It was a long weekend in Britain, but the much-promised heatwave never materialised. It was warmish, but only sporadically sunny - basically like the entire summer has been. We haven't really had seasons this year, with a mild winter, chilly spring and a summer that has only rarely been warmer than 25C/75F. It's enough to make you want to scream. Thankfully, that's not what Jennifer Hudson was doing in the biopic
Respect. Her performance is simply astonishing, never mimicry but rather inhabiting Aretha Franklin from the inside out, including her distinct way of singing. Her story is powerful too, even if the film feels a little standard (and overlong) for a biopic.
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BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Year of the Everlasting Storm
Shang-Chi • Annette
Misha and the Wolves
PERHAPS AVOID:
The Last Job • Wildfire
ALL REVIEWS > |
Distinctly outside any boundaries, Sion Sono's
Prisoners of the Ghostland stars a gruff Nicolas Cage as a man forced to rescue a damsel (Sofia Boutella) from a Japanese wasteland. It's utterly nuts, and surprisingly enjoyable. Tom Burke stars in
The Show, a colourfully bonkers British horror featuring a parallel reality underworld, or something. And a Canadian horror,
Bloodthirsty, takes a grisly but muted approach to the werewolf genre. All three of these were at FrightFest and have release dates coming soon. A more serious drama from Poland,
The Champion of Auschwitz, recounts the involving true story of a boxer in a Nazi prison camp. It's remarkably grounded and powerful. The nicely observant drama
A Wake digs into a family dynamic after a funeral, then shakes things up with a revelation. And the harrowing, edgy Danish thriller
Shorta follows two cops caught up in an anti-police riot. I also caught up with one that I had missed a couple of weeks back...
Vivodir Kirk DeMicco; voices Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ynairaly Simo 21/US ***.
Sony Animation's first musical was nabbed by Netflix, which made it hard to see on a big screen where its colourfully lush animation would have looked gorgeous. It's a lively tale that follows a cheeky honey bear (Miranda) from Havana who connects with a cheeky teen (Simo) in Key West, leading to a madcap adventure en route to Miami. There's a lot going on along the way, even if the plot itself is pretty simple. But it's populated by wonderfully lively characters (voices include Zoe Saldana, Brian Tyree Henry and the fabulous Gloria Estefan) and several terrific songs too. It's a little gem that adeptly keeps us smiling with a lovely Latin beat.
Films to watch this coming week include Camila Cabello in
Cinderella, Justice Smith in
The Voyeurs, Jon Bernthal in
Small Engine Repair, Jaboukie Young-White in
Dating & New York, coming-of-age drama
Iceland Is Best, queer horror comedy
Death Drop Gorgeous, and the German courtroom drama
The Collini Case. We also have the programme launch for October's London Film Festival.
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