SPACE ODDITY
BRAD PITT blasts into space and delivers an out-of-thisworld lead performance as an astronaut with deeprooted daddy issues in director James Gray’s sci-fi thriller.
Ad Astra hard-wires the visceral thrills of Gravity and the existential angst of 2001: A Space Odyssey in a near-future setting that slingshots from Earth to Neptune via the dark side of the Moon.
It’s a curious juxtaposition and the script, co-written by Gray and Ethan Gross, struggles to find a smooth
BOOKSMART (15)
trajectory between edge-of-seat excitement and soul-searching, which is writ large in a superfluous voiceover that often verbalises what is achingly evident on Pitt’s face.
Those classical handsome features HIGH school student Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and best friend Molly (Beanie Feldstein) have studiously forsaken fornication and partying in order to achieve their academic dreams.
As graduation looms, Amy is destined for Columbia while Molly has been accepted into Yale. The gal pals are gob-smacked to learn that lazy peers have also secured places at coveted Ivy League institutions.
The over-achievers resolve to make amends on the night before Molly delivers her valedictorian speech, meeting cool girl Gigi (Billie Lourd) along the way.
Download/stream from September 19 and on DVD from September 30. ripple with emotion in close-up and Pitt excels at conveying turmoil beneath his gung-ho trailblazer’s placid surface with an expertly timed twitch or downwards glance.
It’s a meaty, complex role and the Oklahoma-born actor is mesmerising in every scene before his internal monologue interrupts the chilling silence in space, where no one is supposed to be able to hear you scream.
Female characters are perfunctory. Liv Tyler barely registers as Pitt’s estranged earthbound wife and Ruth Negga has limited screen time as a director of operations on a Martian outpost, who flouts authority to propel the film towards its next set piece.
Celebrated astronaut Major Roy McBride (Pitt) hopes to further mankind’s knowledge of the universe as part of the
GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (12)
SPECTACULAR sequel. Animal behaviour specialist Dr Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) and paleobotanist wife Emma (Vera Farmiga) lost their son in Godzilla’s rampage through San Francisco. The couple is estranged and Emma has custody of their daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown), who supports her mother’s work for “secret monster-hunting” consortium Monarch in a rainforest in China. An eco-terrorist (Charles Dance) storms the outpost, forcing Emma to rouse a giant beast called Mothra. When Mark learns that his family is in jeopardy, a rescue mission begins.
Download/stream from September 21 and on DVD/Blu-ray from October 14.