ALSO SHOWING
PREVIEW: ANIMALS (15)
SISTERLY solidarity is tested to breaking point in a booze-soaked dark comedy adapted from the novel by Emma Jane Unsworth.
Laura (Holliday Grainger, pictured) enjoys the nightlife in present-day Dublin to excess with American best friend Tyler (Alia Shawkat). They often wake in the same bed and are inseparable as they chart a haphazard path through their early 30s.
When Laura falls in love with classical pianist Jim (Fra Fee), she contemplates turning her back on the parties, drugs and debauchery to settle down and follow the sensible, suburban example of her sister Jean (Amy Molloy).
Tyler is deeply resentful of Jim and schemes to break up the happy couple by tempting her best friend to stray with writer Marty (Dermot Murphy).
Tyler’s effort to break Laura’s heart rather than sever their bond could backfire spectacularly.
■ Screening in selected cinemas.
HORRIBLE HISTORIES: THE MOVIE – ROTTEN ROMANS (PG)
BASED on Terry Deary’s popular children’s book series, Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans struggles to replicate the breezy, madcap tone of the long-running TV series.
In 54 AD, enterprising Roman teenager Atti (Sebastian Croft) earns the gold coins he needs to buy a new pair of sandals by passing off a vial of horse urine as precious gladiators’ perspiration.
Nero (Craig Roberts) receives the bottle as a present and seeks a fitting punishment for Atti’s deception. “I’ll send you to Britain,” snarls the emperor and he condemns the weakling to serve as a centurion under Decimus (Lee Mack).
Far from home, Atti meets feisty Celt teenager Orla (Emilia Jones, pictured), whose tribe are part of a rebellion against the Roman empire led by fame-hungry Boudicca (Kate Nash), queen of the fearless Iceni.
Atti and Orla develop a touching friendship and work together in the hope of sending the Romans back home with their spears between their legs.
THE CURRENT WAR (12A)
THE year is 1880 and Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch, pictured) is poised to light up a section of New York with his electrical system, aided by personal secretary Samuel Insull (Tom Holland).
The grand unveiling is a rousing success, however, Edison’s reliance on direct current makes it expensive and labour-intensive to convey current over long distances.
Businessman George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) senses an opportunity. He believes that an alternating current system could be cheaper and more efficient. The two men trade verbal blows as their respective businesses duel for supremacy.
Sadly, director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s turgid period drama fails to light up the big screen.