Another hit by the mob father
THE IRISHMAN (15) HHHH Martin Scorsese’s exhaustive and exhausting return to the criminal underworld with GoodFellas leading men Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci transplants the toxic masculinity from New York to the mean streets of Philadelphia.
Stephen Zaillian, Oscarwinning screenwriter of Schindler’s List, confidently plunders Charles Brandt’s true-crime book I Heard You Paint Houses to recount an epic tale of brotherhood, which culminates in the disappearance of union leader Jimmy Hoffa in 1975.
Al Pacino scorches every frame as bullying Hoffa, who refuses to cede control of the Teamsters - “This is my union!” - and pays a sickeningly high price.
THE GOOD LIAR (15) HHH Director Bill Condon’s slippery thriller, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from Nicholas Searle’s novel, is a likeable romp.
Everything, as the scoundrel might say, is “tickety-boo” in Hatcher’s script, which provides meaty roles for Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Helen Mirren as merciless hunter and unsuspecting prey.
Blessed with these formidable acting talents, Condon frequently has little to do other than point a camera at his luminous leads and watch sparks fly as their verbal sparring lands the requisite blows.
A couple of slickly executed set-pieces help the film build to an emotionally satisfying and brutal pay-off.
MIDWAY (12A) HH German director Roland Emmerich has spared no visual effects expense in wreaking havoc on our tiny planet with muscular blockbusters including Independence Day, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012 and White House Down.
The testosterone continues to pump, with barely a two-dimensional female protagonist in sight, in an all-guns-blazing dramatisation of six months of military brinkmanship between America and Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941.
But despite all the effort, the film is fitful and jagged.
THE AERONAUTS (PG) HHH Director Tom Harper’s visually stunning odyssey is loosely tethered to Richard Holmes’s 2013 book Falling Upwards: How We Took To The Air, which pays tribute to pioneers of ballooning.
Scriptwriter Jack Thorne focuses on one notable entry - the record-breaking 1862 ascent of James Glaisher and Henry Coxwell, replacing one with a fictional female.
Harper repeatedly smacks our gobs with vertiginous thrills and spills including a knucklewhitening encounter with a raging storm that spins a balloon wildly out of control.
However, characters are emotionally malnourished despite the best efforts of Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne.
LUCE (15) HHH A teacher suspects her prize student might be hiding a shocking secret in a taut thriller directed by Julius Onah.
Luce Edgar (Kevin Harrison Jr) escapes from war-torn Eritrea to find safety in America with adopted parents Peter and Amy (Tim Roth, Naomi Watts).
They shower the boy with love and encouragement, and he blossoms at high school as an all-star athlete and gifted debater.
Fellow students and staff adore Luce, except for teacher Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer), who discovered weed in the locker of his friend DeShaun (Brian Bradley). Ever since, Luce has nurtured a grudge against her.