Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis team up this weekend for the musical fantasy Yesterday, and the Irish coming-of-age story Metal Heart is also on screens.
Yesterday ****
Like an acid trip transported from 1968 and deposited in 2019, this whimsical, alternate universe comedy-fantasy from the apparent odd couple of writer/director team of Richard Curtis and Danny Boyle (below) asks the ultimate music 'what if...?' question - what if The Beatles never existed?
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Well, for a start Alan Partridge would be most dismayed (no Wings!) but on the plus side, no Imagine and no Frog Chorus either. The cleverly titled Yesterday is like the butterfly effect in reverse, really - what are the consequences of wiping the greatest pop act of all time from collective memory?
However, despite the high wire/high concept of the whole endeavour and Boyle's trademark euphoric style of filmmaking, Yesterday somehow slips up along the way and becomes a lot like A Day in the Life in reverse. It starts like Helter Skelter and ends like The Long and Winding Road in a lachrymose pool of Richard Curtis cuteness but it never loses its surreal heart and sense of absurdity. Read our full review here
Metal Heart ***
Irish teen movies could never be considered a genre that spoils give-it-a-go viewers for choice, so kudos to actor-turned-director Hugh O'Conor and co for their services to growing pains.
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Now, Metal Heart isn't up there with the greats from, say, Amy Heckerling (Clueless), John Hughes (The Breakfast Club), Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused) or Penelope Spheeris (Suburbia) - what is? - but it's an easy watch, well cast and acted. And that message of being true to yourself never gets old - no matter how many candles are on the cake.
Chalk-and-cheese fraternal twins Emma (Jordanne Jones) and Chantal (Leah McNamara) are left to fend for themselves when their parents head off on a lengthy adventure holiday. Emma is devoted to decibels, distortion and despair, Chantal has her business plan, and life, all mapped out. Read our full review here.
Still Showing:
Toy Story 4 ****
There was arguably no need to make a fourth Toy Story film, but this outing is undeniably funny and heartfelt and will give you all the warm and fuzzies that only Toy Story can.
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By any other standards Toy Story 4 would be an absolute knockout, but when it follows the masterpiece that was Toy Story 3 it is naturally held to the highest bar. Although it doesn't quite stay at that level of perfection, it feels like a sort of epilogue or added bonus to what has come before it.
The film pulls off the Pixar masterstroke of balancing themes and laughs that really play to the adults who have been with Toy Story from the very beginning, with plenty for audiences that might be discovering the wonder of this world for the very first time - what a treat they are in for. Read our full review here.
Brightburn **
Brightburn takes the superhero and horror genres, mashes them together and hopes for the best.
This undoubtedly interesting concept is botched pretty badly.
Basically flipping the Superman origin story on its head, Brandon Beyer (Jackson A. Dunn) crashed to earth on an alien spacecraft as a baby. He serendipitously lands on the Kansas farm of young couple Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle (David Denman), who are desperately trying, and failing, to conceive. Read our full review here.
