Bad boy bear Ted is back with another bad taste caper, Paul Rudd lives a bug's life in Ant-Man, animation gem Song of The Sea and the new biopic of beached boy Brian Wilson - read our reviews of all the latest movie releases
Song of The Sea
Director: Tomm Moore
Starring: David Rawle, Brendan Gleeson, Fionnuala Flanagan, Lisa Hannigan, Lucy O'Connell, Jon Kenny, Pat Shortt, Colm Ó Snodaigh
Duration: 93 minutes
Cert: PG+
There may be European backing from a couple of countries, as well as Irish funding, but Cartoon Saloon’s Song of The Sea animation gem, which follows the highly-acclaimed The Secret of Kells feels wholly Irish.
Not Irish in a twee, stagey way, but in a way that is authentic, while making itself accessible to a global audience. The film mixes speech and song in both Irish and English, it has a score by Bruno Coulais, created in collaboration with Irish trad band Kila, which is perfectly sympathetic with the dramatic action. And Song of the Sea doesn’t do American accents . . .
Read Paddy Kehoe's full review here and watch our interview with director Tomm Moore and star David Rawle
Ted 2
Director: Seth MacFarlane
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Amanda Seyfried, Seth MacFarlane, Morgan Freeman, John Slattery
Duration: 115 minutes
Cert: 15A
He’s cruder than your average bear but how low can an all-talking, all-fighting stuffed toy go? Well, in one scene in this inevitable sequel from the warped brow of Seth MacFarlane, Ted and his thunder buddy for life Johnny Bennett (a reliably dumb and likeable Mark Wahlberg) get involved in a accident in a sperm bank which will either have you snorting popcorn kernels or looking away in sheer horror . . .
Read Alan Corr's full review here and watch our interviews with the cast
Ant-Man
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Michael Peña, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, T.I., Abby Ryder Fortson
Duration: 117 minutes
12A
Depending on who you believe, the best things either come to those who wait or in small packages. In Marvel's latest, it's both.
Paul Rudd fans have been dreaming for ages about him getting his own marketed-to-the-hilt starring vehicle proper - something that makes full use of his everyman charm, comedy cool and impeccable timing, and is seen by the widest audience possible. Sure, he had top billing in Role Models, I Love You Man and This is 40, but there was always the feeling in those movies that Rudd had even more to offer. Ant-Man shows just how much . . .
Read Harry Guerin's full review here
Love and Mercy
Director: Bill Pohlad
Starring: John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti
Duration: 122 minutes
Cert: 12A
There have been some superb biopics about musicians - particularly Back Beat and Nowhere Boy, both focusing on Beatle John Lennon, the Ian Curtis flick Control, and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, which tells Ian Dury's story - but until now, Lennon's contemporary, Brian Wilson, was largely overlooked. But it's definitely been worth the wait . . .
Read John Byrne's full review here
Also showing . . .
Amy
Director: Asif Kapadia
Starring: Amy Winehouse, Mitch Winehouse, Janis Winehouse, Yasiin Bey, Mark Ronson, Tony Bennett, Pete Doherty, Tyler James, Salaam Remi, Blake Fielder Civil
Duration: 128 minutes
Cert: 15A
Asif Kapadia’s superb documentary about pop’s lost girl, Amy Winehouse, is shot through with as much heartache and sadness as one of her songs. Winehouse was the brassy, boozy singer with the bird’s nest hair who became a tabloid fixture in the latter stages of her short 27 years - a caricature that all but blotted out the person she really was . . .
Read Alan Corr's full review here and read our interview with director Asif Kapadia here
Minions
Director: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
Starring: Sandra Bullock , Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Jennifer Saunders, Jennifer Saunders, Geoffrey Rush, Steve Carell, Pierre Coffin
Duration: 91 minutes
Cert: U
The yellow numbskulls from Despicable Me get their own spin-off movie and while it’s no ground-breaking Pixar wonderment, Minions will enthral the kids and raise a few wry smiles for the grown-ups . . .
Read Alan Corr's full review here
Terminator Genisys
Director: Alan Taylor
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi, Matt Smith, Courtney B Vance, Byung-hun Lee
Duration: 126 minutes
Cert: 12A
Ol' Red Eyes is back but, be honest: after four films have we really been wishing our celluloid lives away for a reboot of this franchise? In terms of spectacle, so much has happened on screen since the last Terminator film, Salvation, came out in 2009 that the decision to reattach the jump leads really needed to be followed by a tour de force to equal the first two adventures in the series . . .
Read Harry Guerin's full review here
Magic Mike XXL
Director: Gregory Jacobs
Starring: Channing Matthew Tatum, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Amber Heard, Elizabeth Banks, Jada Pinkett Smith, Kevin Nash, Andie MacDowell, Gabriel Iglesias, Adam Michael Rodríguez.
Duration: 115 minutes
Cert: 16
Magic Mike and the gang are back! And this time around the costumes (or lack of) are tighter, the dance moves are raunchier, and as the title suggests, everything is bigger and better. Are you ready for an encore?
Read Laura Delaney's full review here and watch our interviews with the cast
