PICK OF THIS WEEK’S FILMS

NATIVITY ROCKS! (U) NOBODY’S FOOL (15)

When you hit rock bottom, the only way is up. That’s certainly true of writer-director Debbie Issit’s series of improvised comedies, which began in 2009 with the rollicking Nativity!, a feelgood treat steeped in festive cheer. The fourth instalment is a small step in the right direction after the miserable Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?, which shamelessly tugs heartstrings by addressing the global refugee crisis alongside the usual yuletide tomfoolery. Musical theatre star Simon Lipkin fizzes with energy in every frame as man-child teaching assistant Mr Poppy, even when the film around him is stagnating, while Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood would be hard pushed to describe his pantomime villain as fab-u-lous. The climactic stage performance to justify Coventry’s claim as Christmas Town of the Year is sweetly shambolic if overlong, reuniting characters with a generous sprinkling of tears.

Fools rush in to watch writer-director Tyler Perry’s crass comedy about a high-flying advertising executive (Tika Sumpter), who can market any product to gullible consumers and has bought into the idea of a perfect guy to sweep her off her feet. Painfully short on laughter and charm, Nobody’s Fool claims to be selling us female empowerment and sisterly solidarity to a soundtrack of Janet Jackson and Boyz II Men. Girl power runs on empty from the glossy opening scenes and our enthusiasm fails to recharge with the introduction of Girls Trip breakout star Tiffany Haddish as a potty-mouthed jailbird, who makes her inglorious entrance astride a male co-star inside a car filled with dope fumes.

Perry’s script turns up the volume on the profanities and strips away the veneer of likeability from his emotionally wounded heroine, who was dumped by her beau shortly after she bought a wedding dress. On this evidence, he had a lucky escape.

FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD (12A)

Family trees bear poisonous fruit and their roots run deeper than any ardent fan of the wizard world of JK Rowling might have dared to dream in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald. Written for the screen by the bestselling author, David Yates’ frequently thrilling sequel continues to expand and enrich mythologies beyond the wonder years of Harry Potter and his Hogwarts alumni.

Not by accident, the impassioned pureblood rhetoric spouted by dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) dances to the same divisive drums as US President Donald Trump’s controversial nationalism. Eddie Redmayne endears us even more to his socially awkward loner as he brandishes a wand in the name of creatures great and monstrous. Production design and costumes are a heaving banquet for the eyes, garnished throughout with special effects conjured by an unseen army of digital wizards.