my favourite movie review

10 Movie Review Examples That Will Help You Write Better Reviews

Studying movie review examples is a great place to start if you’re looking for inspiration for your own movie reviews. 

This article has gathered different kinds of movie review examples that will help you write better and more insightful reviews in whatever style you choose.

There is an overwhelming library of movie reviews to sift through, but having studied many reviews by Pulitzer Prize-winning film critics along with your average movie review articles published online, I’ve been able to find a few movie reviews which provide a great template for crafting a review of your own.

10 Detailed Movie Review Examples

The Classic Movie Review

A classic movie review example has a neat structure that clearly communicates the author’s sentiment toward the film in a clean, straightforward manner.

Roger Ebert’s review of North is the perfect example of that.

1. “North” by Roger Ebert

This review starts off with a catchy hook, making readers curious for Ebert to elaborate on his statements.

“I have no idea why Rob Reiner, or anyone else, wanted to make this story into a movie, and close examination of the film itself is no help.”

The opening sentence of this movie review example makes it clear to the audience that Ebert did not enjoy the film in question and if they would like to know why, they are encouraged to continue reading.

The whole first paragraph is chock full of strong adjectives setting the tone for the scathing critique this film is about to get.

Moving on to the next paragraph of this movie review example, Ebert gives a quick synopsis of what this film is about, filling the audience in on the story in case they’re unaware.

“He [Elijah Wood] plays a kid with inattentive parents, who decides to go into court, free himself of them, and go on a worldwide search for nicer parents.”

Following the paragraph summarizing the main plot of the film, the movie review dives straight into the critique explaining why this film garnered the strong adjectives it received in the opening paragraph:

“This idea is deeply flawed. Children do not lightly separate from their parents – and certainly not on the evidence provided here, where the great parental sin is not paying attention to their kid at the dinner table.”

In this movie review example, Ebert dives deep into the oddities of the narrative in what makes it so unbelievable.

He questions the director’s decisions and the plot’s direction as well in these middle paragraphs:

“What is the point of the scenes with the auditioning parents?… They are not funny. They are not touching. There is no truth in them.”

Ebert uses the middle paragraphs to dissect what does not work in the film.

In the final paragraphs of this movie review example, Ebert closes out by reiterating his sentiments towards the film, giving readers a good idea of whether the movie would be something he would recommend others watch.

“I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it.”

“‘North’ is a bad film – one of the worst movies ever made.”

After reading Ebert’s movie review example there is no question of whether he liked the movie or not. I don’t know, he might’ve even mentioned hating it at one point…

And he makes it clear what plot and artistic choices played into his final assessment of the film.

Would you whip out your cash to experience the movie North after reading a review like this?

With this straightforward, informative, evidence-supported review, there is no confusion about the perceived quality of this film.

READ THE FULL REVIEW OF NORTH BY ROGER EBERT

Try this movie review generator to create your own classic movie review in no time!

The Real World Parallel Review

A movie review that can parallel the events occurring within the movie with events occurring outside of the movie shows a deeper level of critical thinking.

This is one of the movie review examples that truly exemplifies a deep critical thinker.

2. “The Flash” by Justin Chang

This movie review example starts off right away with a brief overview synopsis of what the movie, The Flash, is about.

“‘The Flash’ is a time-travel story and a cautionary tale, a warning of how dangerous it can be to change the past or mess around with alternate realities.”

Same as with the classic movie review, this reviewer also hints at his overall sentiments towards the film.

“…this initially enjoyable, increasingly sloppy megabucks mess…”

This review, unlike the classic movie review, spends more time following the plot of the story through a biased lens, further walking readers through the details of the story.

“He gets stuck in the past and… winds up unwisely joining forces with a teenage version of himself (also Miller, with floppier hair), who’s had a much happier childhood but doesn’t (yet) have the Flash’s superheroic powers.”

After indirectly criticizing the CGI and praising the main actor’s performance, Chang gets into his main criticism of the review: the popular trend of reintroducing old versions of superheroes into new superhero movies.

“Really, though, is nostalgia that satisfying anymore?”

And it’s really this last sentence of the movie review example that ties this compelling thought together, not only concluding the movie but drawing a parallel to how the movie creators are perpetrators of the same mistake that the movie’s main character made.

“Lost in an endless game of IP-reshuffling musical chairs, Barry realizes, possibly too late, the futility of dwelling on the past — a fatuous lesson from a movie that can’t stop doing the same.”

READ THE FULL REVIEW OF THE FLASH BY JUSTIN CHANG

3. “Bonnie and Clyde” by Roger Ebert

Another great movie review example, using a movie as a sense of societal self-reflection, is Roger Ebert’s review of Bonnie and Clyde . The final sentences of the review saying:

“‘Bonnie and Clyde’ will be seen as the definitive film of the 1960s, showing with sadness, humor, and unforgiving detail what one society had come to… it was made now and it’s about us.”

READ THE FULL REVIEW OF Bonnie and Clyde BY Roger Ebert

4. “Black Panther” by Soraya Nadia McDonald

Yet another movie review example is this Black Panther review by Soraya Nadia McDonald.

The whole review deep dives into the cultural context of the movie and its timeliness or lack thereof.

“Honestly, the worst thing about Black Panther is that it had to be released in 2018 and not during the term of America’s first black president.”

This movie review example walks through the narrative praising the film’s actors, director, and cinematographer before ending on the note of its cultural relevance.

“Perhaps it’s even capable, just as The Birth of a Nation once was, of helping to steer an entire national conversation.”

READ THE FULL REVIEW OF Black Panther BY Soraya Nadia McDonald

The Storytelling Movie Review

If you have a story of your own that you can parallel with the movie’s story, then connecting the movie’s narrative with your own is a particularly entertaining way to craft your review.

Instead of comparing the film to society as a whole, the following storytelling movie review examples compare the movie to specific stories they pull from their personal life.

5. “The Help” by Wesley Morris

One of my favorite reviews by Pulitzer prize-winning Wesley Morris is written in this style, drawing readers in with his own personal story:

“Three summers ago, I went to visit a friend in West Texas.”

“What happened in Texas?”, readers wonder as we curiously continue reading.

After 3 engaging paragraphs narrating a strange, racial encounter in Texas, Morris introduces the movie, The Help.

“This pretty much captures the cognitive dissonance of watching “The Help’’: One woman’s mammy is another’s man’s mother.”

The following paragraph gives a synopsis of the film and introduces the audience to the main characters:

“Meanwhile, the heart of the film itself belongs to Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer), the two very different maids and best friends at the center of the story.”

The center of this movie review example narrates the happenings of the movie from a biased point of view before presenting some debate points about the movie’s approach to race relations.

“‘The Help’ joins everything from “To Kill a Mockingbird’’ to “The Blind Side’’ as another Hollywood movie that sees racial progress as the province of white do-gooderism.”

Morris then praises the actors’ performances in this very character-based film but is unable to shake the social weight of the casting that this film requires:

“And yet here’s the question you ask as you watch a black actor in 2011 play a white lady’s maid, decades and decades after that was the only job a black woman in Hollywood could get. What went through the minds of Davis, Spencer, and Aunjanue Ellis, who plays Hilly’s maid, as they put on those uniforms and went to work?”

Morris finishes off the review sure to reference the personal story that he introduced in the beginning before leaving the reader with something to ponder on.

“These are strong figures, as that restaurant owner might sincerely say, but couldn’t they be strong doing something else?”

Morris’s final statements in this movie review example make it clear his assessment of the film’s quality is good but its messaging is questionable, allowing the audience to make a judgment on whether they’d like to see the film for themselves.

“On one hand, it’s juicy, heartwarming, well-meant entertainment. On the other, it’s an owner’s manual.”

READ THE FULL REVIEW OF THE HELP BY WESLEY MORRIS

6. “Me Without You” by Stephen Hunter

This movie review example also tells a story although it’s not personal.

Instead of starting by talking about the movie or talking about himself, Hunter begins the review like a novel. With an untethered phrase that needs further explanation.

“Friendship isn’t rocket science. It’s much harder.”

He then lists out all of the complexities of trying to maintain a friendship, painting a picture to support his point.

“Oh, yeah, it’s easy to say just be loyal and true and that makes you a good friend. But suppose the other person does something that really irks you, like chew gum or vote Democratic?”

Hunter doesn’t leave you hanging for too long before segueing into how this thought point relates to the film.

“And that thorniness, that dark underbelly of it, is the gist of the acerbic British import ‘Me Without You…'”

As usual, a sign of good storytelling, he finishes this movie review example with his full-circle concluding statement on friendship.

“But the truth is, of course, that friendship matters to those of us who still claim membership in the human race…”

READ THE FULL REVIEW OF ME WITHOUT YOU BY STEPHEN HUNTER (Under the title: ‘Me’: Friendship as Relationship)

The Unconventional Movie Review

A less common but creative and fun way to approach a movie review is to approach it from a different angle or point of view. To write it in a way that’s unexpected.

7. “ET” by Roger Ebert

In another movie review example from Roger Ebert, instead of approaching this review traditionally, Ebert rather writes the review as a letter to his grandchildren.

Rather than addressing the readers, he addresses his grandchildren in his movie review:

“Dear Raven and Emil: Sunday we sat on the big green couch and watched “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” together with your mommy and daddy.”

After noting how his grandchildren reacted to climactic parts of the film, Ebert recounts the events of the movie, ET, continuing to include his grandchildren’s remarks and reactions.

“The camera watches Elliott moving around. And Raven, that’s when you asked me, “Is this E.T.’s vision?” And I said, yes, we were seeing everything now from E.T.’s point of view.”

Ebert uses this opportunity to make a simplified analysis of the director’s use of POV in the movie, praising the film’s direction without losing the context of a grandfather’s letter.

“Some other filmmaker who wasn’t so good might have had subtitles saying, “E.T.? Are you out there? It’s Mommy!” But that would have been dumb.”

Ebert ends this movie review example like anyone would end a letter, with good wishes and a signature.

“Well, that’s it for this letter. We had a great weekend, kids. I was proud of how brave you both were during your first pony rides. And proud of what good movie critics you are, too. Love, Grandpa Roger”

The average person has a 7-8th grade reading level, so a simple letter like this, is not only cute, creative, and endearing but it’s incredibly easy to read and understand the critic’s assessment of the movie.

READ THE FULL REVIEW OF ET BY Roger Ebert

8. “Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse” by IMO Flicks

Another unconventional movie review example is one that I wrote for this blog website.

Instead of writing from my point of view, I decided to write from the point of view of an out-of-touch grandma, someone who may not have the background knowledge to really understand and appreciate the film.

I approached the film this way because I was tired of reviewing Marvel Superhero films but the thought of writing it as an out-of-touch grandma made the review so much more fun and less pressure-filled, even if it’s really not the most straightforward or informational read.

The review does not include a clear synopsis and the critiques of the film waver between genuine observations and areas that the grandma misunderstood.

It was a blast to write.

The grandmother writer uses the remarks of her grandchildren as a voice of reason for the film.

“My granddaughter told me to rate this spider film [ Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ] out of 10 points. I initially wanted to give it 4 points out of 10… Apparently, my grandchildren think this rating is ridiculous. One of my grandsons almost threw a chair. He gave the film a 200/10, claiming it’s one of the best films he’s ever seen.”

This sort of review may not be as befitting for a serious homework assignment but if there’s space to think outside of the box, I say go for it.

READ THE FULL REVIEW OF Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Try this movie review generator to create your own unconventional movie review in no time!

The Self-Aware Review

Similar to the unconventional movie review, but not quite as unconventional, these movie review examples are self-aware of their influential power. It breaks the fourth wall of movie reviews so to speak.

9. “Manchester By the Sea” by Ty Burr

This movie review example of Manchester By the Sea wants to encourage you to watch the movie but doesn’t want your expectations so high that you don’t experience the same subtle unexpected magic that the movie works on viewers.

Burr explains this in the first paragraph:

“Nothing destroys an audience’s appreciation of a small good movie like advance praise.”

Careful to not ruin the audience’s expectations, Burr goes on to begin every following paragraph with a phrase that denies all of the critiques that follow.

“So I won’t tell you that I’ve seen “Manchester by the Sea” twice now and both times felt haunted for weeks.”

“I won’t bother you with how the movie stands as a soul-satisfying comeback for its maker…”

“I could say, but I won’t, that we’ve all seen too many movies in which a lost soul comes out of his shell and rejoins the human race after he inherits a kid from a dead relative.”

The entire center of the film covers the movie in a way that says, “You didn’t see me. I was never here.” Good and well knowing that people are going to be more curious about this film and expect it to be as fantastic as Burr says.

But don’t worry, Burr accounts for this “undesired” outcome that he had been trying to avoid from the beginning with this closing paragraph.

“If I do tell you all this, forget I ever did. Just remember you heard somewhere that “Manchester by the Sea” is an experience worth having…”

READ THE FULL REVIEW OF MANCHESTER BY THE SEA BY TY BURR (Under the title: A Shore Thing)

10. “Mark Kermode” by Mamma Mia

Kermode’s review of Mama Mia takes his self-awareness in a different direction where he personally loves the movie Mama Mia and is not afraid of letting the world know it.

In fact, the movie has brought something to life in him as a movie critic.

“One minute I was a miserable critic; the next, everything had gone pink and fluffy.”

Kermode continues the movie review example, touching on the actor’s performances, the director’s execution of the film, and the soundtrack before returning to how the film affected him as a critic.

“I feel duty-bound to report that I came out of the screening an utter wreck.”

Further aware that as a serious critic, he probably shouldn’t like this film as much as he did, he lets his guard down and leans into the wonder of the film.

“I have certainly mellowed, and perhaps my critical faculties have withered and died. But I simply can’t imagine how Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again could be any better than it is.”

The self-aware review speaks to the readers as a friend rather than as a removed source of movie information.

A lot of the time, this personal voice can be merged with other review styles as well.

READ THE FULL REVIEW OF Mamma Mia by Mark Kermode

Common Questions

How to write a movie review.

To write a movie review you would need to watch the movie and take good notes, then you would craft an attention-hooking introduction, a few center paragraphs explaining your critiques of the film, before concluding on whether you’d recommend the film or not. This article breaks down the 10 steps to writing a movie review effortlessly .

What should a good movie review include?

A good movie review should include a synopsis of the film, a clear stance on whether the film was good or not, including why or why not, and a conclusion that makes it clear whether the critic would recommend others to watch the film or not.

What is the best movie review for students?

The best movie review example for students would be the classic movie review because it’s straightforward and the easiest to follow and grade.

In Conclusion…

There are so many movie review examples to choose from but the majority can fall into one of these 5 groups: the classic movie review, the real-world parallel, the storytelling review, the unconventional review, and the self-aware review.

If you would like to view 50 more outstanding movie review examples , I’ve grouped some here in a shared Word document available for free!

I hope this article was able to provide some movie review examples to help you craft your own. Happy movie reviewing!

What’s your favorite movie review example? Let me know in the comments below!

And be sure to subscribe for the latest blog updates (form in sidebar).

Peace, love, and lots of popcorn,

When I'm not over-analyzing movies, I'm eating chocolate, belting my favorite songs, and binge-watching reality dating shows. Feel free to share your opinions with me and follow me through my social links!

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Letter of Recommendation

‘Titanic’ Is My Favorite Movie. There, I Said It.

A woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets; this is mine.

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By Jessie Heyman

A year ago, I went on a date, and the guy asked me what my favorite movie was. A simple question, but I stammered. His brow furrowed. “Didn’t your profile say that you love movie quotes?”

I didn’t want to reveal the truth — not so soon, at least — so I hid behind the Criterion Collection (“ ‘La Strada,’ ‘Rebecca,’ etc.”). Then a scene flashed in my head — a swell of music, an enormous hat: “You can be blasé about some things, Rose, but not about Titanic!”

A woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets; my secret is that I love “Titanic.” This has been true since I was a 10-year-old in a darkened theater, weeping uncontrollably on my mother’s lap. Like the children onscreen waving farewell to the doomed steamer, I marveled at the grandeur of what was passing before my eyes: a sweeping history lesson and a devastating romance between a first-class passenger named Rose (Kate Winslet) and a below-decks dreamboat named Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio). Until then, my cultural diet had consisted of Rodgers and Hammerstein singalongs and the Disney canon. “Titanic” — rapturous, tragic, real — was an awakening. In just over three hours, the film colored all my notions of grown-up life: love, loss, the female struggle, the unbreakable bond of a string quartet.

To my child’s mind, “Titanic” was impossibly vast: It felt as though the movie encompassed the entire mysterious range of human life. It was, unequivocally, the most powerful experience I’d ever had with a work of art — but I was 10. I couldn’t fully understand this feeling of transcendence, so I just kept rewatching. I saw the movie three times when it was released in 1997. The following year, when it came out on VHS — a fat brick of a box set, neatly split into two acts of happy and sad — I routinely popped in the pre-iceberg tape to enjoy with my after-school snack. I began fixating on unlikely features of the film, delighting in its ancillary characters’ banal dialogue: the clueless graybeards (“Freud? Who is he? Is he a passenger?”); the poetry of the bridge (“Take her to sea, Mr. Murdoch. Let’s stretch her legs”); the snobbery of Rose’s mother (“Will the lifeboats be seated according to class? I hope they’re not too crowded”).

As I matured, I stopped my regular viewings, but the movie continued playing in my mind. I was a melancholy indoor girl myself, and Rose perfectly articulated my teenage ennui: “the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter.” Even in the face of more complex ideas and challenges — like the travails of gender politics or problems of class — I found myself leaning on its casual wisdom and glossy sentimentality. The film’s unsubtle gender commentary began to feel revolutionary. (“Of course it’s unfair,” the chilly matriarch says while tightening the strings of her daughter’s corset. “We’re women.”) In the late ’90s, everyone I knew adored “Titanic,” but I felt in my heart that my own love affair with it was something special.

It was, unequivocally, the most powerful experience I’d ever had with a work of art — but I was 10.

Two decades’ worth of late-night jokes and revisionist hot takes, however, have coated my feelings of affection in deep shame. (Just last month, “the iceberg that sank the Titanic” appeared in a bit on “Saturday Night Live,” lamenting, “Why are people still talking about this?”) The older I grew, the more my enduring admiration felt like some sort of clerical error in my development, a box I had accidentally checked on my application to adulthood. I told myself it was just a guilty pleasure. How could it be anything else? Saying “Titanic” is my favorite movie would be like saying my favorite painting is the “Mona Lisa”: It suggests a lack of discernment.

But for me, the movie’s broadness is kind of the point. What snarky critics don’t appreciate is that the movie is a meme because it is a masterpiece. The film has become a cultural shorthand, a way of talking about ideas that are bigger than ourselves — mythic themes of hubris, love and tragedy — while also making a joke. (Has any line captured our collective quarantine mood more than that old chestnut, “It’s been 84 years ...”?) It also won 11 Oscars.

This past January, I decided, for the first time in a decade, to watch the movie from start to finish. When I was young — in my Tape 1 years — I was dazzled by the film’s spectacle. And yes, watching again, I fell for it in all the old ways: Jack’s good looks, Rose’s Edwardian walking suit, the allure of a real party. But as the camera panned over the sleeping elderly Rose, I broke into sobs seeing the pictures of her post-Titanic life — riding horses on the beach, climbing onto a flying machine dressed in Amelia Earheart cosplay, posing in an on-set glamour shot.

After a year of great loss, the pathos of that moment hit me differently. Never mind her heart — her life went on. She survived a disaster and ended up living a life so full that the experience became just a memory. It was the message in a bottle I needed, one of many that “Titanic” has sent my way over the years. I imagine I’ll be receiving these messages forever — even as an old lady, warm in her bed.

Jessie Heyman is executive editor of Vogue.com.

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The favourite, common sense media reviewers.

Vicious, darkly funny, brilliantly cast costume dramedy.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Cleverness and strength are used to pursue selfish

No genuinely good people in this movie. Main chara

A character is dragged by horse, with bloody wound

Naked breasts and bottoms. Partial full-frontal ma

Several uses of "f--k," plus "c--t," "c--k," "a--h

A main character is extremely drunk in one scene.

Parents need to know that The Favourite is a period drama about two women (Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz) vying for the favor of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) in 18th-century England. Expect some strong violence, including a woman being dragged by a horse, with bloody wounds on her face. Men push and shove women,…

Positive Messages

Cleverness and strength are used to pursue selfish purposes, such as power and vengeance.

Positive Role Models

No genuinely good people in this movie. Main characters are strong, ferocious women, but they don't try to help others or behave in any kind of admirable way; they're selfish, pursuing power and vengeance.

Violence & Scariness

A character is dragged by horse, with bloody wounds to her face. A character is briefly whipped with a birch branch. Birds shot with rifles. A character shoved out of a carriage falls into mud. Men push and shove a woman in several scenes. A woman smacks, hits, kicks a man. A character hurls books at another. A character smacks herself in the face with a book. Slapping. Poisoning. Description of a violent dream: "covered in blood, holding a human head." Description of boy holding a girl down, spitting in her face. Dialogue about queen having lost 17 children. Mentions of rape. Dialogue about being whipped. Threats. Vomiting. Placing foot on rabbit's neck.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Naked breasts and bottoms. Partial full-frontal male nudity (a man covers his genitals with his hands). Couples have sex while standing up, partly clothed; repeated thrusting shown. Passionate kissing, embracing, sensual moaning. Same-sex and opposite-sex kissing. Woman in a sheer dress. Brief image of implied masturbation (nothing graphic shown). Strong sexual dialogue.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Several uses of "f--k," plus "c--t," "c--k," "a--hole," "son of a bitch," "va-joo-joo."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Favourite is a period drama about two women ( Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz ) vying for the favor of Queen Anne ( Olivia Colman ) in 18th-century England. Expect some strong violence, including a woman being dragged by a horse, with bloody wounds on her face. Men push and shove women, and women hit back. (Women hit each other, too.) Rape and other types of violence are spoken of, and guns are fired at birds for sport. Women's naked breasts and bottoms are shown, and a naked man tries to cover his genitals with his hand. Sex/kissing scenes between both same-sex and opposite-sex couples include sensual moaning and touching, plus some thrusting. Masturbation is implied, and there's strong sex-related dialogue. "F--k" is used several times, as are "c--k," "c--t," and "a--hole." A character gets very drunk in one sequence. The movie is pessimistic and vicious but also quite funny, and it's gorgeous to look at. Viewers over 17 searching for something off the beaten path may like it. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (25)
• Kids say (14)

Based on 25 parent reviews

Truly Disgusting

What's the story.

In THE FAVOURITE, it's 18th-century England, and Abigail ( Emma Stone ) heads to the palace. There, her cousin, Lady Sarah ( Rachel Weisz ), works for and is the close confidante (and sometime lover) of Queen Anne ( Olivia Colman ). At first, Abigail is asked to work in the scullery as a maid, where she's picked on by cruel co-workers. Meanwhile, Lady Sarah more or less runs things, taking charge of the war on France during the queen's frequent bouts of illness or sulking. Abigail sees an opportunity to improve her own station by preparing a homemade salve for the queen's gout. With Lady Sarah away running things, Abigail becomes ever closer to the queen and even seduces her. But when Lady Sarah realizes that her position is threatened, she starts an all-out war -- a war that the crafty Abigail herself is only too qualified to fight.

Is It Any Good?

Director Yorgos Lanthimos adds a dose of wicked, whiplash humor to his usual bleakness in this largely effective costume movie, filled with deep-focus visuals and strong, ferocious women. Lanthimos' previous movies -- like Dogtooth , The Lobster , and The Killing of a Sacred Deer -- were relentlessly dystopian and malicious, and The Favourite continues that worldview. There are few, if any, good people in Lanthimos' movies. But this time, thanks perhaps to a screenplay by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, the iffy behavior can at least inspire laughter.

It helps that both Stone and Weisz are so good and so brilliantly cast. Most actors in these kinds of movies tend to get swallowed up by the costumes, the stiff dialogue, and the stagnant visuals. But Stone is clever, perky, and playful, and Weisz is cool, decisive, and sensual; they clash beautifully. Lanthimos uses an ultra-wide-angle lens that causes rooms to warp as it pans, and this creates a distinctly off-kilter quality, adding to the nightmarishness of the world. (It also makes things a bit more kinetic.) But in the end, the back-and-forth between the two central characters doesn't really have an ending, and The Favourite drags on too long before fizzling out. Thankfully, Colman's winning, unfettered performance as the petulant queen is a memorable takeaway.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about The Favourite 's violence . Were you expecting that type of content in a costume drama? How does that affect its impact?

Is the violence directed at women mitigated by the fact that the women can "take it" -- and also dish it back out? Why or why not?

How does the movie depict sex ? Are relationships based on love? Other things? What values are imparted?

Do you consider any of the characters role models ? Why or why not? What's the appeal of watching characters behaving badly?

What did you learn about Queen Anne? Did the movie inspire you to learn more about her? Do you think this is an accurate portrayal of history?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 21, 2018
• On DVD or streaming : March 5, 2019
• Cast : Olivia Colman , Emma Stone , Rachel Weisz
• Director : Yorgos Lanthimos
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Fox Searchlight Pictures
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : History
• Run time : 119 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong sexual content, nudity and language
• Awards : Academy Award , Golden Globe
• Last updated : March 7, 2024

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My favourite film: Dead Poets Society

In our writers’ favourite film series , Sarfraz Manzoor seizes the day with Peter Weir’s inspirational high school drama

There are some films that, if you watch them for the first time at the right age, have the capacity to inspire and embolden you: Dead Poets Society is one such film. It is not a film that it is cool to admit loving. It is uncynical, idealistic and hopeful – not qualities one necessarily associates with film snobs, but what it lacks in critical kudos it has recouped in audience appreciation. It has been voted the greatest school film and it is often cited by viewers as one of the most inspirational films of all time. It certainly inspired me at a time when I most needed it.

I was 19 years old, in my first year at university in Manchester and living away from home for the first time. I saw Dead Poets Society, on my own, at the Odeon cinema on Oxford Road in the autumn of 1989. Superficially the film – directed by Peter Weir and written by Tom Schulman – depicted a world very different to mine. It was set in Vermont in 1959. Welton Academy – the elite private boys school featured in the film – had nothing in common with the Luton comp I had attended.

But scratch the veneer of privilege enjoyed by the boys at Welton and the parallels between my life and theirs became more apparent. Neil Perry, Todd Anderson and the other students endured constraints that seemed very familiar. In an early scene the boys are reminded of the four pillars that were the foundation to a Welton education: tradition, honour, excellence and discipline. Those same pillars shaped my family upbringing. My parents never said “We expect great things from you” (as Neil Perry’s father says to him) but my father often said “I made a great many sacrifices to get you here and you will not let me down”. I, like the students in Dead Poets Society, felt weighed down under the fearsome load of duty and obligation. Perhaps that’s why I was captivated by Robin Williams’s portrayal of John Keating, the unorthodox teacher who harnesses the power of literature to open his pupils’ minds. Watching Williams’s (mercifully restrained) performance I found myself wishing my English teachers had been as inspiring. It is through Keating – and he was based on a real teacher who had taught screenwriter Tom Schulman – that the boys slowly learn to emerge from under the shadow of expectation. That theme resonated with me; that the battle between idealism and obligation is a brutal one to fight whether one is a privileged white boy in 50s America or a young working class British Pakistani in 80s Manchester.

I saw Dead Poets Society when I was living away from my family but still in their shadow. Some weeks earlier I had seen an advertisement on the wall of the student union to work in the United States during the following summer. The prospect of visiting America – the promised land – seemed deliciously tantalising, but my father had dismissed the notion. Why spend the summer in America, he reasoned, when I could spend it making money working in Luton? I thought long and hard about how to reason with him, how to persuade him to change his mind, but nothing I said made any difference. The idea of America slowly began to slip away. And then I saw Dead Poets Society and I heard for the first time the words “Carpe diem”. Seize the day. It is hard to try and describe the power that those words had on me, but they genuinely gave me the courage to stand up for what I wanted. I told my father that I was going to America, with or without his approval. I am not certain I would have found the courage to have defied my father – who, when faced with my certainty ended up offering to pay for my plane ticket – were it not for having seen the film.

That was the past. In the intervening years I have rarely returned to Dead Poets Society. Unlike my other favourite films – Annie Hall , Unforgiven , Goodfellas , Beautiful Girls – it did not appear to withstand revisiting. When I recently watched it again, as a 40-year-old recent father, I found in some ways the film had not aged well. The adult characters seemed too crudely drawn; the hopes and dreams of the fathers – and one assumes, the mothers – too easily dismissed. My loyalties were now more divided: I sympathised with Neil Perry’s dreams of becoming an actor but I also understood why his father had reservations.

Revisiting Dead Poets Society again I was struck less by the depiction of generational conflict and more by what I now consider the film’s dominant theme. This is not a film, ultimately, about school or poetry or teaching: it is about death. It is there in the opening image of the film, where a young boy prepares for school while above him hangs a painting of long dead former pupils. Death literally looks down. It is death that provides the propulsive force behind John Keating’s lessons to his class. It is there in one of the first lines of poetry he shares with his pupils: “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying: And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow will be dying” . And it is there in my favourite scene of the film, where Keating ushers his young pupils towards the black–and–white photographs displayed in a glass cabinet of former pupils of the school. “They’re not that different from you, are they?,” he says as the camera slowly pans from the faces in the photograph to the boys in his class. “Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel … They believe they’re destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you … these boys are now fertilising daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you … Carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary”.

It is a powerful scene and one more relevant to me than when I first saw it all those years ago. When I watch Dead Poets Society I am reminded that time is precious; that, in the words of Bob Dylan , he not busy being born is busy dying. Dead Poets Society teaches us to resolve to lead lives of passion and conviction, mindful of the fact that in the story of our lives the script is ours to write, but the ending has long been decided.

• My favourite film
• Drama films
• Robin Williams

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The last place one would expect to find hope would be a prison. Likewise, the last movie in which one would expect to find hope is a prison movie. However, in The Shawshank Redemption (1994) hope is exactly what we get. The Shawshank Redemption is without a single riot scene or horrific effect, it tells a slow, gentle story of camaraderie and growth, with an ending that abruptly finds poetic justice in what has come before. Adapted from the Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the film tells the story of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a banker who spends nearly two decades in Shawshank State Prison for the murder of his wife and her lover despite his claims of innocence. He is given two life sentences and sent to the notoriously harsh Shawshank Prison. Andy always claims his innocence, but his cold and measured demeanor led many to doubt his word. During his time at the prison, he befriends a fellow inmate, Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman), and finds himself protected by the guards after the warden begins using him in his money laundering operation.

The first night for everyone in every prison is apprehensive, be it the prison of marriage or the literal meaning of prison. During the first night, the chief guard, Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown), savagely beats a newly arrived inmate because of his crying and hysterics. The inmate later dies in the infirmary because the prison doctor had left for the night. Meanwhile Andy remained steadfast and composed. Ellis Redding (Morgan Freeman), also known as Red, bet against others that Andy would be the one to break down first, but he loses a considerable amount of money.

After spending 20-odd years, Andy finds out the way out of the prison. How he manages to do the impossible and break the invincible chain of the prison forms the crux of the movie. The Shawsahank Redemption is not a movie; this is a lesson in itself. It preaches patience and perseverance. The Shawshank Redemption works not only as an excellent prison drama, but also as a metaphor for overcoming our own private prisons.

As usual Morgan Freeman delivers a long lasting performance and is very gripping and compelling to watch. Cinematography has been outstanding. The last wide shot of the blue Pacific ocean is enthralling and simply awesome. Costumes were designed that perfectly fits with the attire worn by prisoners.

A film is a director’s portrayal of sensibility on the screen. Director Darabont explores the range of human kindness and cruelty as he lovingly and patiently sculpts his large cast of characters against magnificent scenery.

Ultimately, the standout actor is the venerable James Whitmore, doing his finest work in years. Whitmore’s Brooks is a brilliantly realized character, and the scenes with him attempting to cope with life outside of Shawshank represents one of the film’s most moving and effective sequences.

“Salvation lies within,” advises Warden Norton at one point. It is the presentation of this theme that makes The Shawshank Redemption unique. Prison movies often focus on the violence and hopelessness of a life behind bars. While this film includes those elements, it makes them peripheral. The Shawshank Redemption is all about hope and, because of that, watching it is both uplifting and cathartic.

Though Forrest Gump, a Tom Hanks movie, won the Oscar for that year (1994), yet The Shawshank Redemption won my heart. And winning hearts is more important. Prison is the only place where the value and importance of freedom can be realized. The Shawshank Redemption establishes the truth. Watch the movie and break free yourself from the prison of life’s problems.

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My favourite film

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I really like The Notebook ; it's a romantic classic. The story is about a poor boy, called Noah, who meets a rich girl, called Allie, and they fall in love over one summer. But of course there are problems. Allie's parents don't approve of Noah because he's poor and they get separated, then a lot of time passes before they can get together again. She goes away to college and he writes to her every day, but she doesn't get the letters. Then after quite a long time, Noah buys an old house which he promised to restore for Allie. He does it up and she sees a newspaper article about it and goes to find him again. You can probably guess the rest, but it's a bit complicated because she is engaged to another man. Noah is played by Ryan Gosling, who's my favourite actor, and he stops the film being too soppy – but you still cry a lot at the end. Rachel McAdams is really good too, as Allie.

I think my favourite film is Skyfall , the last James Bond movie. It stars Daniel Craig again and Javier Bardem is this really evil baddie. They're both great, and so is Judi Dench as M, Bond's boss. It's a bit different to other Bond films. The story is more important, although there is still a lot of action. It's really well filmed, especially in the scenes which are shot in Shanghai and Scotland, and it's really exciting, of course. Bond is also a bit different – although he does amazing things, he seems older and that makes him more human and the story more realistic. Oh, the song by Adele is great, too. You know it won an Oscar?

It's not a very recent film, but I love Pride and Prejudice – the version with Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr Darcy. The story is really clever and interesting, besides being romantic. It's all about how we tend to jump to conclusions about people and we're often completely wrong. Elizabeth thinks Mr Darcy is stuck up and snobbish at the beginning of the film, but at the end she realises she has been completely wrong and he isn't like that at all. She also realises he has an enormous house and that maybe helps her fall in love with him too! After I saw the film I read the book by Jane Austen and I really recommend that too. Although it was published 200 years ago, it's still a great read and really funny in parts.

My favourite film has to be The Matrix . Even though it was made back in 1999, it still feels really modern. It's about this ordinary man, Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, who works with computers during the day and is a hacker at night. One day he is contacted by a woman who introduces him to a very strange man: Morpheus. Morpheus explains to Neo that what he thinks of as real is actually fiction and the world is run by evil machines who have imprisoned and tricked the human race. Laurence Fishburne is terrific as Morpheus, and Keanu Reeves is excellent, but the best thing about the film is the special effects. I can watch it again and again.

Let the Right One In is my favourite film. There are two versions, the first is Swedish and the second American – I prefer the original, Swedish version. It's a modern vampire film and also a kind of love story, but it's really unsentimental and a bit scary in places. Oskar is a young boy with a lot of problems. He is being bullied at school and wants revenge on the bullies. Then some new neighbours move in next door and he becomes friends with Eli, a beautiful but strange girl. I won't tell you any more, because it will spoil the story, but expect a serial killer, a lot of violence and blood-drinking. If you like that kind of thing, you'll love this.

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Best Movies of 2024: Best New Movies to Watch Now

Welcome to our guide of the Best Movies of 2024, featuring every Certified Fresh movie as they come in week by week!

March additions so far: Love Lies Bleeding and Problemista , both from A24 . One Life , starring Anthony Hopkins. Ordinary Angels , starring Hilary Swank. Late Night with the Devil , which also tops our best horror of 2024 list .

And what about February ? Dune pretty good, thanks for asking. Part Two went Certified Fresh within an hour after the reviews embargo lifted on February 21st. With it outclassing the first Dune , we took a look at 20 sequels that got better Tomatometer scores than their originals . Otherwise, things got freaky with horror film Stopmotion and the comic zaniness of Hundreds of Beavers taking the crown for the best-reviewed of the year.

We didn’t have a blockbuster January like we did in 2023 ‘s, when genre surprises M3GAN and Plane went Certified Fresh. But Daisy Ridley got her post-Skywalker win with Sometimes I Think About Dying . Mads Mikkelsen re-teamed with his A Royal Affair director Nikolaj Arcel to find The Promised Land. With The Crime Is Mine , Francois Ozon is getting career-best reviews, and his 10th Certified Fresh film over the past decade-and-change. And Netflix scored with The Kitchen , Orion and the Dark , and Good Grief .

Hundreds of Beavers (2022) 98%

The Crime Is Mine (2023) 98%

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023) 98%

Molli and Max in the Future (2023) 98%

Late Night with the Devil (2023) 96%

Tótem (2023) 97%

The Promised Land (2023) 96%

Io Capitano (2023) 96%

Fitting In (2023) 95%

Driving Madeleine (2022) 94%

Dune: Part Two (2024) 93%

The Settlers (2023) 93%

Love Lies Bleeding (2024) 93%

About Dry Grasses (2023) 92%

Orion and the Dark (2024) 91%

One Life (2023) 89%

The Kitchen (2023) 89%

Stopmotion (2023) 89%

Monolith (2023) 88%

Ordinary Angels (2024) 86%

Disco Boy (2023) 86%

Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023) 80%

Good Grief (2023) 76%

Self Reliance (2023) 72%

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My favorite Oscars movie isn't nominated for Best Picture — it's nominated for Best Live Action Short Film

W hen it comes to the 2024 Oscars , everyone has different awards they're invested in. But I bet you most people won't be paying much attention to the awarding of Best Live Action Short Film.

Not me though. Because when I look through the 2024 Oscars nominations my favorite movie on the list isn't "Oppenheimer" or even "Poor Things." It's "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar"  from acclaimed director Wes Anderson. 

This 39-minute Netflix movie is just brilliant. Yes, it may be "Asteroid City" that got all the buzz this year, but this is the better movie of the two Wes Anderson projects. It's part of a larger project where Anderson adopts Roald Dahl stories for the streaming service , and while there are four others also on Netflix, "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" is definitely the headliner.

This short story is perfect as a short film

"The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" is the tale of a man (Benedict Cumberbatch) who makes a fortune from gambling. One day he comes across the diary of a doctor (Dev Patel) who met a man who could see without his eyes (Ben Kingsley). After reading this tale, the gambling man uses the teachings within to reach a meditative state that allows him to see the faces of cards that are face down. This allows him to amass a small fortune, and his accountant commissions Roald Dahl (Ralph Fiennes) to write his story under the pseudonym Henry Sugar.

As you can see, this is an incredible cast. There are nine acting Oscars nominations and a win (Ben Kingsley in "Gandhi") between those four actors, who make up over half the movie's tight cast. They're well suited for the task too. The movie feels like a costumed table reading or a play designed to shown be as a movie. That's an intentional choice too, as Anderson modeled the film after the program “BBC Play for Today” (h/t IndieWire )

But it's not just the acting that's worth watching. The set design is incredible . Not shocking given Anderson's consistent ability to render gorgeous feature-length films, but it is truly impressive nonetheless. Especially with the need to employ visual tricks more in line with a play than a movie. Don't expect any CGI from this movie, every backdrop feels like a handcrafted set.

This blend of acting and production blends together in a tight 39-minute-long movie. Given that many films span over two hours, anything short of that feels relatively tight, but even for something this brief, the pacing is tight and crisp. You move from one scene to the other before there's even a chance to think about checking your phone and you still get the charm and quick, witty dialogue that you come to expect from a feature-length Anderson film.

"The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" is almost certain to win an Oscar — the first for an Anderson film since "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and the first he'll receive personally. So go watch the short film now on Netflix before it transforms from Oscar nominee to Oscar winner.

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My Favourite Cake Reviews

Moghaddam and Sanaeeha's tender tale is both timeless and urgent; universal yet very specific; an irresistibly charming, disarmingly touching meditation on ageing, the cruel passage of time and the irrepressible need for connection.

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A celebratory film that's explosive in its intimacy. [Full review in Spanish]

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Their suddenly ignited romance is pure joy to watch as the night goes on. It's an endearing, uplifting tale of love & intimacy.

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A warm, funny film about loneliness and repression...

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Both principal actors are superb.

Full Review | Feb 26, 2024

It resolutely joins a fresh wave of movies celebrating the conviviality and complexity of the lives of older women.

Full Review | Feb 25, 2024

Both actors seem lit from within, radiant with renewed life.

Full Review | Feb 21, 2024

While you feel like the gender politics of the film could have a sharper bite, Farhadpour and Mehrabi are such a cozy pair in Moghaddam and Sanaeeha’s bleak film

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It is wonderful, this unhoped-for happiness.

In My Favourite Cake, Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha tell the sweet, hilarious, tragic story of an Iranian woman who one day realizes she has every right to be free.

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A delicious slice of life.

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As well as everything else, this wonderfully sweet and funny film will contribute to the debate about whether repressive regimes are the nursery of artistic greatness.

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What it lacks in edge, the film certainly makes up for in the quality of its performances...

Full Review | Feb 16, 2024

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, my favorite martian.

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"My Favorite Martian'' is slapstick and silliness, wild sight gags and a hyped-up acting style. The Marx Brothers would have been at home here. The movie is clever in its visuals, labored in its audios, and noisy enough to entertain kids up a certain age. What age? Low double digits, I'd say.

It stars Jeff Daniels , a seasoned straight man ("Dumb And Dumber''), as a TV producer named Tim. He sees a flying saucer crash and is soon adopted by its occupant, a Martian named, for purposes of the human appearance he assumes, Uncle Martin. The Martian is played by Christopher Lloyd with zestful looniness, and the Martian's space suit, named Zoot, becomes a character in its own right. Both Uncle Martin and Zoot are capable of instant shape-shifting, and depending on what color of extraterrestrial gumball they're chewing, Martin (and the humans) can turn into a variety of monsters.

There's a love story in the frenzy. As the film opens, Tim is in love with his on-air talent, a reporter named Brace ( Elizabeth Hurley ). By the end, Tim has come to realize that Lizzie ( Daryl Hannah ), his technician, is a better choice in every way. All of this is decided at breakneck speed, and at one point Lizzie even turns into a bug-eyed monster and entirely devours a bad guy. (Soon after, defying one of Newton's laws--I'm not sure which one--she turns back into a lithesome young woman who has not put on any weight.) The villains are all government scientists, led by Coleye (pronounced "coli,'' as in "e. coli''), a bureaucrat obsessed with aliens. Played by Wallace Shawn , who often looks as if he is about to do something immoral with a clipboard, he desperately chases Tim and "Uncle Martin'' because he wants to prove there is intelligent life on other planets. Uncle Martin, on the other hand, only wants to lay low, be friends with Tim and Lizzie, repair his spaceship and go home. Then he discovers ice cream, and all he wants to do is eat ice cream.

There are some good moments in "My Favorite Martian,'' which was inspired by the '60s sitcom, and the best comes right at the top, where we see one of NASA's Martian exploratory vehicles roll up to a rock, stop and run out of juice just before it would have stumbled upon an amazing sight. I also liked the gyrations of Zoot the suit, which develops an addiction to washing machines. And the scene where Martin chug-a-lugs a lava lamp. I also appreciated the information that the space probe contained the ashes of Jerry Garcia.

It looks as if everyone who made this film had a lot of fun. Spirits and energy are high, mugging is permitted, dialogue is rapid-fire, nobody walks if they can run. As kids' entertainment, it's like a live-action cartoon, and I can recommend it on that level, although not on a more ambitious plane. I came upon the movie just a few days after seeing "Children Of Heaven,'' a children's film from Iran that has the power to absorb and teach any child, and I found "My Favorite Martian'' noisy and superficial by comparison. (But of course it's noisy and superficial. That's its mission. I keep forgetting.)

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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My Favorite Martian (1999)

Rated PG For Some Crude Humor, Action-Violence, Sensuality, Partial Nudity and Language

Michael Lerner as Mr. Channing

Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Martin

Elizabeth Hurley as Brace

Wallace Shawn as Coleye

Christine Ebersole as Mrs. Brown

Jeff Daniels as Tim O'Hara

Daryl Hannah as Lizzie

Ray Walston as Armitan

• Deanna Oliver
• Sherri Stoner

Directed by

• Donald Petrie

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• March 16, 2024 (United Kingdom)
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