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PICK OF THIS WEEK’S FILMS
X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX (12A)
Don’t be afraid of the Dark Phoenix.
The 12th film in the sprawling X-Men series is a disjointed gallop through genre tropes and predictable narrative twists. There are plenty of tears on screen but not a single droplet from us as super-powered characters make bold sacrifices for people they love and writerdirector Simon Kinberg unleashes a blitzkrieg of spectacular but soulless action sequences to test on-screen alliances to breaking point. Two-time Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain is squandered in a pivotal but thankless supporting role as an otherworldly puppet master, who intends to eradicate mankind from the third rock from the Sun. Digital effects run riot in a bloated second act that delivers carnage on a grand scale with almost no emotional payoff.
LATE NIGHT (15)
All’s fair in love and the war for TV ratings in director Nisha Ganatra’s spiky comedy of modern manners, which provides Dame Emma Thompson with a plum role as a veteran talk show host who has grown complacent and lost touch with her viewers. It’s a lip-smacking delight to see the two-time Oscar winner in full comic flow, tossing out polished one-liners or rejecting one male staff member’s request for a pay rise following the birth of his second child because it represents “the classic sexist argument for the advancement of men in the workplace”.
MA (15)
A group of teenagers get an abject lesson in stranger danger when they ask a lonely woman to buy them alcohol, and end up taking the contraband back to her basement. A couple of jump cuts later and Ma’s basement is inexplicably filled with inebriated, under-supervised juveniles, and more robot dancing than Peter Crouch’s podcast. What ensues is a horror film for the post-Get Out era – Ma aims for fear by social awkwardness, and comes complete with racial undertones, social media scare tactics, and a somewhat botched anti-bullying message.
THUNDER ROAD (15)
Jim Cummings directs, writes and stars in a quirky comedy drama expanded from his award-winning 2016 short film. Police officer Jim Arnaud (Cummings) has an emotional breakdown when his mother dies. A deeply emotional and unconventional eulogy goes viral, forcing Jim’s captain (Bill Wise) to strongly suggest recommend that he take time off work to grieve properly. Instead, Jim throws himself into his work with partner Nate Lewis (Nican Robinson), which results in an unseemly brawl with one suspect.
BOOKSMART (15)
School’s out for the summer but life lessons about sisterly solidarity and abusing the good nature of a teddy bear never end in the raucous rites-of-passage comedy Booksmart. Actress Olivia Wilde identifies herself as a high achiever with a riotous feature film directorial debut, strutting confidently down the same corridors of beautifully articulated teen angst such as Clueless and Mean Girls.
A sorority of four female scriptwriters cram in a dizzying array of pithy and potty-mouthed one-liners between some deeply touching moments of self-reflection and realisation.
The heartfelt hilarity is delivered with genuine warmth and grin-inducing sincerity by the dream team double-act of Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein. They have us rooting for their sassy, self-aware misfits from the moment they prepare for another day at school with impromptu body-popping on the side of the road. These girls are sugar and spice and all things naughty but nice.
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 (U)
In a golden age of sophisticated, multi-layered and technically dazzling animations, which provoke debate, tug heartstrings or simply deliver an adrenaline-rush of pleasure, The Secret Life Of Pets 2 is neither the cat’s meow nor the dog’s... nether regions. Chris Renaud and Jonathan de Val co-direct a tail-wagging sequel to the award-winning 2016 computeranimated comedy, which imagined what our four-legged, feathered and finned friends get up to when our backs are turned. There were flashes of animal magic in the original and the second film has its moments too like a pampered Eskimo dog using a dishwasher as a sauna. In many respects, screenwriter Brian Lynch teaches new dogs old tricks, replaying creature discomforts from the first film for gentle laughs as fluffy protagonists learn that you can’t always gambol away from your fears. Visuals are polished with impressive detail to characters’ fur, wool and plumes.
ALADDIN (PG)
If a blue genie emerged from a magic lamp and granted me three wishes, I’d contemplate using the first to completely overhaul the unconvincing digital trickery in Guy Ritchie’s musical fantasy. Every time the army of special effects wizards casts a spell over this live-action remake of the Oscar-winning 1992 Disney animation, charm and believability vanish in a puff of smoke. Fantasy and reality are at loggerheads throughout Aladdin, never more so than in Will Smith’s motion-captured performance as the wise-cracking inhabitant of the lamp. Materialising as an oversized Smurf with an angry man-bun, the Fresh Prince feels stale and synthetic as he attempts to replicate the quickfire verbal gymnastics performed by Robin Williams in the original film. His performance only catches fire and burns bright when he’s allowed to interact in the flesh with co-stars, leading a spectacular rendition of Prince Ali or nervously courting the princess’s spirited handmaiden (Nasim Pedrad).
ROCKETMAN (15)
Executive produced by Elton John and directed by Dexter Fletcher, Rocketman is an occasionally thrilling but largely conventional biopic that won’t go breaking the hearts of the singer-songwriter’s fans. Scriptwriter Lee Hall, who pirouetted to the Academy Awards with Billy Elliot, attempts to serve John’s competing personalities: moments of quiet introspection for the self-doubting introvert who is emotionally bruised by his childhood, and splashes of eye-popping spectacle for the flamboyant peacock who escapes reality with snorts of nose candy. The polite amalgamation of Bohemian Rhapsody and The Greatest Showman is easy to admire but harder to unabashedly adore, and only truly achieves lift-off in the spectacularly choreographed musical set-pieces that energise a briskly sketched opening hour. Taron Egerton is endearing as Elton John and goes one better than Oscar winner Rami Malek by singing live rather than lip-syncing original vocals. The script doesn’t sidestep John’s homosexuality nor does it convincingly unravel the psychological power struggle between the singer and his manager
Paisley-born John Reid (Richard Madden), who was a similarly toxic presence in Bohemian Rhapsody.
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM (18)
Chad Stahelski returns to the blood-smeared director’s chair for a third instalment of the action-packed franchise about a grief-stricken hit man (Keanu Reeves), who exacts eyewatering revenge for the butchery of his beloved beagle. The script, credited to four writers, adds layers of intrigue but strips back characterisation to the splintered bone in order to focus on impeccably choreographed fight sequences, which reach a whoopinducing crescendo with a showdown in an armoury museum. Reeves and acrobatic extras deliver punishing blows to each other’s faces and torsos while furiously smashing display cases, grabbing guns, knives, axes and other implements to fling through the air with dizzying precision.
THE HUSTLE (12A)
The see-sawing balance of power between embattled sexes tilts violently from preposterousness to tedium in the feature film directorial debut of Welsh stand-up Chris Addison. Credited to four writers who should hang their heads in shame, The Hustle is an excruciatingly misconceived caper, which gender-swaps the con artists and victims of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Addison’s picture certainly left me feeling dirty, jokes are rotten to their potty-mouthed and homophobic core, and the cast and crew might well be labelled scoundrels for attempting to swindle us out of hard-earned cash for this relentlessly unfunny tosh. Oscar winner Anne Hathaway and Pitch Perfect whirlwind Rebel Wilson are gifted performers and fool us into expecting at least one solid punchline every 10 minutes.
THE CORRUPTED (18)
Crime and punishment trade bruising blows in director Ron Scalpello’s gritty crime thriller set against the backdrop of east London’s gleaming skyscrapers and dockside cranes.
Scripted by Nick Moorcroft, The Corrupted is handcuffed to a motley crew of dodgy cops, idealistic journalists and sadistic crimelords who meet foolhardy challenges to their authority with an abattoir bolt pistol to the cranium. These are the kind of morally warped characters who toss rivals into shallow graves and foreshadow downfall with a gnarly one-liner: “Get out now or there’s only two places you’re going to end up: a wooden box or a concrete one!” The Corrupted wears its 18 certificate for strong bloody violence as a badge of honour.