The countdown is very much on to the biggest film release of the summer in the form of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey a week today – but there are plenty new releases this week to tide you over until then.
First up, Disney has delivered the latest entry in the studio’s ongoing live-action remake project, with 2016 animation Moana the latest to get the makeover treatment (Dwayne Johnson reprises his role as demigod Maui).
Meanwhile, there’s also the latest entry in the Evil Dead franchise, as French filmmaker Sébastien Vaniček becomes the latest to stamp his own authority on the much loved Sam Raimi horror series.
Plus, Calum Turner, Elle Fanning and Riley Keough are among the big names in the star-studded cast of new satirical drama Rosebush Pruning, which is helmed by the Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz.
You can check out our reviews of all of three of those films below, while you can also discover our lowdown on the other major movies released in UK cinemas in recent weeks, including the hugely buzzy horror hits Obsession and Backrooms.
Read on for your weekly round-up of all the films currently showing in UK cinemas.
What films are released in UK cinemas this week? 10 – 16 July
Moana
A tale of great courage told with great creative cowardice, this live-action remake of the 2016 Disney animation loses so much magic in translation that it can be a spirit-sapping watch. We’re once again in the company of plucky Moana (played by Catherine Laga’aia, taking over from voice star Auli’i Cravalho), who sets sail to save her dying Polynesian island home, despite the disapproval of her father Chief Tui (John Tui).
To put things right, she must restore the heart of goddess Te Fiti, which was stolen by shapeshifting demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson, appearing in person this time), who assists her on her quest. Director Thomas Kail fails to distinguish this remake in any discernible way, resulting in a near-identical but significantly inferior copy that maroons its humans in unattractive CG landscapes.
Johnson is saddled with a distracting wig and his efforts feel like a pale version of his previous, vocal-only performance. Newcomer Laga’aia gives an earnest and likeable turn that’s perhaps lacking a little spark, while Rena Owen’s twinkly, charismatic work as Moana’s mischievous grandmother is a winner.
However, there’s little value in seeing computer-generated animation transformed into computer-generated “live-action”, and the film’s desperately unambitious approach is its undoing. – Emma Simmonds
Evil Dead Burn
This sixth entry in the long-running Evil Dead series pushes the boundaries of horror excess further than ever. It follows Alice (Souheila Yacoub), a woman who is widowed when her controlling husband’s car is involved in an accident with a familiar franchise villain. Her lack of grief at the sparsely-attended funeral doesn’t go down well with her in-laws, but those squabbles are the least of her concerns after they decamp to the secluded family home – with Deadites soon unleashing their unique brand of chaos.
French filmmaker Sébastien Vaniček has been inspired not only by Sam Raimi’s originals but by the “New French Extremity” movement, and serves up a relentless, frenetically paced onslaught of mean-spirited horror set pieces. Occasionally, the constant barrage can become numbing, and the film – which runs longer than any previous entry in the Evil Dead canon – would have benefited from more considered pacing or some diversions akin to the slapstick charms of the Raimi trilogy.
But where the film excels is the invention with which Vaniček stages the many ultra-violent – and sometimes fiery – horror sequences, while long-time fans will appreciate the various nods to earlier films and overarching lore. – Patrick Cremona
Rosebush Pruning
A toxic well-to-do American family, living in a grand villa in Catalonia, is at the core of this drama of dysfunction. “Families are rosebushes,” says Edward (Callum Turner), the middle son. “Rosebushes need pruning.” Efthimis Filippou’s script demonstrates this, as four over-privileged siblings needle each other while attending to their blind father (Tracy Letts).
Eldest sibling Jack (Jamie Bell) has a girlfriend, Martha (Elle Fanning), but the others – youngest brother Robert (Lukas Gage), lone sister Anna (Riley Keough) – look trapped inside this hothouse. Loosely inspired by Marco Bellocchio’s 1965 movie Fists in the Pocket, and directed by Brazil’s Karim Aïnouz (Firebrand), this swipe at the ultra-wealthy one per cent is lushly shot but offers nothing original in its depiction.
Filippou, the Greek writer behind Yorgos Lanthimos’s Dogtooth and The Lobster, puts his own weird, blackly comic spin on things, but it all feels very flimsy. With Pamela Anderson popping up in a cameo, at least the cast adds some louche glamour to an otherwise drab and sometimes distasteful affair. – James Mottram
What else is still showing in UK cinemas?
The Invite
Olivia Wilde’s outstanding third feature as director is a hilarious but moving study of the dissolution of a marriage. Listless former artist Angela (Wilde) spends her days at home buying trinkets while her failed musician husband Joe (Seth Rogen) cycles to work to teach bored school children.
Out of a sense of desperation and loneliness, Angela invites glamorous upstairs neighbours Pína and Hawk (Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton) to come over for the evening, which provides a pressure-cooker environment in which grievances finally catch light.
Reminiscent of Woody Allen and Roman Polanski with a pinch of Abigail’s Party, the script by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones is nigh-on perfect, and the performances are extraordinary. Wilde bounces off the walls, a twitchy ball of anxiety desperate to be liked, while Norton excels as the pretentious douchebag who says he loves a “contentious environment”.
Meanwhile, Cruz is compelling and seductive as the free spirited sex therapist, while an exceptional Rogen paints a poignant picture of middle-aged unhappiness. Rich, funny and keenly observed, The Invite is filled with pathos as it pinpoints an unsettling and unavoidable truth about long-term relationships. – Rosie Fletcher
Minions & Monsters
This latest adventure for the cute, yellow-hued mischief-makers is a lavish love-letter to the movies. It’s also easily the best standalone Minions outing yet. Directed by Pierre Coffin, who once again voices the Minions’ gibberish dialogue, Minions & Monsters marks the seventh film in what is the biggest animation franchise of all time.
This adventure follows the Minions as they biggest thing in Hollywood during the Golden Age, starring in films like ‘Tiny Barbarians With Chainsaws’, residing in a plush Beverly Hills mansion and peddling their own line of merch. They lose their fame and fortune after the advent of sound in movies and instead decide to make their own monster movie.
From here on, the plot goes a bit bonkers, as the Minions must somehow conjure up a real monster for their movie, with the help of Goomi, a green creature (Trey Parker) straight out of H P Lovecraft. Right from the off, the movie references come thick and fast and it’s this that will surely please the movie-loving adults in the audience. Meanwhile, younger viewers will surely delight in the Minions’ own brand of insanity, in this charming, frequently funny adventure. – James Mottram
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
Based on the web series Nirvanna the Band the Show (2007-09), and its 2017 TV spin-off, this Canadian buddy-buddy time-travel comedy plays like Flight of the Conchords mixed with Back to the Future.
Real-life best pals Matt Johnson (director/co-writer/star) and Jay McCarrol (co-writer/composer/star) keep concocting outlandish schemes to get a gig for their eponymous band. When their “time travel plan” actually works, they get whizzed back to 2008, interacting with their past selves, and inadvertently changing the future.
Like its leads, the film has an infectious energy, bouncing from one idea to another while offering witty asides on such random subjects as the benefits of 1980s educational hip-hop. It also feels genuinely homemade, with bursts of guerrilla filming on the streets of Toronto.
If the plot leans too heavily on other pieces of pop culture, at least the writers know it. “This is gonna be a copyright nightmare!” admits Matt. While newcomers may be confused, the film ultimately works on its own terms because of the duo’s enduring friendship. You want them to succeed, even as you know they won’t. – Matt Glasby
Supergirl
After making her debut as the “Maid of Steel” in a a brief cameo at the end of last year’s Superman reboot, House of the Dragon alumna Milly Alcock returns as Kara Zor-El in this underpowered second film of the nascent DC movie franchise, now stewarded by Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn.
We meet her still in a booze-fuelled stupor and mooching about with Krypto the superdog on alien planets, but soon she finds herself reluctantly protecting an orphaned alien girl named Ruthye (Eve Ridley, in her feature debut) who is intent on revenge against ferocious brigands led by the vicious Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts, taking facial pin-studs a tad too far).
The villains all look like escapees from recent Mad Max films, and even Jason Momoa’s portrayal of fan favourite comic character Lobo doesn’t have that hoped-for impact. But Alcock does a decent job playing a Supergirl a million miles away from Helen Slater’s 1984 iteration or Melissa Benoist in the long-running TV show. All grunge aesthetic and attitude, she rises above the underwhelming script and direction. – Jeremy Aspinall
Jackass: Best and Last
Following the 12-year gap between 2010’s Jackass 3D and 2022’s Jackass Forever, the arrival of Best and Last so soon after its predecessor raises questions about its potency. Does it feel like a footnote? Yes. Does that matter? Not at all.
The final Jackass film may be a clip-show send-off, featuring archival footage intercut with new material, but it still satisfies. Classic bits such as “Golf Course Airhorn” remain as funny as ever. The new stunts largely deliver too – “The Human Pretzel” may be the most revolting thing Jackass has ever filmed – but the minimal production value leaves the movie feeling less spectacular than its predecessor.
At multiple points, Johnny Knoxville fights back tears as he confronts the end of Jackass, but the camera cuts away too soon. Best and Last would have been stronger had it leaned further into the elegiac. For better or worse, it keeps things light, meaning that this is a minor addition to the Jackass canon. But don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. – Sean McGeady
A Private Life
Director Rebecca Zlotowski adds a refreshing entry to the whodunnit canon with this sophisticated mystery, led by a superb Jodie Foster. The star gets to show off her fluency in French as Lilian Steiner, a cigarette-smoking American in Paris who already has enough problems of her own when she finds out one of her patients, Paula (Virginie Efira), has died.
Officially, it’s a suicide, but not everything adds up, and when Lilian finds herself suspecting foul play, she quickly appoints herself lead detective to find out the truth – which, of course, leads her down a bumpy road. Moments of surrealism heighten an already sharp script from Zlotowski and co-writers Anne Berest and Gaëlle Macé, while a slick cast, including an ethereal Efira as Paula and a charismatic Daniel Auteuil as Lilian’s ex-husband, are equally impressive.
Though a few small narrative misfires and a somewhat anticlimactic conclusion might prove bothersome, they’re small prices to pay for such a witty, stylish, sophisticated little tale. – Chezelle Bingham
Blue Heron
Canadian-Hungarian film-maker Sophy Romvari makes a profound impression with her exquisite and luminous feature debut. Mined directly from the writer/director’s own youth, the story follows eight-year-old Sasha (Eylul Guven) and her Hungarian family as they arrive on Vancouver Island.
But despite the brave faces of her parents (Iringó Réti and Adám Tompa), the increasingly errant behaviour of her stepbrother Jeremy (Edik Beddoes) threatens their new life. As he appears ominously unreachable to those around him, this child’s-eye family portrait plays out at a contemplative pace and a sorrowful register. That is, until a remarkably bold time-jump that collapses fiction with documentary and prompts a more lyrical study in grief, remembrance and the baggage of our upbringings.
Romvari disorientates her audience by shifting perspectives and obscuring timelines, with a clear-eyed assurance that is impressive for a first-time film-maker. The result is both taut and expansive at 91 minutes; a singular and shattering family drama that is as elusive and woozy as your own childhood memories. – Max Copeman
The Last Viking
Two brothers come to blows in this crowd-pleasing Danish comedy-drama. Nikolaj Lie Kaas is bank robber Anker, who entrusts stolen money to sibling Manfred (Mads Mikkelsen) moments before he’s captured.
After serving 15 years in jail, he’s back – only to find Manfred has developed dissociative identity disorder and has no idea where the loot is. Anker resolves to snap him out of this psychiatric issue – which includes thinking he’s John Lennon – by taking him to a rural cabin, their former family home.
Written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen (Riders of Justice), who has worked with Mikkelsen and Kaas on all of his six films, this is a wild circus act that includes tributes to the Beatles and ABBA, Tarantino-like violence and physical Buster Keaton-style comedy (thanks to the unhinged Manfred, who has a habit of diving through windows or from moving cars).
Mikkelsen is glorious, but so is Kaas as a man with serious anger management problems. Somehow, despite the bloodshed, this is a genuinely sweet story about sibling love. – James Mottram
The Furious
Made with an eye on the international market – not to mention Gareth Evans’s 2011 fight classic The Raid – Japanese director Kenji Tanigaki’s barnstorming Hong Kong martial arts flick was filmed in Thailand with a pan-Asian cast, most of whom speak English.
Taking place “somewhere in southeast Asia”, the plot concerns a child-kidnapping ring that claims the daughter of mute hero Wang Wei (Xie Miao) and the wife of journalist Navim (Joe Taslim), who team up to investigate. And by investigate, we mean kick seven shades of hell out of the baddies, led by Paklung (Joey Iwanaga) and his henchman Tak (The Raid co-star Yayan Ruhian).
While the dialogue scenes are perfunctory, the action is incredible: a combination of near-unbelievable acrobatics, imaginative ultra-violence and a complete disregard for life and limb. To keep upping the stakes, Tanagaki and his fight choreographer Kensuke Sonomura turn seemingly every available prop into weapons, from tools to tableware, and the police station-set climax is so inventive it has to be seen to be believed. Eye-popping, in every sense. – Matt Glasby
Toy Story 5
More than 30 years since its debut, Pixar’s popular animated franchise finally catches up with the reality of being a modern kid, as the Toy Story gang face their stiffest challenge yet: screen time. Rag doll Jessie (voiced by Joan Cusack) is in charge of the bedroom of a now eight-year-old Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) her deputy, and Woody (Tom Hanks) off enjoying an alfresco life.
Bonnie’s lack of friends prompts her concerned parents to get her a tablet, Lilypad (Greta Lee), but when Lilypad alienates Bonnie further, the toys are tasked with saving the day. Directed and co-written by Pixar stalwart Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo), Toy Story 5 is beautifully animated and largely well executed, if a little overstuffed.
Highlights include Conan O’Brien’s toilet trainer Smarty Pants, while it’s great to see Jessie finally coming to the narrative fore. Her emotional arc might be overfamiliar but Cusack’s performance is terrific. The threat of screens is an interesting idea, too, feeling like essential fodder for this play-based franchise, though some of the commentary is heavy-handed and hard to square with the fact that Lilypads are included among the film’s official merch.
Yet, such is the love and attention to detail that goes into making these films, that even a slightly underwhelming effort remains a cut above most of Hollywood’s animated field. – Emma Simmonds
Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day
Poised between Victorian literary tradition and her later experimental works, Virginia Woolf’s 1919 second novel is the source for this likeable but predictable period comedy drama of female self-determination. It’s 1910, and Katharine “Kit” Hilbery (Haley Bennett) is expected to marry patronising writer William (Jack Whitehall) by her stuffy parents (Jennifer Saunders, Timothy Spall).
But Kit’s true passion is astronomy, and she yearns to break patriarchal barriers and study at Cambridge. Director Tina Gharavi mounts a simplified take on a knotty novel, which works breezily enough as a vehicle for Bennett’s smartly energetic and appealing lead performance. Whitehall adds amusing support as a prattling poet, but Kit’s bond with a gay man (Misia Butler) and crush on a literary editor (Elyas M’Barek) receive sketchy handling.
Spall is flatly typecast as the fusty papa, too, and Justine Waddell’s screenplay often leans towards the didactic. The result can feel faintly staid, though a fluttering synth score, some handheld camerawork and a few smart support casting choices (Lily Allen, indie singer Nadine Shah) add sparks of dynamism. – Kevin Harley
Disclosure Day
Steven Spielberg returns to the subject of extra-terrestrials with another blockbuster asking how we might behave if presented with proof of intelligent life beyond our solar system. Josh O’Connor stars as stoic whistle-blower Daniel Kellner, alongside Emily Blunt as chirpy weather presenter Margaret Fairchild – two people destined to be brought together in the race to expose a vast conspiracy regarding alien visits.
While there are some exceptional sequences and classic moments of Spielbergian awe, including a thrilling set piece involving a moving freight train, Disclosure Day is not at the same level as the director’s 20th century UFO classics Close Encounters of the Third Kind and ET the Extra-Terrestrial.
The script, by regular collaborator David Koepp (Jurassic Park) and based on Spielberg’s own original story, has a clunky, unfocused quality that gestures at profundity without ever quite delivering on its bigger ideas. Broader still, the film’s approach feels curiously out of time, many of its elements (such as an emphasis on the importance of broadcast news) feel essentially like relics of an earlier style of Hollywood blockbuster.
Its earnest closing section has a certain charm, but veers from Spielberg’s characteristic sentimentality into outright cheesiness and arguably ends just as the story is getting to its most interesting part. But the performances – particularly from Blunt – are first-rate, and the exhilarating high points make it well worth tuning in for. – Patrick Cremona
Masters of the Universe
As a trip down pop culture’s memory lane, the big-screen reboot of Mattel’s 1980s action figure toy line just about passes muster. But the epic return of He-Man and gang barely rattles along on its rusty Star Wars rails as it provides rote thrills and pantomime heroes and villains.
Nicholas Galitzine makes a good gung-ho lummox playing Prince Adam of the intergalactic kingdom of Eternia, banished to Earth for 15 years but who finally reclaims his lost Sword of Power and returns home to vanquish the evil warlord Skeletor (Jared Leto, in camp Frank-N-Furter mode). This is tonally all over the place; director Travis Knight (Bumblebee) can’t find the right balance between heavy metal, light comedy, high-fantasy mythologising and stylish comic-book exuberance.
Draggy and overextended segments of self-realisation deflate the hectic sci-fi swashbuckling, though Daniel Pemberton’s rousing disco-rock score – complete with guitar squalling from Brian May – does inject a bit of real excitement.
The vaguely nostalgic silliness is completed by pointless cameos from Dolph Lundgren (the original 1987 He-Man) and minor character Orko the court magician, as well as conspicuous Amazon product placement and a welter of post-credit teasers. Bland sword-and-sorcery fun, pure and simple, with the accent on the latter. – Alan Jones
Scary Movie
This sixth instalment in the spoof franchise reunites all the main original cast members including Anna Faris, Regina Hall and Shawn and Marlon Wayans for the first time since Scary Movie 2. Chalking up references from Longlegs to John Wick, Get Out to Smile, Terrifier, Ma and The Substance to the 2018 Halloween reboot, Scary Movie very much takes a “more is more” approach while unfortunately arriving too late to include by far the buzziest horror films of 2026, Obsession and Backrooms.
To Scary Movie’s credit, it wholeheartedly leans into its old-school roots. A “rebootiquel” of the first film, it rehashes old jokes, references itself, and even includes a deliberate “screw you” to the next generation characters.
Very mild and toothless swipes at woke culture don’t feel as edgy as they could have done while it’s only really in the last few minutes that it packs any punch at all. This is an unchallenging stinky old sweater of a movie which isn’t particularly funny, certainly isn’t scary (not that it tries to be) and feels about as current as a Carry On film. – Rosie Fletcher
Backrooms
Liminal space is the pervasive element of this unflinchingly eerie sci-fi horror from YouTuber-turned-film director Kane Parsons. For the uninitiated, liminal spaces are familiar areas (hallways, classrooms, stairwells) where the absence of living things, especially people, can produce a disquieting, almost otherworldly atmosphere.
Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Clark, a disgruntled American furniture-store manager, whose career as an architect has foundered along with his marriage and who’s now being encouraged by his therapist, Dr Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), “to forge a new path”. When he accidentally comes across an invisible doorway in the basement, a labyrinthine, seemingly endless world of blandly decorated rooms, alcoves and winding corridors is revealed.
Ejiofor is at his hangdog best and is matched by Reinsve (Oscar nominated this year for Norwegian drama Sentimental Value), whose calm, enigmatic exterior masks a mystery from her own past. However, the real star here is the setting and its fascinating metamorphosis from the bland to the downright uncanny. – Jeremy Aspinall
Tuner
Popular cinema is full of people using extraordinary abilities for good, so it can be satisfying when someone uses a unique skill for a life of crime. Starring an impressive Leo Woodall as a man of competence but little confidence, Tuner is a fine entry into this canon, as it follows Niki (Woodall), a piano tuner who finds that his debilitating hearing condition is to burglars what telekinesis is to the X-Men: an unlikely gift for cracking safes.
With a breezy tone that veers towards buddy-drama and romcom territory, the film also sees Dustin Hoffman relishing the role of Niki’s jazz-loving boss, while Havana Rose Liu brings naturalism and charisma to a talented student composer in Niki’s orbit.
Though the script treats genre clichés like sheet music that must be followed, director Daniel Roher (best known for documentary Navalny) takes a more jazzy approach, with inventive sound design and musical cues from Nina Simone. Twists arrive predictably, but Roher finishes with a flourish to leave Tuner feeling less like a rote re-recording of a familiar tune than a dynamic rendition with plenty of novel arrangements. – Max Copeman
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
The first Star Wars film since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019 finds the franchise at its most light, pulpy and throwaway. Pedro Pascal reprises his role as mythic bounty hunter Din Djarin from the hit Disney+ TV series, while the show’s creator Jon Favreau is back on directing and co-screenwriting duties.
It follows Din and his adorable sidekick Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) as they are sent on a crucial mission to rescue Rotta the Hut (son of original trilogy character Jabba) from the clutches of the wicked Janu, doing battle with a vast array of the galaxy’s beasts along the way. The plot is rather episodic and occasionally feels like an abridged season of the show, but it largely zips by at a steady clip, with an impressive score from triple-Oscar winner Ludwig Göransson adding some grandeur.
The action sequences are gripping without being especially memorable, while high profile cast additions Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allan White are largely wasted. Still The Mandalorian and Grogu is a diverting romp with some fun scenes and touching moments, even if it’s unlikely to truly reignite the success of Star Wars on the big screen. – Patrick Cremona
Obsession
Have we learned nothing from The Monkey’s Paw? Apparently not, according to this clever, low budget, but genuinely frightening film from director Curry Barker (no relation to horror auteur Clive Barker). Bear (Michael Johnston) makes his heart’s desire known when he wishes on a “One Wish Willow” charm: he wants his crush to love him more than anyone.
Nikki (Inde Navarrette) is instantly in thrall, but unsurprisingly, it doesn’t go well. Talking about themes of consent in an intelligent and contemporary way, Obsession doesn’t have a particularly surprising plot, but the way it’s shot is innovative.
Utilising his meagre resources to the max, Barker pulls off at least one impressive and gory jump scare that is sure to shock audiences. Sincere, fresh and darkly funny (Bear’s call to the “One Wish Willow” helpline is hilarious), this is an impressive film from Barker that begs the question, “What could he accomplish if he had a proper budget?” Be careful what you wish for. – Rosie Fletcher
The Christophers
The verbal tussles between two very different artists fuel this keenly entertaining comedy drama from prolific director Steven Soderbergh. Michaela Coel plays Lori, a struggling art restorer offered work by the resentful grown-up children (James Corden, Jessica Gunning) of renowned painter Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen), who might not have long to live.
The siblings’ idea is that Lori will pose as Julian’s assistant and gain access to his unfinished and fabled series of “Christophers” portraits. Lori will then secretly complete the paintings for auction after Julian dies – but can he be duped? As revelations and rug-pulls follow, Soderbergh’s leads bring the smart, talky action to life.
Lori is faintly under-written but Coel’s wary, watchful intelligence is nevertheless compelling, while McKellen’s wry, wily turn as a man of many secrets is a slippery delight – and surprisingly poignant.
As this odd pairing bicker and banter, subtly layered ideas percolate between the lines. Touching lightly on themes of art, legacy, lost loves and generational divisions, The Christophers is a brush-stroked pleasure from a master director at work and play. – Kevin Harley
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Anna Hathaway’s Andy Sachs returns to the elite fashion magazine she left two decades ago in this sharp-witted, if slightly indulgent, sequel to The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Made redundant from the paper that employed her as an investigative reporter, Andy finds herself back at Runway, still overseen by Meryl Streep’s scary editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly.
With the magazine failing, Andy is desperate to sprinkle some journalistic integrity onto a title now driven by clicks – but can she rise to the challenge? Directed again by David Frankel, the film’s main plus point is the reunion of its cast, with welcome returns for Stanley Tucci’s debonair stylist Nigel and the catty Emily (Emily Blunt), Andy’s tormentor in the original and now an exec at Dior. Simone Ashley (Bridgerton) is also a worthy addition as Miranda’s latest assistant.
Not everything sings, with a subplot about Andy’s love life adding little, and there are a few too many self-satisfied cameos. However, the production looks divine as it pings from New York to Milan, and the script boasts some real zingers. A thoroughly enjoyable retread of a modern popcorn favourite, this is just like catching up with old fashion friends. – James Mottram
Michael
Superstar Michael Jackson’s rise to global fame is played out in an underwhelming biopic which charts personal and professional hurdles but brings the curtain down before reaching the scandals and controversies of the singer’s later years. The King of Pop is played by Jaafar Jackson, the real-life son of Michael’s older brother Jermaine.
He’s in constant conflict with a volatile father (Colman Domingo) but is determined to control his own career while spreading the message of peace, love and understanding through music. Not an especially strong actor, Jaafar is tasked with portraying his late uncle as a good-hearted but often misunderstood soul, in a mawkish screenplay that frames its subject as a saint-like figure who can do no wrong.
Domingo does what he can in a villainous role that’s largely written in clichés, but the remainder of the supporting characters, be they family members or music industry figures, are woefully under-represented. Well-staged musical numbers, replicating videos and TV appearances, are the film’s only saving grace. – Terry Staunton
Project Hail Mary
Ryan Gosling’s mild-mannered science teacher heads to the far end of the galaxy in search of a solution to a dying sun that threatens life on Earth in this joyful and engaging sci-fi. The reluctant amateur astronaut negotiates tricky hurdles as his craft journeys through space, eventually teaming up with an alien whose own planet is facing a similar plight – a stone-like creature whom he names Rocky.
Drew Goddard’s screenplay is adapted from a novel by Andy Weir, the same pairing that brought us 2015’s The Martian, and there are obvious parallels to be drawn between Gosling and Matt Damon in the earlier film. However, Project Hail Mary morphs into a buddy movie of sorts with the introduction of Rocky, taking the narrative more towards the family friendly sense of wonderment of Steven Spielberg’s extraterrestrial tales.
Gosling’s boyish charm and charisma hold everything together, never allowing the jeopardy of his character’s predicament to overwhelm a heartwarming yarn with a rich seam of humour. – Terry Staunton
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