https://www.scmp.com/rss/14683/feed James Mottram is a film critic and journalist based in London. As well as writing for the SCMP for over 10 years, he’s also written a number of books on cinema including The Sundance Kids, The Making of Memento and Die Hard: The Ultimate Visual History. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com James Mottram James Mottram The 79th Cannes Film Festival may yet be a watershed moment. Hollywood stayed away – there was not a sniff of a blockbuster to be found – confirming that the studios now see legacy movie marathons like Cannes as irrelevant in the influencer age. That did not stop film stars such as John Travolta, Rami Malek and Penelope Cruz from attending, and the oxygen usually taken up by studio fare meant more indie films had room to breathe. Whether there will be a breakout film like last year’s Sentimental... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3354753/cannes-2026-10-festivals-best-movies-fjord-minotaur-and-all-sudden?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3354753/cannes-2026-10-festivals-best-movies-fjord-minotaur-and-all-sudden?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 May 2026 13:15:04 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3.5/5 stars At 76, Pedro Almodovar is in a state of self-reflection – at least that is what you may feel after watching Bitter Christmas, the 24th film of the Spanish director’s career. Receiving its international premiere in the Cannes Film Festival’s main competition, Bitter Christmas is a meta movie about the creative process, the film industry and the relationship between life and cinema. It is also terrain that Almodovar has explored before, and more successfully, in 2019’s Pain and Glory,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3353510/cannes-2026-bitter-christmas-movie-review-pedro-almodovars-engrossing-meta-drama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3353510/cannes-2026-bitter-christmas-movie-review-pedro-almodovars-engrossing-meta-drama?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 May 2026 19:00:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram Yeon Sang-ho sleeps soundly at night – no bad dreams, no night terrors, thank you very much. “When I get to bed, I’m just completely exhausted,” the 47-year-old South Korean director says with a grin. “When I sleep, the next step is just I wake up. So I never dream or have nightmares.” This must have come as a relief given he has spent a decade contemplating zombies on and off following his 2016 mega-hit Train to Busan. It is late afternoon when we meet on the windswept sixth-floor terrace of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-drama/k-movies/article/3353976/how-colony-features-new-kind-zombie-reflect-modern-fears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-drama/k-movies/article/3353976/how-colony-features-new-kind-zombie-reflect-modern-fears?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 May 2026 11:15:05 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 4/5 stars Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu steps out of his comfort zone with Fjord, a film about a religious couple facing the wrath of Norway’s Child Protection Services. Nineteen years ago, Mungiu won the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or for his second feature film, the stark abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. This latest film, with Mungiu directing the highest-profile actors of his career, is no less provocative. Set in a remote Norwegian village with backdrops so spectacular... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3354080/cannes-2026-fjord-movie-review-sebastian-stan-renate-reinsve-lead-child-welfare-drama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3354080/cannes-2026-fjord-movie-review-sebastian-stan-renate-reinsve-lead-child-welfare-drama?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 May 2026 08:45:13 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3.5/5 stars Back in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival for the sixth time, writer-director James Gray returns to his roots with Paper Tiger. The American filmmaker started his career with 1994’s Little Odessa, starring Tim Roth as a Russian-Jewish hitman operating in the Brighton Beach area of New York. His next two films, The Yards (2000) and We Own the Night (2007), kept him ensconced in the world of low-life criminals. Paper Tiger also casts the Russian mob as the antagonists.... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3353915/cannes-2026-paper-tiger-movie-review-adam-driver-scarlett-johansson-lead-dark-mob-tale?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3353915/cannes-2026-paper-tiger-movie-review-adam-driver-scarlett-johansson-lead-dark-mob-tale?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 May 2026 03:25:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 2/5 stars Asghar Farhadi, the esteemed, prize-winning Iranian director behind A Separation and The Salesman, returns to France for his third foreign excursion. His first, 2013’s The Past, was a lean work that claimed Bérénice Bejo the best actress prize when it played at the Cannes Film Festival. This latest Parisian-set tale of voyeurism, which also unspools in Cannes’ main competition, is a bloated misfire, despite boasting the crème de la crème of French cinema. Parallel Tales is loosely... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3353664/cannes-2026-parallel-tales-movie-review-asghar-farhadi-wastes-stellar-french-cast?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3353664/cannes-2026-parallel-tales-movie-review-asghar-farhadi-wastes-stellar-french-cast?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 May 2026 05:58:30 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 2/5 stars In Mortal Kombat II, action star turned reluctant hero Johnny Cage has a moment of self-reflection. Calling himself a dinosaur, he remarks that doing a bunch of karate poses “went out in the 90s”. You may well feel the same about this latest take on the popular video game franchise, in which players fight to the (usually grisly) death. This tedium feels 30 years out of date. Following two little-liked movies that came out in the 1990s, the 2021 film Mortal Kombat rebooted the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3352583/mortal-kombat-ii-movie-review-karl-urban-stars-brainless-outdated-action-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3352583/mortal-kombat-ii-movie-review-karl-urban-stars-brainless-outdated-action-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 May 2026 16:00:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3.5/5 stars “Villains are always the most interesting,” remarks Kenneth Branagh’s character in this sequel to The Devil Wears Prada. The villain is – or rather was – Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-chief of fashion magazine Runway, brilliantly played by Meryl Streep in the 2006 movie. Said to be inspired by Vogue’s Anna Wintour, Streep’s Oscar-nominated turn arguably deserved the prize – such was her pitch-perfect take on a nightmare boss who would regularly toss her coat and expect her... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3351636/devil-wears-prada-2-movie-review-iconic-fashion-comedy-gets-slick-muted-update?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3351636/devil-wears-prada-2-movie-review-iconic-fashion-comedy-gets-slick-muted-update?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:00:10 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 2/5 stars There is a huge elephant in the room with Michael, the slick but insubstantial new biopic about the “King of Pop”. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) and made in cooperation with the Michael Jackson estate, the film features all the singer’s mega-hits, from “Beat It” and “Billie Jean” to “Thriller” and “Bad”. But it shirks the controversies that dogged the music star in his later years – when he was accused of child molestation, something he always denied. Originally expected a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3350859/michael-movie-review-michael-jackson-biopic-features-all-hits-none-controversy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3350859/michael-movie-review-michael-jackson-biopic-features-all-hits-none-controversy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Apr 2026 13:00:09 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 2/5 stars It will come as a surprise to absolutely no one that Nintendo’s crown jewels, those lovable plumbers Mario and Luigi, are back. The Super Mario Bros Movie was a staggering hit in 2023, grossing US$1.36 billion and showing just how beloved these video game icons really are. Now comes the inevitable sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Loosely inspired by the 2007 video game Super Mario Galaxy and its 2010 follow-up, the film takes us back to the hallucinogenic Mushroom Kingdom and its... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3348483/super-mario-galaxy-movie-review-nintendo-sequel-looks-great-lacks-laughs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3348483/super-mario-galaxy-movie-review-nintendo-sequel-looks-great-lacks-laughs?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Mar 2026 19:00:09 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3.5/5 stars In a strange quirk of scheduling, They Will Kill You opens in the same week as Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. Both are films about estranged sisters reunited and fighting for their lives as they are hunted by a group of murderous perpetrators looking to make a satanic sacrifice. Without a doubt, They Will Kill You is bloodier and funnier, easily leaving its rival in the dust. Zazie Beetz stars as Asia Reaves, an ex-con with a bleak past. After shooting her abusive father dead and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3347659/they-will-kill-you-movie-review-zazie-beetz-leads-delicious-slice-midnight-madness?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3347659/they-will-kill-you-movie-review-zazie-beetz-leads-delicious-slice-midnight-madness?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:00:09 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 2/5 stars Ready or Not injected some freshness into the horror genre back in 2019. Samara Weaving was terrific as Grace, the sacrificial spouse who survives a deadly game of hide-and-seek with her Satan-worshipping in-laws. Unfortunately, the sequel feels stale by comparison. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is a follow-up devoid of original ideas and too reliant on bone-crunching violence. Picking up directly after the events of the original, with dead bodies aplenty, the story finds Grace in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3347529/ready-or-not-2-here-i-come-movie-review-elijah-wood-joins-samara-weaving-gory-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3347529/ready-or-not-2-here-i-come-movie-review-elijah-wood-joins-samara-weaving-gory-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Mar 2026 09:15:08 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 2/5 stars Ryan Gosling flies almost entirely solo in Project Hail Mary, a disappointingly derivative sci-fi mash-up of Interstellar, The Martian and Tom Hanks’ desert island drama Cast Away. Gosling plays former teacher Ryland Grace, who wakes up on a spacecraft. Coming out of years of stasis, he is bleary-eyed and disoriented. With his two fellow crew members dead, he must figure out why he is on board. Gradually, flashbacks reveal the truth: the sun is being attacked by an organism and, within... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3345942/project-hail-mary-movie-review-ryan-gosling-stranded-disappointing-martian-clone?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3345942/project-hail-mary-movie-review-ryan-gosling-stranded-disappointing-martian-clone?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Mar 2026 13:00:09 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 4/5 stars Bounding into cinemas just in time for spring, the latest Pixar animation is a pleasingly charming tale of man vs nature, with a bit of crazy robot tech thrown in. The star of Hoppers is Mabel Tanaka (voiced by Piper Curda), a young animal-lover leading a one-girl protest over a freeway being built through the tranquil countryside near her hometown of Beaverton. Because the freeway is the pet project of the town’s popular mayor, Jerry (Jon Hamm), who is vying for re-election, Mabel’s... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3345126/hoppers-movie-review-pixars-new-animation-hilarious-heartfelt-animal-avatar?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3345126/hoppers-movie-review-pixars-new-animation-hilarious-heartfelt-animal-avatar?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Mar 2026 17:00:08 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram There is a mild, modest satisfaction when we ask Hikari how she feels about her career to date. “So far, so good,” she says briskly. It is a little more than that. The Japanese-born director established her art-house credentials in 2019 with her prize-winning feature debut 37 Seconds. She went on to direct episodes of prestige American TV, including the water-cooler show Beef. Now comes her second feature-length movie, Rental Family, a gentle, sometimes mournful Tokyo-set comedy that strikes a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3345114/who-hikari-japanese-director-behind-beef-and-brendan-fraser-starrer-rental-family?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3345114/who-hikari-japanese-director-behind-beef-and-brendan-fraser-starrer-rental-family?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Mar 2026 10:15:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram The Berlin International Film Festival has always been a politically charged event, but this year’s 76th edition was a cauldron. Early on, author Arundhati Roy resigned from her duties at the festival after Wim Wenders, the German filmmaker and head of the jury, said filmmakers should stay out of politics. This followed a jury press conference where a journalist questioned the festival’s stance on showing solidarity with victims of global conflicts, but ignoring Gaza. In the wake of this, over... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3344441/10-best-movies-2026-berlin-film-festival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3344441/10-best-movies-2026-berlin-film-festival?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Feb 2026 09:12:21 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram Art-house movie trilogies are rare beasts, and even rarer when they are unintended. “I think it was completely accidental,” says Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen of the 13-year odyssey to complete his “Growing Up” trilogy. It began in 2013 with his debut Ilo Ilo, the sensitive tale of a boy’s bond with his domestic helper. The film won Chen the Camera d’Or at Cannes, the prize awarded for best first feature. He followed it six years later with Wet Season, in which a teacher finds herself drawn... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3344024/how-anthony-chens-we-are-all-strangers-captures-beauty-working-class-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3344024/how-anthony-chens-we-are-all-strangers-captures-beauty-working-class-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Feb 2026 04:45:08 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 2.5/5 stars Premiering in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, Japanese anime A New Dawn is a strange beast indeed. By turns baffling and beguiling, the 76-minute miniature blends issues of climate change and the cosmos, wrapping them up in a generational story that even touches on the pervasive powers of social media. Imaginative though it may be, whether the film is suitable for children or teenagers – despite the youth of the characters – is open to debate. Set in rural... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3343958/berlin-2026-new-dawn-movie-review-climate-crisis-meets-fireworks-confusing-anime?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3343958/berlin-2026-new-dawn-movie-review-climate-crisis-meets-fireworks-confusing-anime?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Feb 2026 04:15:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 4/5 stars Following his lacklustre English-language debut Drift (2023) starring Cynthia Erivo, filmmaker Anthony Chen returns to Singapore for the sprawling, surprising and spot on drama, We Are All Strangers. Playing in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, it completes Chen’s “Growing Up” trilogy that began with his debut, Ilo Ilo (2013), which won the Caméra d’Or award at that year’s Cannes, and continued with Wet Season (2019) – a trio of films that, he has stated, reflects... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3343664/berlin-2026-we-are-all-strangers-movie-review-epic-look-fatherhood-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3343664/berlin-2026-we-are-all-strangers-movie-review-epic-look-fatherhood-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Feb 2026 14:15:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 4/5 stars Released in time for Valentine’s Day, Emerald Fennell’s third film is being launched among a blitzkrieg of hype, focusing on Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie, its highly photogenic stars. Usually, that is enough to make you wary. But Fennell’s take on Emily Bronte’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights has the substance to back it up. Beautifully costumed, designed, shot and performed, the film is an impeccably made tale of doomed lovers, one that will bring a tear to the eye. Following... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3342911/wuthering-heights-movie-review-margot-robbie-and-jacob-elordi-sizzle-modern-moorcore?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3342911/wuthering-heights-movie-review-margot-robbie-and-jacob-elordi-sizzle-modern-moorcore?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:00:19 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram This may be the year of the abrasive Hollywood heroine. Think of Rose Byrne, who received an Oscar nod for her role as a nerve-frazzled mother in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, or Jennifer Lawrence, kicking up a storm at a family party as she becomes gripped by post-partum psychosis in Die My Love. Alongside them, there are the gun-toting female revolutionaries of One Battle After Another, led by the indefatigable Teyana Taylor. Then there are the women who form the heartbeat of Joachim Trier’s... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3342179/why-joachim-triers-sentimental-value-most-acclaimed-european-film-year?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3342179/why-joachim-triers-sentimental-value-most-acclaimed-european-film-year?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Feb 2026 09:15:36 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3/5 stars When Sam Raimi smashes the glass ceiling, you know that shards of blood-splattered glass are going to come raining down. The director may be best known for his Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire, but he began his career with the Evil Dead films and returned to horror in 2009 with Drag Me to Hell. His latest work, Send Help, is not strictly in the realm of the supernatural, but there are moments where he cannot resist a jump scare or two. Rachel McAdams plays Linda Liddle, a geeky... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3341198/send-help-movie-review-rachel-mcadams-leads-sam-raimis-bloody-island-survival-satire?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3341198/send-help-movie-review-rachel-mcadams-leads-sam-raimis-bloody-island-survival-satire?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Jan 2026 17:00:10 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram In a world where streamers often get a bad rap for force-feeding audiences mainstream fare, this month sees the arrival of something distinctive. On Mubi, fans of Asian experimental cinema are in for a treat. The Asian Avant-Garde collection, now streaming on the platform, is a mix of 10 shorts and features, from Dead Knot (1969), an early black-and-white work co-written by John Woo Yu-sum, to An Asian Ghost Story (2023), a haunting slice of docufiction centres on the Hong Kong wig industry in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3340643/m-and-chanel-bring-john-woo-movie-plus-other-rare-asian-avant-garde-films-mubi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3340643/m-and-chanel-bring-john-woo-movie-plus-other-rare-asian-avant-garde-films-mubi?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Jan 2026 08:15:10 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3/5 stars Chris Pratt stars in this slice of AI hokum set in a near-future world where defendants face a virtual judge, jury and executioner, all rolled into one. Set in Los Angeles in 2029, the film follows Detective Chris Raven (Pratt), an early adopter of Mercy – a fully autonomous courtroom and the ultimate crime deterrent. However, he is the one facing the death penalty, after his wife was found murdered in their home, with just 90 minutes to clear his name before the chair he is strapped... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3340627/mercy-movie-review-chris-pratt-battles-virtual-judge-flawed-ai-courtroom-thriller?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3340627/mercy-movie-review-chris-pratt-battles-virtual-judge-flawed-ai-courtroom-thriller?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Jan 2026 17:00:11 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 4/5 stars Shot virtually back-to-back with 28 Years Later, last year’s hit revival of the zombie horror franchise that began with 2002’s 28 Days Later, this stomach-churning sequel is a deeply unsettling ride, although not for the reasons you might think. Here, the enemy is not those infected with the so-called Rage virus. Rather, the true threat comes from the uninfected – those left to survive who have lost their moral compass. Picking up immediately where the previous film ended, The Bone... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3339724/28-years-later-bone-temple-movie-review-ralph-fiennes-leads-savage-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3339724/28-years-later-bone-temple-movie-review-ralph-fiennes-leads-savage-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Jan 2026 21:00:12 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3/5 stars The terrible burden of grief is laid bare in The Thing with Feathers, a gloomy but undeniably touching drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The celebrated source is Max Porter’s prize-winning 2015 debut novella, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, which was previously turned into a play by Enda Walsh that Cillian Murphy headlined in 2019 at London’s Barbican. Here, the story is adapted by Dylan Southern, a first-time feature director whose previous work includes No Distance Left to Run... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3338911/thing-feathers-movie-review-benedict-cumberbatch-carries-moving-tale-grief?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3338911/thing-feathers-movie-review-benedict-cumberbatch-carries-moving-tale-grief?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Jan 2026 08:15:09 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram Predicting the movie business is a fool’s errand, but with a new year under way, let us start with a moment of cautious optimism: 2026 could be a great year for cinema. Last year, with artificial intelligence (AI) encroaching on the industry and ticket sales still trailing pre-pandemic levels, there was much soul-searching. This year, cinema is boldly heralding the theatrical experience, with heavyweights Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg and Denis Villeneuve all back with new films. Behind... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3338872/hollywood-2026-movies-and-bigger-china-focus-dunesday-heres-what-expect?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3338872/hollywood-2026-movies-and-bigger-china-focus-dunesday-heres-what-expect?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jan 2026 11:15:09 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 4/5 stars James Cameron is back, and so is Pandora. The director’s 2009 megahit Avatar and its 2022 sequel Avatar: The Way of Water remain two of the highest-grossing films of all time, both gargantuan 3D-rendered sci-fi epics that transport audiences to the forests and oceans of a faraway planet. How you will react to Avatar: Fire and Ash (also known as Avatar 3) is very much dependent on your feelings towards its predecessors. In this beautiful bioluminescent land that is a wonder of visual... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3336567/avatar-fire-and-ash-movie-review-stunning-visuals-carry-breathless-third-instalment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3336567/avatar-fire-and-ash-movie-review-stunning-visuals-carry-breathless-third-instalment?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Dec 2025 14:00:18 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3.5/5 stars It would be fair to say that Zootopia was a surprise hit. The 2016 Walt Disney animation grossed over US$1 billion at the box office and won an Academy Award, making stars of its animal protagonists – the rabbit police officer Judy Hopps and the con-artist fox Nick Wilde. Now they’re back for Zootopia 2, a fun, if formulaic, follow-up that plunges us back into this urban jungle populated solely by animals. Now partners at the ZPD, Nick (voiced by Jason Bateman) and Judy (Ginnifer... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3334029/zootopia-2-movie-review-disneys-formulaic-animated-sequel-delights-visual-wit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3334029/zootopia-2-movie-review-disneys-formulaic-animated-sequel-delights-visual-wit?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Nov 2025 17:00:12 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 4/5 stars Jon M. Chu’s Wicked returns for its concluding part, following the sensational box office, 10 Oscar nominations and two wins of last year’s prequel. It is hard not to predict similar results for Wicked: For Good, a dazzlingly colourful extravaganza adapted from the stage show smash and led by two powerful performances from Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. While it does not quite have the novelty element of part one – or the emotional heft – Wicked: For Good is a fiercely inventive work... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3333066/wicked-good-movie-review-ariana-grande-and-cynthia-erivo-dazzle-part-2?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3333066/wicked-good-movie-review-ariana-grande-and-cynthia-erivo-dazzle-part-2?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Nov 2025 17:00:11 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 2.5/5 stars The greatest illusion of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t was probably convincing the studio to greenlight a third movie in this forgettable series. Nine years on from Now You See Me 2, Ruben Fleischer’s action comedy introduces a brand new cast of wannabe magicians: Bosco (Dominic Sessa), June (Ariana Greenblatt) and Charlie (Justice Smith). In the opening, this trio impersonates the now-disbanded troupe of heist-pulling conjurors known as the Horsemen, redistributing crypto money... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3332312/now-you-see-me-now-you-dont-movie-review-action-comedys-third-outing-needs-more-magic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3332312/now-you-see-me-now-you-dont-movie-review-action-comedys-third-outing-needs-more-magic?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Nov 2025 14:00:10 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram Numerologists would surely have a field day, but it feels apt that 2025 has become the year of Stephen King. Maybe that statement feels redundant. Seemingly every year, there is a new adaptation of one of the myriad books written by the author, a man whose chilling stories have brought us films like Carrie, The Shining and Misery. But this year, in cinemas, we have already seen The Monkey, The Life of Chuck and The Long Walk, and on television, The Institute and IT: Welcome to Derry. Now it is... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3332143/what-stephen-king-edgar-wright-think-about-running-man-and-its-prescient-2025-vision?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3332143/what-stephen-king-edgar-wright-think-about-running-man-and-its-prescient-2025-vision?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Nov 2025 10:00:13 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram Park Chan-wook, the celebrated South Korean auteur behind such esteemed works as Oldboy and The Handmaiden, is not a filmmaker one typically associates with comedy. It came as a surprise, then, even to his lead actor, Lee Byung-hun, when the script for his latest film, No Other Choice, turned out to be funny. “There were so many comical elements to it, so I was a little bit puzzled,” Lee admits at a recent interview with the Post. “The very first question I asked Director Park was, ‘Did I read... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-drama/k-movies/article/3328905/no-other-choice-why-korean-auteur-park-chan-wook-reunited-lee-byung-hun-comedy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-drama/k-movies/article/3328905/no-other-choice-why-korean-auteur-park-chan-wook-reunited-lee-byung-hun-comedy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Oct 2025 11:15:08 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3/5 stars One of 2021’s more disturbing and distinguished supernatural films, The Black Phone reconfirmed Scott Derrickson as one of the unsung auteurs of horror working today. The director has made a career from scares in films like The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister. The Black Phone reunited him with the latter’s star, Ethan Hawke, playing a late-1970s Colorado child kidnapper nicknamed The Grabber. It was a disturbing dive into darkness. That film was largely confined to the scruffy... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3328375/black-phone-2-movie-review-ethan-hawke-returns-child-kidnapper-unsettling-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3328375/black-phone-2-movie-review-ethan-hawke-returns-child-kidnapper-unsettling-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Oct 2025 12:15:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3/5 stars Tron returns with a third instalment in a series that began in 1982 with a film that showcased then pioneering visual effects as a computer programmer was pulled into his own software. The belated 2010 sequel, Tron: Legacy, was something of a disappointment, despite featuring one of the great movie soundtracks of the 21st century by Daft Punk. Tron: Ares flips the original on its head. Instead of a programmer finding his way into “the grid” – the “digital frontier” inside his software... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3328077/tron-ares-movie-review-jared-leto-plays-ai-soldier-third-entry-sci-fi-franchise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3328077/tron-ares-movie-review-jared-leto-plays-ai-soldier-third-entry-sci-fi-franchise?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Oct 2025 16:00:11 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram “I feel lucky,” Shu Qi says. It is a modest claim from an internationally renowned film star having a remarkable career moment. When she sits down with the Post for this interview, the Taiwanese actress turned filmmaker is at the Venice Film Festival with the sensitively hewn drama Girl, her directorial debut that has just played in competition. It comes hot off the back of a starring role in Chinese auteur Bi Gan’s experimental three-hour sci-fi epic Resurrection, which won the Special Jury... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324858/how-shu-qi-drew-her-painful-childhood-girl-her-directorial-debut?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324858/how-shu-qi-drew-her-painful-childhood-girl-her-directorial-debut?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Sep 2025 23:15:08 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram One of the biggest surprises of the 82nd Venice Film Festival was saved until the very end, when Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother took the Golden Lion for best film. Starring Adam Driver, Tom Waits and Cate Blanchett, this slight, minimalist triptych study of familial relations recalled last year’s winner, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, in the sense that a director who has never won a major festival top prize finally did so with a relatively middling film. The film was... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324742/venice-2025-10-festivals-best-films-smashing-machine-no-other-choice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324742/venice-2025-10-festivals-best-films-smashing-machine-no-other-choice?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Sep 2025 20:15:08 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram When Xin Zhilei stood up to accept her best actress award at this year’s Venice Film Festival, winning for Cai Shangjun’s The Sun Rises on Us All, she was in a daze. “I feel like I am dreaming,” she said. The first Chinese actress to win the prestigious prize since Deanie Ip Tak-han took it for Ann Hui On-wah’s A Simple Life in 2011, and only the third ever to do so – the other being Gong Li for 1992’s The Story of Qiu Ju – it marks a significant step in an already notable career. Two days... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324689/how-chinese-star-xin-zhilei-best-actress-winner-venice-film-festival-rose-top?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324689/how-chinese-star-xin-zhilei-best-actress-winner-venice-film-festival-rose-top?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Sep 2025 04:02:42 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3/5 stars Silent Friend, the latest film from Hungarian auteur Ildiko Enyedi, marks the first role in a European production for Tony Leung Chiu-wai. The internationally renowned Hong Kong star of In the Mood for Love and Lust, Caution has, surprisingly, never ventured into the European film industry until now. While he finds a gentle work here that feels entirely suited to his tranquil demeanour, Enyedi’s film probably sets another precedent for the veteran actor: he is also sharing billing with... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324182/venice-2025-silent-friend-movie-review-tony-leung-chiu-wai-stars-botanical-drama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324182/venice-2025-silent-friend-movie-review-tony-leung-chiu-wai-stars-botanical-drama?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2025 19:05:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3.5/5 stars “The past always catches up with us.” So we are told in The Sun Rises on Us All, Chinese filmmaker Cai Shangjun’s sombre competition entry at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Despite its optimistic-sounding title, this is a film in which sacrifice and guilt weigh heavily on its characters. Meiyun (Xin Zhilei) is a harassed owner of a fashion retail business; the only time she ever smiles is when she does her livestream, presenting brightly coloured clothes to her captive female... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324454/venice-2025-sun-rises-us-all-movie-review-cai-shangjun-returns-sombre-drama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324454/venice-2025-sun-rises-us-all-movie-review-cai-shangjun-returns-sombre-drama?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2025 16:05:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3/5 stars To be(head) or not to be(head)… that is the question in Scarlet, Mamoru Hosoda’s Hamlet-inspired anime. Playing out of competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival, this is a curious, gender-flipped tale of vengeance and forgiveness, one that asks us to give peace a chance. The story largely takes place in an “Otherworld”, a purgatory of sorts where the past and future are interwoven and Eternity is just a staircase away. It is here where we find the flame-haired Scarlet (voiced by... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324414/venice-2025-scarlet-movie-review-mamoru-hosodas-hamlet-inspired-anime-curiosity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324414/venice-2025-scarlet-movie-review-mamoru-hosodas-hamlet-inspired-anime-curiosity?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2025 02:32:18 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3/5 stars A coming-of-age tale set in 1988 Taiwan, Girl marks the feature debut of Shu Qi, the acclaimed Taiwanese actress and model. This year has already been a celebratory one for her following an appearance in Bi Gan’s Resurrection, which won a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. Now she is presenting Girl in competition at the Venice Film Festival, a film that bears the influence of her working relationship with Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien following the three films they made together. The... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324126/venice-2025-girl-movie-review-shu-qi-makes-promising-directing-debut-family-drama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3324126/venice-2025-girl-movie-review-shu-qi-makes-promising-directing-debut-family-drama?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Sep 2025 14:20:09 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3/5 stars With its portrait of modern-day corporate culture in Thailand, Human Resource will strike a chord with anyone familiar with the soul-sapping world of white-collar work. The film, which is playing in the Orizzonti strand at this year’s Venice Film Festival, is written and directed by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (Happy Old Year), who crafts a work deeply connected to the economic, political and social strife that is increasingly part of today’s society. Nawapol sets up a world where the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3323984/venice-2025-human-resource-movie-review-bleak-view-corporate-culture-thailand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3323984/venice-2025-human-resource-movie-review-bleak-view-corporate-culture-thailand?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Sep 2025 15:05:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3.5/5 stars Not since the US version of the sitcom The Office, with its mock-doc focus on the fictional company Dunder Mifflin, has there been such a high-profile worshipping of the art of manufacturing paper. Maybe Korean director Park Chan-wook has been bingeing on episodes, though that show never got as dark as this pleasing adaptation of Donald Westlake’s 1997 novel The Ax. A black comedy set in the world of (un)employment, No Other Choice starts as family man Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) is let... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-drama/k-movies/article/3323852/venice-2025-no-other-choice-movie-review-park-chan-wook-takes-corporate-culture?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/k-drama/k-movies/article/3323852/venice-2025-no-other-choice-movie-review-park-chan-wook-takes-corporate-culture?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Sep 2025 02:50:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 4.5/5 stars “In seeking life, I created death.” So says Oscar Isaac’s unhinged Victor Frankenstein in Guillermo del Toro’s magnificently crafted take on Mary Shelley’s 1818 Gothic masterpiece. This “modern Prometheus” tale, to borrow from Shelley’s subtitle, has been told many times on film, with varied results. But unquestionably, Del Toro’s version is the most beautiful, perhaps the most definitive. Premiering in competition at the Venice Film Festival, Frankenstein begins near the end, as... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3323576/venice-2025-frankenstein-movie-review-guillermo-del-toros-definitive-monster-tale?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3323576/venice-2025-frankenstein-movie-review-guillermo-del-toros-definitive-monster-tale?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Aug 2025 16:50:07 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 2.5/5 stars “It happened at Yale.” So reads the caption in Luca Guadagnino’s slickly packaged, often exasperating After the Hunt, the tale of a philosophy professor caught in the crossfire of a sexual assault case. Julia Roberts is Alma Imhoff, first seen hosting a drinks party alongside her husband Fredrik (Michael Stuhlbarg), with PhD student Maggie (The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri) in attendance. When Maggie leaves, she does so with the flirtatious professor Hank Gibson (Andrew Garfield). But later... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3323604/venice-2025-after-hunt-movie-review-julia-roberts-luca-guadagninos-muddled-tale?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3323604/venice-2025-after-hunt-movie-review-julia-roberts-luca-guadagninos-muddled-tale?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Aug 2025 16:50:08 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 2/5 stars “De-escalate,” mutters Bob Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell in Nobody 2, as if it is a mantra he will never quite grasp. A family man with a penchant for kicking butt, Hutch could not de-escalate if he tried. In this sequel to 2021’s surprise mini-hit Nobody, he is paying off an enormous debt by pulling off lethal hits for his one-time handler, The Barber (Colin Salmon). But after another grisly takedown, all Hutch wants is a holiday – for “making memories”, as he drily puts it. He convinces... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3321659/nobody-2-movie-review-bob-odenkirk-returns-family-minded-hitman-flat-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3321659/nobody-2-movie-review-bob-odenkirk-returns-family-minded-hitman-flat-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Aug 2025 16:00:08 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 4/5 stars One of the more powerful horror films to arrive this year, Weapons begins with a child’s voice-over explaining that 17 kids have gone missing from the small US town of Maybrook. Creepier still, they all left their homes at exactly the same time – 2.17am – seemingly of their own volition. Oh, and they all attended the same class at the local junior school. Only teacher Justine (Julia Garner) and one pupil, Alex (Cary Christopher), are still accounted for. Among the townspeople outraged... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3320888/weapons-movie-review-horror-mystery-barbarian-director-zach-cregger-oddly-hypnotic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3320888/weapons-movie-review-horror-mystery-barbarian-director-zach-cregger-oddly-hypnotic?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Aug 2025 03:12:00 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 3/5 stars Freakier Friday, the somewhat belated, uninhibited sequel to 2003’s body-swap comedy Freaky Friday, reunites Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as the mother and daughter who previously got to experience what it is like to be the other person. This time, the body-swap madness is multiplied, although bigger does not necessarily mean better. It certainly means more confusion, with viewers frequently left wondering who is who. Lohan’s Anna is now a single mother herself, to teen daughter... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3320787/freakier-friday-movie-review-lindsay-lohan-and-jamie-lee-curtis-reunite-chaotic-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3320787/freakier-friday-movie-review-lindsay-lohan-and-jamie-lee-curtis-reunite-chaotic-sequel?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Aug 2025 16:00:09 +0000 James Mottram James Mottram 4/5 stars “I will eat your planet slowly while your child watches.” So says Galactus, the world-destroying entity – and enemy – of The Fantastic Four in Marvel’s latest offering. As lines go, it is one of the better put-downs in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) history, and Galactus – aka The Devourer of Worlds – is arguably the best villain since Thanos clicked his fingers. All this adds real bite to this big-screen return for the superhero team created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. The Fantastic... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3319188/fantastic-four-first-steps-movie-review-marvels-original-superhero-team-returns?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3319188/fantastic-four-first-steps-movie-review-marvels-original-superhero-team-returns?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Jul 2025 16:00:08 +0000