Mothers’ Instinct ★★★☆☆
Directed by Benoît Delhomme. Starring Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Josh Charles, Anders Danielsen Lie. 15A cert, gen release, 90 min
Breathtakingly glam thriller concerning rivalries between two early 1960s homemakers — Chastain and Hathaway deserve to be draped in garlands for their performances — who turn deadly rivals after a tragedy. Prepare to swoon at the powder-blue floral jumpsuit that Chastain wears when surreptitiously investigating her rival’s cellar. If Todd Haynes had directed the same cast in the same (fabulous) costumes, with the same screenplay and the same camera setups, Mothers’ Instinct could have turned out a copper-bottomed masterpiece. But he didn’t. Hard to know for sure how much of the camp is intended. Full review DC
The Beautiful Game ★★★☆☆
Directed by Thea Sharrock. Starring Bill Nighy, Micheal Ward, Callum Scott Howells, Sheyi Cole, Robin Nazari, Kit Young, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Valeria Golino, Susan Wokoma. Netflix, 124 min
Undemanding, endlessly sunny sports drama set at the admirable event known as the Homeless World Cup. Nighy plays a former West Ham official who managed the English side. One day he spots a talented stranger (Ward) and signs him on as transformative goal scorer. Within minutes, they are all off to the finals in Rome. The Beautiful Game seems is as much an advertisement for the Homeless World Cup as it is a living, breathing drama. No matter. The views are nice. The 4-a-side action is nippy. And the soundtrack sets the toe tapping. Full review DC
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Kung Fu Panda 4 ★★★☆☆
Directed by Mike Mitchell and Stephanie Stine. Voices of Jack Black, Awkwafina, Bryan Cranston, James Hong, Ian McShane, Ke Huy Quan, Dustin Hoffman, Viola Davis. PG cert, gen release, 94 min
As the fourth film in the animated martial arts sequence opens, the perennially miffed Master Shifu (Hoffman) informs the unstoppable ursine (Black) that he needs to begin training his successor. Po, however, is reluctant to accept an apprentice or a promotion to the administrative-sounding Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace. The scanty writing doesen’t dent the magnanimous-natured enjoyment. A lesser Kung Fu Panda movie remains vastly superior to most mainstream animated features. Newer locations, including Juniper City and the criminal underworld that lies beneath the bustling streets, are fun to explore, even if there’s less skadoosh than before. Full review TB
Disco Boy ★★★★☆
Directed by Giacomo Abbruzzese. Starring Franz Rogowski, Morr Ndiaye, Laetitia Ky. Limited release, 92 min
Following on from his indelible performances in Undine and Great Freedom, one might reasonably suppose that they had witnessed Rogowski at his most haunted. Prepare to be disabused. In Abbruzzese’s electrifying debut, the shapeshifting German actor plays Aleksei, a young Belarusian, who makes a perilous trek through Europe to enlist in the Foreign Legion. Writer-director Abbruzzese was initially inspired by the similarities of bodily mastery required by soldier and dancer, a notion that his wildly imaginative, meticulously crafted script has embellished into the trippiest possible dance movie. The angular choreography is bound to Freudian writings on possessed limbs. Full review TB
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