ALSO SHOWING
FUNNY COW ★★★★ ★
MAXINE Peake, pictured, hammers home her status as one of Britain’s most fierce acting talents in the title role of this unforgiving comedy drama.
The star of TV’s Silk is mesmerising in a tale that charts the rise of a comic from poverty-stricken childhood to TV wealth.
In flashbacks we’re offered insights into her life and her struggle for survival and identity while suffering abuse, battery and alcoholism.
Carefully credited as a piece of fiction, the story bears some parallels to the early life of Sheffieldborn comedienne and variety star Marti Caine.
The powerful and moving story never shies away from the sexist, racist and homophobic material of the seedy 1970s northern club circuit, where women were expected to be singers, strippers, or both.
There are comic cameos by John Bishop and Vic Reeves, while the songs of Richard Hawley strike an achingly emotional chord. By Christopher Hunneysett
THE GUERNSEY LITERARY & POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY (12A) ★★★ ★★
IN 1994, love was all around director Mike Newell as he shepherded potty-mouthed romantic comedy Four Weddings And A Funeral to a trio of coveted Baftas.
That loving feeling persists in this sweeping tale of self-sacrifice, based on the posthumously published novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
Set predominantly on the island during and after the Second World War, Newell’s chocolate-box romance was filmed in picturesque Devon and is laden with emotional soft centres to guarantee swoons of satisfaction.
Lily James, pictured, casts a warm glow as one point of a tantalising love triangle that provides the framework for a grim history lesson peppered with heartache.
RAMPAGE (12A) ★ ★★★★
IF any proof were needed of humanity’s hubris, look no further than Rampage.
Hundreds of men and women, including four scriptwriters and an army of special-effects wizards, invested thousands of hours of sweat and tears in this outlandish action-packed adventure based on a popular 1980s video game.
The result is a chest-beating behemoth of a blockbuster with no soul, wit, warmth or sincerity.
The ineptitude of Brad Peyton’s film is remarkable, eliciting peals of unintentional laughter with its clumsy dialogue and ham-fisted attempts to create chemistry between muscular lead star Dwayne Johnson and a digitally rendered ape, pictured.