BUTTERFLY TALE Cert U 88 mins BBFC advice: Contains very mild threat, violence, language, rude humour, sex references I feel slightly embarrassed that I have reached the age of 61 without knowing that butterflies migrate. Indeed, I found the premise so unlikely that only a Google search persuaded me it was true. The flight of one flutter of butterflies (yes, that is the collective noun!) is the backdrop of Sophie Roy's animated movie. Its central figure is Patrick (voiced by Mena Massoud ), a teenage butterfly desperate to join his kin but can't fly. Nevertheless, he and his cat ..read more

  MADAME WEB Cert 12A 111 mins BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence, threat, language, brief bloody images What happens to cinema when the superhero bubble bursts? I have often mused on this as studios have focussed on the giant cash cows. Perhaps that moment may have arrived. The underwhelming performance of Madame Web at the box office has reportedly led to Sony cancelling future production of this strand of the Spiderverse. The film's narrative is a convoluted mess, leaving me perplexed as to how such a confusing storyline was greenlit. The casting choices, particu ..read more

  TOMORROW'S FREEDOM Cert 12A 98 mins BBFC advice: Contains  images of real dead bodies, real violence, threat Is it too naive to ask why the West doesn't do more to try to resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestine? Since the Oslo accord seemed to show intent towards peace in the early 1990s, the extremists on either side have held sway. Thus, there is no way of achieving a two-state solution satisfying all parties. However, momentous moments such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of apartheid in South Africa and the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland hav ..read more

  SPY X FAMILY CODE: WHITE Cert 12A 110 mins BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence, bloody images, threat I must ensure Japan is on my travel schedule because any nation that can create so many crazy animes must be worth visiting. Developed from a hugely popular manga (or comic), Spy X Family is a series sweeping the country. This movie spin-off by Takashi Katagiri, a unique blend of action, comedy, and family dynamics, has already been a box office hit in the land of the Rising Sun. It is easy to see why.. the action rarely lets up, and the clever character exploration, delving ..read more

  OORU PERU BHAIRAVAKONA Cert 12A 133 mins BBFC advice: Contains moderate bloody images, violence, threat It would take an extraordinarily good zombie movie for me to endorse the genre and Ooru Peru Bhairavakona is far from that. I am sure that its storyline would have been easier to follow if I had been a native Telugu speaker, but I found it confusing, and if there were any cultural gags, they went over my head. Vi Anand's film reaches for too many spoof horror cliches amid the shrieking, which gave me a headache. It stars Sundeep Kishan as Basava, a movie stunt ..read more

SOMETIMES I THINK ABOUT DYING Cert 12A 93 mins BBFC advice: Contains mental health references, suicide references, implied strong language My dad passed away ten days ago, so I have thought a lot about what is involved in dying. Indeed, it had been at the forefront of my mind since his terminal diagnosis about two months ago. Thus, because of its title, I had delayed taking in Rachel Lambert's Sometimes I Think About Dying because of trepidation at triggering further sadness. I should not have worried. I found very little relatable in this film. It stars Daisy Ridley as Fran, a socially awk ..read more

  THE SETTLERS Cert 15 100 mins BBFC advice: Contains strong violence, injury detail, sexual violence, very strong language "Was it really as brutal as this 120 years ago?" I asked. "Yes" was Mrs W's unquiviocal response. Murder and rape are the norm in the frightening outback of Chile, where law and government have yet to reach. Felipe Gálvez Haberle's bleak but intense movie is set in the deep south in the Tierra del Fuego at the beginning of the 20th century when European and South American livestock companies created large ranches. Violence flared between non-indigenous settlers an ..read more

  THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE (DAS LEHRERZIMMER) Cert 12A 99 mins BBFC advice: Contains infrequent strong language, brief drug references When we were young, teachers controlled classes with an array of implements, including slippers, rulers, canes, bits of chalk, board rubbers and even a cricket bat. And, obviously, there was the more conventional clip around the ear. Teachers didn't concern themselves with what was fair and would have been unrepentant if their victims had been unjustifiably punished. The first time I witnessed a liberal attitude towards pupils was during a school excha ..read more

  TERI BAATON MEIN AISA ULJHA JIYA Cert PG 144 mins BBFC advice: Contains mild sex references, language, violence, threat, scenes of smoking Forbes published an article in March of this year reporting research that proved it is possible to fall in love with an AI system. Therefore, Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah's Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya may not be as far-fetched as it seems. However, the question arises of whether a robot can reciprocate such emotions. This conundrum is the essence of the movie, which stars Shahid Kapoor as Aryan, a high-level robotics engine ..read more

  ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH Cert 15 97 mins BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody violence, injury detail, horror, language, sex Who knew that the Irish have mystical songs that can cast evil spells? Well, if they do or don't, this was the unusual premise of All You Need Is Death, a low-budget horror with a decent kick. It is the concept of writer, producer and director Paul Duane and stars Simone Collins and Charlie Maher. They play Anna, a young singer, and Aleks, her foreign boyfriend, who traverse the country searching for folk tunes that nobody has previously recorded. I groaned in ..read more