Before; Nautilus; Road Diary; The Life And Deaths Of Christopher Lee

“For all its agonised navel-gazing and moments of startling cinematography, Before is paddling in the shallow end of the swimming pool the water-phobic Eli spends so much time fecklessly gazing at. I had the sinking feeling I’d seen all this before.”
Keith Watson, Telegraph

“[Billy] Crystal is brilliant. His commitment to the part and this new mode is total. He never takes refuge in his comedy persona, and he utterly convinces as a man struggling with experiences he never imagined he would have to go through. His pain is both acute and chronic as he learns more about his wife, how he failed her, and how she turned to others to help her process what he could not. What kind of man, what kind of husband, what kind of therapist would allow that are questions that haunt him as deeply as Noah’s visions do him. Speaking of whom – as someone old enough to remember when the sight of a child actor made the spirit quail because children couldn’t act, I remain beyond grateful that those days are behind us and that Jupe only adds to the lustre of the new age. I don’t know what mighty forces are responsible for the change, but thank you, thank you.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“With Nautilus not seeming confident about how old its target audience is, the action scenes all come out half baked. Underwater creatures are convincing enough, without provoking much awe; gun battles and knife fights have high casualty counts, without any proper air of threat. The theme of sticking it to the corporate oppressor also has the handbrake applied to it, mainly in the form of Nemo’s annoying deputy, Benoit (Thierry Frémont), who moans whenever Nemo contemplates violent vengeance against a Company Man, even after one of them has stabbed Benoit in the guts. Nautilus could have been a monster; in the end, it barely causes a ripple.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian

“Nautilus barrels along with the best intentions, is at times exciting… but its characters do say some corny old cobblers. In my experience, children have an ear for good writing as much as adults. But no one in Nautilus speaks, acts or reacts like an actual human being, even a Victorian one. They don’t seem real, and with that, belief in the fantasy – the single most vital thing in any fiction – evaporates.”
Benji Wilson, Telegraph

“Rock biopics, especially those overseen by the rockers themselves, are always in danger of feeling like sanitised marketing exercises — a compilation of DVD extras with little insight and a lengthy run time. There are elements of this in the director Thom Zimny’s 100-minute film, which follows Bruce Springsteen (our gravel-voiced narrator) and his loyal bandmates on their 2023-24 world tour — one promised to fans after the Covid hiatus. But, hey, it’s Bruce, a man who always delivers a heady ride, especially when the talking heads stop yapping and we get the music.”
Ben Dowell, The Times

“Road Diary is part of an unfortunate trend in documentary-making towards officially endorsed profiles of the rich and famous that are essentially glorified hagiographies. So while Springsteen’s songs are all about the light and shade of human existence, Road Diary is the very opposite – a shallow valentine to Springsteen that never gets under the skin of its subject, much less asks awkward questions.”
Ed Power, The i

“The coffin lid creaks open. Count Dracula sits upright and swoops away in search of virgin blood, sinking his fangs into the neck of a sleeping damsel and … Th-th-that’s all, folks! You’d never guess it, but masters of the macabre Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were fans of Looney Tunes cartoons. Like silly schoolboys, they could recite whole Bugs Bunny routines till they collapsed into giggles. Whether the duo also enjoyed Monty Python and Thunderbirds was not revealed.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail