Sunset Song (15)
(Terence Davies, 2015, UK/Lux) Agyness Deyn, Peter Mullan, Kevin Guthrie. 133 mins
Having captured vintage domestic life so brilliantly in Distant Voices, Still Lives, Davies is faced with a bigger challenge here, adapting Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Scottish country novel. It’s a tale of hostile landscapes – internal and external – and a farm-girl hero who is put through a wringer of hardships: patriarchal abuse, family deaths, the first world war and more. Davies’s deliberate, muted storytelling is somewhat at odds with this sweeping narrative, even if it’s all ravishing to behold.
Victor Frankenstein (12A)
(Paul McGuigan, 2015, US) Daniel Radcliffe, James McAvoy, Jessica Brown Findlay. 110 mins
Less than the sum of its scavenged body parts, this awkward reimagining brings very little that is new to the tale, save an emphasis on Radcliffe’s assistant Igor.
The Night Before (15)
(Jonathan Levine, 2015, US) Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie. 101 mins
Three not-very-wise dudes meet up on Christmas Eve for a messy, sporadically amusing night of party-hunting, comedy sweaters, and touching life crises.
Krampus (15)
(Michael Dougherty, 2015, US) Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner. 98 mins
The dark spirit of anti-Christmas is summoned in this comedy-horror fable, aiming for a Gremlins-style tone of festive fear.
The Show Of Shows (12A)
(Benedikt Erlingsson, 2015, Ice/UK) 76 mins
Sigur Rós score a flowing montage of archive circus, vaudeville and fairground footage. As well as clowns and acrobats you get archaic oddities such as child boxers and horse-riding tigers.
Christmas With The Coopers (12A)
(Jessie Nelson, 2015, US) Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Ed Helms. 107 mins
What happens when a dispersed, dysfunctional family gets together? Pretty much the same things that always happen, thus wasting a spectacular cast.
The Lesson (15)
(Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov, 2014, Bul/Gre) Margita Gosheva, Ivan Barnev, Ivan Savov. 111 mins
A superior slice of Dardenne brothers-style social realism from Bulgaria, where a teacher is sucked into the poverty trap by debts, loan sharks and bureaucracy.
Chemsex (18)
(William Fairman, Max Gogarty, 2015, UK) 81 mins
Exploring a gay male subculture of intravenous drugs and weekend-long sex parties, this revealing documentary combines shock value with serious health issues, warning of a new HIV outbreak.
The Honourable Rebel (PG)
(Mike Fraser, 2015, UK) Diana Rigg, Dorothea Myer-Bennett, James Hender. 97 mins
The eventful life of Elizabeth Montagu – aristocrat, actor, musician, secret agent and much more – is told via narrated autobiography (by Rigg), interviews and dramatised scenes.
Future Shock! The Story Of 2000AD (15)
(Paul Goodwin, 2014, UK) 107 mins
Veterans of the seminal, Judge Dredd-spawning British sci-fi comic reminisce at length over its history and influence, in a doc that verges on shop talk.
Out from Friday
Essex Boys: The Truth Gangland doc. Out from Sun
By The Sea Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt give us a marital meltdown, 1970s Europe-style.
Grandma Lily Tomlin plays a bohemian old-timer.
Hector Peter Mullan as a stoic vagrant.
Ice And The Sky A French climate scientist’s global warming warning.
Swung A couple spice up their sex life with swinging; what could go wrong?
When Harry Met Sally Reissue for the seminal modern romcom.
Audition Reissue for Takashi Miike’s horror.
The Forbidden Room Guy Maddin constructs an intricate Chinese puzzle of silent-era surrealism.
Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict Bio-doc of the famous patron who did more than simply collect art.
Grazing The Sky International documentary on the pain and gain of modern circus acrobats.
Rise Of The Footsoldier II The further exploits of Essex gangster-hooligan Carlton Leach.
Coming soon
In two weeks… A new Jedi generation in Star Wars: The Force Awakens… Amy Poehler and Tina Fey in Sisters…
In three weeks… Good grief, it’s The Peanuts Movie… Chris Hemsworth and Cillian Murphy are adrift In The Heart Of The Sea…
In a month… Jennifer Lawrence is the boss in Joy… Eddie Redmayne crosses the gender line in The Danish Girl…
