Five star - Latest Top Rated Film Reviews from the Guardian

Chariots of Fire review – classic British take on 1924 Paris Olympics is superbly watchable
This David Puttnam-produced parable of patriotism, faith and meritocratic success – rereleased in honour of the 1924 event – is on the level of classic Hollywood - Peter Bradshaw
I Saw the TV Glow review – 90s telly-addict chiller set to be future classic
Jane Schoenbrun confirms their place as a superbly gifted film-maker with the weirdly wonderful story of two misfits finding solace in a creepy TV show - Peter Bradshaw
Eno review – exhilarating Brian Eno documentary that’s different at every screening
Gary Huswit’s suitably innovative profile of the mercurial British musician, activist and artist uses specially developed software to create endless iterations of the same film - Wendy Ide
The Commandant’s Shadow review – family of Auschwitz commander bring healing to death-camp survivor
The son and grandson of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss appear in Daniela Volker’s engrossing documentary, a companion piece to Zone of Interest - Peter Bradshaw
Bushman review – amazing real-time evocation of a Nigerian’s life in 70s America
Paul Eyam Nzie Okpokam plays a lightly fictionalised version of himself in David Schickele’s restored 1971 film reflecting on race and nationality - Peter Bradshaw
The Conversation review – Gene Hackman is unforgettable in Coppola’s paranoid classic
Hackman’s surveillance expert Harry Caul is inexpressibly sad and lonely – a classic and poignant American everyman - Peter Bradshaw
Knock Out Blonde: The Kellie Maloney Story review – trans boxing promoter fights for identity
After steering Lennox Lewis to world heavyweight success, her transition to Kellie was a tabloid sensation. This intimate and moving documentary tells us much more - Phil Hoad
Dìdi review – impressive Asian-American teen-angst drama takes the unconventional route
Sean Wang’s semi-autobiographical film offers a cool approach, swerving the usual coming-of-age tropes - Peter Bradshaw
A Story of Bones review – the battle to right Saint Helena’s colonial wrongs
This moving story documents the long struggle to bury the mass remains of Africans who were ‘liberated’ from the slave trade in a way that memorialises the island’s past - Leslie Felperin
Three review – Yugoslavian trilogy of tales tracks the horrors of the second world war
Aleksandar Petrović’s 1965 interlinked stories focus on the changes wrought in one young Yugoslavian by the brutality of the war and its aftermath - Peter Bradshaw
The Echo review – insightful study of an isolated community
Tatiana Huezo captures the rhythms of life and locals’ thwarted dreams in her keen portrait of a Mexican village - Wendy Ide
I Saw the TV Glow review – powerfully unnerving teen misfit drama
A mysterious late-night TV show unites two disaffected adolescents in Jane Schoenbrun’s haunting, 90s-set allegory - Wendy Ide
About Dry Grasses review – rich, engrossing Turkish epic with a twist
A village teacher is accused of inappropriate behaviour in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s handsome, beautifully performed, three-and-a-half-hour fable - Wendy Ide
The Echo review – heightened reality in the backwoods of Mexico
Tatiana Huezo’s film about a teenage runaway has the look of a drama, and yet it’s a documentary – one that showcases her distinctive, immersive style - Peter Bradshaw
Life Is Not a Competition, But I’m Winning review – intelligent exploration of trans athletes
Julia Fuhr Mann’s impressive feature eschews the usual point-counterpoint conventions that structure arguments in favour of a more artsy approach - Leslie Felperin
Crossing review – terrific Istanbul-set culture-clash drama
A stern Georgian ex-teacher on a mission to make amends with her trans niece learns a thing or two in Levan Akin’s rich, rewarding ensemble film - Wendy Ide
Shayda review – tense Australian-Iranian domestic abuse drama
A woman is determined to create joy for her daughter while struggling to escape her violent husband in Noora Niasari’s assured debut - Wendy Ide
Janet Planet review – Annie Baker’s tender, perceptive mother-daughter drama
Julianne Nicholson and newcomer Zoe Ziegler are a dream team in the Pulitzer prize-winning US playwright’s richly cinematic film debut - Wendy Ide
Chuck Chuck Baby review – joyous singalong celebration of female friendship
Louise Brealey shines as a woman who thinks she’s stuck with a job in a chicken factory and a cheating husband in Janis Pugh’s uplifting debut feature set in north Wales - Wendy Ide
Forrest Gump review – Tom Hanks’ chocolate box hero still gets under your skin
Robert Zemeckis’s re-released fantasy is entirely ridiculous, hokey-sentimental and politically naive, but it’s superbly paced and expertly acted - Peter Bradshaw
Chuck Chuck Baby review – emotionally charged musical drama rules the roost
Louise Brealey plays Helen, a chicken factory worker who gets a second chance at love, in Janis Pugh’s uplifting crowdpleaser - Peter Bradshaw
Crossing review – search for estranged trans niece becomes emotional Istanbul journey
A trio of excellent performances drives this intelligent film from Levan Akin, in which a Georgian woman and her young sidekick head to the big city - Peter Bradshaw
Sleep review – deviously twisty new parenthood-themed Korean thriller
Jason Yu’s enjoyably tense debut feature explores whether a sleep-deprived mother’s growing fear of her husband is justified - Wendy Ide
Agent of Happiness review – serene, slow-burning documentary from Bhutan
In the famously content Buddhist country, a government inspector interviews citizens to measure their wellbeing in a gently humorous film that doesn’t avoid dark themes - Wendy Ide
Longlegs review – Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage grip in brooding horror thriller
Monroe plays a dogged, antisocial FBI agent on the trail of Cage’s occult serial killer in the latest buzzy, atmospheric film from Osgood Perkins - Wendy Ide
Hundreds of Beavers review – Gold Rush-style spoof silent comedy fires gags at warp speed
Combining Chaplin, Keaton and Looney Tunes, the utter silliness of this movie pastiche, with an army of full-sized beavers, will win you over - Peter Bradshaw
Schlitter: Evil in the Woods review – tightly crafted horror turned DIY torture tutorial
Director Pierre Mouchet’s film is a showcase of economy, style and woodwork skills as three friends stay over at a lumberjack’s house and experience his ingenious ways to inflict pain - Phil Hoad
In a Violent Nature review – horror unplugged is quietly gruesome
Director Chris Nash departs from genre cliches to deliver a fascinatingly different slasher movie in which danger strikes amid the beauty of the great outdoors - Catherine Bray
Sleep review – marriage unravels in gleeful Korean somnambulist psycho-chiller
Lee Sun-kyun appears posthumously in one of his best performances as an actor struggling to control his night-time excursions in this elegant and intimate horror - Peter Bradshaw
Sing Sing review – powerful, deeply felt drama takes theatre behind bars
Oscar nominee Colman Domingo leads an impressive ensemble in a gentle and inspiring story of incarcerated men finding joy in an acting program - Radheyan Simonpillai
The Pawnshop review – humour and humanity in Poland’s massive second hand shop
Everyone is down on their luck in the biggest used-goods store in Silesia, but director Łukasz Kowalski finds beauty in many small acts of kindness - Leslie Felperin
The Fifth Seal review – a spiky political cabaret of cruelty and fear
Zoltán Fábri’s 1976 film follows military veteran Karoly in wartime Hungary as he asks fellow drinkers in a bar what they would choose: be the slave master or the slave - Peter Bradshaw
The Nature of Love review – opposites attract in sizzling French-Canadian romcom
Sparks fly between a lecturer and a builder, but are they enough, wonders director Monia Chokri in this vibrant romance - Wendy Ide
Unicorns review – mechanic meets drag queen in touching drama with real-world edge
Ben Hardy and Jason Patel excel in Sally El Hosaini’s gritty romance as a straight single white dad and a closet Asian nightclub performer navigate their mutual attraction - Wendy Ide
The Mummy review – Brendan Fraser’s action-adventure is as lovably goofy as ever
Fraser’s dashing American soldier of fortune ventures to the ancient Egyptian city of the dead in this good-natured and entertainingly silly film - Peter Bradshaw
Kill review – ultraviolent Indian train thriller is finger-cracking good
This tasty piece of action cinema provides crunches, squelches and and spatter effects as the good guys and bad guys delightfully smash each other to pieces - Catherine Bray
Barbie: The Exhibition review – the wonder doll’s evolution, from Gehry homes to ‘gay Ken’
Deep dive into the pink plastic universe charts society’s cultural, design, fashion and body-image changes – reflected in the life of the world’s most popular doll - Oliver Wainwright
The Imaginary review – charming anime about made-up best friends from former Ghibli protege
Spirited Away animator Yoshiyuki Momose takes the reins in this dreamy and dark family fable, adapted from AF Harrold’s novel of the same name - Rebecca Liu
The Mother of All Lies review – pursuing the truth of Morocco’s brutal dictatorship years
Asmae El Moudir employs a delicate mix of handmade replicas and oral testimony to brilliantly evoke personal and collective trauma - Phuong Le
Portrait of My Father review – mysterious death of father is start-point of riveting film
Juan Ignacio Fernández Hoppe’s documentary tries to pin down a true record of the father he lost aged eight, but the struggle to find it is what compels attention - Phuong Le
A Quiet Place: Day One review – stylish and satisfying prequel
Lupita Nyong’o stars as a poet with cancer who wants to live a little in this beefed-up disaster movie set in New York - Wendy Ide
The Imaginary review – beguiling fantasy from Japan’s Studio Ponoc
A young girl and her made-up friend are separated in an exquisitely drawn anime reminiscent of Studio Ghibli - Wendy Ide
Eternal You review – thought-provoking look at new AI product for the grieving
Disturbing documentary explores tech’s questionable ability to bring digital ‘comfort’ to the bereaved - Wendy Ide
Kensuke’s Kingdom review – Michael Morpurgo’s desert island boy’s own adventure
Morpurgo’s yarn about a kid on a round the world voyage is adapted by Frank Cottrell-Boyce and attractively packaged as a family-friendly animation - Peter Bradshaw
Elephant Mother review – sensitive animal documentary with a happy ending
Conservationist Lek Chailert helps elephants recover from gruelling working lives in Thailand with joviality and grit in this engaging film - Cath Clarke
Alma’s Rainbow review – early 90s coming-of-ager is gem of black female empowerment
Pioneering director Ayoka Chenzira gives voice to the inner lives of women at a time when they were mostly ignored, making this film a rare gift to treasure - Cath Clarke
A Place Called Silence review – secrets and lies in high school dripping with horror
Sam Quah brings real artistry to story of buried guilt and conspicuous violence, but his neat contrivances tie things up rather too easily - Phil Hoad
Light Falls Vertical review – startling domestic violence memoir goes deep into past trauma
Jarring and heartbreaking documentary excavates the film-maker’s past while illuminating an abuser’s place in the cycle of violence - Phuong Le
Outside Noise review – dreamy twentysomethings wander around Europe in charming study
Ted Fendt’s portrait of three young women at creative crossroads follows their listless strolls and awkward gatherings with warm vitality - Phuong Le
Deadpool & Wolverine review – Marvel’s achingly meta new sequel is going to be huge
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s superhero odd couple are flung together in a gagtastic if sloppy action comedy that maxes out its 15 certificate - Wendy Ide
Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa review – a female Everest climber’s ascent
Documentary expertly follows the only woman to have climbed the mountain 10 times through spectacular scenery and a traumatic personal life - Leslie Felperin
Deadpool & Wolverine review – Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s sarky gagathon mocks the MCU back to life
The highly-anticipated odd-couple action bromance shatters the fourth wall into a million pieces with plenty of juke-box slams to keep blood-sugar content high - Peter Bradshaw
Robin and the Hoods review – nostalgic battle cry for children’s imagination
The armoured knights and magic thunderbolts of a child’s play world are threatened by a property developer in this formulaic yet fun family feature - Georgie Wyatt
Gaza: A Story of Love and War review – compassionate stories from both sides of the divide
Welsh-Jewish film-maker Mike Joseph records his dialogue with a Palestinian journalist that reaches across an agonising divide - Leslie Felperin
Ardenza review – beguiling cine-essay about the angst of the 90s youth generation
Daniela de Felice’s impressionistic, sensuous documentary meditates on the romantic relationships and student activism of her youth in 1990s Italy - Phuong Le
Thelma review – all-action ninetysomething hero brings comic revenge romp to life
June Squibb excels as a pensioner on a mission after being scammed out of her savings in this charming if formulaic caper - Wendy Ide
Twisters review – 90s tornado blockbuster gets second wind in teeth-rattling sequel
Minari director Lee Isaac Chung’s disaster flick delivers a serviceable blast of meteorological mayhem - Wendy Ide
Skywalkers: A Love Story review – ‘rooftopping’ couple chase thrills in Netflix documentary
A daredevil Russian couple who climb to the tops of skyscrapers make for both frustrating and thrilling protagonists in this hit-and-miss documentary - Radheyan Simonpillai
Janet Planet review – mother-daughter relationship unfolds in dreamy summer haze
Julianne Nicholson stars in playwright Annie Baker’s languidly charming and tasteful debut feature about a girl’s increasingly fraught holiday at home - Peter Bradshaw
Waterloo Sunset review – inside an oasis of affordable living
This highly watchable documentary spends time with the residents of an almshouse in central London – cheerfully dispelling misconceptions about ageing - Cath Clarke
Thelma review – June Squibb is marvellous in sweet mobility scooter revenge caper
Ninety-four-year-old Squibb is great as a woman going after phone scammers – with the help of the late Shaft star Richard Roundtree – in a robust feelgood comedy - Peter Bradshaw
The Paddington Bear Experience review – the Marmalade Day jamboree must go on!
Visitors get stuck in when they enter the world of 32 Windsor Gardens, thanks to a merry immersive show boasting hands-on games and evocative design touches - Chris Wiegand
Despicable Me 4 review – Baby Gru Jr enlivens another brush with villainy
The latest addition to Gru’s family punches above his weight in terms of gags and visual humour as the animated franchise rolls on - Wendy Ide
Fly Me to the Moon review – Scarlett Johansson delights, but 60s space-race romance fails to lift off
A deliciously minxy Johansson and buttoned-up Channing Tatum make strange bedfellows in this Nixon-era tale of Nasa’s lunar programme - Wendy Ide
Chariots of Fire review – breathless staging of classic Olympic dash
The perseverance of runners Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell is well conveyed with stage and auditorium becoming training ground and racetrack - Catherine Love
Eno review – stimulating and cerebral look at the high priest of art-tech experimentalism
Produced using software that means that the film is different every time it is shown, this presents the former Roxy Music man as a restlessly creative mind - Steve Rose
Twisters review – Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones find whirlwind romance in weather-hacking 90s sequel
Feelings fly between Edgar-Jones’s tornado-halting scientist and AI-handsome Powell’s storm-chasin’ YouTuber. Just don’t mention climate change - Peter Bradshaw
Agent of Happiness review – Bhutan surveyors attempt to analyse joy
Two assessors ask questions but it’s the detail and nuance that is so compelling in this gently absorbing documentary - Cath Clarke
A Prince review – queer erotic drama of sexual enlightenment through gardening
Pierre Creton’s literary film is about the carnal blossoming of a gardener’s apprentice under the tutelage of a series of older men - Phuong Le
MaXXXine review – Mia Goth chills in grisly conclusion to Ti West’s horror trilogy
Goth excels as porn star and aspiring actor Maxine Minx, who makes the leap to horror movies as a killer stalks the Hollywood Hills in this predictable end to the X series - Wendy Ide
Orlando, My Political Biography review – inventive spin on Virginia Woolf’s novel
Trans director Paul B Preciado uses Woolf’s classic text as a literary exploration and an intimate personal journey to powerful effect - Wendy Ide
Unicorns review – drama of queer south Asian club culture with added superstar drag queens
Jason Patel is excellent as drag queen Aysha in Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd’s new film, but the scenes where Aysha visits her parents as Ashiq really steal the show - Cath Clarke
What Remains review – sky squid confounds Stellan Skarsgård in true-life Scandi noir
Skarsgård and his son Gustaf sparkle in Ran Huang’s rarefied film, but can’t rescue this weirdly hallucinatory murder mystery from falling flat - Leslie Felperin
Younger review – rousing study of female athletes excelling in their 60s and beyond
Inspiring women explain what motivates them to keep training, and how getting older can give them the competitive edge - Leslie Felperin
Orlando, My Political Biography review – Woolf’s trans hero gets a 21st-century mashup
Tricksy documentary spin on 1928 novel weaves fact and fiction to reconsider and reimagine the time-travelling story for our time - Peter Bradshaw
Loop Track review – no escape for tormented hiker on horror trek to creature-feature hell
Writer-director Thomas Sainsbury plays a twitchy divorcee who wants to get away from it all, but this intriguing journey disappoints at the final hurdle - Phil Hoad
Despicable Me 4 review – Gru goes into witness protection to keep Minion magic alive
Steve Carell’s everyvillain starts a dull new life but nemesis Will Ferrell’s Maxime Le Mal has other ideas - Peter Bradshaw
The Nature of Love review – philosophy professor’s life spiced up by rugged labourer
A middle-aged woman’s has a giddy fling in Monia Chokri’s latest film – at first all is roses, but then moral murkiness creeps in - Ryan Gilbey
The Sparrow review – grief and guilt haunt teenager in dark West Cork tale
Ollie West is superb as a sensitive misfit who inadvertently causes a terrible tragedy in this atmospheric family drama - Cath Clarke
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 review – Kevin Costner’s unapologetically old-school western
Satisfying momentum builds in this involving but inauthentic first instalment of the Hollywood star’s mega-epic of settlers and Native Americans - Wendy Ide
Shrek the Musical review – sludgy show leaves you green about the gills
Played at the volume of a pantomime, this makeover of the fairytale favourite is flatly unadventurous - Chris Wiegand
The Fabulous Four review – starry cast deserves better in silly, simplistic comedy
Susan Sarandon and Bette Midler lead a group of old friends who reunite in a dispiriting and disappointing waste of older female actors - Benjamin Lee
Coma review – vital signs are weak in Bertrand Bonello’s mopey lockdown drama
There are stabs of the same fear that made The Beast fascinating, but this tale of a bored teenager in a scary, affectless future is too unfocused - Peter Bradshaw
Bad Newz review – racy Bollywood romcom breaks new ground with parenting shenanigans
Love triangle caper about a woman who bears twins by two different fathers gives disappointingly more life to its competing men - Leslie Felperin
Find Me Falling review – Harry Connick Jr heads to Cyprus in so-so Netflix romcom
The multi-hyphenate leads a mostly standard issue streaming romantic comedy that struggles to fight its way out from the background - Benjamin Lee
Birdeater review – nightmarish buck’s party in the bush becomes faintly preposterous
Shabana Azeez and Mackenzie Fearnley are good as the husband and wife to be but this horror film feels indecisive and stretches too long - Luke Buckmaster
My Spy: The Eternal City review – Dave Bautista’s daddy-daughter spy comedy heads to Rome
Bautista returns as a less than convincing CIA agent charging around the planet to protect his stepdaughter and defend against nuclear catastrophe - Cath Clarke
Uncanny Me review – exploration of cloning tech fraught with moral and ethical questions
Creating a 3D avatar to increase a model’s income brings up all sorts of issues, but this documentary seems uninterested in addressing them - Phuong Le
Longlegs review – Nicolas Cage is a miscast killer in misfiring hokum
A distractingly outsized performance is one of many unsuccessful elements in Osgood Perkins’ stylish yet progressively silly horror - Benjamin Lee
Fly Me to the Moon review – slinky Scarlett Johansson in cynical moon-landing conspiracy comedy
This misjudged and unfunny romcom about how the US government planned to fake the moon landing in case the real one tanked undermines the Apollo 11 achievement - Peter Bradshaw
Thine Ears Shall Bleed review – occult horror-western heads into the wilderness
A 19th-century preacher is seduced by the devil in this atmospheric but meandering debut feature - Antonia Langford
Carbon & Water review – sexual fulfilment of a gay man in his 60s is little-explored territory
An isolated older man falls for his nurse in a well-intentioned but erratically edited film undercut by poorly written characters with lengthy, repetitive dialogues - Phuong Le
Problemista review – Tilda Swinton stars in whimsical odd-couple visa drama
An aspiring toy designer from El Salvador clings to a monstrous New York art world figure in Julio Torres’s sub-par indie - Wendy Ide
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F review – Eddie Murphy’s megawatt charisma lights up creaking sequel
Reprising his role as lovable undercover cop Axel Foley, the actor – and some full-on car-chase carnage – can’t disguise a plot several decades past its sell-by date in debut director Mark Molloy’s slickly packaged action comedy - Wendy Ide
Cash Out review – John Travolta invests in Fast and Furious style failed-heist caper
Action thriller begins with glossy vibes, but loses the champagne-fuelled aspirations too soon and wastes co-star Kristin Davis - Catherine Bray
Problemista review – quirky hipster comedy lets Tilda Swinton go for the laughs
Swinton almost, but not quite, rescues this film by SNL star Julio Torres with its Wes Anderson-esque onslaught of cutesy kookiness - Peter Bradshaw
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F review – fish-out-of-water Eddie Murphy chases past glories
Murphy’s maverick cop – and his theme music – are back to fight corruption, but four decades on there’s little energy to enliven their formulaic reunion - Peter Bradshaw
Blue Lock the Movie: Episode Nagi review – football anime gets the battle royale treatment
From Terminator-eyed strikers to flame-wreathed shots on goal, no bombast is too much in this feature-length extrapolation of Muneyuki Kaneshiro’s popular series - Phil Hoad
Divorce in the Black review – Tyler Perry’s dull drama is his worst to date
A couple edge toward a split in the writer-director’s shoddy Amazon Prime offering, carelessly made and dull to watch - Andrew Lawrence
Space Cadet review – Emma Roberts joins Nasa in lazy streaming slop
There are shades of Legally Blonde and Private Benjamin in Amazon’s lesser, low-rent comedy about a Florida bartender with dreams of being an astronaut - Benjamin Lee