Alex B Cann Film Column - 30th January 2025

Nicole Kidman is sensational in Babygirl, and although she has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award, she's been cruelly snubbed by the Oscars, alongside the equally excellent and sex positive Challengers. Perhaps the Academy blushes easily.

Babygirl is immensely enjoyable, if a little flimsy plotwise at times. I thought Nicole Kidman absolutely killed it as a high-powered CEO who falls for a much younger intern and puts her family life and career on the line. George Michael's classic Father Figure is put to effective use during one raunchy scene, as is the INXS classic cut Never Tear Us Apart. Harris Dickinson and Nicole Kidman smoulder with convincing chemistry, and whilst a lot of it will make you giggle rather than setting your pulse racing, this definitely deserved more love from the Academy. Power, control, desire, and the frailty of human relationships all come under the microscope, and you might fancy a glass of milk after leaving the cinema. Talking of which, I couldn't help but think of Puss in Boots during some of Antonio Banderas' bedroom scenes, which was a bit of a buzzkill.

Mel Gibson directs the far fetched action caper Flight Risk, and even though Mark Wahlberg shaved his hair off for the role, I honestly thought he was wearing a bald cap! A fugitive is being transported across the Alaskan wilderness via a rickety plane to testify in court after cutting a deal with cops, but it emerges all three on board the aircraft are not quite who they seem. Marky Mark is gloriously over the top, although he is unconscious for a fair chunk of the film, and this was good, silly action movie nonsense. Switch your brain off for 90 minutes and jump on board for the ride. It's had a critical mauling, but didn't deserve it in my book.

Wolf Man contains one very effective jump scare, but I felt it was just rather dull. The reaction to Blake (Christopher Abbott) turning into a wolf was strangely muted from his family, and they never really seemed to properly question his decision to uproot their lives and return to the creepy, abandoned farmhouse in rural Oregon where he grew up. I didn't feel invested at all, and although it was only an hour and three quarters, it felt much longer. All rather disappointing, and the 'twist' at the end was so obvious, even I guessed it before the reveal (I am usually rubbish at predicting them!).

A far better bet is Nosferatu, which Mark Kermode describes as "much more of a romp than I had expected" on Kermode and Mayo's Take (YouTube). Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp are both excellent, and whilst I wouldn't say it was particularly scary, the special effects are ghoulishly good, as is Count Orlok's massive moustache. Fangtastic viewing.

Not managed to see Here as planned, but it seems nobody else has either, looking at its Box Office figures. Next week, Presence, epic The Brutalist in IMAX, and more!