Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem ★★★★☆
Directed by Jeff Rowe. Voices of Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr, Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne, Nicolas Cantu, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd. PG cert, gen release, 99 min
Co-written by Seth Rogen, the latest big-screen take on the half-shelled heroes – scratchy animation influenced by the Spider-Verse films – kicks all predecessors into dust. The basic plot serves as respectable structure on which to hang an escalating series of good-natured gags. The screenplay indulges in nuggets of snark – a quip about Chris Pine as top Chris, for instance – but never allows that smart-aleckery to overpower the key objective. This remains a top-notch effort that implicitly pleads for invention and sincerity in family entertainment. Also notable for having actual, shaky-voiced teenagers voice the heroes. Full review DC
Kokomo City ★★★★☆
Directed by D Smith. Featuring Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell, Dominique Silver. Limited release, 73 min
D Smith’s funky examination of the black transgender experience makes the viewer, however they identify, feel a welcomed part of the busy conversation. That is largely down to the trust the director has established with her subjects. Sex workers Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell and Dominique Silver are, for the most part, interviewed in their homes – on beds, in bathtubs – jawing enthusiastically as they tease apart triumphs, pressures and outrages. Smith, herself a trans woman, makes the most of her limited resources in a tightly edited film shot in luminous monochrome. Vital stuff. DC
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Paris Memories/Revoir Paris ★★★☆☆
Directed by Alice Winocour. Starring Virginie Efira, Benoît Magimel, Grégoire Colin, Maya Sansa, Amadou Mbow, Nastya Golubeva, Anne-Lise Heimburger 15A cert, gen release, 104 min
Drawing from her brother’s experiences at Bataclan in 2015, Winocour explores life after a terrorist attack in contemporary Paris. Efira plays a woman struggling to find a fellow survivor. Her struggle to return to normalcy leaves her feeling alienated at social gatherings and estranged within her marriage. Her initial visits to the survivor’s group only add to her confusion. Her attachment to Thomas (Magimel), another survivor, blossoms as her relationship with Vincent seems to wither. The drama consolidates into a satisfying detective story as she pieces together events. The denouement is dramatically convenient but moving. TB
Maggie Moore(s) ★★☆☆☆
Directed by John Slattery. Starring Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Nick Mohammed, Micah Stock, Happy Anderson, Mary Holland, Louisa Krause. Sky Movies, 99 min
Mary Lou Morris and Mary McGinnis Morris didn’t know each other. But in October 2000 they were both murdered by a hitman. These unsolved twin crimes are the inspiration for this ill-advised comedy. It’s a romance in which a desperate woman attempts to throw herself off a building; it’s a horrific true-life crime story that makes awkward merriment with a cheesecake crumb on a date’s face; it’s a comedy featuring a burnt corpse and a sinister workplace Nazi. Former Mad Man Slattery – who previously helmed the likable God’s Pocket – can’t reconcile a cacophony of incongruous tones. TB
