Photo of Wendy Ide
Wendy Ide

Chief Film Critic

Wendy is a film critic and film industry expert with more than twenty-five years experience. She joined The Observer in 2015 and was appointed Chief Film Critic in 2023. She is also a critic for Screen International. Previously her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Times, Prospect and Sight and Sound. She has served as a programme advisor for film festivals including the BFI London Film Festival.

Photo of Wendy Ide

Wendy Ide

Chief Film Critic

Wendy is a film critic and film industry expert with more than twenty-five years experience. She joined The Observer in 2015 and was appointed Chief Film Critic in 2023. She is also a critic for Screen International. Previously her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Times, Prospect and Sight and Sound. She has served as a programme advisor for film festivals including the BFI London Film Festival.

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s pick of the week’s films: Power Ballad, Fairyland, Moss & Freud and more

    Paul Rudd charms in John Carney’s disarming comedy about a wedding singer betrayed by a failing boyband star

    Sun, 31 May 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Tuner hits all the right notes

    Leo Woodall is pitch perfect in Daniel Roher’s crisp and pacy crime flick about a piano tuner Robin Hood

    Thu, 28 May 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s picks of the week: Finding Emily, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, Hen and more

    Finding Emily is a vital, sharply written romcom that achieves something new with a well-worn genre

    Sat, 23 May 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Eagles of the Republic is no laughing matter

    In Tarik Saleh’s political thriller, a veteran Egyptian actor is forced into starring in a propaganda movie

    Fri, 22 May 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s picks of the week: Normal, Obsession, Orphan and more

    Ben Wheatley and Bob Odenkirk join forces on this gory, wildly excessive shoot-’em-up set in a cosy Minnesota community

    Sun, 17 May 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    The Christophers paints the colourful lives of artists

    Steven Soderbergh’s terrific two-hander starring Ian McKellen as a raffish painter and Michaela Coel as his mismatched assistant is a meaty study of character and the creative process

    Wed, 13 May 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: Romería, Kokuho, Our Land and more

    Carla Simón’s fictionalised account of the free but doomed life of her parents is her most ambitious and most emotionally exposed film to date

    Sun, 10 May 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    The Sheep Detectives: has crime ever been this cosy?

    Kyle Balda’s aggressively whimsical murder mystery is Babe meets Knives Out

    Fri, 8 May 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s pick of the week’s films: Wild Foxes, Hokum, Swapped, and more

    Valéry Carnoy’s debut about a teenage boxer at an ultra-competitive French academy lands an emotional punch

    Sun, 3 May 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    The Devil Wears Prada 2 won’t wear well

    The follow-up to the timeless, razor-sharp original feels like a cheap knock-off

    Wed, 29 Apr 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    How the great Dames of stage and screen transformed the cultural landscape

    The Observer’s chief film critic contemplates the impact of an era-defining generation of talent

    Sat, 25 Apr 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: Mother Mary, Primavera, Rose of Nevada, and more

    David Lowery’s enigmatic, supernaturally-tinged drama about a toxic artistic relationship achieves moments of dark magic thanks to a standout Michaela Coel

    Sat, 25 Apr 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Michael is everything that’s wrong with the music biopic

    This surface-level, box-ticking film serves up the sanitised Michael Jackson story. It’s bad

    Wed, 22 Apr 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: Rebuilding, Glenrothan, The Blue Trail and more

    The unbeatable Josh O’Connor is superb as a taciturn cowboy reeling from the loss of his ranch in this wistful, gently profound drama

    Sun, 19 Apr 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    The Wizard and The Kremlin has one big problem

    Jude Law excels as Putin in Olivier Assayas’s thriller, but Paul Dano’s woefully mannered turn undermines the film

    Fri, 17 Apr 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: The Stranger, California Schemin’, Undertone, You, Me & Tuscany

    François Ozon’s adaption of the Albert Camus novella is sensual, sumptuous and pulsating with tension

    Sun, 12 Apr 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Father Mother Sister Brother is a curiously compelling portrait of complicated families

    Jim Jarmusch’s droll, understated triptych asks why those who are closest to us are also the most unknowable

    Fri, 10 Apr 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: Fuze, Night Stage, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and more

    Aaron Taylor-Johnson is magnetic as a bomb disposal expert in David Mackenzie’s slick, deviously twisty heist flick

    Sat, 4 Apr 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    The Drama is a caustic dissection of a relationship on the rocks

    Robert Pattinson and Zendaya excel as a perfect couple torn apart by a game of truth in Kristoffer Borgli’s taboo-shattering film

    Thu, 2 Apr 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: Splitsville, DJ Ahmet, Below the Clouds and more

    Michael Angelo Covino’s curiously dated rom-non-monogamy-com lacks the crucial ingredient: chemistry

    Sun, 29 Mar 2026

  • Follow

    The Observer
    The Observer Magazine
    The ObserverNew Review
    The Observer Food Monthly
    Copyright © 2025 Tortoise MediaPrivacy PolicyTerms & Conditions