Love & Mercy (12A)
(Bill Pohlad, 2014, US) Paul Dano, John Cusack, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti. 121 mins
Rock biopics: so hard to do well, even with a subject as noteworthy as Brian Wilson. But this one avoids the wearisome “rise, fall, comeback” structure by splitting the narrative into two: mid-60s Wilson (Dano) peeling away from the sunny Beach Boys shtick and his own sanity, and post-meltdown 1980s Wilson (Cusack), virtually captive to his scary therapist. What’s more, it really cares about the music – both in the studio and inside Wilson’s head. It’s a double-disc concept album of a biopic.
Ted 2 (15)
(Seth MacFarlane, 2015, US) Mark Wahlberg. 116 mins
The talking teddy goes to court in this stoner sequel, fighting for his rights to become a parent, but never straying far from MacFarlane’s comfort zone of race/dick jokes, for better or worse. Mostly worse.
Dear White People (15)
(Justin Simien, Adriana Serrano, 2014, US) Tessa Thompson, Tyler James Williams. 104 mins
The idea of the “post-racial” Obama era is shot down in a rapid-fire, super-smart campus satire, which follows its mostly African American students through the maze of modern race politics. It’s more playful than confrontational, but full of home truths and killer lines.
P’Tit Quinquin (NC)
(Bruno Dumont, 2014, Fra) Alane Delhaye, Lucy Caron, Bernard Pruvost. 200 mins
The string of gruesome deaths is almost secondary to Dumont’s transcendently subversive mystery (originally a TV miniseries), which mixes earthy rural realism, absurdist comedy and philosophical questioning. A real original.
Song Of The Sea (PG)
(Tomm Moore, 2014, Ire/Den/Bel/Lux/Fra) David Rawle, Brendan Gleeson, Lisa Hannigan. 94 mins
Gorgeous to behold and beautifully told, this hand-drawn animation feels like an Irish Miyazaki movie, with its combination of fantastical indigenous folklore and heartfelt family trauma.
The Choir (PG)
(François Girard, 2014, US) Dustin Hoffman, Garrett Wareing, Eddie Izzard. 103 mins
A young tearaway learns about respect and discipline via an elite boys’ choir and their tough-but-fair conductor (Hoffman), making for a rather melodramatic feelgood.
The Reunion (15)
(Anna Odell, 2013, Swe) Anna Odell, Anders Berg. 90 mins
Artist-provocateur Odell confronts her former tormentors during a fictional school reunion, then complicates matters in the second half by interviewing her ex-classmates – who didn’t invite her to their real-life one.
Touch Of Evil (12A)
(Orson Welles, 1958, US) Charlton Heston, Orson Welles, Janet Leigh. 111 mins
Welles’s border-town noir masterpiece, just as radical and influential as Citizen Kane in its way. This is the 1998 version, re-edited to Welles’s original intentions.
The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) (18)
(Tom Six, 2015, US) Bree Olson, Eric Roberts. 103 mins
Only those insufficiently disgusted by the previous two movies will enjoy this desperately depraved medical horror, set in a Texas prison, where the options for human cruelty are fully explored.
Out from Friday
The Wonders Cannes-winning Italian drama centred on an independent-minded family.
Ant-Man Paul Rudd takes on his smallest challenge as Marvel’s insect-sized superhero.
The Salt Of The Earth Wim Wenders’s documentary on esteemed photographer Sebastião Salgado.
True Story Jonah Hill and James Franco in a strange case of identity theft and journalistic ethics.
Self/less Futuristic sci-fi in which Ben Kingsley upgrades to Ryan Reynolds’s body.
13 Minutes Downfall director Oliver Hirschbiegel on the man who nearly killed Adolf Hitler.
The Gallows Jumpy teen horror revolving around a cursed school play.
The Ecstasy Of Wilko Johnson The Dr Feelgood guitarist faces mortality (with a smile) in Julien Temple’s latest doc.
Thomas And Friends: Sodor’s Legend Of The Lost Treasure Train-related adventures, with Eddie Redmayne and John Hurt among the voices.
Coming soon
In two weeks… Pixar’s mind-blower Inside Out… Killer comedy from Robert Carlyle in The Legend Of Barney Thomson…
In three weeks… More risky business for Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation… Reese Witherspoon’s buddy comedy Hot Pursuit…
In a month… Another reboot for Fantastic Four… Jason Bateman in creepy thriller The Gift…
