Review

Firewatch is one of the most enthralling slices of entertainment I’ve ever experienced. For 5-6 hours you’ll walk in the hiking boots of Henry, a likeable, slightly chubby man-with-a-beard in his late-30s. After a devastating, tragic development in his family life, Henry takes a job as a fire ranger in …

And the Oscar goes to…? From the director of Adam Sandler’s The Cobbler comes the frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar, an ode to old-fashioned journalism with nary a shred of sentiment or, one histrionic scene aside, sensationalism. Tom McCarthy’s sobering drama demonstrates disciplined filmmaking built upon scrupulous storytelling, clear-eyed …

Five teenagers have found the perfect place for their beach party; Edwards Island, which at night is completely deserted and near-impossible to leave. As ideas go, that’s up there with inviting Freddy Krueger to your sleepover. Sure enough, it’s not long before dark forces crash the party, but this adventure …

Welcome to the punch… It’s nine years since the Italian Stallion hung up his gloves in Rocky Balboa, part six of Sylvester Stallone’s now four-decade-long boxing saga. Thankfully, in Ryan Coogler’s Creed, a smartly engineered spin-off, he doesn’t put them back on. Stallone leaves the punching to Michael B. Jordan, …

Amplitude feels like an album from the future. You are the conduit through which the visuals and audio flow, into each other, around you and through you. Mechanically, Amplitude is fundamentally similar to Harmonix’s other rhythm action output like Rock Band, in that notes fly towards you and you must …

Yakuza 5 is a story about the inner workings of the Japanese underworld, a tale of scheming villains and morally righteous heroes. It’s also a taxicab simulator, video game emulator, two wildly different rhythm games, a hunting and fishing game, and so much more. And while no one part of …

After the formally innovative genius of “Heaven Sent”, “Hell Bent” is a slightly disappointing conclusion to the series. Though it has many great moments, it’s a little on the talky side, and feels like it could have done with a bit more blood and thunder. Plus not for the first …

It’s alive! Just… It’s no good griping that Max Landis’ (Chronicle) riff on Mary Shelley’s classic text throws in backstories and a love story and a crazed chimpanzee called Gordon – cinema’s most famous Frankenstein adaptations, by Universal, Hammer and Mel Brooks, are equally patchwork affairs, as befits a source …

I’m on Endor. As I push through the foliage, red and green blaster fire erupts around me, and some Rebel scum zooms past on a stolen speeder bike, taking pot-shots at my squad mates. An AT-ST struts alongside me, trampling trees and unleashing a stream of fire that reduces the …

Girl meets world. The experience of voluntary exile – and the gnawing sense of betrayal that’s so often bound up with it – is known to generations of Irish expats, and it’s at the core of this romantic drama from John Crowley (Intermission, Boy A), drawn with loving fidelity from …