Kneecap ★★★★☆
Directed by Rich Peppiatt. Starring Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, JJ Ó Dochartaigh, Michael Fassbender, Josie Walker, Simone Kirby, Jessica Reynolds. 16 cert, gen release, 105 min
The eponymous Belfast hip-hop trio cause havoc in a highly fictionalised biopic. The film really does bear comparison with the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. For the most part, Kneecap adroitly manages the balance between provocation and reconciliation. Not for the first time, talented rappers confirm their gifts are useful for creating characters before the camera. All three prove flexible, charismatic actors, and the film juggles its political arguments with some adroitness. Fassbender offers important support as a republican volunteer who struggles with new realities. Meanwhile, the film offers practical evidence that progress can be a blast. Full review DC
It Ends with Us ★★★☆☆
Directed by Justin Baldoni. Starring Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Brandon Sklenar. 15A cert, gen release, 130 min
Lily Boom (played by an ornately Lively), is not just a florist; she’s the creator of ravishingly beautiful horticultural arrangements. Her love interest, Ryle (effectively played by a double-jobbing Baldoni), is not just a neurosurgeon; he’s a ripped, impossibly charming neurosurgeon. Even the film’s superbly named homeless character Atlas Corrigan, is a glamourpuss. But this Colleen Hoover adaptation is not a romcom but a drama concerning the intergenerational nature of domestic violence. It’s an odd narrative development to encounter in an otherwise pretty popcorn movie. But billions of BookTok readers can’t be wrong. Right? Full review TB
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Tuesday ★★★★☆
Directed by Daina O Pusić. Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lola Petticrew, Leah Harvey, Arinzé Kene. 15A cert, limited release, 112 min
Louis-Dreyfus, working every acting muscle, is Zora, an awkward, absent mom, selling taxidermy figurines and sleeping in the park to avoid her terminally ill teenage daughter. Death is introduced as a shape-shifting Macaw. The bird and the ailing teen strike a strange bargain: she bathes him and he allows her to wait for her mother. Personifications of death have stalked cinema in the guise of Frederic March (Death Takes a Holiday), Jessica Lange (All That jazz), and Brad Pitt (Meet Joe Black). But he has seldom squawked so appealingly. Tremendous performances keep it aloft. TB
Borderlands ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Eli Roth. Starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Edgar Ramírez, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Gina Gershon, Jamie Lee Curtis. 12A cert, gen release, 100 min
Noisy, unpretentious, unexpectedly starry adaptation of the eponymous first-person shooter videogame starring Blanchett (!) as an irreverent bounty hunter adrift in a western-themed alternative universe. Starts off reasonably well with lots of lurid action and titter-worthy quips. Unfortunately the longer the thing goes on, the less it ceases to be good honest rubbish and the more it expects us to care about the stupid, stupid plot. Console junkies will find themselves involuntarily hammering an imagined X button in the hope of getting back to the gameplay. No luck. You’re stuck with it. Full review DC
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