There’s nothing better than actors who we think we know surprising us with an out-of-character performance. This week’s new movies feature legends Bill Nighy and Daniel Radcliffe doing just that, as well as two of this year’s biggest family movies hitting streaming services. Enjoy!
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Enola Holmes 2 (Netflix)
Category: Family
Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill return as Enola and Sherlock Holmes in this action-packed follow-up that might even be better than the 2020 original. This time round young Enola has set up her own detective agency in 1880s London - although customers are thin on the ground thanks to the simple fact that she’s not her more famous older brother. Then a girl named Bess arrives, looking for her sister, and so begins the unravelling of a giant conspiracy that’s perfect for Enola’s super-sharp, sleuthing brain. More action-packed, expertly-made family fun.
WATCH: Enola Holmes 2 trailer
Living (cinemas)
Category: Drama
Bill Nighy is surely on his way to many awards nominations playing the charmingly restrained character Mr Williams in this new period drama. Forget crazy Bill in Love, Actually or Pirates of the Caribbean. Here he’s a bowler-hat-and-pinstripe-suit-wearing 1950s office worker who only comes out of his shell when, for reasons that become clear when you watch the film, he decides to throw off his shackles and finally starts living. The result is a delicately heartbreaking film - perhaps the best Bill Nighy has ever been - and a beautiful study of what lay beneath all that old-fashioned politeness and etiquette in years gone by.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (The Roku Channel, via Now TV and Sky Q)
Category: Comedy
Daniel Radcliffe shows us how adept he is at getting laughs by playing Weird Al Yankovic, one of the great comedy songwriters and performers who’s been parodying pop songs since the early 80s. If you’ve never heard the eccentric Al spoof the Backstreet Boys ‘I Want It That Way’ (retitled ‘Ebay’) do yourself a favour - it’s genius.
And while Weird is officially a biopic, it’s very much a send-up too, reimagining geeky Al’s life as if he were a rock god in the Elton John or Freddie Mercury vein. Add in cameos from many famous people playing icons (think Lin Manuel Miranda as Michael Jackson, Conan O’Brien as Andy Warhol) plus Evan Rachel Wood as a Madonna who’s totally (and fictionally) in love with Al, and you get the hilariously stupid life story of one of pop culture’s greatest goofballs.
The Bad Guys (Netflix)
Category: Family
San Rockwell and Awkwafina headline the voice talent in this hit animation about a group of animal criminals who pretend to change into model citizens after being caught. The twist? Their leader finds himself genuinely drawn to a more innocent life after a the arrival of a new villain on the block. Based on Aaron Blabey’s book series of the same name, The Bad Guys draws its inspiration from many classic crime capers such as Ocean’s 11 and Pulp Fiction, at the same time as being colourful and zany enough to keep younger viewers happy. And yes, there’s talk of a sequel too.
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Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (rent on all major platforms)
Category: Drama
Just a few weeks after its cinema release, this cosy period charmer starring Lesley Manville as an English cleaning lady is available to watch at home. She plays the title character, a widow who dreams of heading to the French capital to buy a Dior dress. Sure enough, after saving her pennies carefully that dream finally comes true, albeit with a colourful cast of Gallic characters to make her trip even more adventurous than she could ever have imagined. In other hands, a film this nice might have been icky, but with experienced stars such as Manville, Jason Isaacs and Isabelle Huppert on board, you’ll be rooting for Mrs Harris every second of the way.
See How They Run (Disney+)
Category: Comedy
Fancy a classy chuckle? See How They Run is the wittiest 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 clever in-jokes. A sweet and sprightly tonic for the times.
Emily the Criminal (rent or buy on all major platforms)
Category: Thriller
The ever-watchable Aubrey Plaza - who’s currently starring in Season 2 of Sky’s The White Lotus - plays the Emily of the title, a young LA woman with big debts who finds herself immersed deeper and deeper in the criminal underworld as she attempts to make a living. That kind of dark story certainly isn’t going to make you feel good but with such a blistering lead performance from Plaza, you can’t help but be impressed. This is moody drama that packs a serious social punch. Theo Rossi and Gina Gershon co-star.
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