★★★★½ - STUFF  - Why this lovingly crafted Kiwi drama demands your attention -  As the final frames of this lovingly crafted drama unspool, there’s a dedication to three Māori women – Merata Mita, Irihapeti Ramsden and Nancy Brunning. Mita was the pioneering Māori film-maker who first wanted to…

★★★★★ - GUARDIAN  - Frances McDormand delivers the performance of her career -  McDormand plays a boomer forced out of her home and on to the road in Chloé Zhao’s inspired docu-fiction.  Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland is an utterly inspired docu-fictional hybrid, like her previous feature The Rider. It…

★★★★½ - STUFF  - Why this Frances McDormand-starrer is the perfect film for 2020 -  Sometime in late 2021 – perhaps – Chloe Zhao will become known as the director of Eternals, which is an upcoming Marvel studios behemoth starring Angelina Jolie and many others, no doubt prancing around the galaxy…

★★★★½ - STUFF  - Colin Firth, Stanley Tucci combine for haunting, heartbreaking drama -  At first, Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci) seem like any other couple on a road trip. Tempers occasionally fray, disagreements over the right way of doing things sometimes flare up and there are…

★★★★ - DEN OF GEEK  - Denzel Washington Brings Back Creepy Serial Killer Thrillers -  Oscar winners Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto star in The Little Things, a throwback psychological chiller that almost seems new again.  With the 25th anniversary of Seven having passed and the…

★★★★★ - TELEGRAPH  - Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan and a gorgeous, forbidden affair -  This 19th-century romance, set on the wild Jurassic Coast, is a tale of women struggling to find themselves – and love – in a man’s world. The pioneering fossil hunter Mary Anning never wed, but for much of her…

★★★★ - STUFF  - Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan's heartwrenching romance a film of moments -  Two of the finest actors of their respective generations. A director whose debut stunned with its raw intimacy, intensity and ability to capture the rougher edges of the British countryside. Working together…

★★★★½ - STUFF  - Why this Korean-American drama is movie worth seeing - and cherishing -  “This isn’t what you promised,” Monica Yi (Yeri Han) opines. She’s dismayed at the state of their new home – a pre-fab in the middle of the nowhere. She was more than happy with their California home, but…

★★★★½ - STUFF  - Jude Law shines in this bleak, blackly funny thriller -  The year must be 1986. Reagan is in the White House, but the sharemarket crash of 1987 is not too far away. In New York City, star trader and financial wonder-kid Rory is bored with his apparent success. He is seeking a new…

★★★★ - STUFF  - A tough, superb wee Australian Western that's done its homework -  In 1919, perhaps only a year after they have been fighting a war in Europe or the Middle East, a platoon of Queensland police – an army in all but name – chance upon a family of Indigenous Australians going about…

★★★★½ - STUFF  - Kiwi-shot action-horror a stunningly executed crowdpleaser -  Third-time really is the charm for Chinese-New Zealand director Roseanne Liang. In the noughties, she made a splash with her autobiographical documentary Banana in a Nutshell, while in 2011 she charmed audiences with…

★★★★½ - STUFF  - Mads Mikkelsen's intoxicating new drama a memorable watch -  “Have I become boring?” Reaching his 40s has hit history teacher Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) hard. A decade ago, he had a grant, a PhD and a bright research career seemed assured. Instead, he’s still teaching the past to…