Peter Bradshaw

Preparation for the Next Life review – deeply felt story of love among the marginalised in New York Bing Liu’s debut feature is an unflinching portrait of an undocumented Uyghur immigrant and a traumatised US veteran whose fragile connection is strained by their pasts

My review of Preparation For The Next Life (dir. Bing Liu) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

Silent Sherlock: Three Classic Cases review – on the hunt with Holmes in restored 1920s mysteries From stealing a photo for the King of Bohemia to battling the Napoleon of crime on a clifftop, Holmes is witty and watchable in these early Conan Doyle-approved dramas

My review of Silent Sherlock: Three Classic Cases (dirs. Maurice Elvey et al) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

Goodbye June review – Kate Winslet’s Christmas heartwarmer is like a two-hour John Lewis ad Star turns from Helen Mirren, Andrea Riseborough and Toni Colette can’t stop cartoony sentimentality smothering this film directed by Winslet and written by her son Joe Anders

My review of Goodbye June (dir. Kate Winslet) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

Sydney Sweeney, Richard Linklater and Emma Thompson are up for most egregious snub in the 2026 Golden Globe nominations Linklater is missing from the best director list despite having two nominated films, and actors including Sydney Sweeney and Josh O’Connor are nowhere to be seen. It looks like Paul Thomas Anderson’s ...

Some thoughts on the #GoldenGlobes nominations: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

I Am Martin Parr review – enjoyable study of tragicomic Britain’s inspired photographer Valuable documentary on the vigilant genius whose highly coloured 70s and 80s images revealed the white working class as never before

Reupping here my review of Lee Shulman’s I am Martin Parr www.theguardian.com/film/2025/fe...

Over a pint in Oxford, we may have stumbled upon the holy grail of agriculture | George Monbiot I knew that a revolution in our understanding of soil could change the world. Then came a eureka moment – and the birth of the Earth Rover Program, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Amazing article by George Monbiot on a breakthrough in his Earth Rover Programme and the new science of “soilsmology” - in theory a piece about soil shouldn’t be gripping but this is! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

YouTube video by Peter Bradshaw PETER BRADSHAW reviews IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT

My vlog on Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident is up here, please click, watch, share and subscribe: youtu.be/AHUW734LDto?...

Folktales review – taking on tyranny of social media as teens learn to live like hunter-gatherers In this documentary, high schoolers camp out in subzero temperatures, making their own fires and driving sledges in the wild

My review of Folktales (dirs. Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

Magazine Dreams review – powerful bodybuilding drama dogged by star Jonathan Majors’ assault conviction The actor was convicted in 2023 leaving this a film maudit, and though he is convincing, it only draws uncomfortable parallels with his own life

My review of Magazine Dreams (dir. Elijah Bynum) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

Prime Minister review – portrait of Jacinda Ardern shows a fully human being in charge for once Documentary about New Zealand’s former leader records a shrewd but likable premier who did without the usual politician’s defences

My review of Prime Minister (dirs. Michelle Walshe, Lindsay Utz) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

Cover-Up review – atrocity exposer Seymour Hersh, journalist legend, gets a moment in the spotlight Hersh’s record on uncovering the big stories, from My Lai to Abu Ghraib, speaks for itself. This documentary watches him at work: dogged, nonconformist and combative

My review of Cover-Up (dirs. Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

Sunset Boulevard review – Hollywood never looked more glorious or more tragic Gloria Swanson is extraordinary as faded film-star Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder’s cameo-packed self-referential masterpiece about tinseltown ghosts and delusions

My review of the re-release of Sunset Boulevard (1950) (dir. Billy Wilder) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

It Was Just an Accident review – Jafar Panahi takes us on a nightmare trip into a land of bribes and brutality An unfortunate encounter with a dog sets off a chain of surreal, grotesque events that expose the corruption and tyranny at the heart of Iran

My review of It Was Just An Accident (dir. Jafar Panahi) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ma...

Blue Moon review – Ethan Hawke is terrific in Richard Linklater’s bitter Broadway breakup drama Hawke plays with campy brilliance and criminal combover the lyricist Lorenz Hart as he spirals into vinegary jilted despair after his split from Richard Rodgers

My review of Blue Moon (dir. Richard Linklater) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc... (it premiered at Berlin and London earlier this year and gets its UK release today)

Pillion review – 50 shades of BDSM Wallace and Gromit in brilliant Bromley biker romance Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling play unlikely lovers in this sweet and extremely revealing first-time drama from Harry Lighton, adapted from Adam Mars-Jones’ Box Hill

My review of Pillion (dir. Harry Lighton) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ma... (it premiered at Cannes in May and gets its UK release today)

The Thing With Feathers review – well-intentioned adaptation of Max Porter novella about grief Benedict Cumberbatch gives an honest performance, but this is too self-conscious to challenge or work through loss with same power as the book

My review of The Thing With Feathers (dir. Dylan Southern) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

Still Pushing Pineapples review – Black Lace trouper on sad disco circuit from Blackpool to Benidorm Kim Hopkins’ documentary follows Dene Michael, of 1980s novelty pop act Black Lace, as he belts out the band’s hits – though it misses out a key part of his life

My review of Still Pushing Pineapples (dir. Kim Hopkins) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

Dracula review – Luc Besson’s romantic reimagining of Gothic classic is ridiculous but watchable While we don’t necessarily need another film version of Bram Stoker’s story, Besson’s has ambition and panache, and Caleb Landry Jones and Christoph Waltz are perfectly cast

My review of Dracula: A Love Tale (dir. Luc Besson) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

Zootropolis 2 review – just-about-passable family comedy sequel might as well be AI generated Follow-up to 2016 animation about talking animals living in a utopia is a soulless film-by-numbers affair filled with corporately approved jokes

My review of Zootropolis 2 (dirs. Jared Bush, Byron Howard) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery review – Josh O’Connor excels in another deadpan delight Daniel Craig is joined by a sparkling array of talent including O’Connor, Glenn Close and Josh Brolin in this latest murder mystery with a religious undercurrent

My review of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (dir. Rian Johnson) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

Christy review – Sydney Sweeney pummels a boxing pioneer’s story into lifeless cliche Underpowered David Michôd film fails to land the story of the groundbreaking 90s female boxing champion and the horrendous abuse she faced at home

My review of Christy (dir. David Michôd) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

Sirāt review – rave in the desert leads to exasperating quest in the sands of Morocco Oliver Laxe’s Cannes prize winner about a father’s search for his missing daughter starts impressively then descends into Pythonesque perdition

My review of Sirāt (dir. Olivier Laxe) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

YouTube video by Peter Bradshaw PETER BRADSHAW reviews BLUE MOON

My vlog on Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon is up here, please click, watch, share and subscribe: youtu.be/2WIqXhanlXI?...

One Shot With Ed Sheeran review – well-planned spontaneity from all-smiling singer Philip Barantini’s single-take special follows the star mooching around Manhattan, guitar ever ready for ad hoc turns, ahead of his evening show

My review of One Shot With Ed Sheeran (dir. Philip Barantini) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

Fiume o Morte! review – darkly comic reconstruction of D’Annunzio’s Yugoslavian coup Igor Bezinović uses local residents of what is now Rijeka in Croatia to re-stage the vainglorious Italian protofascist’s ragtag takeover of the Adriatic port city

My review of Fiume O Morte! (dir. Igor Bezinović) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

Apple Cider Vinegar review – a kidney stone leads into whimsical geology doc Sofie Benoot’s film opens out from the film-maker’s medical problem to a diverting reflection on humankind’s deep roots in ancient minerals

My review of Apple Cider Vinegar (dir. Sofie Benoot) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

Wicked: For Good review – Cynthia Erivo sweeps the field in explosive second chunk of Oz prequel Bringing her black-belt screen presence to the role of Elphaba, Erivo leads a fine cast in a zingily scored conclusion to the hit origin story

My review of Wicked: For Good (dir. Jon M. Chu) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

The Ice Tower review – Marion Cotillard focus of obsession and idolisation in death-wish fairytale Cotillard plays a movie actor starring in a production of The Snow Queen in Lucile Hadžihalilović’s unwholesome story of yearning

My review of The Ice Tower (dir. Lucile Hadžihalilović) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/fe...

The Session Man review – Mick Jagger joins look at amazing life of keyboards ace Nicky Hopkins The pianist played with the Beatles, the Stones, the Who and more, but remains little known beyond insider circles. This loving doc asks why – but leaves some questions unanswered

My review of The Session Man (dir. Michael Treen) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

The Saragossa Manuscript review – cult Polish period-costume comedy is outrageous head-spinner Wojciech Has’s slice of 1960s surrealism is set in 18th-century Spain, as an officer careens through farcical encounters and erotic episodes in a wild ride that could be a series of Monty Python sketc...

My review of the re-release of The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) (dir. Wojciech Has) is up here: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...