For up to date local cinema links and day-by-day listings of what’s showing on local screens every week visit the Virtual-Lancaster Cinema Page. Read on for the weekly round-up, and reviews.
There are five new movies released during this period. We have the romantic comedy Bridget Jones’s Baby (15). There are two powerful dramas with Julieta (15) and The Childhood of a Leader (15). There is the musical documentary Gary Numan: Android in La La Land (15) and finally film Neighbour though no details are yet available for this latter movie.
Films that have come to an end of their screening include Suicide Squad and The Purge: Election Year. In addition it seems likely that the films Morgan; Pete’s Dragon; and War Dogs are coming to an end of their screening. However the comedy animation Ice Age: Collision Course and the drama The Legend of Tarzan have returned to the screens.
Horror remains well represented during this period with Blair Witch; Don’t Breathe; Lights Out and Morgan all being shown.
Adult comedy is represented by Bad Moms; Bridget Jones’s Baby; David Brent: Life on the Road; Ghostbusters and Sausage Party.
Drama comes with Ben-Hur; Jason Bourne; Julieta; The Childhood of a Leader; The Legend of Tarzan and War Dogs. In addition the Dukes have a screening of the influential adult animation Akira.
There are a good selection of family animation movies with Finding Dory; Ice Age: Collision Course; Kubo and the Two Strings and The BFG. Also available is the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; the comedy Nine Lives and the dramas Pete’s Dragon and The Jungle Book.
High culture comes with NT Encore: The Deep Blue Sea and NT Live: The Threepenny Opera. Also of interest are the musical documentaries Gary Numan: Android in La La Land and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week.
Reviews
Bad Moms
Director: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Certificate: 15
Cast includes: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Annie Mumolo, David Walten, Christina Applegate
Amy Mitchell (Kunis) is married with two children and suffering from
stress and overwork as she tries to be the perfect mum. After a trying
day she makes friends with other mums Carla (Hahn) and Kiki (Bell) at a
bar and over a boozy night decides to stop trying to be perfect. Her
new attitude angers Gwendolyn (Applegate), the head of the school PTA,
who takes her anger on Amy’s children. Amy seeks revenge by planning to
become the new head of the PTA. This is a sweet but raunchy movie with
a strong comic cast. It will resonate with many in the audience and
provides comic enjoyment for all.
Blair Witch
Director: Adam Wingard
Certificate: 15
Cast includes: James Alen McCure, Callie Hernandez, Corbin Reid, Brandon Scott
This is a sequel to the 1999 ‘Blair Witch’ movie. James Donahue
(McCure) thinks his sister Heather, who disappeared twenty years ago,
may still be alive in the Black Hills Forest of Maryland. He, along
with a group of friends and a couple of guides, enter the forest to
explore the facts surrounding the Blair Witch and Heather’s
disappearance. As the night comes, all hell starts to breaks loose.
The movie is in the ‘found footage’ genre and it comes with plenty of
frights and some original twists, despite remaining faithful to the
original film. A very competent horror movie though it doesn’t quite
capture the novelty of the original.
Bridget Jones’s Baby
Director: Sharon Maguire
Certificate: 15
Cast Includes: Renee Zellweger, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey
After a break of twelve years, this is the third instalment of the
romantic comedy franchise and author Helen Fielding co-wrote the script.
Bridge Jones is now aged forty-three and still single, having broken up
with Mark Darcy (Firth). She decided to concentrate on her career as a
news producer. However she meets a handsome American Jack (Dempsey)
and has consecutive one night stands with both Jack and Mark. She finds
herself pregnant, but does not know which one is the father. This
movie captures the spirit of the original and is an improvement on the
previous ‘Edge of Reason’. It is set in London with Jones in her old
flat and the movie features strong acting both from Zellweger and from
Thompson. There are some very funny moments and excellent one liners.
Finding Dory
Director: Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane
Certificate: U
Cast Includes: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill, Hayden Rolence
Pixar’s sequel to the 2003 movie ‘Finding Nemo’. Dory (DeGeneres), who
helped reunite Nemo (Rolence) with his father Marlin (Brooks) in the
first movie, has a flashback in which she remembers her own family. She
decides to look for them despite her problems with a faulty memory.
Marlin and Nemo agree to help and the three swim to California to start
the search. Dory is caught and held in a marine life institute aquarium
for shipping to Cleveland. However with the help of Hank (O’Neill),
the octopus she escapes back to the ocean and finds her parents Charlie
and Jenny. Now she has to come to the aid of Marlin and Nemo who are
also imprisoned in the institute aquarium. The movie is essentially the
same plot as the original, but provides impressive animation and
contains some emotional scenes. However this is ultimately a fun ‘happy
ever after’ sort of film that will delight people of all ages.
Ghostbusters
Director: Paul Feig
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Neil Casey
It has been thirty-five years since the original Ghostbusters
movie. Now, finally there is a remake where women take the leading
parts. Erin Gilbert (Wiig) and Abby Yates (McCarthy) are co-authors of a
book which postulated that ghosts are real. When supernatural forces
invade Manhattan, Gilbert and Yates team up with a nuclear engineer
Jillian Holtzmann (McKinnon) and subway worker Patty Tolan (Jones) to
combat the malicious demon Rowan (Casey) and a legion of ghouls. The
movie pretty much follows the plot of the original, but the actors
provide great and extremely funny performances. A terrific movie full
of good hearted fun.
Ice Age: Collision Course
Director: Mike Thurmeier and Galen T Chu
Cast includes: Simon Pegg, Roy Romano, Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah, Hohn Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Chris Wedge
A computer animation family adventure film. This is the fifth
instalment in the Ice Age series and the sequel to Continental Drift.
Scratt (Wedge), the sabre toothed squirrel, activates an alien UFO in
his continued pursuit of the acorn. The craft propels Scratt into outer
space and thence causes a planetary collision resulting in the creation
of meteors that threaten to engulf the earth. Manny (Romero) the Wooly
Mammoth, Sid (Leguizamo) the sloth and Diego (Leary) the sabre toothed
tiger hatch a plan with the weasel Buck (Pegg) to save the earth. The
plot is quite unbelievable, but the resulting mayhem is as entertaining
as ever. New characters are introduced as the movie unfolds and the
film a worthy addition to the franchise. Whats not to like?
Morgan
Director: Luke Scott
Certificate: 15
Cast Includes: Anya Taylor-Joy, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kate Mara, Toby Jones
Morgan (Taylor-Joy) is a synthetic human being, technically only six
years old, but with advanced development and super human qualities. She
attacks and injures one of the scientists (Leigh) and so a cold
corporate consultant Lee Weathers (Mara) is brought in to decide if
Morgan needs to be terminated. The movie is another tale of man playing
God and reaping the consequences. It shares much with the recent film
Ex Machina. There is little attempt to understand the character of
Morgan and thus we are left with a tale of an out of control monster.
The film attracted average reviews but despite being low on originality
it is a reasonably entertaining movie.
The Jungle Book
Director: Jon Favreau
Certificate: PG
Cast includes: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba
Based on Rudyard Kipling’s works, this is a reworking of a the
well known classic using live action and CGI. Mowgli (Sethi) is an
orphaned boy raised by a wolf and thence by Bagheera (Kingsley) a black
panther. Mowgli alienates the Bengal tiger Shere Khan (Elba) and so
must make his way to humankind for safety, meeting the well known
characters Baloo and Kaa on the way. Subsequently he returns to the
jungle to face Shere Khan. The movie is a good example a remake that
improves on the original. An excellent movie that will entertain all
ages.
The Legend of Tarzan
Director: David Yates
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Alexander Skarsgard, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz, Djimon Hounsou, Samuel L. Jackson
The film is set about a decade after Tarzan left the jungle and became
John Clayton III or Lord Greystoke to live in the UK with his wife Jane
(Robbie). Meanwhile the African Congo has been divided between Belgium
and the UK, and the Belgian government has sent an emissary Captain
Leon Rom (Waltz) to develop the mineral wealth of the land. Rom makes a
pact with Mbonga (Hounsou) a chief and Tarzan’s old enemy to give him
Tarzan in exchange for diamonds. Rom captures Jane and uses her to lure
Tarzan to him During the film we have flashbacks of Tarzan’s origins
to help set the plot and the film benefits from splendid scenery, lavish
special effects and grand fight sequences. However, despite solid
performances from the actors, the movie has not managed to inspire the
critics. An enjoyable, but ultimately average adventure film.