1 It (15)
(Andrés Muschietti, 2017, US) 135 mins
Expectations have been set unrealistically high for the Stephen King-based scary-clown horror, but this polished rendition should satisfy fans, even if Stranger Things has stolen its thunder. The story is similar, in terms of likable 1980s preteen misfits banding together against a smalltown terror: Bill Skarsgård’s genuinely creepy Pennywise the clown.
2 God’s Own Country (15)
(Francis Lee, 2017, UK) 105 mins
Earthy sensuality, rugged landscapes and understated tenderness make for a first-rate English drama, hinging on the tentative romance between a troubled Yorkshire farmer’s son (Josh O’Connor) and a Romanian hired hand (Alec Secareanu). It’s a beautifully told story, unsentimental in its portrayal of tough, precarious rural life.
3 The Work (15)
(Jairus McLeary, 2017, US) 89 mins
Masculinity is stripped to its fundamentals in this astonishing documentary observing an intense, four-day group therapy session at California’s Folsom State Prison. The participants are a mixture of long-term inmates and curious outsiders. We join them as they go to places within themselves they never imagined.
4 The Limehouse Golem (15)
(Juan Carlos Medina, 2017, UK) 109 mins
A gothic murder investigation becomes a revisionist survey of Victorian London in this dark horror-thriller, with feminism, media sensationalism, class division and even Karl Marx in its scope. Bill Nighy is fittingly funereal as a detective assigned to catch a Ripper-style murderer, with Olivia Cooke playing a stage star and murder suspect.
5 Logan Lucky (12A)
(Steven Soderbergh, 2017, US) 119 mins
A terrific cast (Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough for starters) and a shambolic, atypical heist make for an effortlessly entertaining comedy, with just enough relevance to here-and-now America to make it more than a mere trifle.
