The BFG (PG)
(Steven Spielberg, 2016, UK/Can/US) 117 mins
Spielberg plus Roald Dahl makes this a warm and wholesome summer family movie, which wears its outsized heart on its sleeve and wields its technical wizardry lightly. Mark Rylance is perfectly cast as the dream-catching, vocabulary-mangling vegetarian hero of the title, who finds a soulmate in a typically plucky orphan girl (Ruby Barnhill).
Star Trek Beyond (12A)
(Justin Lin, 2016, US) 122 mins
No particular frontiers are expanded, but this pacy instalment co-scripted by Simon Pegg delivers everything you’d want from a Star Trek movie. A spectacularly staged crash separates the Enterprise’s crew and strands them on an alien planet ruled by a prosthetically enhanced Idris Elba, and it’s going to take some wisecracking teamwork to get them home.
Ghostbusters (12A)
(Paul Feig, 2016, US) 116 mins
Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon give the 1980s franchise a rejuvenating oestrogen injection, brandishing one-liners and proton blasters to vanquish supernatural nuisances and online haters alike. No classic, but it’s goofy fun with a fresh point of view.
Chevalier (18)
(Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2015, Gre) 105 mins
Another bizarro Greek oddity from the Attenberg director, this time putting male social habits under the magnifying glass. Six men on a boat enter into a competition to determine who is “the best overall”, with challenges ranging from cholesterol levels to cleaning skills to Ikea unit assembly. An anti-sports movie with the sardonic spirit of Buñuel.
The Neon Demon (18)
(Nicolas Winding Refn, 2016, Fra/Den/US) 117 mins
An exercise in 21st-century narcissism taken to knowingly absurd extremes, Refn’s latest is sure to confound and appal – but in terms of styling and tone, it’s a triumph. Fashion model Elle Fanning negotiates a Los Angeles that’s equal parts David Lynch, Guy Bourdin and Dario Argento.
