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Clarisse Loughrey image

Clarisse Loughrey

Chief film critic@clarisselou

Clarisse Loughrey is the chief film critic for The Independent. She also co-hosts The Big Screen Book Club and Fade to Black podcasts.

<p>Jennifer Lawrence in Lynne Ramsay’s ‘Die My Love’</p>

A career-best Jennifer Lawrence in the spellbinding Die My Love

Lynne Ramsay’s all-consuming psychodrama captures the feeling of spiralling mental distress, while boasting brilliant supporting performances from Robert Pattinson and Sissy Spacek

<p>Daniel Day-Lewis in Ronan Day-Lewis’s ‘Anemone’</p>

Daniel Day-Lewis’s comeback movie Anemone is a confusing mess

<p>‘Every time something wicked is coming, the Creature arrives’: Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac in Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’</p>

In Focus

How Guillermo del Toro, Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi made the horror movie of the year

<p>Emma Stone in Yorgos Lanthimos’s ‘Bugonia’</p>

A bald Emma Stone dazzles in Bugonia, a timely comic satire

<p>Frank Dillane as Mike in Dickinson’s ‘Urchin’</p>

With Urchin, Harris Dickinson reveals himself as a gutsy new filmmaker

The British actor hasn’t wasted his cinematic education, and there are shades of many of his past collaborators – including Steve McQueen and Joanna Hogg – in this striking social-realist drama

With Urchin, Harris Dickinson reveals himself as a gutsy new filmmaker

The British actor hasn’t wasted his cinematic education, and there are shades of many of his past collaborators – including Steve McQueen and Joanna Hogg – in this striking social-realist drama

<p>Frank Dillane as Mike in Dickinson’s ‘Urchin’</p>

<p>America Ferrera and Matthew McConaughey in ‘The Lost Bus’</p>

The Lost Bus is a real-life horror story warped by Hollywood

<p>Emma Thompson as Barb in the action thriller ‘Dead of Winter’</p>

Emma Thompson turns action hero in Dead of Winter – and it works

<p>Leonardo DiCaprio in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘One Battle After Another’</p>

One Battle After Another is a ferocious masterpiece

<p>Lily James as Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd in ‘Swiped’</p>

Swiped is a girlboss Social Network that’s half movie, half Bumble ad

<p>Lily James as Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd in ‘Swiped’</p>

Swiped is a girlboss Social Network that’s half movie, half Bumble ad

<p>Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell in ‘A Big Bold Beautiful Journey’</p>

Margot Robbie’s new film is a twee, Manic Pixie Dream Girl throwback

<p>Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer in ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’</p>

Spinal Tap 2 is startlingly unfunny

<p>Celia Imrie, Helen Mirren, Naomi Ackie, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’</p>

Netflix’s The Thursday Murder Club is so digestible, it barely exists

Richard Osman’s bestselling ‘cosy crime’ novel gets a film adaptation that fails to make the most of its all-star cast

Netflix’s The Thursday Murder Club is so digestible, it barely exists

Richard Osman’s bestselling ‘cosy crime’ novel gets a film adaptation that fails to make the most of its all-star cast

<p>Celia Imrie, Helen Mirren, Naomi Ackie, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’</p>

<p>Eva Victor in ‘Sorry, Baby’</p>

A star is born in Eva Victor’s remarkable debut Sorry, Baby

<p>Annalise Basso and Tom Hiddleston in ‘The Life of Chuck’</p>

The Life of Chuck is a treacly mess – with a dancing Tom Hiddleston

<p>Alison Brie and Dave Franco in ‘Together’</p>

Together’s married stars make this an icky horror treat with substance

<p>Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal in ‘Materialists’</p>

Materialists can’t decide if it’s a romcom, a farce, or a dark drama

<p>Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal in ‘Materialists’</p>

Materialists can’t decide if it’s a romcom, a farce, or a dark drama

<p>Julia Garner in Zach Cregger’s ‘Weapons’</p>

Highly anticipated horror movie Weapons has misled its audience

<p>Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in the Disney sequel ‘Freakier Friday’</p>

Lindsay Lohan deserves better than the empty, unfunny Freakier Friday

<p>Real, tangible spectacle: Tom Cruise in ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’</p>

Mission: Impossible 8 is a massive Tom Cruise ego trip – I adored it

This (potentially final) entry in the long-running franchise is inherently absurd, but who cares?

Mission: Impossible 8 is a massive Tom Cruise ego trip – I adored it

This (potentially final) entry in the long-running franchise is inherently absurd, but who cares?

<p>Real, tangible spectacle: Tom Cruise in ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’</p>

<p>Nicolas Cage in ‘The Surfer’</p>

The Surfer allows Nicolas Cage to go wild – then leaves him hanging

<p>Kelly Marie Tran, Lily Gladstone, Han Gi-chan and Bowen Yang in ‘The Wedding Banquet’</p>

The Wedding Banquet is a sillier take on Ang Lee’s Nineties romcom

<p>A delightful creation: Blake Lively in ‘Another Simple Favour’</p>

Blake Lively delights in the otherwise silly Another Simple Favour

<p>Trademark frown: Florence Pugh in ‘Thunderbolts*’</p>

Thunderbolts* is the best Marvel film in years – for one simple reason

<p>Trademark frown: Florence Pugh in ‘Thunderbolts*’</p>

Thunderbolts* is the best Marvel film in years – for one simple reason

<p>Ben Affleck in the action sequel ‘The Accountant 2’</p>

Ben Affleck sequel The Accountant 2 turns autism into a punchline

<p>Romantic euphoria: Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen in ‘Pride & Prejudice’</p>

How 2005’s Pride & Prejudice became the ultimate 21st-century romcom