Review

“Deep Breath”. Is it a title? Or a statement of intent? Armed with “attack eyebrows” and a taste for the grisly, the Peter Capaldi era arrives with a tale that delivers a literal change of pace for Doctor Who, trading the giddy, pirouetting, breathless energy of Matt Smith for something …

“The little band who couldn’t” is the affectingly bittersweet hook for Drew DeNicola’s loving doc about the almost-rise, demise and rediscovery of early ’70s US alt-pop beauties Big Star. Critics, musos and family members pop up to revere a band who spun melancholy into magic over three albums, before bad …

With no bells, whistles or fanfare, the Dardenne brothers – Jean-Pierre and Luc – have been writing, producing and directing their own brand of Belgian naturalism since the ’90s. Before that they made documentaries. Ignored by the multiplexes, but loved by the critics, their modest, moving films sound eminently missable. …

The controversial career of arms trader Viktor Bout was fictionalised in 2005’s Lord Of War , but truth trumps fiction in Tony Gerber and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s enthralling doc. Centred on Bout’s entrapment and trial by America, the directors dare to ponder how villainous this “merchant of death” was. Such sympathy …

Written by Dutch Southern and steeped in Jim Thompson-style noir, Simon and Zeke Hawkins’ low-budget debut shows genuine promise. When Texan teen B.J. (Logan Huffman) steals the local psycho’s money for one last hurrah with best friend Bobby (Jeremy Allen White) and girlfriend Sue (Mackenzie Davis), he lands everyone in …

Batman: Assault On Arkham DVD review . This animated movie is set in the Arkham videogame universe during the five year gap between Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum , but aside from the name the two share little DNA. There’s no consistency in character design, for example; Amanda Waller seems …

Shep Gordon is the greatest talent manager you’ve never heard of, not to mention a raconteur, bon viveur and all-round jammy bastard. That’s if you believe the hype of this wildly entertaining documentary co-directed by Mike Myers. But when it’s the likes of Michael Douglas and Sylvester Stallone doing the …

Acclaimed Filipino director Lav Diaz has made films ranging between five and eight hours, so his latest, clocking in at a mere four-hours-and-10-minutes, and his first in colour, is a walk in the park. A transposition of Dostoevsky’s Crime And Punishment , it sees disillusioned intellectual Fabian (Sid Lucero) commit …

Ronan Keating’s tattooed torso plays a supporting role in this winsome comedy, a saccharine-sweet affair whose modest charms come so thickly coated in treacle it should probably carry a health warning. Case in point? The ‘sink song’ webcam vids Keating’s bored wife (Laura Michelle Kelly) posts online while he’s off …

Talal Derki’s Sundance Jury Prize-winning doc, shot over two years, provides an unflinching insider’s view of the Syrian conflict which has killed thousands and forced millions from their homes since 2011. Focusing on a small band of rebels led by charismatic national football player Abdul Basset Al-Sarout, extraordinary frontline footage …