Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 39 minutes, Director – Jonny Campbell

Naomi (Georgina Campbell) and Teacake (Joe Keery) are working the nightshift at an isolated storage facility when a long-contained deadly space fungus in the former government facility breaks loose.

As the site of an alien fungus’ deadly spread is blown-up by military forces, seen from a distance from escaping armed vehicles, The Beach Boys’ I Get Around plays. After a hint that the film may be leaning slightly more seriously than expected it’s a burst of lighter amusement as we see the fungus being locked away in an underground government facility, turned many years later into a storage company. Unfortunately, this burst isn’t a sign of things to come as we quickly turn back to a slightly wondering, not-as-fun-as-hoped sci-fi horror comedy.

Night shifters Naomi (Georgina Campbell) and Teacake (Joe Keery) investigate a strange beep in the walls of the storage building and quickly stumble across old, isolated rooms still housing the long-locked-off but now spreading deadly space fungus. Infecting those who come into contact with it and leading them to infect others as quickly as possible before killing them. It just so happens that the isolated building is particularly populated on this evening with customers (Vanessa Redgrave, slightly uncertain as to how she found herself in this film), the boss (Gavin Spokes) organising TVs to be smuggled from one locker and retired government agents (Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville) turning up to stop the familiar spread.

David Koepp’s screenplay, based on his novel of the same name, doesn’t quite have the tongue-in-cheek fun and energy that the film needs to see itself through. Early on we see Keery’s Teacake starting his shift by reading a copy of The Body Snatchers, but that’s about as far as things go in this regard. It quickly becomes apparent that the film is a bit too busy with one too many characters involved in the spread or trying to stop it when really it should be trying to focus on Campbell and Keery’s characters as much as possible, they have the most potential for fun but the busier the film gets the more it starts to feel distracted from them despite being our introduction and main lens into the unfolding events.

With more characters comes more opportunities for infection, but also more opportunity for repetition which the film particularly falls into in the second and third act as the spread takes its contained and not overly threatening course – it seems largely apparent who’s safe from the fact that they’re always kept a good few feet away from the fungus at any time. It all dampens the film which has potential to be a solidly entertaining flick, but stumbles into un-amusement, despite one or two mild chuckles, rather quickly. There’s little spark to the events at hand and it sometimes feels as if things are being held back, although perhaps more for budget reasons than anything else, from being properly propulsive. What we end up getting is something not entirely cold, but more lukewarm after having already tried to reheat elements. A shame for a film that could have been quite fun.

Not as fun as it has the potential to be, Cold Storage falters because it doesn’t have complete faith in its lead characters. Surrounding them by a series of repetitive events for the supporting cast which never fully manage to entertain.

Cert – 18, Run-time – 1 hour 30 minutes, Director – Cal McMau

Eligible for parole, Taylor (David Jonsson) just needs to keep his head down for a few more days, however the arrival of new cellmate Dee (Tom Blyth) upsets the prison hierarchy and brings trouble and threats Taylor’s way.

Wasteman could so easily fall into the trappings of low-budget British geezer flicks, based in the hard-edged walls of prison life. Yet, by focusing on quiet, somewhat reluctant yet still faintly rough-interiored inmate Taylor (David Jonsson) a character piece of someone just trying to keep their head down forms amongst the threats that surround him. A film looking at incarceration over rehabilitation. Where prison is a breeding ground for a growth in violent behaviour.

Taylor is told early on that due to overcrowding he’s one of a number of cases being considered for possible early release, he just needs to stay out of trouble for a few more days. He plans to do so with the hope of finally getting to see his 14-year-old son (Cole Martin), born just before he was sentenced. However, the arrival of new cellmate Dee (Tom Blyth) upsets the prison’s order when he instantly sets up his own set of drug deals and trades – rivalling the looming glare of Alex Hassell’s Paul who leads many of the deals and hits in the cold confines of the building.

The violence throughout is caught with unflinching brutality by feature debut director Cal McMau. Upfront and refusing to shy away from the rage and seeming habitual nature of the attacks, as if the only way to maintain order and status in both prison and the world, just the former further fuels and allows for it. Sometimes we see these moments through phone camera footage, we see them smuggled in and carried around the prison – alongside TVs, air fryers and many instances of drugs – adding to the realism with calls to recent Oscar-nominated documentary The Alabama Solution, although the framing and impact of both films is different.

Jonsson effectively shows the worry and hints of hope held in Taylor, yet gets across a believable streak that reminds us of how he’s survived in this place for so long. It’s a strong lead role that both compliments and occasionally rubs up against Blyth’s loud, brash newbie who appears to already be well-accustomed to the prison system; his eyes on maintaining as much of his life outside as he can. Through him, Hassell and Corin Silva’s Gaz much of the threat comes through. Taylor’s life, and almost any other inmate, feels consistently at risk, particularly tense with the days counting down to his release and opportunity to (hopefully) see his son again.

While unflinching the film produces plenty of swift, flinch-inducing moments through its hard look at the prison system and those held within it. One that doesn’t just find itself preoccupied with just looking at that and finds room for the characters who the themes are conveyed through. Connecting us to Taylor, thanks to a great, understated performance from Jonsson, and throwing us into the confines of the buildings ordered disorder.

A film looking at incarceration over rehabilitation, Wasteman weaves these ideas through the strongly-performed characters who create an unflinchingly brutal hierarchy of threat and disorder.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 43 minutes, Director – Aidan Zamiri

In the build-up to her Brat tour, Charli XCX (herself) becomes overwhelmed by expectations, brand deals and uncertainty over what Brat started out as and has become.

Living under a rock from almost all modern music means that ‘Brat Summer’ entirely passed me by. It’s evident from this alone that I am not the target audience for The Moment, a mockumentary following the smash-hit album’s creator Charli XCX (played by herself) preparing for the album’s tour. It perhaps also explains why for a good while I sat slightly at a distance, almost lost, from the film; feeling as if I was missing something that should be obvious.

This feeling dominated much of the opening stages of The Moment as it seemed to be trying to find its footing and where it wanted to focus. After eventually finding grounding in the rehearsals for the Brat tour the film successfully leans into XCX’s central performance as she becomes caught under the weight of expectations from multiple parties, and the world’s embracing of whatever ‘Brat’ has become. The mockumentary format may be barely used, in fact aside from mockumentary-style camerawork and one mention of the camera crew there’s nothing here that feels as if it fits into the style or sub-genre, but thankfully the lead performance is what brings an authenticity to the proceedings.

You can see the growing frustrations in the wake of brand deals, rehearsals being interrupted and changed by the concert film director (Alexander Skarsgård having fun with an amusingly tongue-in-cheek performance in completely contrast to his Pillion role), to the frustration of creative director Celeste (Hailey Benson Gates, quietly standing out alongside XCX), and flip-flopping manager Tim (Jamie Demetriou). Awkward encounters with various parties lead to a couple of scattered chuckles here and there. The Moment may not be a barrel of laughs, and I don’t think it’s trying to be, but it at least has a handful of amusing moments here and there once it finds its focus, to help see its run-time through that bit more easily.

Things don’t quite get caught between these attempts at humour and the more serious-toned beats concerning XCX’s own thoughts about what she wants of her album and music – the film, written by director Aidan Zamiri and Bertie Brandes from an idea and story by the artist. A monologue over the phone in the later stages of the film sum things up rather well, and in some ways bring them together. While there are patches that sit uncertainly, or that I, once again, felt slightly at a distance from, this one sequence properly confirmed and established what the film was going for in a direct way and it worked. The click may have happened a while before, but the sound of it comes through in this moment.

Perhaps much like this, and the character of Charli XCX wading through the sea of thoughts and opinions about her work and what it should be The Moment needs its point of realisation and almost being set free from its own shackles to find what it wants to be. Occasionally it can feel slightly side-tracked as Charli leaves rehearsals to go to a wellness retreat in Ibiza, although this eventually comes round and finds itself, but this feeling isn’t the same as the segmented nature of the build-up to rehearsals themselves. There’s still a slightly scattered feeling to the unfolding events, perhaps in part because of how many people are surrounding her with demands and wants at any one time, and not every scene has a clear push or drive. But, when the focus is on XCX and her performance in the wake of everything that’s being thrown at her, there’s an interesting click that helps to keep things going and bring a meaning, and perhaps end, to ‘Brat’, even for those who had no clue what it was beforehand.

A scattered mockumentary that doesn’t feel like a mockumentary, when focusing on XCX’s performance and her views on ‘Brat’ The Moment is at its most detailed and interesting. With some good chuckles added in, it should manage to work for complete outsiders as well as fans.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 30 minutes, Director – Catherine Abbott

Documentary looking at the early life and career of Victoria Wood, and how one influenced the other.

Becoming Victoria Wood saves The Ballad Of Barry And Freda – undoubtedly one of the greatest pieces of musical comedy there’s been – for almost the closing stages of the documentary. The joyous confidence with which Wood sings and plays the song from behind the piano has a burst of even greater energy and laughs than usual thanks to how Catherine Abbott has looked at the life of the late comedian and writer over the previous 80-minutes.

There’s plenty of admiration and praise throughout the film, even without the talking heads, but there’s an avoidance of a complete hagiographic feeling as we see how Wood’s early life influenced her work. Tales of her school and home life bring new meaning to songs and sketches as we see Wood’s rise from TV talent shows to her own series, often alongside the consistently amusing sight of Julie Walters. The ways in which life and work are brought together are quiet but effective. There’s a film of empathy and understanding here that comes through in the framing of the clips used throughout.

For 90-minutes there’s a breezy and engaging documentary here. One that gets a number of chuckles across in the excerpts of Wood’s work that are used, while capturing a lightly emotional aspect to them through the context they’re given. It’s lightly done but makes the film more engaging and effective, complimenting the love for the subject matter that’s present in both the way in which the overall film is made and the fond words of talking heads – which includes school friends, early career bill sharers and touring partners such as Jasper Carrott, performers such as Maxine Peake, who got her start in Wood’s sitcom Dinnerladies, and French And Saunders.

You can feel that Abbott, and many others involved, genuinely view Victoria Wood as an inspiration. Not just for her work, but the barriers she broke through on multiple occasions. The quietness which she lived her private life in is explored, having stemmed from her childhood, which some label as distant, and possible anxieties that contrasted with her stand-up persona, which we see grow in confidence over the years. It all starts to culminate with the chuckles and exuberance of Barry And Freda. Joy, laughter and a sense of heart and admiration.

A fitting and well-framed tribute to Victoria Wood that captures a lightly emotional honesty in the comedian and writer’s humour thanks to the context of her life and barriers faced given to her songs, stand-up and sketches.

Cert – PG, Run-time – 1 hour 40 minutes, Directors – Tyree Dillihay, Adam Rossette

Goat, Will (Caleb McLaughlin) has dreams of becoming a professional roarball player, when the opportunity arrives he’s instantly doubted, especially by the team’s long-time star player (Gabrielle Union).

If there was ever any doubt, although I doubt there ever was, that Sony Animation’s recent hits such as KPop Demon Hunters and the Spider-Verse films worked because of their now-influential animation styles GOAT shows that that’s certainly not the case. Unfortunately, that’s because GOAT, while being a visual entertainment, is an incredibly by-the-numbers sporting feature.

Growing up wishing to join roarball (a game just like basketball but taking part in video-game-like shifting arenas inspired by different environments) team the Thorns, Will (Caleb McLaughlin) goes viral after an altercation with towering professional player Mane (Aaron Pierre). Despite, as a goat, being branded as ‘small’ by players, commentators and almost everyone online Will uses the push of his friends and the diner he worked at before being signed as a player to keep going. It’s something he needs to use as he doesn’t appear to have much of a personality of his own to see things through, beyond those which are borrowed from endless underdog characters that have come before him.

The main drive of the narrative comes less from him and more those around him. Particularly the Thorns’ star player of 15 years Jett (Gabrielle Union), who takes against Will and sees his signing as a mockery to the already failing team, for which she comes across as the only good player. From there you can piece together the basis of the narrative, and it largely hits the clichés and conventions one after the other. While watchable it only really scratches the surface of being so, watchable largely in terms of I sat and watched it happen with very little response otherwise. Never properly interested or engaged.

The animation throughout is certainly lively and further shows the top quality visuals that Sony have continued with since Into The Spider-Verse, but it, and the scattering of chuckles here and there; largely from fellow Thorns players such as Nick Kroll’s Modo, isn’t enough to get past the overfamiliarity that weighs down the narrative. Things pick up in the third act roarball match which has less obtrusive convention at play thanks to how caught up in the sporting action the film, and animation, becomes. It’s just a shame that this isn’t the case for everything that comes beforehand which fails to be anything but harmless viewing as it just sort of happens in front of you with no real impact. Much more muted than the rapturous reaction the fans and match crowds seen throughout are shown to give.

Despite strong animation, the overfamiliar underdog story at the centre of GOAT and its personality lacking main character stop it from raising above watchable-on-surface yet likely forgettable viewing.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 40 minutes, Director – Corin Hardy

After using an Aztec death whistle a group of high schoolers find their deaths hunting them down early.

With its tongue firmly out of its cheek Whistle is a call back to 90s group horrors where we’d see the central group of students picked off one-by-one by whatever form death took in that particular film. Final Destination may be the franchise that most comes to mind in the case of director Corin Hardy’s latest, written by Owen Egerton, as the future deaths of a group of high school students start to chase them down early after an Aztec death whistle is blown near them.

Chrys (Dafne Keen) is new to town and gets off to a rocky start when settling in at school, when the former star basketball player’s locker is given to her after he burns alive in the shower. After finding the death whistle in her locker its origins are investigated during a group detention, before a pool party/ essay writing session leads to it being used. Soon the group of five students are on the run from a series of enjoyably bloody, if slightly distractingly CG, splatter.

The kills are certainly entertaining and once into the swing of them there’s an enjoyment to be found from how Hardy builds up to them, instead of drawing them out. It again shows the 90s influences on Whistle while not feeling wholly dated or of the time as deaths lead to the mystery of how to stop them from catching up with the ensemble characters. Yet, when it comes to this resolution there’s the feeling that the film has been so focused on its build-up and keeping that going that by the time the third act comes around it suddenly runs out of steam. There’s still an entertainment factor, but one that’s not as strong or certain as there’s less room for the more upfront, casual deaths due to the narrative having a firmer grip on the reins.

Hardy manages to help see things through, with help from likable performances from Keen and those around Chrys, with particular focus on Ali Skovebye’s Grace as the girl she quickly gains a crush on. However, amongst the slightly faster pace of the third act’s events the feeling of steam having been lost is still felt as the film tries to wrap things up without being too brief about them. Generally, this manages to work with things clocking in at 1 hour and 40 minutes which largely go by fairly quickly.

Whistle appears to be largely made as a slice of horror simply to be enjoyed for its tension and gnarly kills. And with those it manages to pass the time fairly well. The tension may not be anything particularly grand, but there’s an entertaining suspense as we sit and wait to see the next death unfold, and just how that will happen. With that as a base the film works fine enough, even if it does sometimes show signs of being just a bit thin when it runs out of steam or seems to be finding a way to get the next character towards their usually amusing death.

While it can seem thin and as if it runs out of steam there’s enough within the 90s horror callback of Whistle to create enough amusement in the increasingly bloody deaths to see it through its run-time.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 2 hours 20 minutes, Director – Bart Layton

The pattern of a thief’s (Chris Hemsworth) heists leads multiple parties towards him as new relationships start to tangle with each other and his criminal activities.

The inspiration of 90s crime flicks are all over Bart Layton’s follow-up to his slickly messy heist docudrama American Animals. Many have pointed to Heat as a key influence, but there are conventions from many major titles of the decade in this slight throwback film to that era. The writer-director is juggling a number of different characters as he follows thief Mike (Chris Hemsworth) as he starts to try and inch out of committing jewel heists for Nick Nolte’s ‘Money.’ While Money hires a young biker with much more abrupt and violent tendencies (Barry Keoghan) to deal with his other source, Mike also has Mark Ruffalo’s looked-down-upon Detective Lou Lubesnick hot on his tail after noticing a series of patterns in his heists.

As the pair get closer to Hemsworth’s lead he finds himself forming a possible romantic relationship with Monica Barbaro’s Maya, while also forming schemes with undermined insurance broker Sharon (Halle Berry), perhaps for one last big job for the both of them. At any one time Layton appears to have three things happening at once in a film packed with characters, and stars. While often two of these strands have enough push and detail to hold engagement the third, which changes throughout, feels like something of an afterthought, causing it to lag behind.

It’s a problem that becomes more evident the longer the film goes on. And at just under two-and-a-half hours it definitely feels at least 25 minutes too long. Momentum may still be held, especially in closer interactions between Mike and Lou as the journeys and investigations of both characters have tangled and overlapped numerous times before without coming face-to-face thanks to the ways in which characters lead one to the other and work into each other’s perspectives as each figures starts to wind towards bringing criminal and detective together in an investigative chase.

There’s not always a slickness to Crime 101, but there is something of a suaveness to a number of scenes throughout. Hemsworth carries his role well and brings a certain amount of charisma to his character, especially when being more conversational with the likes of Barbaro and Berry’s characters, where Mike is clearly most relaxed; although occasionally still plotting and structuring his plans. In doing this there’s not quite a feeling of slow pacing, or that the film is taking its time, there feels movement of elements throughout without quite a restlessness from the film itself, only perhaps the audience.

This is a film that wears its influences but sometimes borrows from them a bit too much. Mirroring and falling under the conventions and winding key narrative elements of different kinds of heist flick together in the arcs of the overlapping characters. It means that the busyness of the film can lead to at least one strand faltering under lack of detail, or smaller characters not getting much screen-time, but when it finds itself caught in the drive of a particular moment and strikes the right tone of cool confidence there’s a solid engagement factor to be found here that may not quite have a sleekness, but carries itself well enough to get away with things.

With so many characters and plot strands often at least one thing gets left behind and feels less detailed amongst the overlapping threads that make up Crime 101. It may be a bit too long and not entirely slick, but it carries itself well enough to get past its more conventional and less weighted elements.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 2 hours 16 minutes, Director – Emerald Fennell

Class, ancestry and the future all create tensions in the passionate relationship between Cathy (Margot Robbie) and poor childhood friend Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi), especially in the wake of marriage and personal tragedy.

The quote marks around the title of Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s much-adapted novel are there to show that this is an adaptation of the version of Wuthering Heights that her mind saw when she read the novel at age 14. It’s a film, despite the (rightful) 15 certificate and advertising of steamy wall-to-wall nookie, that’s in some ways primarily made for girls of the same age, to be caught in the mist of the romance in the 18th Century Yorkshire moors.

There’s certainly a sauciness to the film as passions erupt between Margot Robbie’s Cathy and childhood friend, who she names and claims as her own after her father (Martin Clunes) takes him in, Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) – the young pair played by Charlotte Mellington and Owen Cooper respectively. After we see them grow up together Cathy’s sexual awakening – watching members of her father’s staff explore BDSM in the horse equipment shed – suggests that the film may well be nothing but sex, however Fennell avoids this temptation rather successfully and manages to focus on the relationship as part of the story being told.

A story which may be far from the most faithful adaptation, at least from what I’ve heard and seen of the response to the film; having not read (or knowing a great deal about) the novel myself, but creates plenty of detail in its landscapes and locations. Fennell’s film is visually brilliant. Capturing an old studio quality matched with almost theatrical, closed-in set design that’s opened out into the Yorkshire moors with considerable style by cinematographer Linus Sandgren.

When it comes to the thematic beats there’s a bite to the details of class and the futures the central lovers face, and try to achieve through other relationships, especially when passion turns into twisted desperation in Heathcliff’s case. Yet, it’s also at this point that the film finds itself caught between the bite and sauciness, sitting uncertainly between them as if hesitantly trying to bring them together when in actuality they’re consistently kept slightly apart. Something which becomes more the case as lives, marriage and rifts between the lead characters become more prominent, most of all in the third act which still manages to have its impacts.

Stylistically, Fennell is serving up a lot and while tonally and narratively it may well confirm that she’s one of the most divisive writer-directors working at the moment (although I’ve fallen into the camp who like her work so far) there’s still enough in “Wuthering Heights” to feel engaged by the ensuing romance, and indeed the locations it unfolds in. Robbie and Elordi serve solid performances in Fennell’s takes on the roles and while occasionally bumpy and conflicted, although generally getting through its run-time, there’s a take here that should work well for the target audience, especially in the emotional push of the closing stages. For others there’s undoubtedly another divisive feature here from Fennell, but another one that I largely got on with especially as she mixes location and visuals into the narrative and tone to lift them up.

While occasionally sitting uncertainly between its sex and bite Emerald Fennell’s take on “Wuthering Heights” still has enough happening in the romantic passions amongst the visually striking landscapes to help see it through with enough support and engagement.