Five star - Latest Top Rated Film Reviews from the Guardian

I Saw the World End review – how a bomb changed life on Earth in a flash
Marking 75 years since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, stage designers Devlin and Weston have made a film of immense power – but it won’t be seen as it was meant to - Jonathan Jones
Boys State review – amazing study of teenagers running for pretend office
The gloves and training wheels come off as a group of smart, poignantly naive and utterly insufferable Texas boys get together to simulate government - Peter Bradshaw
Story of a Love Affair review – Antonioni's riveting postwar noir
The Italian director’s rereleased debut 1950 feature is a stylish study of wealth, ennui, guilt and fear - with an exceptional central performance by Lucia Bosè - Peter Bradshaw
Strasbourg 1518 review – Jonathan Glazer's cathartic spasm of protest for our times
The Under the Skin director’s short film – inspired by a mass-hysteria outbreak of dancing in the 16th century – speaks to our own feelings about lockdown - Peter Bradshaw
Clemency review – Alfre Woodard quietly dazzles in this superb death row drama
Woodard plays a conflicted prison warden slowly unravelling in writer-director Chinonye Chukwu’s remarkable film - Mark Kermode
Clemency – brilliant, devastating death-row drama
Alfre Woodard gives a towering performance as a prison warden increasingly troubled by her role in America’s execution system - Peter Bradshaw
Saint Frances review – wry, tender, taboo-busting drama
Writer Kelly O’Sullivan stars in her bittersweet tale of a child-phobic waitress turned nanny, an exhilarating examination of female lives on screen - Mark Kermode
Lynn + Lucy review – a devastating tale of friends disunited
Two former schoolmates are turned against each other in this terrific working-class drama from debut feature director Fyzal Boulifa - Mark Kermode
You've Been Trumped Too review – Scottish widow defies future president
Resistance builds to Donald Trump’s attempts to build a golf resort near Aberdeen in this prescient documentary sequel - Peter Bradshaw
Perfect 10 review – teenage backflips
There are shades of Lynne Ramsay in writer-director Eva Riley’s lyrical feature debut, about a teenage gymnast’s battle with grief - Wendy Ide
Papicha review – female friendship and resistance in 90s Algeria
Fashion is a form of protest in this shimmering semi-autobiographical tale following a design student and friends during the country’s civil war - Wendy Ide
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker review – stunning trio of dance films
In Hoppla!, Achterland and Mitten, the Belgian dance legend manages a dynamic mix of composition and choreography - Sanjoy Roy
Perfect 10 review – teen drama marks the arrival of a special talent
Eva Riley’s debut feature is a dazzling coming-of-age tale lit up by a pair of remarkable first-time performances - Cath Clarke
Echo review – a mesmerising mosaic of Icelandic festivities
Universal themes are enlivened with local detail in this poignant, painterly compilation of 56 single-shot vignettes - Ellen E Jones
Howard review – the lyricist who made Disney's hits soar
Howard Ashman injected musical thrills into animations such as Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, as this exciting documentary shows - Peter Bradshaw
Make Up review – an eerie erotic awakening in a caravan park
A young woman suspects her boyfriend of infidelity - Simran Hans
Summerland review – wartime wonderment with Gemma Arterton
Gemma Arterton excels as a crotchety loner who takes in a child evacuee - Mark Kermode
Unhinged review – darkly funny tale of road rage
Russell Crowe excels in a car chase thriller - Simran Hans
Inception review – the virtual reinvention of virtual reality
Christopher Nolan’s cerebro-tech thriller may be short on story, but makes up for it with staggering fantasy set pieces - Peter Bradshaw
Black Is King review – Beyoncé’s love song to the black diaspora
The superstar’s Lion King-inspired visual album is a feast for the eyes, celebrating the beauty and richness of African cultures with emotion and power - Chanté Joseph
Flash Gordon review – bizarre expressionist superhero panto
With echoes of The Wizard of Oz and Carry On movies, Mike Hodges’ vintage intergalactic fable delivers mayhem, madness and eye-frazzling colour - Peter Bradshaw
The Fight review – a walk-and-talk with the activists tackling Trump
This lively, watchable documentary spotlights the American Civil Liberties Union’s battles in support of migrants, transgender people and abortion rights - Peter Bradshaw
Make Up review – wintry chills in a spooky seaside thriller
A teenager encounters ghostly goings-on and sexual intrigue at an out-of-season caravan park in a stylish psychological drama - Peter Bradshaw
Around the Sun review – madly meta multiple worlds romance
Oliver Krimpas’s flirty, sweet drama recalls Greenaway, Rohmer, Kieślowski and Kaufman and is uniquely weird and pleasing - Leslie Felperin
How to Build a Girl review – enjoyably rough-and-ready
Wobbly Wolverhampton accent and all, American actor Beanie Feldstein carries this hard-to-resist adaptation of a coming-of-age bestseller - Mark Kermode
Saint Frances review – compassion-filled unpicking of sexual politics
An accidental pregnancy is at this core of this smart, unpreachy drama about age, intimacy and human relationships - Peter Bradshaw
The Good Girls review – a high-class skewering of Mexican decadence
Ilse Salas is sublime as a moneyed idler whose white-picket world is plunged into chaos by the Mexican financial crisis - Peter Bradshaw
Babyteeth review – Eliza Scanlen stars in a shattering, refreshing and achey coming-of-age film
Shannon Murphy’s debut feature – the latest in the terminally-ill-teen romance subgenre – treats its characters with rare respect, and a quiet warmth - Debbie Zhou
Good Manners review – superbly strange nanny horror
São Paulo is transformed into a spooky fairytale landscape in this elegant, unsettling tale of a pregnant woman and her prospective employee - Ellen E Jones
The Portuguese Woman review – elegant, unworldly tale of courtly discontent
A 16th-century noblewoman awaits her husband’s return from war in a stately, highly wrought drama etched with refinement and intelligence - Peter Bradshaw
Litigante review - bracing portrait of a Colombian woman on the verge
A single-parent lawyer and her vitriolic mother fight almost to the death in this superbly acted domestic drama - Wendy Ide
Relic review – a film that gorges on the terror of forgetting in a feast of dread
There are jump-scares in this creepy creaky thriller, but nothing in this film was slapped together by genre algorithm - Luke Buckmaster
Spaceship Earth review – 90s Arizona eco-experiment looks like reality TV
This absorbing documentary tracks how participants in the Biosphere 2 project lived, grew food and disagreed in giant biodomes - Peter Bradshaw
Litigante review – tender tale of private lives and public scandal
A quirk of fate pitches a professionally stressed single mother into an unlikely love affair in an affecting drama from Colombia - Peter Bradshaw
A White, White Day review – a tender Icelandic thriller
A widower and his young daughter are all at sea in Hlynur Pálmason’s existential drama - Simran Hans
Family Romance, LLC review – Werner Herzog's moving rent-a-family tale
Herzog tells the story of a Tokyo company that offers stand-ins for absent family and admirers in this thought-provoking tragicomedy shot like a documentary - Simran Hans
Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl review – Janhvi Kapoor excels as an Indian Air Force pioneer
There are triumphant training montages and Top Gun moments, but this Netflix biopic of a fighting female helicopter pilot elicits some smart performances - Mike McCahill
The Tree House review – voyage into Vietnamese inner space
Minh Quý Truong’s intriguing ethno-fictional movie essay takes the point of view of a future space traveller on a fascinating Vietnamese ethnic group - Peter Bradshaw
Elvis: That's the Way It Is review – feisty time capsule of the King's Vegas stint
The off-hand moments from this 1970 documentary following Elvis Presley as he sets up shop in Las Vegas are the most illuminating - Leslie Felperin
The Trial review – coolly observational view of Brazil's crypto-coup
Maria August’s somewhat dry chronicle of Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment is a reminder that democracy can sometimes be undermined from within the system - Ellen E Jones
Sputnik review – smart Soviet-era sci-fi chiller
The alien is the least of the horrors in Egor Abramenko’s mostly gripping suspense, set in a dour 80s army facility with an unwanted visitor - Cath Clarke
Babyteeth review – teen illness drama earns its emotional impact
Eliza Scanlen and Ben Mendelsohn lead a terrific ensemble cast in Shannon Murphy’s classy debut about an unlikely high-school romance - Peter Bradshaw
An American Pickle review – sweet generational comedy lacks a little bite
Seth Rogen stars in this affable fish-out-of-water tale - Simran Hans
Giraffe review – an erotic tale of love, location and loyalty
Lisa Loven Kongsli’s historian has an affair with a construction worker razing community land in this cryptic, enigmatic drama - Peter Bradshaw
Work It review – engaging Netflix teen comedy dances to a familiar beat
A predictable yet breezily entertaining and well-acted high school comedy sees a ragtag dance crew aiming for the top - Benjamin Lee
Casting review – film-set furore is a meta-salute to Fassbinder
A director fends off meddling execs and egotistical actors while remaking a German classic in this ensemble satire - Leslie Felperin
Anelka: Misunderstood review – subtle portrait of an enigmatic talent
From a quenelle salute to World Cup controversy, the brilliant short-fuse striker comes with baggage, and this film does a fair job with some fraught material - Andrew Pulver
Papicha review – repression and rebellion in war-torn Algeria
A fashion student kicks back against misogyny and religious extremism in Mounia Meddour’s ambitious directorial debut - Peter Bradshaw
An American Pickle review – Seth Rogen doubles up in zany time-slip comedy
Rogen plays a pickle-factory worker accidentally preserved for 100 years – and the hipster great-grandson he shacks up with in 21st-century Brooklyn - Peter Bradshaw
Host review – surprisingly effective Zoom-based horror
A lean, nasty little at-home chiller makes the most of its limitations as a group of friends decide to perform a seance during the pandemic - Benjamin Lee
Shakuntala Devi review – spirited biopic of a mathematical genius
Vidya Balan puts in a blazing performance as the eponymous Indian maths genius in Anu Menon’s characterful feminist life story - Mike McCahill
The Vigil review – malevolent dybbuk seeks new host scarily
This horror yarn has an authentically Jewish setting and an expressive central performance from Dave Davis, guarding a corpse from evil - Phil Hoad
Summerland review – Gemma Arterton war drama warms the cockles
Arterton’s cantankerous bluestocking is landed with a tousle-haired evacuee in Jessica Swale’s bucolic picture of 1940s Kent - Leslie Felperin
Last and First Men review – eerie sounds and unearthly images from a posthuman world
Tilda Swinton’s voice echoes back coolly from billions of years hence in Jóhann Jóhannsson’s brief essay on humanity’s future destiny - Peter Bradshaw
Again Once Again review – elegant meditation on the pains of motherhood
This engaging film unpicks the challenges faced by a young mother trying to reconnect with the life she had before her son’s birth - Cath Clarke
Alice review – sex work as quick-fix female empowerment
A middle-class Parisian woman becomes a high-end escort in a sanitised portrayal of prostitution - Simran Hans
The Rifleman review – Latvian war epic aims high
This trench-warfare tale is its country’s biggest box-office success, but it is guilty of some bad misfires - Ellen E Jones
Coincoin and the Extra-Humans review – fuzz, sludge and lewd laughs
Bruno Dumont continues his reinvention as a master of farce with this semi-satirical tale of alien goo and buffoonish cops - Peter Bradshaw
Once There Was Brasília review – sci-fi odyssey into Brazil's murky politics
An intergalactic refugee travels through time to modern-day Brazil in an eerie tale that has real-life corruption at its heart - Phil Hoad
Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles review – intriguing animation
A depiction of the making of Luis Buñuel’s documentary Las Hurdes is striking, but casts the director in an unflattering light - Wendy Ide
Come As You Are review - a briskly unsentimental journey
Richard Wong explores sexuality and disability with candour in this comedy drama remake - Wendy Ide
Disappearance at Clifton Hill review – dark tale of childhood trauma
David Cronenberg makes a startling appearance as a frogman in this bizarre psycho-melodrama set near Niagara Falls - Peter Bradshaw
Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles review – animated odyssey
Film-maker Luis Buñuel’s surreal journey to a deprived region of Spain in the 30s is recreated in a gently engaging animation - Peter Bradshaw
Come As You Are review – disability rights and sexual needs
Three young men head for a Montreal brothel in this uplifting, refreshingly non-judgmental road movie - Ellen E Jones
Masters of Love review – awkward sex and terrible hangovers
A group of twentysomethings freewheel through messy modern relationships in an enjoyable comedy with a startling mood switch - Peter Bradshaw
Father Soldier Son review – intimate Netflix military documentary
Masculinity and patriotism lead a family into war in a sensitively made, yet at times meandering, film made over a decade - Benjamin Lee
The Old Guard review – Charlize Theron has an axe to grind
Theron lets rip as immortal warrior Andy in Gina Prince Bythewood’s fast-paced but patchy comic-book adaptation - Wendy Ide
Arkansas review – buddy crime caper with 90s flavour and 70s clobber
Clark Duke and Liam Hemsworth climb the sticky drug-trafficking ladder in this meandering drama, graced with superb menswear - Ellen E Jones
Love Sarah review – Celia Imrie stars in warm-hearted Notting Hill drama
There are echoes of Fleabag and Richard Curtis in this tale of a mother’s attempt to run a bakery that her late daughter was about to open - Cath Clarke
Above Suspicion review – stranger than fiction weirdness of FBI murder
Jack Huston and Emilia Clarke star in this brash true-crime melodrama about the killing of an informant by a bureau agent - Peter Bradshaw
Palm Springs review – goofy time-loop romcom recycles reckless pleasures
A scrappy final act stops this Groundhog Day-esque Sundance record-breaker from being a showstopper, but there’s plenty of fun to be had on the way - Benjamin Lee
Greyhound review – Tom Hanks goes to war on the high seas
Hanks plays a ship’s captain under attack from a wolf pack of Nazi U-boats in a tense and poignant second world war drama - Peter Bradshaw
Desperados review – hit-and-miss Netflix comedy offers throwaway summer fun
A trio of friends head to Mexico to delete a drunken email in a mostly entertaining if a little scattershot comedy - Benjamin Lee
Spree review – shallow social-media Taxi Driver
Stranger Things’ Joe Keery tries to give us a Travis Bickle for the Instagram age, but the script is hopelessly superficial - Cath Clarke
Life With Music review – sparks don't fly between Patrick Stewart and Katie Holmes
The stars are sleepwalking and the audience is nodding off in this tedious tale about the chaste romance of an ageing pianist - Leslie Felperin
Sheep and Wolves: Pig Deal review – animated fable is shorn of excitement
The anthropomorphic animals from 2016 are back despite public demand in a well-meaning but tame family film - Cath Clarke
Endings, Beginnings review – seriously middling
Shailene Woodley is caught between two smouldering, bearded stools in a well-meaning drama that lacks storytelling nous - Peter Bradshaw
Mortal review – angsty Norse gods leave you praying for the end
A troubled youngster learns to channel his superpowers in this by-the-numbers fantasy. But the scenery is great - Ellen E Jones
Proxima review – Mars mission limps off in a cloud of sentiment
Eva Green and Matt Dillon star in this bland tribute to the heartaches of real astronauts - Peter Bradshaw
The Secret: Dare to Dream review – hokey wish-fulfillment soap
Katie Holmes sees her life transformed by a mysterious stranger in a featherweight adaptation of the bestselling self-help book - Benjamin Lee
Unhinged review – Russell Crowe powers up for gonzo road-rage violence
Caren Pistorius co-stars as a driver who impatiently and fatefully parps her horn at a guy in a pickup in this bone-crunchingly nasty thriller - Peter Bradshaw
100% Wolf review – werepoodle is more fluff than stuff
A boy from a superhero werewolf family mutates into an adorable pooch in this watchable but generic animation - Cath Clarke
Stage Mother review – feelgood drag film falls flat
A small-town Texas choir director takes over a California drag joint, with mixed results - Simran Hans
The Big Ugly review – a boozy bonanza of blokey brutality
Vinnie Jones takes his crazy gang stateside – and bar a fun turn from Malcolm McDowell the result is not a pretty sight - Leslie Felperin
Stage Mother review – drag-queen heartwarmer never rises above tepid
Jacki Weaver is a housewife forced to rethink her prejudices in a well-meaning drama that ambles along the middle of the road - Peter Bradshaw
Alice review – sex-worker drama fails to sell its preposterous premise
Emilie Piponnier does her best as a single mother plunged into crisis but this shallow story does not do its subject justice - Peter Bradshaw
Cruel Intentions review – young love still looks laboured 21 years on
The rereleased tale of spoilt Manhattan rich kids, starring Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Reese Witherspoon, remains creepily unconvincing - Peter Bradshaw
The Very Excellent Mr Dundee review – Paul Hogan tries to not get cancelled in confused film
The meta-ish film paints its star – and ‘old fashioned comedy’ – as victims of the modern world - Luke Buckmaster
Kat and the Band review – unlikely adventures of a wannabe pop mogul
A teenage fan persuades her idols to let her manage them – before it all goes wrong on a tour of the Cotswolds - Leslie Felperin
Ghosts of War review – uneven second world war horror story
A late plot twist enlivens this unexceptional tale of terror set in a creepy French chateau - Leslie Felperin
Dreambuilders review – blandly bright family animation
A young girl discovers she can infiltrate her snippy stepsister’s dreams in this unengaging adventure for kids - Mike McCahill
Landless review – Brazilian land-access doc doesn't dig deep enough
A visually sharp film about the struggle of worker-activists against ruthless agribusiness fails to engage on the issues - Phil Hoad
I Am Vengeance: Retaliation review – Stu Bennett cries foul and tackles Vinnie Jones
Ross Boyask’s sequel John Gold military payback movie is post-pub fare that displays a pure-hearted passion for movie-making - Ellen E Jones
Unraveling Athena review – a frank serving of women's lives in tennis
Sentimentality, cheerleading and a blur of talking heads mar this otherwise interesting portfolio of reflections - Leslie Felperin
In Her Hands review – all about the musical boy genius, again
A sulky young pianist is talent-spotted at a Paris station in this dull drama that is enlivened by Kristin Scott Thomas and the charismatic Karidja Touré - Leslie Felperin
Black Water: Abyss review – PG-style croc horror is fit for a paddling pool
It’s hard to muster more than a frisson of fear in this reptilian survival encounter set around a caving trip - Cath Clarke
The Old Guard review – Netflix immortality thriller won't live long in the memory
Not even Charlize Theron can save an action movie crying out for a comic touch to match the silliness of its premise - Peter Bradshaw
Spy Intervention review – a film without a quantum of solace
Witless sexism masquerades as genre parody in this comedy thriller hopelessly devoid of comedy or thrills - Leslie Felperin
Fatal Affair review – cheap Netflix thriller plays the same old tune
An uninspired Fatal Attraction knock-off wastes a charismatic Nia Long on a script with zero surprises or tension - Benjamin Lee
Finding the Way Back review – Ben Affleck redemption drama is far from a slam dunk
Affleck plays a depressed drinker whose life is rescued by becoming a basketball coach in this flat, uninspired fable - Peter Bradshaw