CRY MACHO ★★★☆☆
Directed by Clint Eastwood. Starring Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam, Eduardo Minett, Natalia Traven, Fernanda Urrejola, Horacio Garcia Rojas. 12A cert, gen release, 104 min
When you hear that 91-year-old Eastwood plays a retired rodeo star dispatched to bring an old pal's son back from Mexico, you will worry that M Richard Nash's ancient script may prove a touch…shall we say "problematic"? So it transpires. But such is the actor's arboreal charisma that only those with anthracite where hearts normally sit will be able to resist the growing connection between geezer and youngster. It's creaky. It's clunky. But we are lucky to still see such things in cinemas. It's like turning up the ferry port and encountering a dusty old tea clipper. Full review DC
TICK, TICK…BOOM! ★★★☆☆
Directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Starring Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesús, Joshua Henry, Judith Light, Vanessa Hudgens. 12A cert, limited release, 120 min
Miranda's translation of the late Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical, a cult hit off-Broadway in the early 1990s, asks a lot of even the most indulgent audience. The music has the same AOR feel as Larson's Rent. The celebrations of downtown New York are exhausting. There is so much zip and zest in Andrew Garfield's central turn – not to mention decent singing – that it seems mean-spirited not to let it wash ingenuously over you. The neat structure allows some songs to gain extra dimension. Miranda never forgets he's making cinema. The darn thing just about works." Full review DC
NATURAL LIGHT/TERMÉSZETES FÉNY ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Dénes Nagy. Starring Ferenc Szabó, Tamás Garbacz, László Bajkó, Gyula Franczia. 15A cert, limited release, 103 min
Corporal István Semetka (Szabó) is part of a special unit occupying the Soviet Union during the war. Using two Ukrainian translators, he and his troop are charged with rooting out Soviet partisans or anyone who would fight back against the Nazi interlopers. From the first wintry opening shot, in which hunters hack away at a dead deer, Natural Light is a chilly, unknowable film, one that repeatedly evokes brutality and the more desolate tableaux found in Andrei Tarkovsky's work – but to no clear purpose. The styling of the non-professional Russian cast as maggoty peasants is not a good look. Full review TB
