★★★★★
With little fanfare, and certainly no warning, Roma draws you in, lulls you, charms you and thoroughly destroys you. This is the first Spanish-language film by Alfonso Cuarón since 2001 and is without question the most personal the Mexican director has ever made. A stunning recreation of Cuarón own childhood, Roma is quietly mesmerising and profoundly affecting.
★★★★
Unexpectedly, this latest Spider-feature – the hero’s first to be animated – has taken up the mantle of legacy and epitaph. Released in the same year the creative world lost both Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Into the Spider-Verse celebrates the friendly neighbourhood character their collaboration gave birth to back in 1962 and does so in style. The best Spider-Man film since 2004? You bet.
★★★
Mortal Engines roars into action with so exhilarating, if wildly chaotic, an opening that expectation cannot help but hit an early high. This is, after all, a production billed as being from the makers of Lord of the Rings. Whereas such vibrance is retained in the film’s pace and visual spectacle, however, the fluctuating energy of its storytelling can’t help but slightly disappoint.
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