bored

18 Nov 2022

Spirited review – Apple’s musical take on A Christmas Carol fails to find the magic

Ryan Reynolds and festive sincerity prove a sour mix in this cynical new adaptation. Where are the Muppets when you need them?

18 Nov 2022

Aisha review – Letitia Wright shines in a sad and moving study of a refugee

Frank Berry's very well-acted film is a work of fury and empathy, raging against the clinical cruelty of anti-migrant bureaucracy

15 Nov 2022

The Fabelmans review – Hollywood’s most legendary director finally turns his camera on himself

Steven Spielberg's playful, surprisingly loose autobiography grants a magical insight into the early life of a true cinematic master

08 Nov 2022

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever review – Marvel mourns Chadwick Boseman as it takes Wakanda to war

The tragically departed star casts a long shadow over Ryan Coogler's intermittently excellent but otherwise bloated sequel

04 Nov 2022

Return to Dust review – slow but movingly personal story of China’s rural poverty

A melancholy but loving couple scratch out a living in Ruijun Li's quiet study of finding meaning in a tough and repetitive life

31 Oct 2022

Call Jane review – good-natured but all-too-timely dramedy about pre-Roe America

Phyllis Nagy's study of The Janes, female solidarity, and abortion in '60s Chicago is warmer and less harrowing than you might expect

28 Oct 2022

Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues review – careful and comprehensive study of a great artist

Though the pace can be a bit languorous, Sacha Jenkins's doc is packed with insight, intimate archive footage, and great music

28 Oct 2022

Enola Holmes 2 review – fun Netflix detective sequel goes bigger and darker

David Thewlis's villainous police chief is a highlight in a more cinematic but baggier new chapter of the Millie Bobby Brown series

24 Oct 2022

Black Adam review – Dwayne Johnson’s DC passion project is thunderously bland

Lacking any sort of identity outside of "this hero kills people," this is just one more generic superhero story to throw on the pile

17 Oct 2022

Glass Onion review – Daniel Craig returns for another delightful Benoit Blanc mystery

Though it falls short of its sublime predecessor, this grander and more complex sequel is still wildly funny and entertaining

17 Oct 2022

The Menu review – Ralph Fiennes holds court in a macabre but muddled thriller

Funny and deliciously cruel, though not particularly sharp in its satire, Mark Mylod's horror-comedy is best when at its darkest

14 Oct 2022

Halloween Ends review – mostly satisfying ending to a hit-or-miss slasher trilogy

David Gordon Green just about makes up for 2021's woeful Halloween Kills with a smarter and more character-driven finale

14 Oct 2022

Rosaline review – teen rom-com is basically Bridgerton-does-Shakespeare

This fun but forgettable romantic caper takes us behind the Romeo and Juliet legend for a look at the life of Romeo's jilted ex

11 Oct 2022

The Son review – insultingly unconvincing depression melodrama

Florian Zeller takes a baffling, colossal step backwards in a follow-up to The Father that has nothing to say and still says it badly

10 Oct 2022

Bardo review – Iñárritu’s epic comedy is an occasionally brilliant exercise in self-absorption

Though this three-hour autobiography can be irritating, it's also a visual marvel with a surprising amount of proper entertainment

09 Oct 2022

Alcarràs review – beautifully low-key story of a farming family in Catalonia

Carla Simon's follow-up to Summer 1993 is a deeply empathetic work, filled with wonderful performances from first-time actors

09 Oct 2022

The Lost King review – Philomena team reunion is a quaintly dull disappointment

Steve Coogan and Stephen Frears's latest offering lacks the wit and spark to bring an often mundane true story to exciting life

08 Oct 2022

Nanny review – striking social horror could use a few more scares

Nikyatu Jusu's stylish debut feature is promising and well-acted by Anna Diop, but a rushed ending ultimately frustrates

03 Oct 2022

The Woman King review – Viola Davis leads a thrillingly visceral action romp

Gina Prince-Bythewood's historical epic puts Black women front and centre, combining the best of Hollywood's past and future

03 Oct 2022

Causeway review – Jennifer Lawrence’s PTSD drama is well-acted but muted to a fault

An otherwise often unremarkable story of trauma and healing is elevated by a masterful performance from Brian Tyree Henry