Five star - Latest Top Rated Film Reviews from the Guardian

Riefenstahl review – deep-dive study takes down the Nazis’ favourite director
Andres Veiel shows how the film-maker loved by Hitler hit the heights with her Berlin Olympics movie – and how she tried and failed to save her Nazi-tinged reputation - Xan Brooks
Lone Star review – John Sayles’s powerful crime drama is an extraordinary relic of 90s film-making
Sayles’s 1996 film tackles racial division in Texas as a sheriff uncovers dark secrets about his home town and his father’s past - Peter Bradshaw
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
The Count of Monte Cristo review – highly enjoyable French costume spectacle
Three Musketeers screenwriters Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte move on to Dumas’s swashbuckling tale of revenge with verve - Wendy Ide
Sing Sing review – Colman Domingo is magnetic in moving real-life US prison drama
The US actor heads a cast largely made up of former inmates in Greg Kwedar’s low-key tale about the redemptive power of theatre - Wendy Ide
The Order review – Jude Law leads neo-Nazi-hunting thriller with confident authority
Law is commanding opposite an icy Nicholas Hoult in true-crime story about the takedown of a far right militia in the 1980s - Jonathan Romney
And Their Children After Them review – racism and revenge festers in smalltown France
Nineties-set drama adapted from the bestselling novel zeroes in on tensions in a post-industrial community, sparked by a feud over a motorbike - Xan Brooks
Black Dog review – ex-con and stray dog bond in searching Chinese social drama
Guan Hu’s low-key Cannes winner is a heartfelt tale of redemption set against the dramatic backdrop of the Gobi desert - Wendy Ide
One to One: John & Yoko review – fun, fierce, full-blooded portrait of Lennon and Ono
Kevin Macdonald’s surprising documentary catches a radioactively charismatic Lennon enjoying his rambunctious post-Beatles heyday in New York - Xan Brooks
Maria review – Angelina Jolie plays the diva in magnificent stroll around the cult of Callas
Jolie is a painting to be stared at in Pablo Larraín’s opulent drama, tottering around Paris in the 70s and drawing us in to tragedy as thoroughly as Bellini or Puccini - Xan Brooks
Separated review – Errol Morris’s quietly furious takedown of Trump’s inhumane border policy
Morris’s forensic account of those who implemented family separation makes for harrowing viewing - Xan Brooks
Touch review – unashamedly emotional love story travels back to the 1960s
Baltasar Kormákur’s beautifully shot romance sees Kristófer try to track down Miko, a lifetime after their youthful love affair is unexpectedly cut short - Catherine Bray
Broken Bird review – creepily brilliant psych-horror of control-freak funeral-parlour attendant
Rebecca Calder is superbly supple as the damaged protagonist in a richly imagined horror story - Phil Hoad
Paradise Is Burning review – teens survive on wits in dreamy coming-of-age drama
Mika Gustafson’s feature has some obvious influences in The Virgin Suicides or American Honey but wears them lightly in this fresh and beautifully cut debut - Leslie Felperin
Black Dog review – state-of-the-Chinese-nation drama with feelgood furry antics
A squadron of dog catchers, sent into the Gobi desert to round up a bevy of hounds, adds stark absurdism to this commentary on Chinese society - Phil Hoad
Blink Twice review – Zoë Kravitz’s thrilling, chilling directorial debut
Naomi Ackie and Channing Tatum star in Kravitz’s superbly twisted romance, which takes gender politics into a brutal combat zone - Wendy Ide
Between the Temples review – bittersweet screwball comedy with shades of Harold and Maude
Playing a bereaved synagogue cantor and his former primary school music teacher, Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane light up Nathan Silver’s endearing odd couple tale - Wendy Ide
Kneecap review – fictionalised origin story is one of the funniest films of the year
Belfast rappers Kneecap use the Irish language as their weapon in Rich Peppiatt’s exhilarating comedy drama co-starring Michael Fassbender - Wendy Ide
Nothing But the Best review – raffish Alan Bates comedy is a time capsule of 60s London
Millicent Martin and Denholm Elliott also star in Clive Donner’s 1964 satire on class, filled with macabre twists - Peter Bradshaw
Lollipop review – impassioned, head-butting indictment of the social-care system
Informed by her own experiences, Daisy-May Hudson’s portrait of a woman trying to regain custody of her kids is surprisingly even-handed - Peter Bradshaw
Between the Temples review – Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane charm in quirky comedy
Actors sell an unusual, compelling friendship as a widower reconnects with an old teacher in this thoughtful film - Adrian Horton
Audrey review – a deliciously snarky comedy about a girl in a coma
Jackie van Beek and Hannah Diviney star in Natalie Bailey’s feature debut, which explores a thorny taboo with gallows humour - Luke Buckmaster
Hollywoodgate review – chilling fly-on-the-wall glimpse of the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul
Granted unprecedented, if strictly limited access, Egyptian documentarian Ibrahim Nash’at captures the Taliban’s inner circle after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan - Wendy Ide
Alien: Romulus review – thrillingly gruesome new instalment gets a shot of young blood
The ever-impressive Cailee Spaeny heads a cast of fresh-faced alien fodder in Fede Álvarez’s propulsive sci-fi horror, which favours horror over storyline - Wendy Ide
Daughters review – tender, wrenching film about a dance date for girls and their jailed dads
Four girls look forward to being reunited with their fathers in Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s painful yet lyrical Sundance-winning documentary - Wendy Ide
Klitschko: More Than a Fight review – Kyiv’s mayor confronts Zelenskiy in eye-opening Ukraine war film
Kevin Macdonald’s documentary follows the former boxer in charge of Ukraine’s capital as he deals with the fallout of the Russian invasion - Andrew Pulver
Ellis Park review – like its subject, Warren Ellis documentary moves to the beat of its own drum
Justin Kurzel’s film about the Bad Seeds and Dirty Three musician, and the animal sanctuary he founded in Indonesia with activist Femke den Haas, is richly cinematic - Luke Buckmaster
A Life Like Any Other review – wonderfully moving look back at a mother’s resilience
Faustine Cros’s documentary revisits home videos from her childhood through fresh eyes having learned as an adult what her young self had missed - Phuong Le
Tuesday review – Julia Louis-Dreyfus shines in fatalistic fairytale
A teenage girl is visited by death – in the form of a parrot – and her mother is having none of it in Daina O Pusić’s striking feature debut - Wendy Ide
Babes review – Pamela Adlon’s caustically funny pregnancy comedy
Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau fizz in the Better Things creator’s directorial debut, a rapid-fire riff on pregnancy, motherhood and female friendship - Wendy Ide
Radical review – Mexican inspirational teacher drama rises above genre cliches
Based on true events, this tale of a deprived school being turned on its head by the arrival of Mr Juárez feels fresh, largely thanks to its superb young cast - Wendy Ide
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
Paradise Is Burning review – compelling Swedish drama of three abandoned sisters
United by love and feral freedom, the girls dodge the clutches of social services in Mika Gustafson’s beautifully performed feature debut - Wendy Ide
Campo di Battaglia review – medicos face off in stately first world war hospital drama
Gianni Amelio’s saga is set in 1918, when a pair of Italian doctors take very different approaches to treating the wounded that pass through their wards - Xan Brooks
Kill the Jockey review – a mercurial, skittish crime drama whose hero is a drug-fuelled rogue
Luis Ortega’s film veers off the racetrack as jockey Remo drifts around the city streets, pursued by a pregnant girlfriend who wants him back and a gangster who wants him dead - Xan Brooks
Sing Sing review – Colman Domingo is larger than life in big-hearted prison drama
Inspired by a project that uses the arts for rehabilitation, this is an uplifting, energetic film – but Domingo’s showy performance is a little out of place - Peter Bradshaw
The Count of Monte Cristo review – a good-looking gallop through Dumas’ tale of revenge
Pierre Niney plays the man behind the multiple masks in this fast-moving adaptation that needs a touch more finesse - Phil Hoad
And Mrs review – love never dies for Aisling Bea in barmy Brit romcom
This Richard Curtis-like comedy sees Bea on fine form as she tries to marry her her dead boyfriend, supported by a knockout cast including Harriet Walter and Susan Wokoma - Cath Clarke
Point of Change review – how the arrival ‘surf explorers’ altered a tiny Indian Ocean paradise
Rebecca Coley’s documentary shows how Australian surfers found peace and perfect tubular waves on Nias – and led inevitably to boatloads of tourists and pollution - Leslie Felperin
Mandoob (Night Courier) review – darkly amusing gig-economy satire on the mean streets of Riyadh
Director Ali Kalthami’s bleak and funny portrait of toxic masculinity was a massive hit in its home country of Saudi Arabia - Cath Clarke
Broca’s Aphasia review – Taiwanese sex doll service offers eerie insight into male domain
Su Ming-yen’s uncanny delve into the world of artificial women is both fascinatingly mundane and quietly unsettling - Phuong Le
Last Things review – stones yield up their memories in poetic vision of life on Earth
Deborah Stratman’s film looks far beyond humanity for answers to the big questions of survival, gathering the words of scientists and imaginative writers - Phuong Le
The Mountain Within Me review – feelgood climbing doc is hard to resist
Former rugby player Ed Jackson overcomes a devastating spinal injury to take on mountains in Polly Steele’s handsome if formulaic film - Wendy Ide
Cuckoo review – Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens carry bonkers Alpine body horror
The Euphoria star plays a US teen uprooted to a dodgy German spa resort, where Stevens is in full scenery-chewing mode, in Tilman Singer’s hot mess of a thriller - Wendy Ide
The Killer review – John Woo’s John Woo remake is a low-stakes fun time
The director revisits his 1989 classic with a Paris-set update that doesn’t attempt anything all that daring but reconfirms his action credentials - Jesse Hassenger
Blink Twice review – Zoe Kravitz’s stylish yet scattered #MeToo thriller
There are deafening echoes of Get Out, Don’t Worry Darling and The Menu in this propulsive yet ultimately unwieldy attempt to use Epstein’s island as genre inspiration - Benjamin Lee
Kneecap review – Irish-language hip-hop trio in fiercely riotous Belfast romp
The story of Northern Irish teenagers who reinvent the political purpose of hip-hop, the film is most uproarious when the energy of the music lets loose - Peter Bradshaw
Together With Lorenza Mazzetti review – compelling final testament from overlooked director
The Italian director, whose film Together made a key contribution to the Free Cinema movement in the UK, died in 2020 but this interview is a fitting tribute - Andrew Pulver
The Mountain Within Me review – disabled heroes take on the Himalayas
Documentary traces Ed Jackson’s extraordinary journey from paraplegia to extreme climbing, and follows him through spectacular landscapes - Leslie Felperin
Hell Hole review – creature feature is fracking fun
A crew of engineers drilling in Serbia find more than they bargained for in this endearing, low-budget horror from the Adams family - Catherine Bray
The Home Game review – sweet and heartwarming story of Iceland’s footballing underdogs
This plucky documentary tells of the small town whose residents created its first football pitch, and the years that followed chasing their goal - Catherine Bray
Widow Clicquot review – vine-whispering champagne-maker gets the biopic treatment
Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot ascends from demure young lover to patriarchy-defying innovator in this attractive but not quite grand cru biopic - Phil Hoad
Adam Ondra: Pushing the Limits review – Czech Spider-Man climbs all the way to Olympics
Jan Šimánek and Petr Záruba’s intimate documentary reveals the vulnerabilities behind sporting success as rock climber Ondra trains for Tokyo 2020 - Phuong Le
Hostile Dimensions review – goofy no-budget horror opens portal to a parallel world
When a graffiti artist vanishes through a freestanding door, two film-makers open up a wittily told mystery - Leslie Felperin
Cadejo Blanco review – compelling performances in slow-burn drug gang thriller
Lead Karen Martínez is impressive as a young woman searching for her sister among drug gangs in Guatemala in Justin Lerner’s suspenseful movie - Cath Clarke
Clandestina review – artists fighting fascists in Portugal in the 1950s – and the present day
The words of artist-activist Margarida Tengarrinha ground Maria Mire’s feature debut, which evokes a lineage of political dissent through ambiguous visual sequences - Phuong Le
Faye review – where are all the hair-raising stories of Dunaway’s nightmare behaviour?
This misty-eyed homage to Bonnie and Clyde star Faye Dunaway (with her involvement) papers over her reputation for being difficult – but is still a troubling portrait - Rachel Aroesti
Only the River Flows review – stylishly enigmatic Chinese crime drama
An overburdened detective investigates a series of murders in 1990s rural China in Wei Shujun’s slow-burning noir - Wendy Ide
The Union review – Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg heat up Netflix action flick
The stars’ rapport helps retain your interest in a preposterous international caper that has something vaguely to do with justice - Adrian Horton
Coraline review – delightfully creepy coming-of-age fantasy offers more than just scares
Henry Selick’s adapted from Neil Gaiman’s book about a young girl who finds new parents with buttons for eyes is a nifty stop-motion animation - Peter Bradshaw
Only the River Flows review – accomplished Chinese noir is intriguing and ingenious thriller
An ambitious police detective attempts to solve a series of murders from a disused cinema in director Wei Shujun’s crime drama - Peter Bradshaw
Black Dog review – fine lead performances power British road movie on a satisfying path
Two former schoolfriends team up and head to Scotland on a journey that carries us through some cliched stops - Leslie Felperin
The Hypnosis review – watch-through-your-hands squirmfest as woman loses inhibitions
A big-money business pitch is threatened when a tech entrepreneur’s unpredictable inner child is unleashed after hypnotherapy - Cath Clarke
Swan Song review – ‘punk rock’ ballet film goes behind-the-scenes to get show afloat
The National Ballet of Canada’s prep for a new production of the biggest ballet there is, while bidding farewell to artistic director Karen Kain, is subtly handled in a nuanced documentary - Leslie Felperin
It Ends With Us review – Blake Lively stars in oddly frothy domestic abuse drama
Dark themes lurk behind the stylish veneer in this adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestseller, directed by co-star Justin Baldoni - Wendy Ide
Luce review – enigmatic Italian drama of dreams and drones
A young woman’s breakdown – or is it an epiphany? – in coastal Italy, in Luca Bellino and Silvia Luzi’s film, does not surrender its meaning easily - Peter Bradshaw
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
Close to You review – Elliot Page struggles to bring transgender drama to life
Dominic Savage’s film about a man whose family do not understand his transition feels underpowered - Wendy Ide
Babygirl review – Nicole Kidman overwhelmed by lust as CEO having torrid and toxic affair
Halina Reijn’s film about a company executive’s carnal adventure with her intern is expertly done but suspect at its core, despite Kidman’s bold performance - Xan Brooks
AfrAId review – throwaway AI-themed horror devoid of suspense
A sinister Alexa upgrade exerts control on California family in an increasingly nonsensical attempt to capture the moment - Benjamin Lee
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice review – Tim Burton sequel takes retro joyride through old haunts
Burton’s game attempt to bring the 1980s horror-comedy back from the spirit world is full of gaudy set-pieces but fails to add much to the original - Xan Brooks
Farming the Revolution review – low-key look at Indian farmers’ street-camp protests
Documentary on the 2020-21 protests in India over three farm acts is interesting in patches, but doesn’t go anywhere unexpected - Leslie Felperin
Widow Clicquot review – grande dame of champagne biopic falls flat
Neither Haley Bennett as the Veuve Clicquot heir nor the film’s proto-feminist messaging can bring this bubbles-to-riches drama to life - Wendy Ide
Incoming review – Netflix’s Superbad-esque comedy is super unfunny
Raucous teen film about out-of-control high school party never finds its footing, relying on tiresome gross-out humor - Adrian Horton
The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat review – female friendship saga falls flat
Adaptation of Edward Kelsey Moore’s novel has admirable intentions and terrific cast but is too rushed to soar - Radheyan Simonpillai
The 39 Steps review – comic homage to Hitchcock thriller goes off the rails
With four actors playing 130 parts, this revival of Patrick Barlow’s take on the spy film is fitfully funny but ultimately frustrating - Chris Wiegand
Noah’s Ark review – Old Testament’s got talent in biblical kids’ animation
The animals on Noah’s ark have a singing contest under the eye of a familiar leonine villain, amid a flood of unoriginal gags - Cath Clarke
Lore review – Brit-horror anthology tells its gruesome stories around the campfire
Richard Brake is well cast as the host for this portmanteau of grisly yarns, where the girls’ tales are made of stronger stuff than the boys’ - Phil Hoad
Jackpot! review – feeble Paul Feig action comedy maxes out on the mayhem
The best efforts of Awkwafina and John Cena can’t save this flailing tale of an LA lottery win gone wrong - Wendy Ide
The Deliverance review – Lee Daniels exorcism horror brings strong cast to real-life story
Daniels’s film starts well as it points up the social pressures that informed the Latoya Ammons case, but succumbs to tired horror tropes - Peter Bradshaw
Alien: Romulus review – grungy, back-to-basics instalment goes over same old ground
Fede Álvarez’s effort is scrappier than Ridley Scott’s grandiose efforts – but everyone involved would have been better employed working on something new - Peter Bradshaw
Jackpot! review - Awkwafina and John Cena strapped into stunt-heavy action comedy
The efforts of a strong cast to make a future dystopia into knockabout fun result in a discordant mismash of general ridiculousness - Adrian Horton
The Instigators review – Matt Damon and Casey Affleck languish in heist caper misfire
Doug Liman directs the usually bankable duo in this disappointingly slow and predictable crime comedy - Wendy Ide
Ozi: Voice of the Forest review – simian version of Greta Thunberg takes on evil corporation
Orangutan Ozi is a simian Greta Thunberg in a film whose excellent animation is let down by underdeveloped characters and blind faith in social media activism - Phil Hoad
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
The Crow review – unfathomably awful goth remake
Rupert Sanders’ attempt to resurrect the 1994 cult revenge thriller has become one of 2024’s most atrocious films - Benjamin Lee
Borderlands review – Cate Blanchett stalks her way through woeful video game adaptation
The Australian star heads a big-name cast who can do nothing to save Eli Roth’s incoherent sci-fi action comedy - Wendy Ide