3 Best Movies to Watch by Andrew Buchan

Staff & contributors

In a different change of pace, this biopic focuses on John Lennon’s reckless adolescence and family life instead of his soon-to-be iconic music. It brings an epic rockstar many of us have known our entire lives down to a more relatable level. The young Aaron Taylor-Johnston gives a very angsty performance which feels a little over the top at times. Anne-Marie Duff does comes off too flirtatious for a newly formed mother-son relationship but Kristin Scott Thomas outshines them all with her steely demeanor.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Andrew Buchan, Angela Walsh, Angelica Jopling, Anne-Marie Duff, Baillie Walsh, Chris Coghill, Colin Tierney, Dan Armour, Daniel Ross, David Morrissey, David Threlfall, Jack McElhone, Josh Bolt, Kerrie Hayes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lizzie Hopley, Ophelia Lovibond, Paul Ritter, Richard Syms, Sam Bell, Sam Wilmott, Simon Lowe, Thomas Brodie-Sangster

Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson

Rating: R

Happy Valley and Line of Duty to Luther and Sherwood, the BBC has produced some of the finest police dramas in recent TV history, and Better is a worthy addition to the roster. It’s not as refined as the mentioned shows, but it’s grounded by a riveting, morally conflicted performance by Fazard. The breakdown of her conscience, the constant negotiation between obligation and survival, the road toward redemption—Fazard embodies it all with rugged grace. It’s not often we get the point of view of a corrupt cop, and when we do, we rarely see them with this much screen time and backstory. Better is an okay crime thriller, but it’s even better as a character study of the well-meaning, desperate, and brilliant Lou. 

Genre: Crime, Drama

Actor: Andrew Buchan, Carolin Stoltz, Garry Cooper, Gavin Spokes, Leila Farzad, Lucy Black, Olivia Nakintu, Samuel Edward-Cook, Zak Ford-Williams