Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023 i Total Film

Finally, we get to see the super-secret film of a super-secret historic moment in Oppenheimer and we couldn’t be more stoked. Total Film has tracked Christopher Nolan throughout his career and when he says this project is his most ambitious to date, we’re even more intrigued. We’ve got a world-exclusive deep dive into a film that promises to be pertinent to today even as it charts events during World War Two. You won’t get this level of access anywhere else. I was lucky enough to talk to another auteur in this issue as I caught up with Robert Rodriguez, still a maverick filmmaker after bursting on to the scene with his self-financed game changer, El Mariachi, 30 years ago. These are the kind of artists TF loves, the scrappy underdogs…

TEASERS I love a good chase’ posted Glen Powell on Instagram when the news broke he’d be starring opposite Daisy Edgar-Jones in Twisters – a sequel, in case you hadn’t worked it out, to 1996’s windy action flick Twister, starring Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt and a swirling cow. Seems like belated sequels are Powell’s thing. Last year he became one of the hottest actors in Hollywood by turning and burning in Top Gun: Maverick. Sure, the charismatic 34-year-old Texan had been acting since 2003 (first credit: Long-fingered Boy in Spy Kids 3: Game Over) and appeared briefly in The Dark Knight Rises (Trader #1) before turning heads in Richard Linklater’s college baseball comedy Everybody Wants Some!! and Netflix’s surprise-hit romcom Set it Up, but it was TG:M that blasted him…

When I wrote my Howard Hughes script, it was the first time I’d taken on a real-life figure, and tried working from a book, and tried to find a structural approach and a cinematic approach that would give you the experience of this guy’s life. I was very happy with that script. Obviously I did not get to test the theories, because I didn’t get to make the film. But in my mind, I go, ‘OK, I do know how to do this.’ In some ways, Oppenheimer was easier because nobody deserves this, probably, more than this individual. This is the guy who has defined our future for us - literally. This is a guy who needs to have a film made about him. That drives the writing. From certain…

OUT 9 JUNE CINEMAS Patricio Guzmán returns to his Chilean homeland to observe 2019’s demonstrations against social inequality and the reforms that followed. Though wary of another false dawn - having chronicled the coup that killed Salvador Allende in The Battle of Chile (1975-79) - a reflective Guzmán finds genuine cause for hope in the women leading this grassroots movement. His inspiring doc offers several striking images, too, from close-ups of paving slabs smashed into rocks - the protesters’ only weapons - to a jaw-slackening overhead shot of a million-strong gathering in Santiago.…

OUT 16 JUNE CINEMAS Adapted by Tim Firth from his own stage musical The Band and directed by Coky Giedroyc (How to Build a Girl), Greatest Days is billed as ‘the official Take That musical’. But though its soundtrack sports sundry reworked TT songs, this is neither biopic nor A Hard Day’s Night-style caper: the focus is on five fangirls and pop music’s ability to transport us emotionally. Forty-something nurse Rachel (Aisling Bea) wins a competition to see her favourite teenhood boy band play in Athens. Given four extra tickets, she invites her closest pals from school, despite the fact they haven’t seen each other for 25 years… Switching between two time frames - 1993 and now - the story’s structured around a series of spectacular song-and-dance set-pieces. The first…

OUT NOW CINEMAS Santa Monica’s gamest gang of gals are back, though not best served by this frothy, tourist travelogue of a sequel, which dashes the quartet off to Italy on a ritzy hen party for decidedly undecided bride-to-be Vivian (Jane Fonda). Soaked in sunshine, Prosecco and an Italian pop soundtrack, the film opts for cute comic chaos (bag snatchings, old flames reignited, Say Yes to the Dress-esque tipsy bridal shopping) over a coherent plot. Even Candice Bergen’s saucy septuagenarian gags about ‘tasting Gianni’s meatballs’ can’t salvage this fun but flimsy Roman holiday.…

SCREEN OUT 26 MAY CINEMAS Lapland, 1944: veteran soldierturned-prospector Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) runs into an SS platoon, who have their eyes on the gold he’s just discovered. Led by Bruno Helldorf (Aksel Hennie) and his second-in-command, Wolf (Jack Doolan), the Nazis relentlessly pursue Korpi across the bleak terrain. Wearing its influences (Rambo, John Wick, Inglourious Basterds) on its blood-splattered sleeve, Jalmari Helander’s actioner is both pulseracing fun and utterly ridiculous. At times it’s so far removed from reality any tension evaporates, but you can’t help rooting for the near-silent, indestructible Korpi.…

OUT 16 JUNE CINEMAS Shadows of David Lynch/Jonathan Glazer loom over writer/director Fridtjof Ryder’s feature debut, a hushed Brit-folk tale throbbing with mood and melancholy. Emerging from vaguely hinted-at institutional care, a young man (Rory Alexander) stays with his father figure (Mark Rylance). Slowly, ambiguous nods to past traumas emerge, chiefly involving the man’s missing mother. As Ryder milks the folksy surrounds and creaking, churning sound mix for murky suggestion, Alexander and Rylance anchor the psychosurreal enigmas in tender feeling. Though Ryder’s influences weigh heavy, his feel for atmosphere resonates.…

SCREEN OUT 9 JUNE CINEMAS Told with considerable heart, writer/director Jane Gull’s film charts the escalating misfortunes of a young couple, gradually forced into homelessness as aid and patience from family and friends dwindles. This British drama is particularly sharp on how the pandemic and sub-par government funding have decimated support systems both for the vulnerable and for grassroots arts and hospitality venues. Gull also spotlights the ways increasingly cash-free public spaces hinder those in poverty. Less successful are the third-act contrivances abruptly paving the way for a happy ending.…

OUT 2 JUNE CINEMAS Playwright, actor, singer, composer, screenwriter, director, talent-spotter, epitome of sophisticated English gent, queer icon… Noël Coward was a man of many talents and identities. It’s a credit to helmer Barnaby Thompson (St. Trinian’s) that this doc (marking the 50th anniversary of Coward’s death) illuminates so many aspects of its subject’s life. Narrated by Alan Cumming and Rupert Everett, it chronicles Coward’s journey from childhood to global stardom, stressing his workaholic perfectionism and capacity for reinvention. A true conversation piece.…

OUT NOW DVD, DIGITAL Formerly known as The Harbinger, this might be one of 2023’s funniest movies so far. One problem: it’s supposed to be a horror. Serving up a smorgasbord of genre clichés, writer/director/ star Will Klipstine has made an accidental camp classic - from its risible dialogue to its hysterical score and overripe performances, this story of a couple desperate to save their possessed daughter is frequently a hoot. Madeleine McGraw’s (The Black Phone) impressively impassive turn as Rosalie is wasted in a film whose title change even provides a punchline.…

OUT 26 MAY CINEMAS Writer/director Eric Gravel’s tight, tender account of a make-orbreak week for harassed single mother Julie (Laure Calamy, Call My Agent!) is a pulse-pounder that will leave you thrilled and frazzled in equal measure. Determined to get to the whitecollar job interviews that promise her kids a better life, quickthinking Julie is prepared to beg, wheedle or tell barefaced lies to get out of her hotel-chambermaid shifts and across a gridlocked Paris. Giving a fabulous, thinskinned performance, Calamy shows us Julie as neither saint nor victim, just a believably flawed and resourceful mother.…

OUT 9 JUNE CINEMAS A hairdressing competition isn’t a typical setting for a murder mystery. But like Medusa Deluxe’s stylists, Thomas Hardiman’s feature debut isn’t concerned with being typical. The writer/director has great fun with the lurid twists and turns that ensue after a stylist is found dead - and scalped - in a sprawling studio. That this darkly comic tale unfolds in a single take only adds to the exuberance of the viewing experience. You could argue that there’s more style than substance… but that’s hard to begrudge when that style is delivered with such aplomb.…

OUT 26 MAY CINEMAS Violetta, our titular troublemaker, doesn’t fit in. Desperate to become a tooth fairy like her peers, she struggles to pass muster. Visiting the human world to prove herself, Violetta (Aileen Mythen) becomes stranded and meets 12-year-old Maxie (Lucy Carolan), who’s just moved to the city with her mother, to live with her new stepfamily. The race-against-time plot (can they find the portal back to the fairy world before it’s too late?) gives rise to a strain of eco-awarenessraising, yet this remains cute but unremarkable animated fare with little to offer non-moppets.…

1991 2 JUNE CINEMAS Though there are dated aspects of this ‘91 classic - Louise’s chain-smoking waitress, Polaroid cameras, no mobiles - the feminist themes of Callie Khouri’s script and Ridley Scott’s uncompromising ending make it as fresh now as it was 32 years ago. Arkansas besties Thelma (Geena Davis), unhappily married, and Louise (Susan Sarandon), worldwise and carrying trauma, set off in their Thunderbird for a weekend away. Their girls’ trip goes south (in every way) when a parking-lot assault on Thelma ends in murder, forcing the women to flee to Mexico. En route, both their friendship and criminality grow; before long, they reach a pathos-laden point of no return. Exploring the tipping point of women in a slut-shaming, patriarchal society, the destructive nature of PTSD and the empowerment…

1975 OUT NOW BD EXTRAS Commentary, Alternate cuts, Featurette, Booklet A bomb attached to a high-speed train will detonate, killing all 1,500 people on board, if its speed drops below 8okmph… Sound familiar? However, while the plot of this Japanese thriller (starring Sonny Chiba as a heroic conductor) foreshadows Jan de Bont’s Speed (1994), the focus on passenger melodrama and resulting bloated runtime push The Bullet Train far closer to an earlier Hollywood hit, all-star disaster flick Airport (1970). Supporting features include the significantly shorter Export Cut and a look at the history of evil bombers on the big screen.…

1998 OUT NOW 4K UHD EXTRAS Commentary, Deleted scenes, Featurettes, Galleries, Booklet Johnny Depp’s bonkers bromance with Hunter S. Thompson extended to him organising the writer’s cannon-assisted funeral. Terry Gilliam’s trippy adap of the gonzo guru’s 1971 book sees the star at peak fanboy, though if anything it’s his volatile companion Benicio Del Toro who comes closest to Thompson’s drug-fuelled lunacy. Surreal, episodic and incomprehensible without subtitles, this delirious chronicle of a wild weekend in Vegas remains as exhausting as it is exhilarating.…

1953 OUT 29 MAY DVD, BD, DIGITAL EXTRAS Featurettes The biggest irony of this documentary following the British expedition that finally conquered Mount Everest is, of course, that there’s no actual footage of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reaching the summit. But even without this, the film still proves captivating thanks to the dazzling Technicolor photography. And if the plummy narration is tainted by the occasional whiff of colonialism, it still highlights the importance of the Sherpas to the endeavour. A fascinating account of a landmark event.…

PRINTS BILLY LIAR POP ART OUT NOW Now 60 years young, Billy Liar remains a pivotal Brit-flick, not least for banking Julie Christie her breakout role (and a BAFTA nom). She’s all over this new collection of pop-art prints produced in collaboration with StudioCanal, alongside vintage poster designs and portraits of Tom Courtenay’s eponymous fantasist. Printed on museum-quality card across three sizes, they’re the real deal. Swing by artandhue.com/billy. TOYS/COLLECTIBLES LEGO THE LITTLE MERMAID OUT NOW/JUNE It may be better down where it’s wetter, but you can get plenty of kicks from small coloured bricks. Inspired by Disney’s new re-do, there are three new sets catering to tiddlers and sea dogs alike. For the former there’s the Little Mermaid Story Book and Ariel’s Treasure Chest sets, while older collectors will…

MINECRAFT LEGENDS OUT NOW PC, PS4/5, SWITCH, XBOX ONE/ SERIES This strategic spin-off asks you to command armies of mobs to battle piglin invaders. Rather than adopting a conventional bird’s-eyeview, it lets you ride, sword swinging, into the fray. But micromanaging your troops involves a great deal of back-and-forth busywork, while battles lack the creativity of the original Minecraft. TRON: IDENTITY OUT NOW PC, SWITCH Far from an ordinary tie-in, this compact combination of visual novel and puzzle game is an absorbing, moody, narrative-led noir. As detective program Query, you're tasked with investigating an explosion in a towering repository, defragmenting the errorridden memories of those close to the blast to find out what was stolen and why.…

RUTH E. CARTER CHRONICLE BOOKS Packed with sketches, BTS photos and anecdotes, this details the celebrated costume designer’s experiences in the movie industry. From working with Spike Lee and Spielberg to becoming the first Black winner of a Best Costume Design Oscar (for Black Panther), the passion for her meticulously researched work shines through. Carter also gives real insight into the creativity, consideration and importance that come with this often underappreciated area of filmmaking.…

DEPUTY EDITOR MATT MAYTUM @MATTMAYTUM Ahead of my Oppenheimer visit, I viewed the trailer at the AMC CityWalk with IMAX’s David Keighley, who directed me to sit in Nolan’s preferred seat. In my all-time top-five geekout moments, for sure. NEWS EDITOR JORDAN FARLEY @JORDANFARLEY Thankful that Asim Chaudhry introduced our screening of Guardians of the Galaxy Vo1. 3, purely because I didn’t end up spending half the film trying to work out where I knew the voice of Teefs from. ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR EMILY MURRAY @EMILYVMURRAY I’ve had some great chats in my first month on the job but highlights were talking to Animal and Floyd Pepper. Never interviewed a Muppet before and it was beautiful chaos. CONTRIBUTING EDITOR LEILA LATIF @LEILA_LATIF It’s been a wild ride since my first…

Many Stephen King fans have a good anecdote about discovering him young, but Daphné Baiwir’s is a corker. ‘It was 2002 - I was 10 and I loved to read scary stories,’ she starts. ‘So I asked my father, “Could you recommend a really terrifying book?” He found The Shining. I read it in two days. The funny thing is, my father at the time worked night shifts in a hotel. I spent a lot of time walking in the hallways, on the different floors. It was like living The Shining.’ Young Daphné then found out about Stanley Kubrick’s film version and - get this - watched it in the hotel. Her love for King on page and screen was sealed, and she promptly devoured the back catalogue of books…

GET A GRIP A Cliffhanger reboot is in the works, with Sylvester Stallone set to return as ace climber Gabe Walker. Ric Roman Waugh (Greenland) will direct, though further details are currently stranded on a mountain. IT’S A-LIVE After stepping aside to let Gil Kenan direct the Ghostbusters: A fterlife sequel. Jason Reitman has revealed his next project as director: a movie about the creation of Saturday Night Live. Kenan will co-write with Reitman. WHEN IN ROME The cast of Gladiator 2 is expanding. Joining Paul Mescal, as the grown-up Lucius, are Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Barry Keoghan and Joseph Quinn (as brother Emperors Caracalia and Geta). Djimon Hounsou and Connie Nielser Are you not entertained? LET’S’DANCE Sundance London is returning from 6-9 July. The acclaimed films making the leap…

Best known as Winston Zeddemore - the paycheque-chasing fourth Ghostbuster - Ernie Hudson has amassed over 250 acting credits since his film debut in 1976, including The Crow, Miss Congeniality and The Basketball Diaries. Later this year he will return as Winston in Gil Kenan’s untitled Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel, while he can currently be seen as the BFF of Woody Harrelson’s badly behaved coach in underdog sports comedy Champions. What drew you to Champions? It was just a lot of people I really liked - Woody Harrelson, I’d worked with, and have known, for 30-plus years. I loved dealing with a community that we don’t see a whole lot of. The part I play, he was kind of interesting, but had it been with other people, or a different subject,…

I start really early with Chris, because, quite often, he wants to talk about the process and the methodology that he wants to use, really quite a long time before actual pre-production starts. It’s always better to start early for me. Traditional computer-generated visual effects are really off the table with [Nolan], That’s really a last resort. Because I come from a background that’s practical, and I now work in a visual-effects capacity, I quite often bring that combination of practical effects and visual effects to a project, which is quite a useful thing. It was a really interesting brief for me, because rather than challenging, it was much more exciting. Because basically, what he proposed was he wanted to make a film about nuclear physics and the event of…

Halcyon heroes ‘I definitely, as a young kid, had more of an athletic background than I did anything else. Most of the films I was watching as a young kid were Van Damme and Schwarzenegger and Stallone action films. I was in the backyard recreating those sequences, and playing war or cops and robbers or whatever. This was long before I wanted to be an actor. It was just the fantasy of it all that I loved. And I do think back to those films, and the effect that they had on me as a kid. There was just more fun and adventure to it than anything else.’ Playing with fire ‘They’d pour this liquid on my arm: “Turn your head away to the left. When we light it, it’ll…

R obert Rodriguez has had Hypnotic in his head for two decades. Conceiving it while making Spy Kids 2 in 2002, the multi-hyphenate filmmaker - he produces, writes, directs, shoots, edits and scores his movies - found himself getting swept away with other projects (Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Sin City and its sequel, two Machetes, Alita) until he found his way back to his twisty-turny Hitchcockian mind-melter. Following Rourke (Ben Affleck), a cop with PTSD and a broken marriage after the abduction of his little daughter, Hypnotic poses the idea that people with special psychic abilities, ‘hypnotics’, can mess with our concepts of reality via suggested ideas or ‘constructs’. Affleck’s detective, teaming up with Alice Braga’s hypnotic, might be about to unravel a mystery of global proportions while…

‘I NEVER FELT I WAS BEING PROVOCATIVE… NOT FOR THE SAKE OF IT.’ Admittedly, hers is a strange career when it comes to English-language movies. After working in France in the 1970s - notably on The Lacemaker, which won her a BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer - Isabelle Huppert’s first notable American film appearance was in Michael Cimino’s epic western disaster Heaven’s Gate. Since then, English outings have been sporadic, often skewing to the more quirky end of the indie universe, such as Hal Hartley’s Amateur, David O. Russell’s I Heart Huckabees or, more recently, Neil Jordan’s psycho-thriller Greta. When she finally won her first and only Oscar nomination in 2017, for Paul Verhoeven’s brilliantly twisted Frenchlanguage rape-revenge story Elle, the host for the evening, Jimmy Kimmel, made a telling…

OUT NOW SHUDDER As if first-time pregnancy wasn’t scary enough, expectant mum Valeria (Natalia Solián) also has to deal with an entity from Mexican folklore digging its claws into her psyche and unborn child within. Dad’s no help either thanks, patriarchy. Piggybacking onto the physical/mental trials inherent in pregnancy, the monster has a seemingly easy target in Val. Doing for motherhood what The Babadook did for grief, director/co-writer Michelle Garza Cervera (in her feature debut) imbues Val’s journey with palpable dread, which simmers to the boil as the due date beckons.…

OUT 9 JUNE CINEMAS I hope this won’t be embarrassing for you,’ laughs Mozart (Joseph Prowen), before cocky challenger Joseph Bologne (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) bests him in an electrifying contest of duelling violins, bringing the Paris Opera audience to its feet. No doubt about it, Stephen William’s biopic of the remarkable 18thcentury Black composer, swordsman and playboy boasts a stunning opener. Shame, though, that it promises an excitement the rest of this lush but solidly conventional drama can’t always deliver. Whisking the charmingly arrogant Bologne through an ambitious attempt to win a top job by composing an opera for Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton), the film works hard to show that however outstanding Bologne is with a bow or a blade, below the applause lies relentless racism. But the tender, tragic…

OUT NOW CINEMAS The workplace-hangout movie gets an outdoors spin in this low-key, naturalistic Tunisian drama. Chronicling events in a fig orchard over one day, it sees a mix of young students and older men and women work while navigating flirtations, misunderstandings, sociopolitical debates, unwelcome advances and (fleeting) deeper connections. Making her feature debut, director/co-writer Erige Sehiri’s free-form storytelling captures both environment and characters (played by mostly non-professional actors) with considerable warmth. An excellent example of slice-of-life cinema.…

OUT NOW DIGITAL Two special agents (Sinda Nichols, David Girard) first interrogate, and then partner, an internet vigilante (played by writer/director Franklin Ritch) who’s developed a programme to bait paedophiles. Unfolding in three acts limited to a room apiece, this is a small but supremely smart addition to an emerging subgenre of films/shows exploring the possibilities and moral quandaries of AI (Alex Garland feature Ex Machina, C4 series Humans, 2021 movie After Yang). Lance Henriksen arrives in the third act to add emotional heft, while newcomer Tatum Matthews is exceptional as AI construct Cherry.…

OUT 2 JUNE PRIME VIDEO After a run of frivolous thrillers (like the recent Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre), Guy Ritchie struggles to camouflage his weakness for the flip and blustery with his Afghanistan war movie. Intended to honour the Afghan interpreters who were neglected by the US, The Covenant doesn’t lack promise or ambition. But it betrays Ritchie’s imprint between the banter and ballistics, even before you take the piecemeal plotting into account. It begins with US Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his men trying to locate weapons factories - ‘Shit that goes bang’, in Ritchiespeak. Glib badinage dominates, until an ambush leaves interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim) and a wounded Kinley in hostile terrain. The film peaks as a tense survival and bonding story unfolds, with Salim’s fine…

OUT 1 JUNE CINEMAS, 3 JULY DIGITAL In an underground facility, amnesiac Liam (Neil Bishop) tries to find out why he’s been tripping through time. Helping him are gentle doctor Emma (Zoe Cunningham) and a strange old man (Martin Bishop) dispensing cryptic clues from the future. Director Marianna Dean’s low-budget sci-fi spans decades but keeps the action low-key, restricted to shiny laboratories and folksy stone circles. The mumbo jumbo is minimal, but the cast largely fail to imbue either the romance or mystery element with much energy. Crisp cinematography is the film’s saving grace.…

2 JUNE CINEMAS Centred on city kids tracking their grandpa’s runaway cow, this cheerfully riotous Estonian stop-motion horror comedy isn’t the Aardman-style cutie you’re expecting. Chased by chainsawwielding mutant farmer Old Milker, blob-faced Mart, Aino and Pridik must survive a bloodsoaked music festival, horny trees and a bear’s bum: this deathdealing rural adventure really earns that 15 certificate. Directors Oskar Lehemaa and Mikk Mägi love a gross-out gag, but endless poop jokes make the film feel like a succession of YouTube shorts. A farty, rather than arty, animation.…

OUT NOW BD, DIGITAL EXTRAS FEATURETTES, TV EPISODES DC’s finest receive teenage makeovers in this crossover with anime-influenced franchise RWBY, whose core world Remnant provides the setting (watch the featurette for a primer). How did Supes et al get there? No time to worry about that - there’s monster-fighting to be done, in swooping set-pieces that distract from the skimpy story. The first of a two-parter, it provides just enough reasons (tweaked powers, whodunnit cliffhanger, a fresh take on Bat-angst) to come back for more.…

OUT 9 JUNE CINEMAS Winner of the Caméra d’Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, War Pony is a loose-limbed drama about life on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Like Chloé Zhao’s Songs My Brothers Taught Me and The Rider, which also centre on the ‘Res’, as it’s called, the film draws cast-iron turns from non-professional leads, although that’s where the comparisons end. If Zhao’s films are lyrical and wistful, War Pony is steely and hard-edged. Marking the co-directorial debut of Australian producer Gina Gammell and actor Riley Keough (American Honey), it focuses on two Oglala Lakota males. Bill (Jojo Bapteise Whiting) is a 23-year-old father of two whose latest scheme is trying to breed dogs. The 12-year-old Matho (LaDainian Crazy Thunder), meanwhile, is an off-the-chain kid who…

SCREEN OUT 2 JUNE CINEMAS, CURZON HOME CINEMA Returning from Paris to her family mansion in Piedmont, entitled 20-something Amanda (Benedetta Porcaroli) is lacking direction: she has no job, no partner, no friends. In a bid to turn things around, she becomes determined to pick up again with a childhood playmate, the now-reclusive Rebecca (Galatéa Bellugi). Italian director Carolina Cavalli’s deadpan debut unfolds in a privileged yet off-kilter world, peopled by eccentric individuals. The quirkiness can sometimes be off-putting, yet Porcaroli successfully conveys her abrasive, obsessive character’s yearning for genuine emotional connection.…

OUT NOW CINEMAS Former heavyweight champ George Foreman gets the biopic treatment from director George Tillman Jr. (The Hate U Give, Men of Honor). Foreman’s (Khris Davis) rise through the boxing ranks, the Rumble in the Jungle with Muhammad Ali (Sullivan Jones), his preaching and return to the ring are all duly covered. It’s rather too much ground, arguably, especially with the boxing scenes lacking real punch. But a resolute Davis conveys heft and poise, while Forest Whitaker steals every scene he’s in as Foreman’s hard-ass trainer, Doc Broadus.…

2006 OUT 26 MAY CINEMAS Shooting his 2006 feature on digital gave David Lynch ‘more room to dream’, he said. Too much room for some, as the result drew spotty reviews on release. Like Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Inland Empire demands reappraisal: shadowy and destabilising, its three-hour plunge into Lynch-land is thrillingly unfettered. True to slippery Lynch form, Laura Dern tackles multiple roles, including the lead in a Hollywood remake of a Polish film. But the original movie was cursed. And reopening its doors gradually cracks her psyche… Doors become a recurring motif, tempting investigation but never offering easy entry to Empire’s secrets. Reality/fiction blur across the thresholds; identities splinter. The soundtrack’s subterranean throbs boost the anxiety, while interludes featuring rabbit people imply literary echoes, making matters curiouser…

1973 OUT 21 JUNE CINEMAS Oh God. Oh Jesus Christ. Oh my God!’ The final scenes of Robin Hardy’s seminal horror movie still freeze the soul 50 years on, no matter which cut you’re watching (there have been at least four since it was originally truncated to play as the B-feature on a double bill with Don’t Look Now). The Final Cut, first released in 2013, is the version now on offer to mark the film’s half-centenary. Longer than the 1973 theatrical cut and shorter than the 2001 director’s cut, it ditches most of the mainland action that opens the DC while keeping the early introduction of Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee). So we still get Paul Giovanni’s rendition of Gently Johnny in the Green Man Inn (ace), Britt Ekland established…

SCREEN 1957-64 SEE RATINGS BELOW OUT 14 AUG DVD, BD, DIGITAL EXTRAS Featurettes, Galleries Oscar-winning Muriel Box is British cinema’s most prolific female filmmaker, having directed 13 features. Digitally restored, these three comedies showcase her ability to move between different milieux, each time foregrounding female characters. Alongside The Truth About Women (★★★) and Rattle of a Simple Man (★★), the pick of the trio is The Passionate Stranger (★★★★), the tale of a novelist (Margaret Leighton) and her chauffeur (Carlo Giustini) in which monochrome ‘reality’ is playfully contrasted with fullcolour fantasy…

1971-97 SEE RATINGS BELOW OUT NOW BD, 4K UHD EXTRAS Commentaries. Featurettes, Galleries, Booklets Fans of late French horror auteur Jean Rollin have plenty to sink their teeth into with these two newly restored UHD releases. Of the pair, the sapphic psychedelia of The Shiver of the Vampires (★★★★) benefits the most from the jump to 4K, the HDRenhanced transfer showcasing the film’s vivid use of colour. Two Orphan Vampires (★★★) lacks similar visual flair, but the muted 16mm photography perfectly suits the melancholic sense of nostalgia that haunts this nihilistic fever dream.…

WHAT'S UP DANGER, BLACKWAY & BLACK CAVIAR SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (2018) Miles Morales takes a leap of faith to a finely judged tune. Rapper Blackway and production duo Black Caviar marshal the tense build-up from self-doubt to release with a sky-scraping sense of theatre: ‘Can’t stop me now,’ indeed. THE MAGIC NUMBER, DE LA SOUL SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (2021) Three is the magic number: pals, Spideys, movies… The Home trilogy closed on a high with the Daisy Age hip-hop pioneers’ buoyant bop. After the song’s samples and rights issues, it’s on Spotify now, bright and clear. SONG FOR ZULA, PHOSPHORESCENT THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (2014) Despite his sequel’s flaws, director Marc Webb focused his indie-romance pitch with this synth-circled lament. The first Amazing boasted The Shins, but Phosphorescent…

TOM HANKS HUTCHINSON HEINEMANN Sprawling and dense yet big-hearted and witty, Hanks’ ambitious debut novel pinballs through time to track the story of a fictional movie. Both an affectionate look at the organised chaos of filmmaking and a portrait of post-war America, it suggests that one of Hollywood’s brightest stars might well become an accomplished author. There’s pleasure, too, in pondering which episodes might be inspired by his own experiences.…

Are you talkin’ to me? That’s so funny, because I just read a little article about that, saying it was an improv. They were racing around, trying to get the day, and Scorsese said, ‘Just say something to yourself in the mirror.’ The fun thing to me was hearing that there was someone coming in, saying, ‘OK, we need to go.’ And Martin Scorsese said something to the effect of: ‘I think he’s got something here…’ So the answer is: yes, I’m talking to you. Ate you gonna bark all day, little doggy? Or are you gonna bite? I’m probably going to bark most of the day and bite a few times. I’m a procrastinator, and then I’ll go through fits of finally getting shit done. It also gives me…

Best known for her TV work, Sophie Thatcher played young Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist and Drash in The Book of Boba Fett before ratcheting up her fame as Natalie in Yellowjackets. And now she’s upping the ante again, playing the lead role in a big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s The Boogeyman. ‘I feel like I’m always drawn to darker characters,’ she says. ‘They’re exciting…’ How did you get the part of Sadie Harper in The Boogeyman? They reached out to me. I love Stephen King - I watched Carrie when I was really young and was haunted by it - but I was a little wary because I’ve been doing so much genre stuff. But so many people start off their careers in genre stuff, and it’s fun because…

It was my sixth film with Chris. Compared to a lot of the other ones we’ve done, it was definitely not as rigorous with day-to-day filming. He said, ‘There’s not as much stuff for you on this as the other one, but there’s a couple of things we do have to cover.’ And that was, of course, the Trinity explosion, and some prop builds, and elements of different things that we had throughout the film. Working with Chris is kind of funny. He’s a totally different director. In modern filming, when you read a script, you think, ‘Oh, that’s going to be CG.’ But with him, you have to think, ‘This is what we’re probably going to end up doing, or some version of this.’ It is like an old-school…

SPOTLIGHT MARGARET QUALLEY H onestly, like, who would have thought?’ Fast-rising star Margaret Qualley is laughing about those crazy coincidences that life can sometimes surprise you with. Filming Claire Denis’ sultry romance Stars at Noon, she ended up back in Panama, a land she first got to know when she was 14 after her father relocated to the Central American country. She revisited all her regular haunts. ‘We ended up shooting in a lot of them, which was really bizarre and felt meant-to-be.’ It’s not destiny but pure chance that brings Qualley’s Trish - a freelance journalist stranded in Nicaragua during the pandemic and selling sex to get by - together with mysterious businessman Daniel (Conversations with Friends’ Joe Alwyn). The couple embark on a heady, intense love affair after he…

SCREEN OUT 16 JUNE CINEMAS ‘I like being pretty sometimes!’ shrugs ex-con Travis (Natey Jones) after his teenage daughter Kenisha (Temilola Olatunbosun) walks in on him wearing the beaded red dress he’s bought for her mother Candice (X Factor winner Alexandra Burke). Dionne Edwards’ appealing debut feature is no cross-dressing farce, though, but rather a sensitive and soulful look at repressed desires and the drive for truthful self-expression. Ace performances, authentic south London locations and a sizzling selection of Tina Turner covers make for a smart, seductive Brit-flick that’s anything but a drag.…

OUT 16 JUNE CINEMAS The MVP of this Irish drama is Barry Ward, who gives an authentic, charismatic turn as recovering addict Leon. Discovering that his terminally ill mentor is contemplating an assisted death, Leon tries to persuade him to reconsider with a day of fun activities. Dying Iver (Liam Carney) is a gruff but kindly man known for dressing as a Viking, a recurring but underexplored theme of this fiction-feature debut from Claire Dix. But Leon’s contagious spirit, contrasted with Iver’s cautious suicide assistant Maria (Maureen Beattie), makes for a heartwarmer that carefully balances humour and pathos.…

OUT 2 JUNE CINEMAS Set in a grim world of violent gangsters and sex trafficking, this sombre drama stars Karen Hassan as Alison, a sex worker who meets troubled introvert Sam (Aaron Cobham). Their ensuing friendship spurs Sam to defy her criminal boss and reconnect with the daughter she abandoned to her sister years previously. The notion of Sam’s love of photography acting as a profound spark of inspiration never quite rings true. But between the hopeful drama and harrowing abuse, there emerges a poignant - if slightly contrived - tale about determination, responsibility and facing your demons.…

OUT 26 MAY SHUDDER A wannabe Talented Mr. Ripley for the social-media generation, this battle-of-the-influencers thriller unfolds against a backdrop of idyllic islands and luxury hotels. While backpacking through Thailand, social-media personality Madison (Emily Tennant) meets the glacial, uninhibited C.W. (Cassandra Naud), who begins to lead the influencer astray. Kurtis David Harder’s slow-burner is undoubtedly well shot, yet underutilises its gorgeous setting and ultimately has little to say. Still, its menacing villain elevates this above soap-opera territory, even if she’s never allowed to truly cut loose.…

OUT NOW DIGITAL Cameron Edwin (stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan) never got to be an astronaut; the nearest he gets to space is talking about it on his amateurish TV science show. So when a satellite falls in his backyard he decides to build his own rocket: a quixotic quest made tougher by a wavering hold on reality he shares with his dad, who’s living with dementia. Writer/director Colin West’s appealing, offbeat sci-fi drama recalls Blue Velvet with its evocation of an idyllic Midwestern suburbia laced with nightmares. Although Lynch would never countenance a denouement this schmaltzy.…

OUT 19 JUNE DIGITAL 17 JULY DVD Directed by Rambo: Last Blood’s Adrian Grünberg, this killer-fish movie pays inevitable homage to Jaws, but its big point of difference is an overt ecomessage: the title references the attacking megaladon of Mexican legend (we’re in Baja California) as well as, you guessed it, oil. Paying a visit with family in tow, Josh Lucas is the complacent US oilman who comes to realise it’s not too late to change our damaging ways. While the sentiments are laudable, the execution is heavy-handed - and there aren’t nearly enough thrills to keep proceedings afloat.…

OUT NOW DIGITAL Created to spotlight the efforts of non-profit organisation We Do It Together to promote gender parity in media, this patchy anthology features seven short stories directed by and starring women. Unfortunately, despite all the big-name talent (from Taraji P. Henson to Eva Longoria), the results tend towards banal or simplistic: Marcia Gay Harden and Jennifer Hudson are especially poorly served by a pair of flimsy fact-based dramas. The clear standout is Mipo O’s charming portrait of an overworked single mother, featuring a luminous turn from Anne Watanabe.…

SCREEN OUT 26 MAY CINEMAS How does a developing country balance preserving its natural heritage with economic growth? That’s the key question in this stimulating documentary from British first-time filmmaker Alastair Evans, who tells the story of Vietnam’s Hang Son Doong, the world’s largest cave. Visitor numbers to this magical place have always been strictly controlled, but developers are planning a cable-car link that would be environmentally destructive. Alongside striking sequences shot from within the cave, Evans offers a salutary range of perspectives, juggling interviews with locals, conservation activists and climbers.…

OUT NOW SKY CINEMA, NOW Co-writers/directors Charles and Thomas Guard (The Uninvited) bring an evocative, atmospheric sense of place to this IRA drama based on a script by Ronan Bennett (Top Boy). Flitting between Ireland and London in the 1970s, it stars Colin Morgan as Irish paramilitary Michael, who seeks revenge after SAS officer Tempest (Aml Ameen) kills his pregnant wife in an ambush. Also featuring Mark Strong and Felicity Jones, it’s an uncompromising tale driven by two muscular lead performances. However, you may come away feeling that the scope of the story could have been opened out a touch more.…

OUT NOW BBC IPLAYER Charting the life of the Rolling Stones’ founder, Nick Broomfield’s latest doc is intended for the uninitiated (he suggests that most people have never heard of Jones), but there’s enough intrigue for fans too. Following the mercurial musician from teen rebellion to fame and finally the drug abuse that left him in ‘The 27 Club’, it sheds fresh light on his relationship with his dad, the acid he gave his dog, and the numerous children he fathered. Though Jagger and Richards contribute no new thoughts, the previously unseen archive footage is haunting.…

OUT 19 JUNE DIGITAL Despite winning the Grand Prix at Cannes 2022, this soporific psychosexual thriller emerges as a rare misfire from esteemed French filmmaker Claire Denis (Beau Travail, White Material). Set in Nicaragua during the COVID-19 pandemic, it stars Margaret Qualley (see interview, p62) as Trish, a US journalist who moonlights as a sex worker to get by, while Blighty’s Joe Alwyn (The Favourite, Conversations with Friends) is mysterious oilman Daniel, who’s being closely monitored by the authorities. The pair’s bond deepens after he initially hires her for a night, though their true feelings are muddled by a mutual need to exit the country. Adapted from Denis Johnson’s 1986 novel set during Nicaragua’s Sandinista rule in the 80s, Denis’ film loses some of its bristle by replacing specific politics…

SCREEN 1975 OUT NOW BD, 4K UHD EXTRAS Commentary, Documentaries, Alternate cuts, Novel, Featurettes, Outtakes, Booklet, Art cards ‘It’s extraordinary to me that people aren’t content to leave it as a mystery,’ remarked author Joan Lindsay of reactions to her 1967 novel about a group of schoolgirls who vanish during a Valentine’s Day picnic. One person content to leave the mystery unresolved, however, was filmmaker Peter Weir, whose beautiful, eerie adaptation has been freshly restored in 4K (and returned to its original aspect ratio). The extras explore the film’s legacy and its relationship with First Nation Australian culture…

1980 OUT 5 JUNE BD, 4K UHD EXTRAS Commentaries, Featurettes, Book, CD, Art Cards Don’t overlook the other great haunted-house movie of 1980, in which composer John (George C. Scott) moves into a vast Victorian gothic mansion that thrums with terrible secrets. Like Don’t Look Now and Full Circle, The Changeling is built on grief for a lost child (it opens with John losing his wife and daughter in an accident), and an intriguing mystery must be unpicked. Scorsese listed Peter Medak’s chiller as one of the 11 scariest horror movies ever made. He’s not wrong. Limited-edition add-ons include 108-page essay-crammed book.…

1963 OUT 2 JUNE CINEMAS The title translates as ‘Contempt’, and Jean-Luc Godard’s riveting poison-pen letter to the movies is full of it. Playwright Paul (Michel Piccoli) sells his soul to crass US producer Jeremy (Jack Palance) by agreeing to steer an arthouse adaptation of The Odyssey directed by Fritz Lang (playing himself), no less - towards being a sword-and-sandals adventure; his wife Camille (Brigitte Bardot) hates his weakness, he hates himself, and their marriage crumbles. Fascinatingly, Le mépris mirrors Godard’s own tussles with his producers, and he moved into more experimental territory thereafter.…

1988 OUT 9 JUNE CINEMAS After John Waters merged underground and Hollywood sensibilities with 1981’s Polyester, he upped the stakes with this irrepressible retro-musical, back on the big screen for its 35th birthday. Out went no-budget provocations and dog poo. In came a budget, a PG rating - and an on-its-own-terms hit. Described by Waters as his ‘Trojan horse’, Hairspray remains a winningly smooth display of mainstream infiltration, executed without compromise. Set in segregated 1962 Baltimore, the action gives Ricki Lake’s ‘pleasantly plump’ dance dreamer Tracy Turnblad a chance to strut her stuff on TV’s Corny Collins Show. As Tracy hoofs for recognition, clashes with slim Amber (Colleen Fitzpatrick) and battles with dreary teachers (‘hairdo detention’ beckons), a parallel story of racial integration unfolds. A few ill-placed gross-out moments aside…

Six of the best streaming alternatives… PARAMOUNT+ £6.99 PER MONTH Along with Paramount movies, there’s original TV like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Sky Cinema subscribers get it free. LIONSGATE+ FROM £5.99 PER MONTH Rebranded from the horribly named STARZPLAY, L+ has a respectable selection of films plus original shows like Outlander and The Serpent Queen. AMAZON FREEVEE FREE You’ll need an Amazon account to access the online shopping giant’s free ad-supported streaming channel, which replaces IMDb TV. Not only does it offer no-cost films, it’s the channel that scooped up the rights to Neighbours… PLUTO TV FREE Already well known in the US, Pluto has scores of channels to choose from, offering both film and TV, including Baywatch. PEACOCK FREE WITH SKY/NOW NBC’s streaming service is free, but only…

EVIL DEAD RISE Like a Kandarian demon running wild, Stephen McKeon’s sound-mix score mangles instruments and vocals out of shape. Unafraid to go for the jugular, McKeon stages choppy experiments in texture and turmoil: snapped guitar strings, knifed piano strings and pulverised orchestrations dominate. Voices lull, then chill on Incantation. The raucous results aren’t subtle, much less melodic, but they build frenziedly towards a cacophonous crescendo on Final Confrontation, all chainsaws blazing. RENFIELD Scream’s Marco Beltrami mounts another shockcorn genre mash here, mostly successfully. His trick is to play the horror straight, fusing vampiric violins and ominous organs for Drac. Elsewhere, he aces Lalo Schifrin-esque action beats (SWAT Team Ambush), tender detours (Renfield and Rebecca) and a hangdog Renfield theme. The results are diffuse but Beltrami commits to each occasion,…

EDDIE MULLER'S NOIR BAR: COCKTAILS INSPIRED BY THE WORLD OF FILM NOIR A ‘drinking companion’ for film-noir fanatics, this beautifully illustrated and erudite book is a must for dames, heels and blowhards everywhere. Muller takes 50 noirs and pairs them with classic cocktails (Robert Mitchum’s Out of the Past gets a Paloma, for example) or even ones he’s concocted. His enthusiasm for the genre is matched by his love of high-end drinks (he gladly teaches you how to assemble your own well-stocked bar). Skillfully blending the obvious with the obscure, it’s an ideal primer for ‘Noirvember’. JAMES MOTTRAM CLEOPATRA AND THE UNDOING OF HOLLYWOOD The legacy of budgetbusting epic Cleopatra (1963) has already been a compelling subject for documentaries, as well as a making-of book by producer Walter Wanger. This…

JOHN BUSS AMBERLEY PUBLISHING Completists may question the pre-Crystal Skull bias, but obtainers of rare 80S/90S antiquities will have a sizeable shopping list by the end of this merch round-up. It reveals Indy’s mixed fortunes in the toy market (seemingly, no action figures were produced for Last Crusade) and his many publishing adventures across books, comics and read-along tapes. Then, of course, there are the curios, not least a figure accessorised with a very un-!930s digital watch.…

1 ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA Forgoing the tunes, Scott Lang’s driving playlist of choice is the audiobook of his own memoir, Look out for the Little Guy! Don’t judge - if you sounded like Paul Rudd, you’d listen to yourself all day long too. 2 THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL The adventures of industry legend Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) form the basis for his memoirs, given the same name as the hotel - and Wes Anderson’s film. The only book about a hotel concierge one might conceivably ever need. 3 SCREAM 4 Taking a leaf out of fellow Woodsboro survivor Gale Weathers’ book(s), Sidney Prescott told her side of the story in the NYT bestselling self-help autobiography Out of Darkness, before being outpaced by at least two more Ghostface massacres.…