Observer (UK)

Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Oct 20, 2026 [A] unostentatious but gripping police procedural. Go to Full Review Case 137 (2025) 95% - -

Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Oct 20, 2026 With its OTT action and smirking innuendo, it’s aimed squarely at the teen boy market. For better or worse, this is pure pulp. Go to Full Review Street Fighter (2026) 41% - -

Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Oct 20, 2026 The use of drone footage, recording scenes of day-to-day life through the windows of unwitting civilians in Israel, gives the picture a striking, and rather chilling, cinematic quality. Go to Full Review NAZA (2026) 100% - -

Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Oct 20, 2026 The colour palette is a riot of purples, cyans and scalding hot pinks. It’s wild and uninhibited, and I adored every frantic minute of it. Go to Full Review Forgotten Island (2026) 95% - -

Philip French Observer (UK) Oct 20, 2026 Two things, however, give Full Metal Jacket its special distinction. The first is the sheer precision and intensity of the execution. The second is the way Kubrick pursues his twin themes that have run through his work. Go to Full Review Full Metal Jacket (1987) 84% 94%

Philip French Observer (UK) Oct 19, 2026 The result is a polished, low-key horror picture of a rather conventional kind. Go to Full Review The Shining (1980) 75% 90%

James Breen Observer (UK) Oct 16, 2026 Lolita isn't the film of the book: no film ever is. It exists in its own right, making a different effect and addressing a much vaster audience. It is not offensive because both the writing and the direction (by Stanley Kubrick) are witty and humane. Go to Full Review Lolita (1962) 83% 84%

Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Oct 15, 2026 The film is so viscerally in your face, you can almost taste the churning cetacean gut juices. But Duffield deftly balances the yuck factor with something more soulful. Go to Full Review Whalefall (2026) 73% - -

Philip French Observer (UK) Oct 14, 2026 As both are unstoppable, there is a little problem for the writers at what you might call the heart of the splatter. Go to Full Review Freddy vs. Jason (2003) 42% 50%

C.A. Lejeune Observer (UK) Oct 14, 2026 The Kubrick film, although undoubtedly sincere in its intentions, is constricted by commercial circumstance, weighed down by cost and glamour of the stars; hampered, one is apt to feel, by the need to magnify a leading player, Kirk Douglas. Go to Full Review Spartacus (1960) 90% 87%

Ryan Gilbey Observer (UK) Oct 14, 2026 Since neither blade not bullet can halt the serial killer Jason Voorhees, the film has a pervasive numbness. Go to Full Review Jason X (2002) 27% 25%

C.A. Lejeune Observer (UK) Oct 13, 2026 Paths of Glory makes its points with power, and is about as cosy as an hydraulic drill. Go to Full Review Paths of Glory (1957) 96% 95%

Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Oct 12, 2026 This is a solid crowdpleaser that employs a flashback structure to explore Tenzing’s early life and deep spiritual connection with the mountain he, like his fellow Sherpas, reveres as a sacred mother goddess. Go to Full Review Tenzing (2026) 98% - -

Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Oct 12, 2026 Dolan is quietly remarkable as an ordinary woman who finds herself called upon to shoulder an extraordinary burden: her whole body seems to buckle under its weight. Go to Full Review The Lost Children Of Tuam (2026) 100% - -

Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Oct 12, 2026 Even if you have never knowingly listened to a Wu-Tang Clan track in your life, this film is more than worth your time. And for anyone with even a passing interest in the music, this should be essential viewing. Go to Full Review The Disciple (2026) 89% - -

Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Oct 12, 2026 There’s certainly a contemporary resonance to this tale of a bloated elite bleeding the workers dry. But that fails to outweigh the unpleasantness of the viewing experience. Go to Full Review The Uprising (2026) 57% - -

Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Oct 8, 2026 It does not have the original’s punchy impact and... is not as compelling a story. Still, its cautionary tale bears repeating, not least as a reminder to every now and then step away from our screens. Go to Full Review The Social Reckoning (2026) 54% - -

Philip French Observer (UK) Oct 7, 2026 Less a sequel to 'Friday the 13th' than a carbon copy. Go to Full Review Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) 28% 48%

Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Oct 5, 2026 This is a stirring story of canine courage and sacrifice that packs an unexpectedly powerful emotional punch. Go to Full Review Heart of the Beast (2026) 85% - -

Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Oct 5, 2026 The unshowy, workmanlike direction from Alex Gibney quite rightly allows his subject’s voice to take centre stage. Go to Full Review Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie (2026) 97% - -