Birmingham Mail

Graham Young Birmingham Mail 6 days ago 4/4 If you think that modern cinema has lost the magical ability to surprise you, think again. Romeo and Juliet contains scenes and sequences like you've never seen before in one of the most spellbindingly original movies in years. Go to Full Review William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996) 79% 77%

Arthur Steele Birmingham Mail Oct 30, 2026 A small budget, but often nail-bitingly effective spine-chiller. Go to Full Review Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) 92% 80%

Graham Young Birmingham Mail Oct 26, 2026 2/4 Despite the star names and the quality photography throughout, too much of this 2hrs and 40 mins movie is a succession of ill-fitting, overlong mini-dramas centred on an unbelievable marriage. Go to Full Review Eyes Wide Shut (1999) 79% 74%

Arthur Steele Birmingham Mail Oct 19, 2026 Perhaps the confusion of mind in which you are left by the film is an intentional ploy by Stanley Kubrick. He still has the stamp of the master so that... anyone with a feeling for cinema gets that rare thrill with which nothing else quite compares. Go to Full Review The Shining (1980) 74% 90%

Arthur Steele Birmingham Mail Oct 14, 2026 In his direction of Spartacus, Stanley Kubrick often made me feel that I watching a sequence from a normal length film of superior quality -- biting and exciting as only a true “cinematic” piece of film can be. Go to Full Review Spartacus (1960) 89% 87%

Terry Grimley Birmingham Mail Oct 7, 2026 There is nothing of interest about Friday the 13th -- The Final Chapter unless you enjoy watching people being done to death with a variety of sharp metal instruments. Go to Full Review Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) 20% 51%

Fred Norris Birmingham Mail Sep 23, 2026 It is such a happy film, I laughed crocodile tears. Go to Full Review Crocodile Dundee (1986) 87% 59%

Graham Young Birmingham Mail Sep 19, 2026 2/4 As forgettable overall as it is fun early on. Go to Full Review The First Wives Club (1996) 56% 68%

Terry Grimley Birmingham Mail Sep 17, 2026 This time the formula achieves new heights of nausea with the new 3-D process. Go to Full Review Friday the 13th Part III (1982) 17% 42%

Terry Grimley Birmingham Mail Sep 12, 2026 In all essentials, this film is indistinguishable from its predecessors. Go to Full Review Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985) 11% 26%

Roland Smith Birmingham Mail Aug 18, 2026 Its secret, quite simply, is that it never becomes too self-indulgent or takes itself too seriously. Go to Full Review An American Werewolf in London (1981) 80% 81%

Fred Norris Birmingham Mail Aug 10, 2026 Cronenberg's special effects are tremendous -- and, if you are that way inclined, quite sickening. Go to Full Review The Fly (1986) 82% 83%

Graham Young Birmingham Mail Jul 28, 2026 4/4 Pam Ferris is marvelous as the foot-stomping, child-swinging monster of a headmistress—one of the most grotesque creations in years. Go to Full Review Matilda (1996) 90% 73%

Fred Norris Birmingham Mail Jul 28, 2026 The trouble with the film is that, even with its Lucas-type special effects, it cannot make up its mind whether to be a satirical send up or a friendly, if somewhat zany, comedy. Go to Full Review Howard the Duck (1986) 14% 38%

Fred Norris Birmingham Mail Jul 22, 2026 I found it more tasteless than revolting. Go to Full Review Halloween II (1981) 27% 63%

Graham Young Birmingham Mail Jul 21, 2026 Terminator 2: Judgement Day is without doubt the most amazing rollercoaster action film ever made. Go to Full Review Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 90% 96%

Graham Young Birmingham Mail Jul 16, 2026 Somehow this first class, gut-wrenching tour de force achieves the impossible -- it's as side-splittingly funny as it is also a cautionary tales from the darkest sides of hell. Go to Full Review Trainspotting (1996) 93% 93%

Birmingham Mail Staff Birmingham Mail Jul 13, 2026 The film is fortunate in having Richard Burton as Marcellus. Go to Full Review The Robe (1953) 74% 69%

Maurice Rotheroe Birmingham Mail Jul 9, 2026 Monsters are the handywork of special effects expert Ray Harryhausen, but it's his knowing little merry owl, Bubo, a robot, that will be the big scene-stealer for children. Go to Full Review Clash of the Titans (1981) 65% 70%

Graham Young Birmingham Mail Jun 29, 2026 4/4 Quibbles aside, this is mind-blowing, adrenalin-pumping, sheer escapist fun. Go to Full Review Independence Day (1996) 77% 75%