What a tense, twisted treat HERETIC is. Mormon missionaries Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Paxton (Chloe East) are invited into the home of the affable Mr Reed (Hugh Grant) for a friendly theological discussion and get much more than they bargained for. Heretic certainly keeps you guessing, and only really wobbles in its very final stretch, which is still fun just increasingly credulity-pushing. Hugh Grant really is going through a renaissance since he aged out of his endearingly awkward romantic leads; every role he now takes on placing him further outside his comfort zone with wonderful, often chilling results. Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East give as good as they get as well, the power balance between Reed and the missionaries fascinatingly shifting in the film’s second half. Heretic will have you on the edge of your seat, it’ll illicit uncomfortable laughter and it may well make you think about interrogating your own faith as well. SSP
Review in Brief: Heretic (2024)
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Review in Brief: Wicked (2024)
Did the long-awaited big screen version of the iconic musical WICKED need to be a two-part epic? Possibly not, but this first part does make you intrigued about how everything will be wrapped up at the end of 2025. Years before Dorothy lands in Oz, witches-to-be the green-skinned Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and the vain Galinda (Ariana Grande) meet at Shiz University and get swept up in a mystery leading back to the Emerald City’s Wizard (Jeff Goldblum). John M Chu is surely now your go-to old-fashioned Hollywood musical director, someone who’s not afraid to completely go for it with elaborate choreography, showmanship and scale. Erivo is a magnetic star and Grande proves unexpectedly well-suited to broad comedy, the pair’s frenemy chemistry being the main reason to see this. This has several in-built audiences and fan bases so it’s no wonder that it has done well, though it’s unlikely to convert anyone who isn’t already a fan of the musical or Oz in general. SSP
Review in Brief: The Brutalist (2024)
There are many films out there about obsessive artists and the ups and downs of their personal and professional careers, but few as compelling and ambitious as THE BRUTALIST. Holocaust survivor and brilliant architect László Tóth (Adrian Brody) emigrates to the US and falls on hard times until he is engaged by eccentric millionaire Harrison Van Buren (Guy Pearce) to build a unique building as a monument to himself. But László’s trauma, the arrival of his wife and niece (Felicity Jones and Raffey Cassidy) to the US and Van Buren’s increasingly volatile behaviour threatens to bring the whole thing crashing down. Brady Corbet’s film is the work of a master craftsman, executed with such confidence and an utter refusal to compromise on his challenging creative vision. Themes build upon themes, the rich visual tapestry and soundscape paired with memorable performances from the ensemble (particularly Brody, Jones and Pearce) that veer from heartbreaking to subtly funny, makes the imposing three and a half hours fly by. SSP
Review in Brief: Megalopolis (2024)
MEGALOPOLIS was always going to be flawed, but after three decades of waiting it’s frankly exasperating just how basic and ill-conceived Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project has turned out to be. In a stale and surface-level satirical conceit, Coppola asks, what if future USA becomes a literal Roman Empire sewing its own seeds of destruction? Genius architect Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) plans a utopian city while battling corrupt politicians and rot set into an excessive society at large. Yes, even if the whole American Empire collapsing is becoming true it was still really clumsily executed. The dialogue is laboured when it’s not lifting from Shakespeare, the performances range from dull (Driver, Giancarlo Esposito) to engagingly weird (Aubrey Plaza) to unintentionally funny (Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight) and the whole thing has an off-putting, unreal sheen. Not the high that Coppola would have wanted to go out on, but perhaps the ultimate lesson in artistic hubris. SSP
Review in Brief: Transformers One (2024)
Now that’s a Transformers movie. This is so much better than you’d expect it to be, a real treat for fans of the franchise and a pleasant surprise for many who are not. In an admittedly overused prequel conceit, mortal enemies were once friends as young cybertronian labourers Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth, slowly growing into a Peter Cullen vocal range) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry, full of pathos) struggle in a rigid caste system and unravel a sinister plot on their home planet years before they become arch-nemeses Optimus Prime and Megatron. TRANSFORMERS ONE has imaginative, dazzlingly animated action, good jokes and a pretty righteous political message; all things lacking from the live-action movies. Where this iteration of the Transformers story goes next would have been fascinating to see, but it underperformed at the box office so this might be a one and done. What a shame. SSP
SSP Thinks Film 