Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ★★☆☆☆
Directed by James Mangold. Starring Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore, Mads Mikkelsen. 12A cert, gen release, 154 min
Jones fights Nazis in the 1960s as the sequence reaches its fifth iteration. The first films allowed for behind-the-scenes specials that were the most exciting production curtain-raisers since Ray Harryhausen combined stop-motion and miniatures. With a hefty $295 production budget, this is the best counterfeit money can buy. Mangold maintains a breakneck pace, an efficiency that hides a multitude of sins. Why bother to hire a cinematographer of Phedon Papamichael’s calibre only to lacquer every shot with a puked-carrot orange hue? Why did four credited scriptwriters fail to pen a decent zinger for Waller-Bridge? Ford, at least, does his best to save the day. Full review TB
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken ★★★☆☆
Directed by Kirk DeMicco. Voices of Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Jane Fonda, Annie Murphy, Colman Domingo, Jaboukie Young-White. PG cert, gen release, 91 min
An awkward 16-year-old was never going to enjoy hearing the words: “Your body’s going through changes”, from her dad. And when those changes include changing into a gigantic mythological sea monster, it’s especially squirm-making. The filmmakers are spinning a lot of plates with Ruby Gillman, which can’t decide if it’s a Turning Red-style menstrual metaphor, a generational conflict story, a Nickelodeon teen diary sitcom or Harry Potter except with creatures of the deep. It’ll do well enough for summer-break popcorn lovers, but as DreamWorks Animations go, it’s no How to Train Your Dragon. Full review TB
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Run Rabbit Run ★★★☆☆
Directed by Daina Reed. Starring Sarah Snook, Lily LaTorre, Damon Herriman, Greta Scacchi, Naomi Rukavina, Trevor Jamieson. Netflix, 100 min
Reasonably effective Australian entry in the scary starey child school of horror. Snook, shooting on a Succession hiatus, plays a character bombarded by miseries handed through the generations. Her father has recently died. She is estranged from a mother in care (the always welcome Scacchi). Her own daughter (LaTorre) is exhibiting the sort of behaviour that would remind parents of horror films even if they were not themselves in a horror film. Too many of the shocks are overly familiar, but Run Rabbit Run gets by on sustained atmosphere and first-rate performances from actors of three generations. Full review DC
Hello, Bookstore ★★★★☆
Directed by AB Zax. Featuring Matthew Tannenbaum, Shawnee Tannenbaum, Sophie Tannenbaum. Limited release/VOD, 86 min
Charming documentary on one Matthew Tannenbaum’s efforts to keep his bookshop in Lenox, Massachusetts afloat during the Covid lockdown. There is a structure to Zax’s film. Tannenbaum realises that the sums are not adding up. He attempts to do something about it. That plan ends how it ends. But, for the most part, Hello, Bookstore potters along in anecdotal, amiably ramshackle fashion. Speaks to all those who stay loyal to their local bookseller despite the ravages of online merchants and the rise of the impersonal reading tablet. There is hope here. Full review DC
