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Jim Ross

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Jim is a Scottish film critic based near London. He has been the lead critic at TAKE ONE Magazine (TAKEONECinema.net) since 2011, stepping up from Managing Editor to Editor-in-Chief in 2022. He has contributed to Film Inquiry, Cultured Vultures, Vague Visages, Little White Lies, and others, covering festivals worldwide, including multiple editions of Sundance, Tribeca, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Cambridge. Jim has produced, hosted, and edited film-focused radio shows on Cambridge 105FM and Edinburgh’s EH-FM, and co-hosts the ‘TAKE ONE Presents…’ podcast series online. He has worked with several film festivals, including the Cambridge Film Festival, Cambridge African Film Festival and Edinburgh Short Film Festival, as part of programming teams and jury panels.

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Michael (2026) 39% EDIT “MICHAEL will inevitably attract ire with its depiction of Jackson’s life, or, more accurately, what it seems to omit. However, MICHAEL is also an inexplicably boring film which is bland at best and cowardly at worst.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Apr 28, 2026 Full Review Omaha (2025) 91% EDIT “OMAHA might not employ the most thoroughly crafted methods by grabbing the heartstrings in its fist, but the cast’s performances capture an honesty, nonetheless, and drive home empathy that is difficult to put aside. And maybe you shouldn’t.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Apr 24, 2026 Full Review Exit 8 (2025) 93% EDIT “EXIT 8 leans a little too heavily on [the 'liminal space'] aesthetic to remain fully engrossing for even the succinct 95-minute runtime, but the film finds its way much faster than The Lost Man did. ” – TAKE ONE Magazine Apr 23, 2026 Full Review The Wizard of the Kremlin (2025) 49% EDIT “By the time Will Keen is introduced as Boris Berezovsky, and almost immediately opens with "I’ll tell you my story", a dose of Polonium-210 already begins to feel inviting a mere half hour into the prolonged 136-minute runtime.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Apr 17, 2026 Full Review Departures (2025) 95% EDIT “Even if DEPARTURES leans heavily on its influences before it establishes what it wants to say, there are enough novel angles and flourishes that its bolshy Mancunian voice is clearly heard and worth listening to.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Apr 17, 2026 Full Review The Drama (2026) 76% EDIT “THE DRAMA renders philosophical thought experiments as tangible personal relationships. The film is both fiendishly juvenile and thought-provoking, with Kristoffer Borgli's black comedy approach harmonising these two qualities.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Apr 12, 2026 Full Review THE BRIDE! (2026) 57% EDIT “Frankenstein is, in part, about unchecked ambition & 'filthy creation'. In pursuing greatness, Victor brought misery upon a creature of which he lost control. Maybe THE BRIDE! is a good adaptation of Shelley's work in spirit, if not in practice.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Apr 2, 2026 Full Review Project Hail Mary (2026) 94% EDIT “Although it’s possible PROJECT HAIL MARY doesn’t have quite the gravitas some of the story’s darker and more philosophical corners offer, its constellation of stars remains resolutely undimmed.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Apr 2, 2026 Full Review Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2025) 81% EDIT “There is more than enough wit and wisdom in the delivery of GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE that it rarely fails to be entertaining, even if the film struggles to shape a unique viewpoint from its mélange of influences.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Mar 3, 2026 Full Review Wuthering Heights (2026) 57% EDIT “Fennell’s interpretation invites viewers to witness passion and to feel souls strain against their bonds, but the result is a more emptily performative expression of immature lust, like two fumbling teenagers who should just get a room.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Mar 3, 2026 Full Review 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) 92% EDIT “28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE is an oddly hopeful film, which brings the messy themes of its predecessor together into a compelling whole based in compassion and the notion that even suffering will return to dust.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Feb 19, 2026 Full Review Marty Supreme (2025) 93% EDIT “By the time [MARTY SUPREME] finishes batting balls at you and falls to the floor in exhaustion, the chaos left in its path is at once maddening and impressive.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Jan 15, 2026 Full Review Ultras (2025) EDIT “[ULTRAS highlights that] football is not an escape from society, or even a reflection of it – it is a key thread running through the tapestry of communities across the globe.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Dec 30, 2025 Full Review Kenny Dalglish (2025) 100% EDIT “That inextricable relationship between politics, society, and sport [presented in KENNY DALGLISH] is the story of modern Britain, a powerful tool for understanding what tomorrow’s nation may look like, and for how we will come to view today’s.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Dec 21, 2025 Full Review Die My Love (2025) 74% EDIT “DIE MY LOVE is unlikely to be considered the pinnacle of Ramsay’s career. Still, it shows a stylistic approach that, even when revisiting themes, retains an intense clarity of vision which ensures Ramsay’s work continues to feel fresh & ominously vibrant.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Oct 26, 2025 Full Review Frankenstein (2025) 85% EDIT “If Shelley’s novel is the dense & sprawling sheet music for an orchestral symphony of ideas, then Del Toro’s arrangement here is sparser. However, the tune of FRANKENSTEIN extracts tension, horror & beauty that harmonises with the full version.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Oct 20, 2025 Full Review Ballad of a Small Player (2025) 49% EDIT “...rarely fails to be entertaining, with the visuals & performances taking the film a long way. However, they are fleeting thrills in the service of an unmemorable story. Berger’s film looks like a high roller, but it’s playing with buttons & matchsticks.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Oct 13, 2025 Full Review The Smashing Machine (2025) 71% EDIT “THE SMASHING MACHINE is an accomplished enough film, [but the] narrative seems to be all exploratory jabs and no haymaker. Safdie’s film skips deftly around [several cliches, but] fails to use that fancy footwork to advance something memorable of its own.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Oct 7, 2025 Full Review One Battle After Another (2025) 94% EDIT “Paul Thomas Anderson’s proven filmmaking ability makes ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER a technically accomplished picture that is gripping and entertaining, taking sides in the battle for history without losing its capacity for doubt.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Oct 6, 2025 Full Review From Ground Zero (2024) 98% EDIT “Some pieces, such as the phone call [in] ECHO, or the child’s role in NO SIGNAL, border on emotionally overwhelming. There is a skill in creating a feature-length program which does not overpower one’s ability to engage with the work being presented.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Sep 23, 2025 Full Review Sinners (2025) 97% EDIT “Ryan Coogler continues to grow as a filmmaker: the choice not to water down the more challenging ideas underneath the blockbuster sensibilities of SINNERS proves to be the lifeblood of the film.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Aug 5, 2025 Full Review Jurassic World Rebirth (2025) 50% EDIT “The strengths of REBIRTH in creating more than one memorable scene may well ensure its status as one of the better JURASSIC PARK follow-ups, but that bar is sadly low: it still exhibits the same problems as many of its less compelling fellow sequels.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Jul 30, 2025 Full Review Late Shift (2025) 96% EDIT “One may argue that there is little story actually told in LATE SHIFT, but that mistakes plot developments for story. The specific events in Floria’s evening don’t especially matter, but [her resilience] in the face of whatever they may be matters hugely.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Jul 30, 2025 Full Review Hot Milk (2025) 38% EDIT “Emma Mackey is an engaging screen presence that keeps HOT MILK more or less on track in her lead role, but the lack of narrative direction leaves her character and the film to languish in the hot Spanish sun.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Jul 1, 2025 Full Review 28 Years Later (2025) 88% EDIT “[Boyle and Garland] do not express any single [theme] especially clearly. However, in defying a desire for simplistic metaphors and clear avatars, it's arguable that 28 YEARS LATER allows meaning to emerge [with] viewers in more complex & unexpected ways.” – TAKE ONE Magazine Jun 25, 2025 Full Review
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