ON THE SMALL SCREEN
FINDING THE WAY BACK (15)
★★★★★
HIGH-RISE construction worker Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck, right) secretly fills his portable coffee mug with vodka to get him through the day and blot out memories of his failed marriage and the loss of his eight-year-old son to cancer. Out of the blue, Father Devine (John Aylward) from Jack’s Catholic high school, Bishop Hayes, offers the former star player a position as coach of the student basketball team. Reluctantly, Jack accepts the position, flanked by mathematics teacher and assistant coach Dan (Al Madrigal). With Jack’s foul-mouthed encouragement, the team gradually improves, but the coach’s reliance on booze threatens to undermine his good work.
Finding The Way Back is a heartfelt and familiar tale of redemption.
■ Available to download/ stream from July 10
SCOOB! (PG)
★★★★★ AS A boy, lonely misfit Shaggy (voiced by Will Forte) encounters a thieving dog on Venice Beach and adopts the stray, christening his four-legged best friend Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) – middle name Doobie. Boy and mutt (pictured) join a crimesolving gang of students comprising Fred Jones (Zac Efron), Daphne Blake (Amanda Seyfried) and Velma Dinkley (Gina Rodriguez). The Mystery, Inc gang hopes to expand and Simon Cowell (as himself) offers investment on the proviso that the business jettisons “weakest links” Shaggy and Scooby. The dejected pals are targeted by archvillain Dick Dastardly’s (Jason Isaacs) mechanised minions. Can Shaggy’s superhero idol Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg) and companion Dynomutt the Dog Wonder (Ken Jeong) save the day?
Scoob! is a briskly orchestrated origin story that repeatedly references the Hanna-Barbera TV series.
■ Available to download/ stream from July 10.
GREYHOUND (12)
★★★★★
THE Battle of the Atlantic, a gruelling military campaign in the Second
World War, provides a tumultuous backdrop to director Aaron
Schneider’s rousing tale of heroism at sea. Adapted by lead actor Tom Hanks from CS Forester’s novel The Good Shepherd, Greyhound is set in February 1942. Commander Ernest Krause (Hanks, pictured) assumes his first command at the helm of the US destroyer Greyhound, one of four armed military units escorting 37 ships to Liverpool. These vessels are laden with supplies for the allied war effort and it is imperative they reach England. Air support can fend off German U-boats for part of the journey – but for a long section of the treacherous North Atlantic known as The Black Pit, the destroyers are the convoy’s sole protection from torpedoes.
Around 50 hours from rendezvous with British air support, the convoy picks up sonar signals from a pack of German U-boats. Over two hellish days, Krause must attempt to outmanoeuvre the enemy.
■ Availbale from July 10 on Apple TV+.