Five star - Latest Top Rated Film Reviews from the Guardian

Surréalisme review – monstrous, deviant, glorious fun as the movement hits 100
From Ernst to Dalí, from Maar to De Chirico, this is a dazzling riot of creativity, celebrating the artistic potential of the unconscious – and shoes - Jonathan Jones
The Brutalist review – epic Adrien Brody postwar architectural drama stuns and electrifies
In a superb performance, Brody plays a Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor who comes to the US and begins a distinguished career under the patronage of a wealthy man - 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
Better Man review – Robbie Williams monkey biopic is a bananas gamble that pays off
The life of the ego-driven showman is turned into an unlikely yet surprisingly entertaining saga with a CGI monkey in the lead - Benjamin Lee in Toronto
Vermiglio review – secrets and lies in idyllic Italian village in the shadow of war
Maura Delpero’s beautifully-made drama explores the complex dynamics of a sprawling family near the wartime border with Germany - Peter Bradshaw
Conclave review – Ralph Fiennes takes charge of tense papal election thriller
The actor leads a top-tier ensemble, including Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini, in an entertainingly juicy adaptation of Robert Harris’s novel - Benjamin Lee in Toronto
The Vourdalak review – deviously fun horror is très drôle vampire chamber piece
A foppish French aristocrat encounters a clan of peasants and their blood-sucking patriarch in a deliriously camp period yarn - Phil Hoad
How to Save a Dead Friend review – moving Russian anthem for doomed youth
A sense of inevitable finality permeates every frame of Marusya Syroechkovskaya’s documentary, composed of personal footage shot over a decade - Phuong Le
Piece by Piece review – Pharrell’s Lego biopic deserves to be a blockbuster
Toronto film festival: The endlessly inventive musician gets an unlikely yet deserving biopic told via plastic bricks – a big swing that more than pays off - Radheyan Simonpillai in Toronto
The Assessment review – Alicia Vikander is future parents’ worst nightmare
In a world ravaged by climate change, a couple wanting children have to submit to an intrusive assessment of their relationship in Fleur Fortuné’s surreal, stylish debut - Peter Bradshaw
The Fire Inside review – blazing boxing drama packs a serious punch
The story of gold medal-winning boxer Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields makes for a gutsy crowd-pleaser with a fantastic performance from Brian Tyree Henry as coach - Benjamin Lee in Toronto
Apollo 13: Survival review – gripping documentary on Nasa’s near-disastrous lunar mission
Using newly revealed archive footage and dramatic reconstructions, director Peter Middleton breathes new life into the familiar events of 1970 - Wendy Ide
Red Rooms review – dark, unnerving French-language chiller
A young woman becomes obsessed with the trial of a man accused of three horrific livestreamed murders in Canadian director Pascal Plante’s stylish psychological thriller - Wendy Ide
We Live in Time review – Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh charm in heartfelt weepie
There are two excellent performances at the centre of a time-hopping romance that tackles well-trodden ground with maturity - Benjamin Lee in Toronto
Hard Truths review – a Mike Leigh classic of day-to-day disillusionment and courage
Marianne Jean-Baptiste is exceptional as a woman in the terrifying endgame of depression in this deeply sober and compassionate drama, not without flashes of fun - Peter Bradshaw
April review – Dea Kulumbegashvili comes into her own with haunting abortion drama
Shocking violence is tempered by strange, silent sequences in a sophomore feature about an obstetrician under investigation, in which buried trauma has echoes of The Piano Teacher - Peter Bradshaw
Apollo 13: Survival review – fascinating, if clinical, retelling of space history
Netflix’s archival documentary relives the near-fatal explosion of 1970 with remarkable and urgent footage - Adrian Horton
Rebel Ridge review – electrifying Netflix crime thriller is a knockout
Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier’s crackerjack combo of action thriller and social drama is one of the year’s most undeniably entertaining films - Benjamin Lee
Queer review – Daniel Craig is needy, horny and mesmeric in Guadagnino’s erotic drama
Craig plays an American expat living indolently in Mexico City in this sometimes uproarious adaptation of William Burroughs’ autobiographical novel - Peter Bradshaw
The Room Next Door review – Almodóvar spins a gorgeous, fragile tale of life and death
The Spanish director’s first English-language feature sees Tilda Swinton’s dying journalist trying to reconnect with an old friend played by Julianne Moore - Xan Brooks
From Darkness to Light review – Jerry Lewis’ infamous Holocaust film rescued from oblivion
Lewis grappled with serious themes with The Day the Clown Cried, but as this documentary reveals, to the end he remained haunted by its failure - Xan Brooks
Mandoob (Night Courier) review – Saudi crime thriller delves into the secrets of Riyadh
Director Ali Kalthami shows the city as never before, through the eyes of a desperate delivery man negotiating a world of gangsters and illegal alcohol - Wendy Ide
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 Critic review – Ian McKellen’s poison pen sharpens 30s society cosy-crime drama
As a jaundiced reviewer with a dangerous private life, McKellen brings glorious life to this story of sour toffs in a dishonest decade - Peter Bradshaw
The Piano Lesson review – powerful yet patchy August Wilson drama
Fantastic performances from Danielle Deadwyler and Samuel L Jackson enliven a soulful, if imbalanced, Netflix adaptation - Radheyan Simonpillai in Toronto
The 4:30 Movie review – Kevin Smith cues up a hot date with crush for his teen avatar
The Clerks director continues his nostalgic mood in endearing study of a geeky adolescent with high romantic ambitions - Leslie Felperin
The Queen of My Dreams review – queer Muslim nostalgia-fest rattles along with fun and energy
Amrit Kaur is a revelation in this warm film about a Pakistani Canadian who learns of her mother’s swinging 60s heyday in Karachi - Cath Clarke
Reawakening review – thought-provoking drama as missing daughter returns ten years later
Virginia Gilbert’s film sees Juliet Stevenson and Jared Harris divided on whether to believe the young woman claiming to be their child - Peter Bradshaw
In Camera review – young actor faces endless auditions in disorienting industry satire
Nabhaan Rizwan is terrific as he faces the depressing realities and prejudices of trying to break into films in Naqqash Khalid’s brilliantly confident debut - Cath Clarke
Kill review – family ties unravel during hunting trip in suspenseful forest thriller
Three brothers and their bullying father go on a fateful outing in this subtle and twisty Scottish tale - Leslie Felperin
Heretic review – Hugh Grant has devilishly dark fun in talky, twisty horror
The actor takes an unusually villainous turn in a button-pushing descent into hell that works best before its cards are revealed - Benjamin Lee in Toronto
Relay review – Riz Ahmed is a fixer on a mission in a throwback thriller
Hell or High Water’s David Mackenzie attempts to recall 70s paranoid thrillers in a sleek, suspenseful watch before it makes a wrong turn - Benjamin Lee in Toronto
Place of Bones review – Heather Graham takes on some bad dudes in gutsy budget western
A mother and daughter’s isolated life is upended by the arrival of an injured villain and the trouble that follows – but a quiet meditation on womanhood in the west this ain’t - Catherine Bray
Firebrand review – magnetic Alicia Vikander and glorious Jude Law lift cautious Tudor court drama
Law’s fabulously monstrous Henry VIII is the best thing about this 21st-century take on the king’s last wife, Katherine Parr - Wendy Ide
Unstoppable review – Jennifer Lopez and Jharrel Jerome lift routine sports drama
Impassioned performances help to buoy a fact-based wrestling drama that sticks too closely to formula - Benjamin Lee in Toronto
Rebel Ridge review – Aaron Pierre impresses in small-town US action thriller
The British actor plays an ex-marine grappling with police corruption in Jeremy Saulnier’s overcomplicated crime movie - Wendy Ide
Starve Acre review – Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark hole up in brooding Yorkshire folk-horror
A grieving couple are plagued by an ancient menace – if not actual scares – in Daniel Kokotajlo’s adaptation of Andrew Michael Hurley’s novel - Wendy Ide
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice review – Tim Burton has fun with pleasingly idiosyncratic sequel
The director’s long-imagined follow-up to his 1988 cult movie Beetlejuice revels in some gleefully silly moments while narrowly avoiding that dated feeling - Wendy Ide
The Front Room review – Brandy Norwood shines in muddled camp horror
The actor-singer returns to horror as a new mother confronted with the hell of living with her creepy and boundary-crossing mother-in-law - Adrian Horton
Firebrand review – Jude Law’s obese and oozy Henry VIII rules supreme in Catherine Parr drama
The ailing king’s misogyny is compellingly disturbing but Alicia Vikander is underused as his final wife - Peter Bradshaw
Damaged review – Samuel L Jackson comes to Edinburgh in crime thriller
Vincent Cassel and Gianni Capaldi complete an improbable trio on the hunt for a serial killer in this absurd police procedural – one for the so-bad-it’s-good genre - Catherine Bray
Joker: Folie à Deux review – Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga musical spirals out of tune
There’s a great supporting cast and a barnstorming first act but Todd Phillips’s much-hyped Gotham sequel proves claustrophobic and repetitive - Peter Bradshaw
2073 review – Asif Kapadia rages against the death of democracy and our planet
The documentary-maker loses some nuance but he is tackling big issues, as Samantha Morton picks through post-apocalyptic ruins in a sombre futurist reverie - Peter Bradshaw
Red Rooms review – fashion model fixates on a serial-killer in unsettling dark-web horror
Juliette Gariépy’s disquieting performance overcomes the more unbelievable elements of this tale of snuff-movie murder rooms - Peter Bradshaw
The Whip review – carer turns to crime in a heist movie with a conscience
Austerity-minded MPs are the target of this likable drama, in which a struggling carer hatches an implausible plan to get her own back on the government - Cath Clarke
My First Film review – charismatic new star beefs up audacious grad school-style project
Slippery and unsubtle, Zia Anger’s film about a film-maker is saved from self-indulgence by its sly humour - Leslie Felperin
Fitting In review – rare biological condition gets thrown into typical teen movie mix
Writer-director Molly McGlynn’s own experience adds a new dimension to the usual tropes of virginity loss, relationships and high school politics - Catherine Bray
Fragile Memory review – a personal tribute to a prolific Soviet film-maker
Ihor Ivanko’s documentary looks at his grandfather Leonid Burlaka’s career through a treasure trove of undeveloped photos and explores the role film has in preserving history - Phuong Le
Don’t Forget to Remember review – art, identity and the slow disintegration of dementia
This elegiac Irish film documents the relationship between street artist Asbestos and his mother, and the public art project he makes to help process his grief - Phil Hoad
Wolfs review – Pitt and Clooney are job-sharing loners in Spidey-meme of a thriller
Brad Pitt and George Clooney have near identical roles as veteran crime fixers who are called into the same assignment in a fun, infectious caper - Xan Brooks
I’m Still Here review – loving family negotiates the horror of Brazil’s military rule
Walter Salles’s first drama feature since 2012 tells the story of the Paivas, whose sunny 70s existence is wrecked by the arrest and disappearance of their father - Xan Brooks
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
Kid Snow review – boxing period drama set in outback Australia pulls its punches
Billy Howle and Phoebe Tonkin give compelling performances but, as a sports movie and a period drama, Paul Goldman’s film is going through the motions - Luke Buckmaster
Subservience review – Megan Fox’s AI home-service android goes rogue in schlocky thriller
Fox’s creepy robot servant tries to take over in this sci-fi horror, playing on AI fears. Were it less predictable, it could have been a cult classic. But it’s not - Leslie Felperin
Without Blood review – Angelina Jolie’s lacklustre war drama is another misfire
The actor and activist again struggles to convince as a film-maker with a well-meaning yet unconvincing adaptation of Alessandro Baricco’s novel - Radheyan Simonpillai in Toronto
The Return review – Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche reunite in drab drama
The English Patient co-stars come together for Uberto Pasolini’s new take on The Odyssey, a handsome misfire - Radheyan Simonpillai in Toronto
Boonie Bears: Time Twist review - Chinese animation takes kids’ series into sci-fi yarn
It is difficult to discern from this latest film spinoff from the TV series why these two bears and their friend Vick have been so successful - Catherine Bray
Nightbitch review – Amy Adams turns into a dog in rough dark comedy
The multiple Oscar nominee has some fun as a mother at the end of her tether but this unsubtle mix of comedy and horror doesn’t go far enough - Benjamin Lee in Toronto
Eden review – Ron Howard’s nasty, starry survival thriller falls over the edge
Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney and Ana de Armas fight for supremacy on a remote island in this 1930s-set true story that descends into tiresomely silly reversals - Benjamin Lee in Toronto
Elton John: Never Too Late review – thin portrait of a musical genius
The superstar’s husband and documentarian RJ Cutler have assembled a documentary that benefits from access but provides a limited view - Radheyan Simonpillai in Toronto
The Penguin Lessons review – Steve Coogan and feathered friend dip into 70s Argentina
Tom Michell’s feelgood memoir could have been a winning buddy movie – it just needed a little less bird and a bit more politics - Ryan Gilbey
The Cut review – Orlando Bloom goes through hell in sordid boxing thriller
The actor gives a physically committed performance as a retired boxer cutting weight with dangerous speed in a silly and overcooked drama - Benjamin Lee
Nutcrackers review – Ben Stiller finds little joy in middling Christmas comedy
The actor returns to the big screen for his first leading role since 2017 yet David Gordon Green’s charmless throwback comedy fails to justify why - Benjamin Lee in Toronto
Paul and Paulette Take a Bath review – misjudged romance takes wince-inducing wrong turn
Jethro Massey’s New Wave-style feature debut about a couple who meet in Paris is quirky and well-acted but strikes some peculiar false notes with Nazi gags - Peter Bradshaw
Maldoror review – true-crime serial killer procedural induces stomach-turning horror
Inspired by a notorious real-life case, Fabrice Du Welz’s film starts strong but gets lost in the murky waters of conspiracy - Peter Bradshaw
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
The Last Showgirl review – Pamela Anderson’s big comeback is a big disappointment
An empty-headed attempt to give the star her version of The Wrestler is a regrettable misfire - Benjamin Lee in Toronto
Harvest review – folk non-horror an exasperating experience
Dastardly deeds are afoot in an imagined medieval village with unscrupulous landowners in this directionless study of inauthenticity - Peter Bradshaw