Amy (15)
(Asif Kapadia, 2015, UK) 128 mins
We all know how Amy Winehouse’s story goes, and this documentary puts you right in it, through a combination of key-witness oral history and rigorously sourced archive images – the same technique Kapadia deployed with Senna. Perhaps as a result of this reliance on existing material, the film dwells far longer on the fall than the rise. Viewers get a sense of Winehouse’s promise and personality during the early years, but are then uncomfortably aligned with the paparazzi in spectating her tragic, protracted demise.
Terminator Genisys (12A)
(Alan Taylor, 2015, US) Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney 126 mins
Another attempt to spark some life into the ailing cyborg franchise, and this pays homage to all that went before while completely messing with it, throwing an aged Arnie and other Terminator alumni into the CGI mix to confusing/sacrilegious/numbing effect.
Magic Mike XXL (15)
(Gregory Jacobs, 2015, US) Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello. 115 mins
The walking, dancing, thrusting stripper posse oil up one last time for a southern road trip that will go down well with hen parties and other connoisseurs of man-flesh, but really didn’t need making.
All American High Revisited (NC)
(Keva Rosenfeld, 2014, US) 85 mins
Rosenfeld’s little-seen 1984 doc captured the youth culture of the era in all its Ridgemont High-style variety; now it’s been appended with updates on its characters, 30 years on.
Still The Water (15)
(Naomi Kawase, 2014, Fra/Jap/Spa) Nijiro Murakami, Jun Yoshinaga, Miyuki Matsuda. 119 mins
Nature, spiritualism, love and the occasional goat-slaughtering are all part of life on this semi-tropical Japanese island idyll, though the teen romance at its centre moves slowly.
The First Film (PG)
(David Wilkinson, 2015, UK/Fra/US) 110 mins
Is the birthplace of cinema Leeds? Wilkinson tries to establish as much, claiming that Louis Le Prince created the world’s first film (in 1888) and investigating his mysterious death.
Comet (15)
(Sam Esmail, 2014, US) Justin Long, Emmy Rossum, Eric Winter. 87 mins
Love and editing can’t quite conquer all, but this fragmented, time-jumping study of a fraught relationship at least attempts to buck the formula.
Housebound (18)
(Gerard Johnstone, 2014, NZ) Morgana O’Reilly, Rima Te Wiata, Glen-Paul Waru. 107 mins
A teen delinquent’s home detention is the start of a New Zealand supernatural caper that interweaves horror, comedy and family drama to agreeably unpredictable effect.
Magician: The Astonishing Life And Work Of Orson Welles (12A)
(Chuck Workman, 2014, US) 91 mins
The brilliance and tragedy of Welles’s career is authoritatively, unfussily documented here, with contributions from the likes of Martin Scorsese, Jeanne Moreau, Peter Bogdanovich and Welles’s daughter.
Out from Friday
Fare Thee Well Grateful Dead’s farewell gig from the night before. Mon only
Ted 2 Talking teddy fights for his rights. Out from Wed
Love & Mercy Brian Wilson biopic with John Cusack and Paul Dano.
Dear White People Smart satire of modern racial attitudes.
The Choir Dustin Hoffman and Eddie Izzard teach a troubled boy to sing.
Song Of The Sea Mythological Irish animation.
P’Tit Quinquin Detective comedy with Bruno Dumont.
The Reunion Swedish artist Anna Odell stages a fraught school reunion.
The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) The last in this body-horror triptych.
Touch Of Evil Orson Welles’s thriller re-edited.
Coming soon
In two weeks... Paul Rudd packs a tiny punch as Ant-Man… Ryan Reynolds and Ben Kingsley fight over a body in sci-fi Self/less…
In three weeks... Pixar’s mind-blower Inside Out… Killer comedy from Robert Carlyle in The Legend Of Barney Thomson…
In a month... More risky business for Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation… Reese Witherspoon’s buddy comedy Hot Pursuit…
