Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

The actual historical figure also had grand aspirations to be something greater but failed because there were others that had already succeeded in her place.

★★☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

There is nothing objectionable in watching people catapault from one success to another as Freddie Mercury and his band Queen do in this bandopic, but there is nothing much unique about the trajectory traced by this particular movie, either - the band experiences the crazy heights and then the abject lows experienced by all winners of The Voice and all musicians in movies - have you seen A Star Is Born? - and all you are left with in the end as you watch a painstakingly recreated 20-minute set at a rock concert is doubt regarding the reality of Queen's longevity and questions - because I just don't know - about the accuracy of Rami Malek's impersonation.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

The Favourite (2018)

Director Yorgis Lanthimos's latest and most accessible movie to date tells of Queen Anne's friendships with the privileged Lady Sarah and 'downstairs' Abigail, two women in competition to be the Queen's favourite; sumptuous period detail, a cracker performance by Olivia Coleman as Queen Anne, and titled chapters that recall Barry Lyndon help disguise the fact that this is essentially an episode of Melrose Place transported to the 1700s - one of the ones where Jane Mancini and her sister Sydney Andrews fight and end up in the pool.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald (2018)

This Harry Potter universe expansion pack is about an older, constipated (?) Harry Potter/Doctor Who type who surrounds himself with only the most uninteresting of friends - are we really supposed to care about the irritating Queenie and her spellbound Poirot, or keep track of who is and who isn't a fullblood wizard? - and punctuating the "you can only possibly care less about all this if you've read the books" plot are belaboured cgi sequences - a Groot climbing in and out and in and out of Eddy Redmayne's pocket, a mole collecting coins, a bird, etc.. - that I presume are included as careful nods to the Potterverse or to remind you of characters who will become important again in number three, four, five -  and they are spectacular feats of animation - but here, in this decidedly unmagical, heavyhanded snorefest, these moments merely slow down an already tedious series of magic-school carry-on and pokemon creature reveals.

★☆☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS