Don't know what films to watch this week? We have the answers! As the nights draw in and the kids head back to school, our movie man James King is back with his must-see recommendations for young and old.
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See How They Run (cinemas)
Category: Comedy
WATCH: See the official trailer for See How They Run
Fancy a laugh? See How They Run is the funniest film of the year. An all-star cast (Saoirse Ronan, Sam Rockwell, Ruth Wilson, Adrien Brody and David Oyelowo) are clearly having the time of their lives in this cheeky whodunnit set around a murder at a London theatre in the 1950s. The play that was on-stage at the time? Agatha Christie’s legendary The Mousetrap, setting up a plot that’s packed with charming characters (Ronan’s novice police constable is a delight) and witty in-jokes. An ideal tonic for the times.
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Bodies Bodies Bodies (cinemas)
Category: Thriller
If you like your whodunnits more hipster than hilarious, then check out this enjoyably twisted thriller featuring Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give, The Hunger Games), Maria Bakalova (so good in the last Borat movie) and a certain Pete Davison. They star as group of faintly obnoxious twenty-somethings having a party at a big old house and playing a murder mystery game - a game that suddenly becomes worryingly real. It’s topical and buzzy, almost like a scientific experiment: what happens when you lock a bunch of frenemies in a house and turn off the electricity? The answers, unsurprisingly, aren’t pretty.
Pinocchio (Disney+)
Category: Family
Following in the footsteps of The Lion King, Beauty & the Beast and Aladdin, here’s another old-school Disney classic that’s received a live-action remake. The results are immaculate too, with Tom Hanks playing ageing Italian woodcarver Geppetto, a man missing his late son so much that he creates his own toy version, ‘wishing on a star’ for him to come to life. Blending the latest movie technology with traditional fairytale flair, this latest take on Pinocchio may be too considered for some modern children brought up on Pokémon (it certainly starts quite slowly) but there’s still plenty of warm-hearted appeal. Cynthia Erivo and Luke Evans co-star.
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House of Gucci (Amazon Prime)
Category: Drama
Telling the true story of the famous Italian fashion family, focusing specifically on the arrival of one Patrizia Reggiani in the 1970s - a party girl who marries into the dynasty - House of Gucci is a deliciously bonkers real-life romp. Patrizia is played to perfection by Lady Gaga, a natural in the role of a fame hungry diva but who also gives a human side to someone later dubbed ‘The Black Widow’ by the press. Meanwhile Jared Leto, unrecognisable as cousin Paolo Gucci, manages to be hilarious, menacing and ridiculously camp often in the space of just one line of dialogue. Family allegiances are turned, fortunes are lost and romance sours, Patrizia even hiring a hitman to get revenge on her cheating husband Maurizio (Adam Driver). It’s all the stuff of soap-opera… except that this actually happened.
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once (Amazon Prime)
Category: Sci-Fi
A cult hit at the cinema earlier this year, this wickedly weird story of an unlikely saviour of the human race takes the idea of a ‘multiverse’ away from big-budget superhero movies like Dr Strange and Spider-Man and puts it in the hands of a middle aged woman who runs a launderette. The results are spectacular! Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn, an everyday Chinese American laundry owner who discovers she has alternate reality versions of herself. As if that wasn’t enough, she needs to connect them all together in order to stop the destruction of the universe. Mixing kung-fu with comedy, family drama with philosophy, this is the best twisted sci-fi spectacular since The Matrix.
The 355 (Sky Cinema)
Category: Action
Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o and Diane Kruger star in this all action romp about a top secret group of international spies who must work together to save the world. Sound familiar? Well, The 355 is certainly open about wanting to be another James Bond or Mission: Impossible franchise. What makes it different are its all-female leads (boasting three Oscar winners, no less), all seriously charismatic even when the quality of the story doesn’t do them justice.
Tenet (Amazon Prime)
Category: Sci-Fi
From the sparkling mind of filmmaker Christopher Nolan - the brains behind such classy blockbusters as Dunkirk, Inception, and the Batman trilogy - comes this stylish head-scratcher that stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh.
Blending science fiction with a spy story, Tenet will almost certainly hurt your head if you try to completely understand it (think time travel and bending the laws of physics). But with so many awesome set-pieces and spectacular moments, it’s possible to just enjoy the visuals even if you can’t entirely grasp the concept.
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