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 other films: Supergirl, The Last Viking, The Furious and more

    Milly Alcock’s messy heroine is let down by an even messier script in the latest DC universe instalment

    Fri, 26 Jun 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Blue Heron is a remarkable portrait of childhood trauma

    Sophy Romvari’s unflinching debut exploring her brother’s troubled past is a truly original work

    Wed, 24 Jun 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: Effi O Blaenau, Familiar Touch, Nino, Virginia Woolf’s Day and Night and Cactus Pears

    Leisa Gwenllian is magnetic in a Greek tragedy transposed to working-class Wales. Plus, a profoundly affecting piece of film-making about a woman with dementia

    Fri, 19 Jun 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Toy Story 5: The kids are not all right

    In Pixar’s latest peppy but doomy instalment, it’s not just the toys that face an existential crisis, but childhood itself that is threatened by excessive screen use

    Tue, 16 Jun 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: Time and Water, The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford, I Am Frankelda

    Andri Snær Magnason’s book about Iceland’s dying glaciers inspires a lyrical documentary exploring the connection between family history and changing landscape

    Sat, 13 Jun 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    What to do this weekend, from a throwback celebration of 1996 to scientific art at Jodrell Bank

    Our critic picks five cultural highlights, whether you have a few minutes, an afternoon or a whole day to spare

    Fri, 12 Jun 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Disclosure Day – the gospel according to Steven Spielberg

    The best hope for humankind is a total reset in the director’s action-packed sci-fi epic, which raises theological questions about belief in life beyond Earth

    Tue, 9 Jun 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: Köln 75, Masters of the Universe, Erupcja and Enzo

    A teenage promotor staging Keith Jarrett’s famous 1975 Cologne concert is a blast and Charli XCX’s debut in a leading role is an overly arty drama

    Fri, 5 Jun 2026

  • Wendy Ide
    Savage House is a grotesque satire of shameless social climbing

    Richard E Grant and Claire Foy put the filth in filthy rich in this grimly compelling period comedy

    Thu, 4 Jun 2026

  • 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
    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

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