THE BIG SCREEN
In the first film, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) escaped the clutches of space pirate Yondu (Michael Rooker) to galvanise a motley crew of mercenaries. For the sequel’s tongue-in-cheek opening salvo, the Guardians face a razor-toothed beast that intends to steal the Anulax Batteries belonging to high priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) and her Sovereign people. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 confidently spices a familiar brew with sinewy subplots. Pratt and Saldana turn up their heat on the “unspoken thing” between their comrades, while Bautista’s hilariously literal hulk offers Peter the benefit of his romantic wisdom. Mikael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac) is an apothecary in the village of Sirun and he yearns to study medicine in Constantinople. Unable to fund the three-year course himself, Mikael agrees to marry his neighbour’s daughter Maral (Angela Sarafyan) in exchange for a dowry of 400 gold coins that will finance studies in the capital. The Promise is a sluggish rifle through pages of disputed recent history, which aligns itself with the Armenians as they search for an escape from their war-ravaged nation. This gripping tragedy resets the sex-fuelled skulduggery to Victorian England. Teenage bride Katherine (Florence Pugh) is sold by her father as part of a property deal and she is consigned to a miserable, loveless marriage to a swarthy brute called Alexander (Paul Hilton), whose father Boris (Christopher Fairbank) runs the local colliery. Filmed on location in County Durham, Lady Macbeth is largely faithful to the plotting of the source text, apart from an emotionally chilly denouement that showcases Pugh’s mastery of her character’s poisonous emotions. The Belko Experiment revels in the torture and suffering of a poorly served cast. Screenwriter James Gunn knows how to stage a bloodbath, but it’s hard to raise emotional investment in the thinly sketched characters. Repetitive rapid-fire death sequences become tiresome, and a ham-fisted coda, which attempts to justify the carnage as a social experiment, merely tees up a sequel. Their Finest is a sweet and charming confection with a full conscription of reliable clichés. Gemma Arterton and Sam Claflin kindle a spiky on-screen romance, conflicted about their feelings for each other until a supporting character observes: “When life is so precious, it seems an awful shame to waste it.” Period detail is solid throughout and director Lone Scherfig makes light work of the two-hour running time. Every night, seven-year-old Tim Templeton (voiced by Miles Christopher Bakshi) enjoys three bedtime stories, five hugs and a special song from his parents Ted (Jimmy Kimmel) and Janice (Lisa Kudrow). This bond is tested with the arrival of a brother called Boss Baby (Alex Baldwin).