Review: The End We Start From – Mahalia Belo
When an environmental crisis sees London submerged by flood waters, a young family is torn apart in the chaos. As a woman and her newborn try and find their way home, the profound novelty of motherhood is brought into sharp focus in this intimate and poetic portrayal of family survival. (Rotten Tomatoes movie description)
Review: Mortal Engines – Christian Rivers
Tom Natsworthy is an apprentice historian in the traction city of London – a mobile metropolis chasing other traction settlements across the hunting grounds to devour their resources and enslave their people. Tom’s life is turned upside down when he meets heroic explorer and head historian Thaddeus Valentine – and witnesses a failed attempt to assassinate him.
Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Peter Jackson
Bilbo Baggins, a respectable hobbit with no experience when it comes to world beyond his home, is invited to join thirteen dwarves on their quest to reclaim their homeland. Of course, there’s potentially a dragon to deal with first, but that’s why they need Bilbo to be their burglar. Is he willing to trade the comforts of home for a rather uncomfortable adventure?
Review: The Beast – Bertrand Bonello
In a near future where artificial intelligence reigns supreme, human emotions have become a threat. To get rid of them, Gabrielle must purify her DNA by going back into her past lives. There, she reunites with Louis, her great love. But she’s overcome by fear, a premonition that catastrophe is on the way. (Official cinema blurb)
Review: Dune: Part Two – Denis Villeneuve
Having joined a band of Fremen guerillas, Paul Atreides, now Duke of Arrakis, needs to find a way to avenge the death of his father and friends. But how can he strike back at the Harkonnens, or even the Emperor, from the depth of the desert? His mother believes the key to lie with the Bene Gesserit prophesy of the Lisan al-Gaib, the off-world prophet foretold to lead the Fremen to paradise. But along that path lie many dangers, and Paul is reluctant to follow it.
Review: Poor Things – Yorgos Lanthimos
In this thought-provoking twist on Frankenstein, the drowned body of a young woman is brought back to life with the brain of her unborn infant. The result of this scientific experiment is Bella Baxter (portrayed by Emma Stone). Unbound by the societal norms of her era, Bella becomes resolute in her mission to advocate for equality and freedom.
Review: Damsel – Netflix
Elodie, the daughter of a Lord, agrees to marry the prince in order to secure a better future for her people. The union seems like something out of a classic fairy tale, but a terrible secret will soon be uncovered…
Review: The Boy and the Heron – Hayao Miyazaki
A boy called Mahito and his father move to the countryside while the Pacific war rages in Japan. Mahito’s mother has died in a hospital fire during the war, and his father is marrying his late wife’s sister, Natsuko. Mahito struggles to find his place in the peaceful countryside until a mysterious heron leads him to explore a mysterious tower.
Review: Disenchanted – Disney
In ‘Enchanted’, former storybook princess Giselle leaves her fairy tale life behind to find a happily ever after in the real world with a single dad and his pre-teen daughter. In this movie, Giselle has a baby of her own and a now gloomy teenage stepdaughter. To try and escape an existence in a rut, Giselle makes her family move to a small suburban village. Furthermore, she uses a magic wand to wish a fairy tale life for her family. Alas, as often tends to happen with wishes, things don’t work out as she intends…
Review: Ex Machina – Alex Garland
When Caleb, a nobody programmer at a Big Tech firm is invited to the isolated home of the company’s CEO, he has no idea that he will serve as the examiner in a test of an advanced artificial intelligence developed by the CEO. Will Caleb believe that AI is capable of thoughts, feelings and consciousness even though he is aware it is artificial? As Caleb and the AI get to know each other, a bond forms that will set in motion a sequence of events going much further than the CEO had anticipated.
Review: Ghost in the Shell – Rupert Sanders
Major Mira Kilian is a cyborg, a human ghost in an android shell, who hunts for terrorists as part of Section 9, a shady special ops force of the Japanese government. She remembers little of her past before her brain was transplanted, but when she goes after a cybercriminal who is hunting the very scientists who created her, Major is confronted with some uncomfortable questions on who she really is.
Review: Your Name – Makota Shinkai
A girl from a small town and boy living in Tokyo find themselves swapping bodies in their dreams through a mysterious twist of fate. As they navigate each other’s lives and share unique experiences, an unexpected connection forms between them. However, just as they start to unravel the enigma behind their extraordinary link, a startling revelation threatens to upend everything.