“I suspect foul play – and I have eliminated no suspects…”
It’s always a joy to see a Serious Actor letting their hair down and having some fun, and this week’s big new releases offer ample opportunity to do just that.
Kristen Stewart makes a full throttle return to franchise land in the rebooted Charlie’s Angels, while Daniel Craig turns detective in murder mystery Knives Out…
New releases
Knives Out
- Cert 12A, 120 mins
- Vue York, City Screen, Everyman
- From Weds Nov 27
- More details
Director Rian Johnson may have polarised Star Wars fans with The Last Jedi, but his new film sounds like something everyone can get on board with.
A murder mystery comedy in the grand Agatha Christie tradition, it sees the assorted members of the dysfunctional Thrombey clan gather to celebrate the 85th birthday of patriarch Harlan (Christopher Plummer), a famous crime novelist.
Proceedings take a rum turn when the old gent is found dead – enter the debonair detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), who has no shortage of suspects and motives to sift through…
Johnson has assembled a cracking cast for this one, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield and Chris Evans (the latter in very un-Captain America form as the family’s gleefully obnoxious black sheep) – and if the glowing reviews are anything to go by, this looks set to be just as much fun to watch as it was for them to make.
Charlie’s Angels
- Cert 12A, 118 mins
- Everyman
- From Fri Nov 29
- More details
Kristen Stewart leads a new crime-fighting trio in this rebooted film version of the classic ‘70s TV show.
The plot sees the rebellious Sabina (Stewart) and fellow Angel Jane (newcomer Ella Balinska) coming to the aid of Elena (Naomi Scott, Aladdin), a programmer who fears her latest project could be used for evil ends.
Writer-director Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect 2) is also on hand as one of Charlie’s ‘Bosleys’ – the Q-type figures who offer guidance to the team – in what Empire have called ‘a fresh, exciting update’ with a performance from Stewart boasting ‘enough comic energy to power an entire country’.
Other screenings
With the clamour of the festive season approaching, the thought of jacking it all in and going to live on a farm has a certain appeal – you can see what happened to one US couple who did just that in documentary The Biggest Little Farm, showing at City Screen throughout the week.
Classic Billy Wilder comedy The Apartment (Sun 1st) is their Vintage Sundays offering, while Tues 3rd sees a reissue of Stanley Kubrick’s final film Eyes Wide Shut (you can also catch it at Vue a few days earlier on Fri 29th), and Roger Daltrey sure plays mean pinball in The Who’s rock opera Tommy on Thurs 5th.
Over at Vue, Kevin Smith fans have one night to check out the director’s resurrection of his two most beloved characters, when Jay and Silent Bob Reboot on Fri 29th, while on the same night Everyman bring another cult classic back to the big screen in the mind-bending form of Donnie Darko.
As well as bringing Jake Gyllenhaal to our attention, it was also the film that spawned a surprise Christmas number 1 in the form of Gary Jules’ cover of Mad World, which kept The Darkness from the top spot in December 2003 – a victory which you suspect would have appealed to Jim Carrey’s titular green meanie in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which screens at Everyman on Sunday 1st.
Everyman also play host to the annual festive face-off between Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman with a late-night screening of Die Hard on Sat 30th.
More wholesome seasonal fare is on offer in CBeebies Christmas Show: Hansel & Gretel (showing at City Screen on Sat 30th and Sun 1st, and Vue on Sun 1st only), while Vue are also showing Elf on Weds 4th and Thurs 5th, and Spark York’s free screening this week is Home Alone (Thurs 5th).
Community Cinema
This isn’t actually until next Friday (6th), but it’s a free event so you may want to book ahead – Film at the Folk Hall are showing acclaimed coming-of-age documentary H is for Harry, followed by a Q&A with the film’s directors.
The film centres on a charismatic 11-year-old boy from a disadvantaged background, who arrives at secondary school unable to read or write.
With the help of Sophie, his extremely dedicated teacher, can he overcome the illiteracy ingrained across generations of his family?
Directors Edward Owles and Jaime Taylor will be present for a Q&A after the film, which shows at the Folk Hall, New Earswick on Friday 6th – doors 6pm, introduction at 6:15 and film starts 6:30. Tickets are free but advance booking is recommended – you can do so via Film at the Folk Hall’s eventbrite page.