critic 3 Idiots
3 Idiots (2009) Review: An Indian Cinema Essential
★★★★½
Hirani's crowd-pleaser balances laughs and social critique with rare emotional precision.
Essential viewing — among the finest films in Indian cinema.
Marcus Webb
Senior Critic · Epic & Historical Drama
Marcus specializes in large-canvas historical drama and prestige awards-season fare, with a particular interest in production design and cinematography.
98 reviews published on Celluloid
Reviews by Marcus Webb
critic All About My Mother
All About My Mother (1999) Review: A Spanish Classic
★★★★½
Pedro Almodóvar's All About My Mother (1999) endures as a defining drama landmark from Spain, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic All We Imagine as Light
All We Imagine as Light (2024) Review: An Indian Cinema Essential
★★★★☆
Payal Kapadia threads together the quiet loneliness of three Mumbai nurses with a patience that rewards close attention, resulting in a work of remarkable tenderness and visual poise.
Essential viewing — among the finest films in Indian cinema.
critic Anatomy of a Fall
Anatomy of a Fall (2023) Review: A French Classic
★★★★½
Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall (2023) endures as a defining drama landmark from France, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic Aquarius
Aquarius (2016) Review: A Brazilian Classic
★★★★½
Kleber Mendonça Filho's Aquarius (2016) endures as a defining drama landmark from Brazil, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic Cell 211
Cell 211 (2009) Review: A Spanish Classic
★★★★½
Daniel Monzón's Cell 211 (2009) endures as a defining thriller landmark from Spain, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic Dangal
Dangal (2016) Review: An Indian Cinema Essential
★★★★½
Aamir Khan anchors an inspiring true story that became one of the highest-grossing Indian films worldwide.
Strongly recommended — a defining title from its era.
critic Das Boot
Das Boot (1981) Review: A German Classic
★★★★½
Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot (1981) endures as a defining war landmark from Germany, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic Siccîn
Siccîn (2014) Review: A Turkish Classic
★★★★☆
Alper Mestçi's Siccîn (2014) endures as a defining horror landmark from Turkey, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Strongly recommended — a staple of its national cinema.
critic House of Flying Daggers
House of Flying Daggers (2004) Review: A Chinese Classic
★★★★½
Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers (2004) endures as a defining action landmark from China, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Strongly recommended — a staple of its national cinema.
critic Macario
Macario (1960) Review: A Mexican Classic
★★★★½
Roberto Gavaldón's Macario (1960) endures as a defining drama landmark from Mexico, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic Memories of Murder
Memories of Murder (2003) Review: A Korean Classic
★★★★½
Bong Joon Ho's Memories of Murder (2003) endures as a defining crime landmark from South Korea, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic Minari
Minari (2020) Review: A Korean Classic
★★★★☆
Lee Isaac Chung's Minari (2020) endures as a defining drama landmark from South Korea, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic Nefes: Vatan Sağolsun
Nefes: Vatan Sağolsun (2009) Review: A Turkish Classic
★★★★½
Levent Semerci's Nefes: Vatan Sağolsun (2009) endures as a defining war landmark from Turkey, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Strongly recommended — a staple of its national cinema.
critic Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth (2006) Review: A Spanish Classic
★★★★½
Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (2006) endures as a defining fantasy landmark from Spain, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic Princess Mononoke
Princess Mononoke (1997) Review: A Japanese Classic
★★★★½
Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke (1997) endures as a defining animation landmark from Japan, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic Star Wars
Star Wars (1977) Review: An American Classic
★★★★★
George Lucas's Star Wars (1977) endures as a defining sci-fi landmark from United States, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic Talk to Her
Talk to Her (2002) Review: A Spanish Classic
★★★★½
Pedro Almodóvar's Talk to Her (2002) endures as a defining drama landmark from Spain, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (2008) Review: An American Classic
★★★★★
Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008) endures as a defining action landmark from United States, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic The Godfather
The Godfather (1972) Review: Why Coppola's Crime Epic Still Reigns Supreme
★★★★★
Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 masterpiece turns a mafia saga into the definitive story of American power, family, and corruption — and more than 50 years on, it has never been surpassed.
An essential, five-star cornerstone of cinema — the American crime epic every other has been measured against since.
critic The Host
The Host (2006) Review: A Korean Classic
★★★★☆
Bong Joon Ho's The Host (2006) endures as a defining horror landmark from South Korea, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
critic The Orphanage
The Orphanage (2007) Review: A Spanish Classic
★★★★☆
Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage (2007) endures as a defining horror landmark from Spain, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Strongly recommended — a staple of its national cinema.
critic Wolf Warrior 2
Wolf Warrior 2 (2017) Review: A Chinese Classic
★★★½☆
Wu Jing's Wolf Warrior 2 (2017) endures as a defining action landmark from China, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Worth watching for context — influential even where opinions split.
critic Young Washington
Young Washington Review: Revolution on the Fourth of July
★★★☆☆
Jon Erwin's French and Indian War origin story finds a charismatic George Washington in William Franklyn-Miller, even when the history turns into musket-firing spectacle.
A patriotic crowd-pleaser that critics find uneven — audiences disagree.
critic Black Box Diaries
Black Box Diaries Review: Shiori Ito's Courageous Self-Investigation
★★★★☆
Shiori Ito turns her own camera on her years-long fight for justice in Japan — raw, urgent, and impossible to look away from.
Essential documentary filmmaking.
critic Caught by the Tides
Caught by the Tides Review: Jia Zhangke's Memory Palace of a Changing China
★★★★½
Assembled from two decades of Jia Zhangke's own footage, this drifting portrait of love and displacement finds Tao Zhao aging alongside a nation in flux.
Essential viewing for anyone who believes cinema can hold time.
critic Deaf President Now!
Deaf President Now! Review: A Landmark Documentary of Deaf Resistance
★★★★★
DiMarco reconstructs the 1988 Gallaudet protests with formal inventiveness that puts deaf perspective at the center of its own historic telling.
Essential history, told with the urgency it deserves.
critic Little Trouble Girls
Little Trouble Girls Review: Desire in a Convent Choir
★★★½☆
Urška Djukić sets a shy teenager's first stirrings of desire against a convent choir retreat — piety and longing in quiet friction.
A quietly charged Slovenian coming-of-age gem.
critic Megadoc
Megadoc Review: Coppola's Obsession, Unfiltered
★★★½☆
Mike Figgis turns Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis gamble into a riveting study of creative hubris and self-financed ambition.
Essential for anyone who cares how movies get made.
critic On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl Review: Rungano Nyoni's Devastating Zambian Satire
★★★★★
Nyoni folds dark family secrets into wry, surreal Zambian funeral satire—confirming her gift for finding pointed comedy inside grief.
A bold, uncomfortable, and brilliantly controlled second feature.
critic The Goldman Case
The Goldman Case Review: A Courtroom Thriller With Nowhere to Hide
★★★★½
Cédric Kahn confines nearly all the drama to one Paris courtroom, and Arieh Worthalter's combustible Pierre Goldman never lets the grip loosen.
Tense, talky, and riveting.
critic The Promised Land
The Promised Land Review: Mads Mikkelsen Tames the Danish Heath
★★★★½
Nikolaj Arcel mounts a frontier saga on the Danish heath with Mads Mikkelsen at its center — weathered, quiet, and impossible to look away from.
Handsome, classical, and crowd-pleasing.
critic Thelma
Thelma Review: June Squibb Turns Aging Into an Action Hero Origin Story
★★★★☆
Josh Margolin's scam-fueled action-comedy gives June Squibb a rare starring turn — and she plays every stunt for real emotional stakes.
A crowd-pleaser with genuine heart.
critic Lucky Strike
Lucky Strike Is a Competent War Thriller That Never Finds Its Spark
★★½☆☆
Scott Eastwood carries a WWII survival story that's well-made but rarely surprising.
Solid craft, generic story.
critic México 86
México 86 Review: Diego Luna's World Cup Con Job Entertains, Then Skips the Receipts
★★★☆☆
Diego Luna is magnetic as the fixer who talked Mexico into hosting the 1986 World Cup, but the satire pulls its punches right when it should dig in.
Fun, fast, and a little too polite.
critic Rose
Rose Review: Sandra Hüller Is Extraordinary in a Nearly Flawless Period Drama
★★★★½
Markus Schleinzer's black-and-white Thirty Years' War drama is a masterclass in control, led by a career-best performance from Sandra Hüller.
Austere, immaculate, quietly devastating.
critic Çatlı
Çatlı Review: A Handsome Biopic That Can't Decide What It Thinks of Its Subject
★★½☆☆
Vedat İnceefe's committed performance can't fully rescue a period drama that flinches at the hardest questions about its notorious real-life subject.
Well-mounted, but morally evasive.
critic To Adaego With Love
To Adaego With Love Review: A Post-War Romance That Plays It Too Safe
★★½☆☆
A forbidden 1975 romance between an Igbo teacher and a Northern officer aims for reconciliation but settles for tidiness.
Well-acted, historically timid