Saoirse Ronan is back on screens and tough as nails in Mary Queen of Scots; racism drama Monsters and Men showcases a great performance by John David Washington; Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet bring a true story of drug addiction to cinemas in Beautiful Boy and Glass puts Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson and James McAvoy together for the sequel to Split.
Mary Queen of Scots ****
This week's Brexit film sees Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie face off in a scene that has been described by first-time feature director Josie Rourke as "a kind of Renaissance version of Heat".
Now, it's in no way as iconic as De Niro and Pacino's encounter, but it's certainly more memorable than much of the guff we've heard in recent months/years and shows two of the best of their generation matching each other word for word as their characters try to hang on to power.
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Essentially two stories playing out in parallel with the central duo only meeting for the finale, Mary Queen of Scots sees the widowed young monarch (Ronan) arriving on the shores of her kingdom and drawing the line about what she will and won't do in her dealings with first cousin once removed Queen Elizabeth I (Robbie). Read our full review here.
Monsters and Men ***1/2
Issues of racism, police brutality and taking a knee are at the forefront of Monsters and Men, as we gain insight into the lives of three men from the same neighbourhood on journeys to reckon with the injustices and inequalities they face on a daily basis.
The focus of the film shifts from one character to the next, and their paths never cross, though each is differently impacted by the shooting of a black man by the police.
The structure works well, but the script could be better and we only see glimmers of real insight into what the characters are really thinking. Read our full review here.
Beautiful Boy ****
"There are moments that I look at him, this kid that I raised, who I thought I knew inside and out and I wonder who he is."
Steve Carell gets into the headspace of parents everywhere with his cry for help in Beautiful Boy - the true story of the devastation addiction visits on both a father and son, based on the memoirs of David and Nic Sheff.
Nic (Timothée Chalamet) turns 17 with what appears to be the brightest of futures, only to become hooked on crystal meth. As his journalist father David (Carell) scrambles to 'save' him and learn as much as he can about addiction the film moves back and forth through their lives together. We see the sweetest moments, the darkest of nights and a number of new dawns, never losing sight of the fact that this could happen to anyone. Read our full review here.
Glass **
Having enjoyed a career rebirth with The Visit and Split, director M Night Shyamalan manages to once again put a brick through his own shop window with Glass. This sequel to Split and Unbreakable is the weakest of the triptych and may require superhero levels of patience from even the most devoted fans of the genre.
Picking up after that brilliant epilogue to Split, Glass brings Samuel L Jackson's titular villain, James McAvoy's deeply disturbed Kevin Wendell Crumb and Bruce Willis' poncho-wearing vigilante David Dunn face to face for the first time.
The setting is a psychiatric hospital where mass murderer Elijah Price - aka Mr Glass - has been a patient since the events in Unbreakable. Serial killer Crumb arrives after he and Unbreakable's Dunn are caught fighting it out on the streets of Philadelphia. Assessing them all is Dr Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), who specialises in treating people with superhero delusions. Read our full review here.
Still Showing:
The Front Runner ***
The Front Runner starts strong but runs out of steam before reaching the finish line.
The film tells the true story of former United States senator Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman) as he made a bid to become the democratic candidate for the presidency, and the events in his personal life which led to him dropping out of the race.
Beginning with a clever, snappy montage of political reporters and the news cycle in action, The Front Runner gets off to a pacey, attention grabbing start, but it fails to hold that vigour.
It’s unusual to see Jackman in an unlikable role, and at times he's excellent as the politician, but there's something missing from his performance, and the film throughout, that stops it from ever becoming more than just watchable. Read our full review here.
Stan & Ollie *****
If January feels like pushing a piano up a stairs, don't fret: help is on the way.
In roles that have the whiff of destiny amidst the greasepaint, Steve Coogan and John C Reilly have proven themselves to be the only double act to play the greatest of double acts. This beautiful story about friendship, forgiveness and why the show must go on turns out to be the best film Laurel and Hardy never made.
Set in 1953, it follows them as hard-up household names, lugging a trunk around the music halls of the UK and Ireland as they wait for a big screen comeback to take shape. Stan (Coogan) is fooling himself about what's left of his showbiz clout. Ollie's (Reilly) health is failing. The venues are half empty on a good night. Backstage, there are old wounds that have yet to be acknowledged, never mind heal. Somehow, between Carlisle and Cobh, they manage to turn disaster into triumph. Love 'em and weep indeed. Read our full review here.
Colette ***1/2
That old saying about how easy reading is damn hard writing comes to mind watching Colette, as Keira Knightley's trailblazing author stays shtum while her rogue of a husband takes all the credit for putting pen to paper.
The wait to see how she'll finally get her due provides all of the suspense in this episodic film - a decent biopic with an excellent performance by its star.
The long and winding road to emancipation depicted by director Wash Westmoreland takes in the penny dropping about one's own worth, sexual politics and technological and societal change. As a force of nature, it's a mystery as to why there hasn't been more of Colette on screens. Read our full review here.
The Upside **1/2
Having dealt with plenty of drama off-screen in recent weeks, Kevin Hart is out to show he can handle the serious stuff just as well as co-star Bryan Cranston in The Upside - a remake of the French box office phenomenon Les Intouchables. In this case, the Oscars-host-who-might-have-been gets the job done.
Following his parole, hustler Dell (Hart) is on a box-ticking exercise with prospective employers when a mix-up sees him sitting with a roomful of over-qualified candidates in a Manhattan penthouse, and not interviewing for the caretaker job below.
The client is Phillip (Cranston), a multi-millionaire entrepreneur and author who is quadriplegic following a paragliding accident. His compulsion to push everyone away sees him meet his match in Dell - a tough talker with basement level empathy. For devilment and a darker motive, Phillip offers Dell the job. Read our full review here.
