Hell or High Water movie review

BEST NEW FEATURE
dir. by David Mackenzie
After starring on the early seasons of FX's Sons of Anarchy, Taylor Sheridan made a name for himself as a screenwriter with his excellent script to last year's Sicario. With his directorial debut set to premiere at Cannes next year, he's one of the most promising talents in the industry right now, and this second film, directed by Starred Up director David Mackenzie, only confirms that. Hell or High Water is a riveting rural crime film with deep characters and a surprising sense of humour, and while it lacks some of the novelty which made Sicario so successful, it's slightly more engaging as a whole, and in a summer as dry as this one, a thriller which is both smart and entertaining is all the more of a breath of fresh air.

Kubo and the Two Strings film review

BEST NEW FEATURE
dir. by Travis Knight
Laika's work in stop motion has always been fairly prestigious. Films like Coraline and ParaNorman received no shortage of critical acclaim, their unconventional form of craft often being placed among such great studios as Ghibli and Pixar. In films like the aforementioned, the studio's craft often complemented the films' disturbing visuals, creating films which, while not strictly horror, were able to construct a fairly unsettling tone in the former and an effective genre homage in the latter. Kubo is in some ways a departure, taking the form of a sweeping epic journey more akin to a fantasy film than their earlier works, but this change in tone is revelatory, because Kubo and the Two Strings is the surest realization of their craft to date and stands a good chance of going down as their masterpiece.

Star Trek Beyond movie review

dir. by Justin Lin
The latest entry in the popular-but-divisive Star Trek reboot film series has been praised as a return to form after 2013's controversial Star Trek Into Darkness, and in many ways it's the closest these films have come to the tone and format of the original TV show. However, despite its many charming character moments and thoughtful tangents, Star Trek Beyond continues down the action-oriented route that this reboot series has become notorious for, and for all its moments-and there are plenty-its by-the-numbers plot and poorly-shot action never make this latest entry exciting enough to justify the wasted potential of its deeper elements.