Latest film features

<p>Man of rust: Brandon Routh in Bryan Singer’s short-lived franchise reboot ‘Superman Returns’</p>

Flashbacks

Superman Returns was a super-flop – but it didn’t deserve the hate

The forgotten son of the Man of Steel franchise is Bryan Singer’s divisive 2006 reboot, which starred Brandon Routh as Superman and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. As yet another attempt is made to resurrect one of the world’s most famous superheroes, Tom Fordy looks back on why Singer’s film didn’t entirely work – and why it warrants a second look

<p>Charlize Theron in ‘The Old Guard 2’</p>

COMMENT

Charlize Theron’s remarks reveal a depressing truth about action films

<p>Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean in the seminal rock spoof ‘This Is Spinal Tap’</p>

inside film

Spinal Tap invented the rockumentary – and its influence is everywhere

<p>Tom Cruise carries a terrified Dakota Fanning in Steven Spielberg’s ‘War of the Worlds’</p>

flashbacks

How War of the Worlds became Spielberg’s most controversial movie

Inside Film

<p>An extreme close-up of Telly and a 12-year-old girl making out, mouths grimly colliding, opens the film</p>

Inside Film

Thirty years later, Kids still has the power to disgust

Audiences, critics and politicians the world over were horrified by Larry Clark and Harmony Korine’s dramatisation of wayward Manhattan youth. Three decades on, writes Adam White, its provocations remain jolting – and desperate

<p>Misunderstood: Ryan O’Neal in Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Barry Lyndon’</p>

INSIDE FILM

Stanley Kubrick’s biggest folly is actually his ultimate masterpiece

Critically lambasted on its release, 1975’s ‘Barry Lyndon’ has only been embraced – then even more embraced – in the decades since. As it arrives back in cinemas, Xan Brooks salutes an often misunderstood classic