Out on Friday 21 October
Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner. A chess story with predictable moves. Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake voice dancing gnomes.
Yes, here's this week's new releases. Click on for our reviews of I, Daniel Blake, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Keeping Up with the Joneses, Queen of Katwe, Trolls, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Sonita, In Pursuit of Silence, and Phantom Boy.
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I, Daniel Blake
Social realism stalwart Ken Loach threatened retirement after 2014’s Jimmy’s Hall, but is back with his best for some years. This Newcastle-set tale follows 59-year-old carpenter Daniel (Dave Johns), ordered not to work by his doctor as he recovers from a heart attack, but told by a box-ticking welfare-state functionary that he must actively seek employment or else lose his job-seeker’s allowance.
Entwined with his heartbreaking, rage-making tale is that of single mum Katie (Hayley Squires), forced to relocate with her two kids from a London hostel to the North East, where she has no friends or family to support her.
Written by Loach’s frequent scribe Paul Laverty and shot with plenty of warmth but zero fuss by ace DoP Robbie Ryan, this is a plainly told drama that never loses sight of its leads as they navigate a maze of Kafka-esque bureaucracy.
A couple of scenes are perhaps too on the nose, but the naturalistic performances are faultless, the righteous anger controlled, and the bleakness dotted with moments of humour and small acts of kindness. I, Daniel Blake is, first and foremost, a deeply humanistic film.
VERDICT: The 80-year-old director still has plenty of fire in his belly. Warm, belligerent and, in places, unbearably moving.
Director: Ken Loach; Starring: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires; Theatrical release: October 21, 2016
Jamie Graham
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
Be thankful that Tom Cruise did go back: though lacking the suspense of Christopher McQuarrie’s 2012 original – or, for that matter, an antagonist fit to lick the blood from Werner Herzog’s chewed-off fingers – this sequel sees Cruise grow into the titular role of the tough, taciturn ex-military investigator.
Even better, The Last Samurai director Edward Zwick services the noir-tinged plot and short, sharp action beats, but is more interested in finding the man beneath the machine.
Based, loosely, on the 18th novel in Lee Child’s series, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back sees our hard-arse hero head for Washington to visit the woman doing his old job, Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders). Arriving to find she’s been jailed for espionage, he busts her out and the two of them hunt down the truth – or make that three of them, for Reacher learns that teen tearaway Sam (Danika Yarosh) might be his daughter, and she, too, is swept up in the action.
With few words and the odd squint, Cruise hard boils all of his charisma into a clenched fist, but is more than happy to let a dynamic Smulders take the lead in many scenes. The makeshift family dynamic is a surprise and a joy, while digging into Jack’s past makes this the Skyfall of Reacher stories.
THE VERDICT: Like all of the Mission movies, this has its own identity but belongs to the franchise. Bring on a third movie.
Director: Edward Zwick; Starring: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Aldis Hodge; Theatrical release: October 21, 2016
Jamie Graham
Keeping Up With The Joneses
Greg Mottola’s slapstick-stuffed comedy about a nosy couple who discover that their new neighbours are spies wants to combine the glamour of Mr & Mrs Smith with the all-action laughs of True Lies. Too bad it gets stuck mining the married-with-children gags and admittedly cute comic chemistry of Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher’s bumbling suburbanites.
Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot’s sleek undercover agents get short shrift, and the shriek-filled car chases and gun battles don’t raise titters or tension. Even though the ever-reliable Galifianakis has fun bromancing the stone-faced Hamm, the end result feels like a decaff version of Date Night.
Director: Edward Zwick; Starring: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Aldis Hodge; Theatrical release: October 21, 2016
Kate Stables
Queen of Katwe
A biopic about a Ugandan girl from the slums of Kampala who harbours ambitions of becoming a chess master, Mira Nair’s (Monsoon Wedding) movie rarely makes an unpredictable move. But it has warmth, a lively sense of pace, and a fine breakout turn from Madina Nalwanga, whose Phiona swiftly becomes a gaming success, tasting a life her widowed mum (Lupita Nyong’o) can’t provide.
There are a few choice scenes – most notably when Phiona’s coach (David Oyelowo) pits his young charges against some boarding-school rich kids – but minimal subtlety. Well it is a Disney family film, after all. But while there’s sweetness, the big, sweeping emotions you hope for never quite arrive.
Director: Mira Nair; Starring: David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, Madina Nalwanga; Theatrical release: October 21, 2016
James Mottram
Trolls
Coughing, dancing and farting glitter in the faces of anyone without an upside-down frown, this DreamWorks toy-based ’toon is 90 minutes of pure happy.
Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake voice two whisk-headed gnomes out to rescue their friends from an orc’s cooking pot, but the story is really just an excuse for a lot of singing. Lovely animation evokes a world made from Fuzzy-Felt and Play-Doh.
Director: Mike Mitchell; Starring: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Russell Brand; Theatrical release: October 21, 2016
Paul Bradshaw
Ouija: Origin of Evil
Set 50 years prior to 2014’s Ouija, this (comparatively) superior prequel opens up the story of spirit Doris Zander, here the young daughter of a fraudulent medium who discovers a new board game to spice up her act.
Unlike the stock teenagers of Ouija, the Zander family are likeable and convincing. Scares are still rudimentary, but rooted in a sharper script.
Director: Mike Flanagan; Starring: Doug Jones, Henry Thomas, Elizabeth Reaser; Theatrical release: October 21, 2016
Stephen Kelly
Sonita
How close should docu-makers get to their subjects? That theme is rousingly addressed in Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami’s film about an 18-year-old Afghan refugee in Iran with Rihannasized dreams.
Sonita lives in poverty yet wants to be a rapper, an ambition threatened when her mother tries to sell her as a bride. Maghami’s intervention raises complex questions, but fuels a stirring pay-off.
Director: Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami; Starring: Sonita Alizadeh, Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami; Theatrical release: October 21, 2016
Kevin Harley
In Pursuit of Silence
When composer John Cage debuted 4’33” (comprising four minutes, 33 seconds of silence) in 1952, the audience nearly ran him out of town. Yet in today’s world, silence is a highly prized virtue, as this vital documentary exploring the philosophy, spirituality and practice of silence points out.
One film, at least, for which there really should be no talking in the cinema.
Director: Patrick Shen; Theatrical release: October 21, 2016
Ali Catterall
Phantom Boy
In this tender animated caper, our hero is a boy undergoing chemotherapy. When he develops an ability to project his spirit form, he unites with an injured cop against a Picasso-faced villain.
Noirish touches flesh out the wispy plot, yet it’s the old-school animation that engages most: lending clarity to the emotions at stake, ensuring our sickly hero’s resilience tugs on the heart.
Directors: Jean-Loup Felliciolli, Alain Gagnol; Starring: Vincent D'Onofrio, Jared Padalecki, Melissa Disney; Theatrical release: October 21, 2016
Kevin Harley
