Five star - Latest Top Rated Film Reviews from the Guardian

Young Frankenstein review – Mel Brooks monster comedy is wonderfully alive as ever
Gene Wilder’s giddy brilliance is backed by a tremendous supporting cast and only a few gags lumber as the film is re-released for its 50th anniversary - Peter Bradshaw
An Inspector Calls review – Alastair Sim drawing room drama brilliantly exposes its era’s hypocrisies
Sim is superbly insinuating as the detective arriving with a few questions for the complacent residents of a grand Edwardian home - Peter Bradshaw
Children of the Cult review – fierce doc about the Osho commune survivors
Courageously covering what Netflix’s Wild Wild Country didn’t, this film confronts those who ran the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh meditation centres with the shocking testimonies of its child victims - Peter Bradshaw
No Other Land review – powerful Israel-Palestine documentary is essential viewing
A Palestinian-Israeli collective have documented violence and displacement in a damning new film that offers a stark insider’s look at the conflict - Adrian Horton
Nickel Boys review – Colson Whitehead novel becomes intensely moving story of a racist reform school
Adaptation of Whitehead’s novel about two young friends trapped by institutional abuse is told with piercing beauty by RaMell Ross - Peter Bradshaw
Paul McCartney and Wings: One Hand Clapping review – restored rockumentary is pure pleasure
David Litchfield’s lost 1974 film captures McCartney’s extraordinary enthusiasm and skill, some killer tunes and a whole host of hilarious incidentals - Peter Bradshaw
Terrifier 3 review – killer clown is tooled up for third helping of gleeful gorefest
Not everyone will have the stomach for this much gore, but for genre aficionados this Christmas killing spree is a cut above - Catherine Bray
A Long Journey Home review – family pressures reach boiling point in a shocking documentary
It’s almost painful to watch this oppressive autobiographical film, pieced together from footage the director shot in her family’s Chinese home - Peter Bradshaw
The Battle for Laikipia review – clash over Kenyan land is essential viewing
The smouldering conflict between the Samburu community and European settlers is captured in an arrestingly shot, shrewdly edited documentary - Wendy Ide
The Battle for Laikipia review – brutal impact of British land ownership in Kenya
Illuminating documentary examines the tensions between indigenous pastoralists and commercial ranchers as resources become more scarce during a drought - Phuong Le
My Old Ass review – time-bending coming-of-age comedy with real heart and depth
Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza are a winning duo playing their present and future selves in Megan Park’s silly but surprisingly satisfying film - Wendy Ide
The Outrun review – Saoirse Ronan impresses in a refreshingly unconventional recovery drama
The actor excels as an alcoholic who returns to Orkney in Nora Fingscheidt’s fine adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s memoir - Wendy Ide
The Outrun review – Saoirse Ronan is mesmerising in sobering addiction drama
Heart-wrenching story adapted from Amy Liptrot’s memoir is as tough as its Orkney landscapes - Peter Bradshaw
Home Sweet Home: Where Evil Lives review – fresh take on pregnant-woman-in-peril horror
Unfolding in what looks like a single take, Thomas Sieben sends his protagonist into a house that’s haunted by historical trauma - Catherine Bray
Bill Douglas: My Best Friend review – inspirational and tender portrait of a brilliant director
Jack Archer’s intimate documentary traces Douglas’s bond with social worker Peter Jewell with tremendous warmth - Peter Bradshaw
On Falling review – the strip mining of an online warehouse worker’s sanity
Laura Carreira’s impressive debut drama sees a quietly excellent Joana Santos endure dehumanising work conditions while looking for a way out - Peter Bradshaw
Runt review – old-fashioned dog tale doesn’t need new tricks
A rescue terrier shines in this charming adaptation of the children’s book about a dog whose tournament skills might just save the family farm - Luke Buckmaster
Sugarcane review – impressive account of the Catholic church’s abuse of Indigenous children in Canada
Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie’s documentary is all the more powerful for its measured telling - Wendy Ide
Girls Will Be Girls review – simmering emotions in Himalayan boarding school coming-of-age drama
A head prefect’s burgeoning romance is one more thing she needs to excel at in Shuchi Talati’s Sundance audience prize-winning tale of sexual awakening - Wendy Ide
The Substance review – Demi Moore is fearless in visceral feminist body horror
The star plays a middle-aged TV host who signs up for a drug to generate a replicant of her younger self in Coralie Fargeat’s blood-soaked satire - Wendy Ide
His Three Daughters review – exquisitely judged New York sibling drama
Reunited in the cramped apartment where their father is dying, three estranged sisters simmer to perfection in writer-director Azazel Jacobs’s profound tragicomedy - Wendy Ide
The Goldman Case review – gripping French courtroom drama with a chaotic energy
The reconstruction of the 1976 trial of voluble and charismatic leftist Pierre Goldman tackles antisemitism and French history - Peter Bradshaw
Strange Darling review – grisly but audacious serial-killer horror outside the comfort zone
Provocatively disarranging its chronology, this gruesome shocker sports with misogyny but its technical brilliance is undeniable - Peter Bradshaw
Girls Will Be Girls review – sexual awakening in Indian boarding school is poised and plausible
Preeti Panigrahi is excellent as Mira, a prefect dealing with first love and, unusually, sex, as she navigates the patriarchy in 90s north India - Cath Clarke
Sugarcane review – trauma and truth unearthed in Indigenous children’s schools scandal
Powerful documentary probes the shameful story of hundreds of residential schools in Canada, largely run by the Catholic church, that subjected pupils to horrific abuse - Peter Bradshaw
Notes from Sheepland review – lovely portrait of artist-farmer who only has eyes for sheep
Orla Barry clearly has a true vocation for her flock, both handling real livestock and weaving them into her art and this documentary has poetic beauty - Leslie Felperin
In Camera review – smart, surreal showbiz satire hits a nerve
An aspiring actor faces endless knock-backs in writer-director Naqqash Khalid’s enjoyably exaggerated skewering of the TV and film industry - Wendy Ide
Lee review – Kate Winslet is remarkable as model turned war photographer Lee Miller
Winslet strongly conveys Miller’s tough-broad magnetism in this sobering, visually striking drama by cinematographer turned director Ellen Kuras - Wendy Ide
My Favourite Cake review – lovely, quietly subversive late-life Iranian romance
A lonely widow seizes the day in this bittersweet comedy drama, which drew the ire of the Iranian authorities on its release earlier this year - Wendy Ide
Speak No Evil review – James McAvoy gives roaring life to red-blooded holiday horror
Remake of a Danish story of an unwary family who follow a charismatic couple on holiday has lost some of its nihilism but McAvoy packs real power - Catherine Bray
Timestalker review – Alice Lowe’s anti-romcom is a darkly hilarious spin through history
The actor and film-maker’s ingenious comedy sees her play a gamut of characters who meet gory ends chasing a not-worth-it love interest - Peter Bradshaw
Buffalo Kids review – CGI old west adventure with a big, warm heart
Three children and a puppy traverse 19th-century America in this wholesome family film – which is especially admirable for its representation of disability - Catherine Bray
Blitz review – Steve McQueen’s rousing wartime adventure is surprisingly old-fashioned
The director unexpectedly channels The Railway Children as Saoirse Ronan stars as the single mother whose son is evacuated, only to run away in a perilous bid to find her - Peter Bradshaw
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person review – ethical kills for teen bloodsucker
This offbeat coming-of-age horror comedy about a vampire with qualms about killing humans is stylishly shot by first-time feature director Ariane Louis-Seize - Cath Clarke
Daddy’s Head review – a creature emerges from grief in clever British psychological horror
Director Benjamin Barfoot explores how heartbreak connects with darkness as pre-teen Isaac sees his dead father return - Phil Hoad
The Three Michaels review – trio of Michael Jackson lookalikes reach for the stars
Documentary follows a group of dedicated celebrity impersonators who band together to turn their passion into a decent living - Leslie Felperin
Maya and the Wave review – spotlight on the Brazilian surfer triumphing over a riptide of sexism
Breathtaking footage of Maya Gabeira invigorates a crowd-pleasing doc about her breakthrough in a world of fragile male egos - Wendy Ide
Joker: Folie à Deux review – Lady Gaga electrifies in mediocre musical sequel
Love is in the air for Joaquin Phoenix’s clown prince of chaos in this bold but indulgent comic book musical – lifted by Gaga’s weapons-grade charisma - Wendy Ide
A Different Man review – beauty is skin deep in a surreal dramedy
Sebastian Stan excels as a facially disfigured actor whose life is transformed in Aaron Schimberg’s mordant oddity - Wendy Ide
Die Before You Die review – stunt vlogger goes under in buried-alive survival thriller
A braggart absorbed in writing his own online legend with feats of strength can’t carry off being shoved underground for a spiritual experience - Leslie Felperin
The Friend review – Naomi Watts befriends great dane in sweet, slight drama
An adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s bestselling 2018 novel about a woman dealing with her friend’s suicide is tender and well-acted, if a little messy - Adrian Horton
House of Spoils review – Ariana DeBose’s foodie horror is a light snack
The Oscar winner presides over a creepy restaurant in a goofy thriller that offers more for fans of cookery shows than those looking for a scare - Benjamin Lee
V/H/S/Beyond review – charmingly ragged lo-fi horror anthology strikes again
The latest set of found-footage and alien tales packs together a Bollywood witch with a terrifying birthday treat and some very sinister dog daycare - Leslie Felperin
Maya and the Wave review – the sea is not the only risk for female big-wave surfer
Documentary about Maya Gabeira’s record-breaking feats almost accidentally tells a story too about the endemic sexism in sport - Leslie Felperin
Harder Than the Rock review – reggae’s unsung heroes finally get their moment
Cimarons, the UK’s first reggae band, played with Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley but barely made a penny; this heartwarming film follows their first gig in 30 years - Cath Clarke
Signs of War review – gripping testimony of harrowing march to conflict in Ukraine
Reports and pictures by photojournalist Pierre Crom provide a look back at how events escalated towards the Russian invasion - Phuong Le
Medicine Man: The Stan Brock Story review – life story of America’s healthcare saviour
From British private school outcast to anaconda-wrestling cowboy to philanthropist, Paul Michael Angell’s documentary is of a life less ordinary - Phil Hoad
Never Let Go review – Halle Berry shoulders the mother lode in sinuous survivalist horror
French genre specialist Alexandre Aja’s chiller builds up a palpable sense of menace but fumbles the last act - Wendy Ide
Will & Harper review – Will Ferrell hits the road with a newly transitioned pal
Josh Greenbaum funny and poignant documentary follows the comedian and his old friend across the US in a likable portrait that never quite rings true - Wendy Ide
Lady Gaga: Harlequin review – Joker companion album does jazz standards with a gaudy grin
The pop superstar sounds fully in her element in these immaculately covered classics, but the whiff of big band week on The X Factor is hard to shift - Michael Cragg
The Teacher review – a Palestinian educator is troubled by his radical past
Saleh Bakri commands the screen as a teacher promoting nonviolence, who falls for British volunteer Imogen Poots while trying to protect a student looking for revenge - Peter Bradshaw
Unit 234: The Lock Up review – storage facility holds deadly secrets in fun thriller
Orphan’s Isabelle Fuhrman is great as a bored quarter-lifer taking on tough-guy Don Johnson, who is having a lot of fun prowling the corridors in search of his dubious deposit - Catherine Bray
Dragonkeeper review – kids’ animation in which a girl must save China’s last fire breathers
This adaptation of Carole Wilkinson’s children’s fantasy novel is let down by fairly average animation, oddly bland characters and some ill-fitting Bill Nighy-ness - Cath Clarke
The Fall review – startling imagery abounds in Tarsem Singh’s cult Gilliamesque epic
Fantastical storytelling underpins Tarsem’s 2006 film, in which an injured stuntman relates an elaborate fable to a young girl - Peter Bradshaw
Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram review – cult anime goes on wild treasure hunt
The latest outing for the high school sleuth sees him join forces with his arch enemy, a master thief. Despite some flashes of brilliance, the script soon becomes convoluted - Phuong Le
I’m Not Everything I Want to Be review – sex, fashion and addiction from Czech Nan Goldin
Libuše Jarcovjáková narrates her own life story from career obscurity to capturing the Prague underground and the fall of the Berlin Wall - Leslie Felperin
Survive review – smart, surrealist disaster flick filled with arresting dream-like imagery
Low-budget limitations work in this French thriller’s favour, where emotion and strong performances underpin the dream-like imagery - Phil Hoad
The Fisherman and the Banker review – a coastal community’s astonishing fight for justice
Shot over 10 years, Sheena Sumaria’s documentary follows an Indian fishing village as it takes on global financial giants to protect its biodiversity and the residents’ livelihoods - Phuong Le
The Invention of the Other review – fascinating first glimpse of uncontacted Amazon tribe
Bruno Jorge’s quietly observed film has an added poignance as the leader of the expedition to immunise one of Brazil’s isolated tribes is murdered activist Bruno Pereira - Cath Clarke
The Goldman Case review – compelling real-life French courtroom drama
The 1970s appeal hearing of far-left activist and armed robber Pierre Goldman is mined for all its showboating excitement in Cédric Kahn’s film - Wendy Ide
Strange Darling review – a serial killer tale too tricksy for its own good
A non-linear structure raises and lowers the stakes in JT Mollner’s thriller - Wendy Ide
Never Let Go review – Halle Berry takes hold of uneven woodland horror
The Oscar winner is a sturdy presence in an intriguing post-apocalyptic puzzle that can’t quite find all of the pieces - Benjamin Lee
Public Enemy review – anatomy of Greece’s economic crisis framed as epic tragedy
Elisa Mantin’s film shows Greeks as the economic victims of ideologically motivated EU forces, imposing punishment-via-austerity - Phil Hoad
Cyborg: A Documentary review – man who ‘hears’ colours is leading transhuman age
Artist and musician Neil Harbisson claims to be the world’s first cyborg in this engaging, amusing and sometimes preposterous documentary - Peter Bradshaw
Transformers One review – animated origin tale is fun fan service
A new attempt to refresh the franchise, with the voices of Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson, is surprisingly entertaining if aesthetically ugly - Radheyan Simonpillai
The Old Man and the Land review – sibling squabbles as family unravels like an old jumper
Rory Kinnear and Emily Beecham’s rivalry is heard only on phonecalls, while their dad trudges over their birthright in weary silence - Leslie Felperin
Clawfoot review – Hollywood nepo babies do fine in horror-comedy bathed in gore
The unexpected arrival of an inept tradesman kicks off this suspenseful and witty thriller, with Francesca Eastwood proving the film’s secret weapon - Leslie Felperin
Last Straw review – waitress holes up in diner in twisty low-budget siege horror
This debut feature from Alan Scott Neal shows plenty of promise, with its classic setup and innovative midpoint switcharound - Catherine Bray
Astrakan 79 review – memories of a boyhood adventure in chilly communist Russia
A Portuguese man comes to terms with the year he ran away aged just 15 to live in the Soviet Union in the 1970s - Phuong Le
The Queen of My Dreams review – mother and daughter bond over Bollywood in colourful comedy romance
Gloriously vivid flashbacks to 1960s Karachi work a treat in Fawzia Mirza’s buoyant, 90s Toronto coming-of-age drama - Wendy Ide
Reawakening review – Juliet Stevenson and Jared Harris excel in muted domestic drama
A traumatised couple are further tested when a young woman appears claiming to be their long-lost daughter, in Virginia Gilbert’s low-key film - Wendy Ide
The End review – Joshua Oppenheimer’s end-of-days musical is ambitious and exhausting
The documentarian makes his hit-and-miss narrative debut with help from Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon as privileged parents in a luxury bunker - Radheyan Simonpillai
The Last of the Sea Women review – female Korean divers as picturesque eco-feminist tradition
Sue Kim’s film about South Korea’s underwater fishers has everything from nuclear pollution to sexism to cover, but sticks to bland reportage - Peter Bradshaw
Stuntman review – spirited love letter to golden age of Hong Kong’s action movies
Stephen Tung plays a former 80s director-stuntman drawn back into the present-day action-film industry as it faces an identity crisis - Leslie Felperin
In Her Place review – true-crime drama of a court worker fascinated by author in the dock
Based on a real murder in Chile in the 1950s, Maite Alberdi’s fictional story of obsession has glamour and style, but no intensity - Peter Bradshaw
Take Cover review – Scott Adkins hitman thriller makes Fast & Furious look like Gilbert and Sullivan
Adkins’ veteran hitman goes against all action movie wisdom to accept ‘one last job’ – and promptly gets trapped in a hotel room and shot at - Phil Hoad
Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot review – Sound of Freedom followup is a test of faith
Based on remarkable work in a small Texan community to adopt children considered ‘too difficult’ to foster, the film gets lost in saccharine cliche - Phuong Le
Portraits of Dangerous Women review – dog car crash sets off baffling and peculiar drama
Three unlikely women are pitched together by a muddled plot with results that are short on both drama and comedy - Peter Bradshaw
The Platform 2 review – Netflix dystopian horror sequel falls off
A follow-up to the gory pandemic smash returns to the grim world where prisoners must portion out food or risk death but the novelty has gone - Jesse Hassenger
Hold Your Breath review – Sarah Paulson gets lost in scattered horror
A 1930s-set thriller, about a family battling mysterious dust storms and a possible intruder, is impressively made and acted but falls apart by the end - Benjamin Lee
Salem’s Lot review – Stephen King’s small-town vampire rework lacks bite
After being kept on the shelf for three years, a middling adaptation of the 1975 novel proves to be a lacklustre non-event even for hardcore genre fans - Benjamin Lee
Blood Star review – young tearaway fights for survival in cat-and-mouse thriller
Vintage-car driver is chased through New Mexico by a small-town sheriff in Lawrence Jacomelli’s snappily shot debut - Phil Hoad
The Deserving review – mute serial killer yarn takes cues from horror classics of the past
A murderer is tormented by the ghosts of his victims in this frustrating story that doesn’t have the storytelling heft its premise deserves - Catherine Bray
Things Will Be Different review – time travel thriller as a robber tries escape with the cash
An estranged brother and sister reunite while hiding from the police in a remote barn that holds a secret procedure to transport people into the future - Peter Bradshaw
Wolfs review – forgettable Clooney-Pitt vehicle soon runs out of gas
Even the combined charm of its two leads cannot elevate this one-joke comedy-thriller about two underworld fixers double-booked on a job - Wendy Ide
Megalopolis review – Francis Ford Coppola’s epic fail
The storied director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now swings for the fences with a lavish-looking but muddled and empty tale of thwarted ambition - Wendy Ide
Hellboy: The Crooked Man review – sputtering mess even a metric ton of makeup can’t conceal
A boring nemesis in a top hat bops around cackling while a wan Hellboy is enlisted to save a local man’s sweetheart in this inexplicable successor - Leslie Felperin
My Old Ass review – Aubrey Plaza adds texture to comedy of teen meeting future self
After a promising opening, this coming-of-age romance from director Megan Park fails to deliver the big finish - Peter Bradshaw
Apartment 7A review – Rosemary’s Baby prequel is a vacant rehash
Strong performances from Julia Garner and Dianne Wiest can’t add enough weight to a pointless horror that fills in gaps we didn’t need filling in - Benjamin Lee
Azrael: Angel of Death review – dialogue-free sci-fi horror takes cues from A Quiet Place
Samara Weaving excels in post-apocalyptic horror where humanity has renounced words – which might have been useful to decipher what’s going on - Leslie Felperin
Escape review – blonds have much less fun in sleazy throwback survival horror
With its gang of cartoon villains and wardrobe of bikinis, this low-budget thriller is reminiscent of old-style video nasties - Catherine Bray
Greedy People review – blood and chaos overlay bizarrely Coenesque crime caper
A strong cast led by Joseph Gordon-Levitt are not enough to bring supense to a story where the local hitman advertises in a paint store - Peter Bradshaw
The Island review – Matt Dillon’s moody clarinetting sums up exotic Greek idyll thriller
Dillon plays a man with more red flags than a golf course and Aida Folch does her best stay above water in Fernando Trueba’s noir-adjacent film - Catherine Bray
The Critic review – deliciously waspish Ian McKellen lifts 30s London murder mystery
A fine cast is squandered in this sour adaptation, scripted by Patrick Marber, of Anthony Quinn’s lively novel - Wendy Ide
Inherit the Witch review – like an am-dram theatre group doing a murder mystery party in an Airbnb
Pseudo-schlock such as Sharknado is trying to be so bad it’s good – this is just bad - Catherine Bray
Killer Heat review – overcooked Jo Nesbø adaptation is deathly dull
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley star in a very boring murder mystery streaming on Amazon - Benjamin Lee
The Mouse Trap review – parasitic IP horror gives birth to slasher Mickey Mouse
As Disney’s rodent enters the public domain, director Jamie Bailey strikes first – but with a disappointingly meek and convoluted horror - Phil Hoad
200% Wolf review – moon spirit baby turns kiddie werewolf sequel into frenetic howler
Where 100% Wolf was giddy fun, the chaos of its sequel is in a rush to get to nowhere very interesting or charming - Cath Clarke
Uglies review – Netflix’s drab and dated YA dystopian mess is not pretty
An empty and exasperating teen book adaptation, set in a future where beautiful people rule the world, is one of the year’s most pointless films - Adrian Horton
Saturday Night review – tedious SNL origins tale is an unfunny misfire
Toronto film festival: Jason Reitman’s 70s-set comedy detailing the first-ever episode of Saturday Night Live is a dull and self-indulgent mess - Benjamin Lee in Toronto