REVIEW: Crime 101 (2026 Film) - Starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, and Halle Berry

Review by Jon Donnis

Bart Layton's Crime 101 arrives with serious intent. Adapted from Don Winslow's novella, it plants its feet firmly in sun-blasted Los Angeles and follows a trio locked in quiet collision. A jewel thief who prides himself on precision. An insurance broker tired of being overlooked. A detective who refuses to let a theory die. It is classic crime material, and Layton treats it with steady hands.

Chris Hemsworth plays Mike Davis, also known as James, as a man who has reduced crime to a system. He avoids violence, plans obsessively, and escapes along the U.S. Route 101 with mechanical calm. The opening diamond job, with its decoy delivery and $3 million in genuine stones, is staged with crisp efficiency. The editing is tight, the movement clear, the geography never confusing. When a bullet grazes him during the robbery, it lands as more than a flesh wound. It is the first crack in a carefully managed life.

Mark Ruffalo gives the film its heartbeat asColumbo like Detective Lou Lubesnick. Dismissed when he argues that one disciplined operator is behind a string of robberies, suspended when he refuses to help cover up a police shooting, Lou carries on regardless. Ruffalo plays him as weary but stubborn, morally bruised yet not broken. There is something quietly compelling in the way he lingers over details, chasing a trace of blood back to Mike's juvenile record and birth name. He feels human. Fallible. Driven.

Halle Berry's Sharon is just as important. Long undervalued at her firm and edged aside by colleagues, she is at a crossroads before Mike ever approaches her. When she finally agrees to help him target Steven Monroe's illicit $5.5 million diamond purchase at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, it feels less like a sudden turn and more like a slow surrender. Berry brings a cool intelligence to the role, especially in the scenes where Ormon's violence forces her hand and she turns to Lou for help. Her frustration is palpable, and it grounds the film's larger mechanics.

Barry Keoghan's Ormon is chaos personified. Brought in by the fence Money after Mike calls off a Santa Barbara robbery, he represents everything Mike tries to avoid. He is impulsive, vicious, and impossible to control. The contrast between the two men adds real tension, particularly once Ormon begins tracking Mike and threatening those around him. The high speed confrontation and the hotel suite showdown both benefit from that unstable energy.

Technically, the film is polished. The cinematography makes strong use of harsh Californian light and wide urban sprawl. The choreography of the heists is precise, and Layton builds towards the final robbery with care. The sequence in the wedding suite, with Lou posing as a courier and Mike seizing the cash at gunpoint, is handled with admirable control. The interruptions, the shifting power, the sudden violence, all land cleanl

Yet for all its craft, Crime 101 never quite escapes the shadow of other crime films. The structure is familiar, the beats predictable. Even the final reversals unfold in ways that feel carefully arranged rather than shocking. The ending is the least compelling stretch. It ties threads together efficiently, but the emotional punch is softer than it should be.

The running time does it no favours. At over two hours and fifteen minutes, the film occasionally feels its weight. Subplots involving Mike's romance with Maya and Lou's estranged marriage add texture, yet they also stretch the pacing. A leaner cut might have sharpened the impact.

Still, there is real pleasure in watching a grown-up thriller mounted with this level of seriousness. The cast is strong across the board, including Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nick Nolte. Layton shows confidence with scale and tension, and the film remains engaging even when it is not surprising.

Crime 101 is not especially original, and it may not linger in the mind for long. Even so, it is well made, well acted, and consistently watchable. A solid 8 out of 10 feels about right.

Out In Cinemas Now

PREVIEW: DIAMANTI (Diamonds) 2026 Film - from director Ferzan Özpetek

Preview by Jon Donnis

Vue Lumière has confirmed the UK and Ireland cinema release of Diamanti, the latest feature from director Ferzan Özpetek. A major box office success in Italy, where it grossed more than €16 million, the film arrives with strong momentum behind it. Set in the 1970s, it stands as a lavish tribute to cinematic costume design and to the women whose craftsmanship gives films their texture, beauty and emotional weight.

Starring Luisa Ranieri and Jasmine Trinca, the story centres on two dressmaker sisters who run a prestigious Roman fashion house. Their professional world is thrown into sharp focus when they are tasked with fulfilling an intricate commission for an Oscar winning costume designer. What follows is a portrait of creativity under pressure, as skill, ambition and loyalty intertwine within a workspace dominated by women, where the hum of sewing machines becomes its own kind of soundtrack.

The film unfolds through the perspective of a director gathering his favourite actresses with the intention of making a film about women. He reveals little at first, choosing instead to observe and draw inspiration, until imagination transports them into another era. In this imagined past, cinema is explored from the viewpoint of costume, shifting attention away from the usual focal points and towards the artistry that often remains unseen.

As reality and fiction begin to overlap, the emotional lives of the actresses echo those of their characters. Themes of loneliness, passion, rivalry and sisterhood surface alongside unbreakable bonds and quiet heartbreak. Diamanti not only celebrates fashion and film, it reframes the way stories are told, offering audiences in the UK and Ireland the chance to experience a richly layered Italian success that honours the invisible craft behind the screen.

DIAMANTI will have a preview screening on Wednesday 15 April at Cine Lumiere, followed by a Q&A with Ferzan Özpetek. Further details and tickets can be booked here: https://www.institut-francais.org.uk/cinema/diamanti/

PREVIEW: The Last Supper (2026 Film) - Arrives in Cinemas This Easter

Preview by Jon Donnis

A new cinematic retelling of one of the most sacred moments in Christian history is set to reach cinemas this Easter. The Last Supper arrives in time for Lent, offering audiences a reverent and emotionally charged portrayal of the night before the crucifixion.

Jamie Ward - The Last Supper

Set in Jerusalem, the film centres on the final meal shared between Jesus and his twelve disciples. Bread is broken. Wine is passed. Yet beneath the familiar ritual lies a gathering heavy with unspoken tension. Words of devotion sit alongside warnings. Faith wavers in quiet corners of the room. And as the hours slip away, one disciple moves steadily towards a choice that will alter history forever.

Robert Knepper, Charlie MacGechan and James Oliver Wheatley - The Last Supper

Rather than presenting the event as distant or untouchable, The Last Supper leans into the humanity of those present. Love, fear, loyalty and doubt all surface during these final hours. The story unfolds with an intimacy that highlights the personal cost behind a moment that would resonate through centuries of Christian tradition.

Jamie Ward praying - The Last Supper

The cast brings together a strong ensemble led by James Oliver Wheatley of The Lost Pirate Kingdom, Jamie Ward of Juliet and Romeo, James Faulkner of Da Vinci's Demons, and Robert Knepper of Prison Break. The film is co written and directed by Mauro Borrelli, with executive production from music star Chris Tomlin, marking his first step into cinema.

Presented by Dazzler Media, The Last Supper will open in cinemas across the UK and Ireland from 20th March, inviting audiences to experience this pivotal biblical moment on the big screen.

NEWS: Zulu Dawn Returns in 4K to Cinemas This March

By Jon Donnis

Severin Films has announced the worldwide UHD premiere of Zulu Dawn, Douglas Hickox's 1979 war film and the prequel to the 1964 classic Zulu. The film has been given a new 4K digital remaster and will return to cinemas on 13 March 2026.

The cast brings together some of the most recognisable names of its era. Burt Lancaster, known for Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, stars alongside Peter O'Toole of Lawrence of Arabia. They are joined by Simon Ward, who appeared in The Three Musketeers, and Bob Hoskins, remembered for The Long Good Friday.

A special preview screening will take place at Southampton Harbour Lights on 25 February 2026. The event will include an introduction and a question and answer session with Ian Knight, regarded as the UK's leading historian of the Anglo Zulu War. 

The nationwide cinema release follows on 13 March 2026 in a new edition scanned in 4K from the interpositive. A UK physical release is scheduled for 25 May 2026, with further details still to come.

Zulu Dawn is set in January 1879. Officials from the British colony of Natal issued a list of ultimatums to the Zulu Nation. When the Zulu King refused to accept the terms, the Empire declared war. What followed was a series of serious tactical mistakes. A garrison of 1,500 British soldiers faced 25,000 Zulu warriors, in what became the most devastating disaster in British military history.

REVIEW: "Wuthering Heights" (2026 Film) - Starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi

Review by Jon Donnis

Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights is not the kind of period romance you put on for comfort. It opens with a public hanging and a crowd whipped into a strange, almost ecstatic state, and from that moment the tone is set. This is a grim, sweaty, openly sexual world where love is tangled up with humiliation and cruelty. Any expectation of a gentle literary adaptation quickly disappears into the mud of the Yorkshire moors.

Set in eighteenth century England, the story follows Catherine Earnshaw, known as Cathy, and the orphan boy her father brings home from Liverpool. He is presented to her as a kind of pet, a cruel little joke that says everything about the household. Cathy names him Heathcliff after her dead brother and the two grow inseparable. Their bond is fierce and protective, formed in opposition to an alcoholic, abrasive father and a house that seems to be slowly rotting from the inside out. When Heathcliff takes the blame for them being out late and is whipped, leaving permanent scars across his back, the film makes clear that pain and devotion will always sit side by side for these two.

Years later Wuthering Heights has fallen into disrepair, dragged down by gambling and drink. Cathy sees an escape in their wealthy neighbour Edgar Linton, a textile merchant with money and status. She believes that courting him might lift them all out of misery and somehow pull Heathcliff into high society too. Heathcliff, now reduced to a lowly servant, watches this plan with jealousy and quiet rage. Fennell leans hard into the erotic and the transgressive here, filling the edges of the house and the barns with furtive encounters and overheard moments that make the whole place feel feverish.

Cathy's time recovering at Thrushcross Grange leads to Edgar's proposal, which she accepts. When she returns home dressed in finery, Heathcliff keeps his distance. In a tearful confession to Nelly, Cathy admits she truly loves Heathcliff but feels it would degrade her to marry someone so poor. Heathcliff overhears only the worst of it and rides away, heartbroken, before she can speak of how deeply their souls are entwined. It is one of the film's strongest passages, powered by regret and missed words rather than spectacle.

Five years later he returns transformed, well groomed and mysteriously wealthy. Instead of reconciliation, he brings bitterness. He buys Wuthering Heights from Cathy's father, begins an intense sexual affair with Cathy, and toys with the idea of marrying Edgar's ward Isabella out of spite. From there the drama spirals into revenge, jealousy and self destruction. Marriages become weapons. Affairs turn vicious. Cathy locks herself away and starves. Letters are burned. Illness and miscarriage follow. By the time Heathcliff arrives too late to say goodbye to her dying body, the film has tipped fully into tragedy.

There is no denying how gorgeous the production is. The costumes, the design of the houses, and the windswept moors are beautifully realised. Every frame looks carefully composed. The performances are equally committed. Margot Robbie gives Cathy a reckless, volatile edge, while Jacob Elordi plays Heathcliff with a brooding intensity that suits the character's simmering resentment. Hong Chau provides a steadier presence as Nelly, observing the chaos with quiet concern. Visually and atmospherically, it is often breathtaking.

Yet for all that craft, the film feels oddly distant from its own characters. The emotions are big, the scenes explicit and provocative, but depth is sometimes lacking. Motivations blur together and plot turns arrive without much weight behind them. At two hours and fifteen minutes, it also feels long. There are stretches where the story simply drifts, relying on handsome close ups and moody cinematography rather than momentum. It gives the impression that style is being used to cover gaps in character and narrative.

What remains is a bold but uneven experience. This take on Wuthering Heights is sexy, toxic and melodramatic, full of lust and revenge, and undeniably striking to watch. At the same time, it lacks the consistency and emotional richness needed to truly land. You admire it more than you love it.

Wuthering Heights goes on a bit, and while you can clearly see where the budget has gone, the end result feels average rather than exceptional. It is likely to appeal most to those already fond of the story.

I score Wuthering Heights a 6 out of 10.

Out Now in Cinemas