ALSO SHOWING
PREVIEW: MA (15)
OCTAVIA SPENCER reunites with The
Help director Tate Taylor for a twisted psychological thriller.
Erica ( Juliette Lewis) and her teenage daughter Maggie (Diana Silvers) are new in town and are keen to settle into their close-knit Ohio community. Maggie quickly makes friends and outside a convenience store, she approaches local woman Sue Ann (Spencer, above) to buy alcohol for her underage classmates.
Instead, Sue Ann invites Maggie and pals Haley (McKaley Miller), Darrell (Dante Brown) and Chaz (Gianni Paolo) to her large house to party in the basement, which is unused.
The youngsters are delighted by Sue Ann’s hospitality. The owner has three rules: no one is allowed upstairs in the main house, at least one of the group must stay sober and everyone should address her as “Ma”.
When the agreement is broken, Sue Ann’s kindness turns to toxic obsession and the students realise that a night at Ma’s house is to die for.
ALADDIN (PG) ★★★ ★★
A KIND of magical live-action remake of the Oscar-winning 1992 Disney animation.
Street urchin Aladdin (Mena Massoud), runs amok on the streets of Agrabah with pet monkey Abu. He falls hopelessly in love with Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott, above), who resents the rules imposed by her father, the Sultan (Navid Negahban). Tradition dictates that Jasmine marry a man of similar social standing so Aladdin is denied the thing he desires most.
Meanwhile, the Sultan’s chief adviser Jafar (Marwen Kenzari) plots to seize power using a magic lamp, which lies deep within a Cave Of Wonders in the desert. Only a “diamond in the rough” is permitted to enter, so Jafar dispatches a clueless Aladdin to steal the golden trinket.
Jafar double-crosses Aladdin but the wily “street rat” summons the Genie (Will Smith) and uses the first of three wishes to reinvent himself as a dashing prince – surely a man worthy of Jasmine’s fair hand.
ROCKETMAN (15) ★★★ ★★
OCCASIONALLY thrilling biopic of Elton John, tracing the music legend’s rise to stardom from his early years growing up in Pinner with his mother Sheila (Bryce Dallas Howard) and grandmother Ivy (Gemma Jones).
Reg Dwight (Taron Egerton, above) unlocks his gift for songwriting by forging a creative partnership with Bernie Taupin ( Jamie Bell). Dick James (Stephen Graham), founder of DJM, signs Reg and Bernie to the label and nurtures the raw talents as Reg changes his name to Elton John and finds new purpose with manager John Reid (Richard Madden), who becomes his lover.
For his fans, Elton dons outlandish costumes and embraces his larger-than-life stage persona but behind the scenes, he wrestles with substance abuse, depression and his sexuality.