Despite fine acting,it never recovers from disastrous plot mis-step
The Good Liar 15A ★★★★★
This Bill Condon-directed thriller is at its best when we’re watching Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen (left) acting their socks off and we’re trying to work out who is conning whom.
But just when all their fine acting (McKellen is fabulously ghastly as the predatory Roy) is building towards something rather psychological and delicious, the action takes a disastrous mis-step, plunging into the most unlikely historical melodrama from which it never recovers. Both Mirren and particularly McKellen should have known better, having been caught up in similar plot-twists before. Maddening.
Midway 12A ★★★★★
The Battle of Midway was turned into a feature film in 1976 with an all-star cast led by Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda and James Coburn. Now director Roland Emmerich has had another go with a cast led by, er, Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson (right) and Luke Evans. Oh, and Woody Harrelson is in there somewhere too.
State-of-the-art visual effects have some dodgy moments, particularly early on, and the story-telling gets a bit confused. But the last hour is spectacular and gripping, albeit slightly lacking in emotional punch.
Luce 15A ★★★★★
Julius Onah’s third feature sounds at times like a student debating competition, but it makes powerful points about race and human fallibility. Luce
– played by Kelvin Harrison Jr – is a star black pupil at an American high school, and an object of pride for his white parents. But Luce is not perfect, and nor is anyone else, come to that.
Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts and Tim Roth help deliver an intriguing, intelligent and realistically unresolved drama.