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James Mottram
SCMP Contributor
James Mottram is a film critic and journalist based in London. As well as writing for the SCMP for over 10 years, he’s also written a number of books on cinema including The Sundance Kids, The Making of Memento and Die Hard: The Ultimate Visual History.
James Mottram is a film critic and journalist based in London. As well as writing for the SCMP for over 10 years, he’s also written a number of books on cinema including The Sundance Kids, The Making of Memento and Die Hard: The Ultimate Visual History.
A vivacious cast lifts this live-action remake of DreamWorks fantasy cartoon about Vikings battling dragons, but the film is much too long.
Jackie Chan shows he still has it, Ben Wang makes a charming lead, but despite Ralph Macchio’s return the Miyagi-LaRusso dynamic is missing.
Star-studded but with no stand-out films to contend for Oscars, Cannes 2025 still had a lot to offer, including The Mastermind and Eddington.
Genki Kawamura and Kazunari Ninomiya talk about the challenges they overcame – including completing the stressful cult hit game themselves.
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Kyoko Saito plays a J-pop star sued for having a boyfriend in a film that questions how young women are treated by a male-dominated industry.
Director brings his style and a star-studded cast including Bill Murray as God to a mildly baffling spy tale and father-daughter story.
Lynne Ramsay’s portrayal of a marriage coming apart pits Lawrence against Robert Pattinson. Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek play his parents.
Joaquin Phoenix puts himself through the wringer as sheriff of a town gripped by Covid-19 and gradually enveloped by violence.
Tom Cruise plays agent Ethan Hunt, out to save the world, this time from a rogue AI, in an instalment that neatly wraps up the franchise.
MRI scanners and vending machines are used to kill characters in creative ways in long-awaited gorefest that follows the franchise formula.
As Soderbergh returns with spy thriller Black Bag, starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett, we count down his 10 best films to date.
Despite some good fight scenes and a great performance from Florence Pugh, Thunderbolts* just feels like a set-up for Avengers: Doomsday.
Films such as All We Imagine as Light, Sister Midnight and Santosh are showing a different side to Indian cinema and attracting global fans.
Ben Affleck returns as a mob-trained, autistic accountant in this convoluted sequel that, despite some good action, is disappointingly thin.
This story of a CIA analyst looking for vengeance has all the elements necessary for success, but somehow fails to pull them together.
Slow Cinema’s Diaz, known for extremely long movies, often about death, talks about his unique directing style and surviving the Trump era.
Jack Black, Jason Momoa and Jennifer Coolidge bring the laughs in this zany adaptation of the world’s most successful video game.
Flow, directed by Gints Zilbalodis, is part of a wave of non-Hollywood animated films telling hard-hitting stories aimed at adult audiences.
Alex Garland teams up with his military supervisor from Civil War for this survival tale based on the latter’s experience of the war in Iraq.
Lacking the magic of some other live-action remakes of Disney classics, Snow White is missing the heart you expect from the House of Mouse.
After 2 Avengers films that were the 2nd and 7th highest grossing of all time, the Russos’ output has been disappointing in recent years.
Sex, love, spies, fame, family, trauma and plenty of politics were on the menu at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival.
Korean director’s film examines, with humour, the difficulties of artistic life through the lens of a man meeting his girlfriend’s family.
Richard Linklater’s new film sees long-time collaborator Ethan Hawke play the American lyricist Lorenz Hart as he struggles with fading fame.
Director drew from his own experiences for Queerpanorama, about a man meeting foreign men for sex in Hong Kong. It’s got Berlin buzzing.
Robert Pattinson plays the titular Mickey, a loser sent into space, where he is cloned with hilarious results in this cult-novel adaptation.
Jessica Chastain plays the rich lover of an illegal immigrant in Michel Franco’s exploration of America’s relationship with poorer neighbour.
Bridget Jones is back for a fourth film, and director Michael Morris brings a freshness to the franchise while nodding to the earlier movies.
Mackie does not have big expectations of his new Marvel outing, co-starring Harrison Ford – he just wants his children to think it is cool.
