Cert – 15, Run-time – 2 hours 9 minutes, Director – Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Oil baron Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise) must save the world from a natural disaster after an explosion at one of his refineries sends a country-sizes mass of ice towards Europe.

I’m interested to see Digger a second time. It’s a film that plays to its own rhythm, one that may only be stepped into by some of the audience once the reveal that’s been intentionally concealed by the marketing and filmmakers has properly shown its face. To know that rhythm, and indeed the reveal which shows the film to be as much a comment on the state of satire as it is climate change, may change the overall viewing of the film. The build-up has been a mystery and to some extent after viewing it still is. But one that has circled the mind since.

Thus far, co-writer and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s latest has proved, as his films tend to be, divisive – it seemed clear from the trailers that Digger would be. It’s the reveal that both helps bring the film together in its final stages, particularly the closing ten minutes, but also holds it back at some points with need for more exploration amongst oil baron Digger Rockwell’s (Tom Cruise) split between saving the world or controlling the narrative.

When an explosion at one of his oil refineries causes an ice shelf five-times the size of Washington DC to break off and head towards Europe, likely leading to tsunamis and mass flooding, he’s tasked by the President (John Goodman, nailing authoritative delegation) to minimise the dollars lost to damage – whilst Rockwell also tries to appease his own shareholders.

Ideas relating to climate change, ‘eat the rich’, money, power and aforementioned satire can feel at risk of jumble amongst the askew comedic beats at play. Not every gag lands, some fall completely flat while others get a solid chuckle, and in many ways that reflects the overall effects of the film. Some ideas feel underdeveloped and don’t quite strike the right chord, while other sequences get across what they need with help from the surroundings. There’s an intentionally sickly, washed-out look to the production design, make-up and even sound to the score but they work with the film – alongside the production design and cinematography (Iñárritu reteaming with Birdman and The Revenant cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki).

There’s clear ambition from multiple directions on screen, and one I can see having worked well on paper to have attracted the cast which also includes Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller and Michael Stuhlbarg. While that ambition doesn’t translate to a striking message there was enough in Digger to hold my interest and engagement. How it fares in years to come I’m not as certain as others of beloved status, I think it may continue to divide opinion, but there will be plenty who find and enjoy it.

I liked what there is here, particularly when brought round by the wider ideas on satire, and think a second viewing will work better knowing the contexts and rhythms of the film. But, whilst visually and performance-wise there are strong efforts, there was also enough of each thematic element to keep me in place whilst Digger assembled itself.

An ambitious satire on satire, Digger’s gags and ideas sometimes need more time, but what does work solidly clicks in the growing context of the film. One which may make for a film that audiences can fit more into the stride of with a follow-up viewing. For a one off, I found a generally enjoyable, if not always convincing, film that plays by its own rules and breaks them, too.

Cert – U, Run-time – 2 hours 12 minutes, Director – Georgia Oakley

After the passing of their father, Davenport sisters Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles) navigate a new world of loves outside of the familiar grandness of their former home.

One of the most striking emotions in Georgia Oakley’s retelling of Sense And Sensibility doesn’t come from a sense of passion, lust or melodrama. It doesn’t involve running or staring longingly in the pouring rain; it comes from our empathy towards someone experiencing shattering heartbreak. Akin to the feeling of loss, a sense of confused betrayal that you want to ignore. We see both elder Davenport sisters, Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles) go through these emotions, perhaps so intensely for the first time, as they navigate the world outside of the grandness of their former home – having left and moved to a cottage by the Devonishire coast, although still visiting lavish homes of high society figures, after their father left their home to his son (Tom Brooke) in his will.

The upper classes give us a range of characters from Fiona Shaw’s excitable scene-stealer Mrs Jennings, who takes delight in everyone, and setting up ‘matches’, and Turlough Convery’s wealthy huntsman Sir John Middleton – giving Tom Bombadil a run for his money when it comes to jovial hospitality – to sister-in-law Fanny Davenport (Stacy Martin), in some ways the true villain of the piece with her grudges against the family she sees as getting in the way of her potential riches; the best ways to describe her cannot be uttered in polite society. Each has a distinction, each a humour. While a familiarity in tone is present this is far from a dry and dreary, or even soppy and overplayed, period romance.

There’s a modernity to the emotions at play thanks to the performances at hand, whilst keeping in place with the time period via the dialogue and general design. How this’ll play with the current teenage audiences – in the vein that 2005’s Pride And Prejudice did, and still does, for example – remains to be seen, but I think there’s a different kind of connection that can be formed here thanks to the performances, and Oakley’s lack of force.

While the different stages through which we follow the Davenports (which also include Bodhi Rae Breathnach as youngest sibling Margaret and matriarch Catriona Balfe) can sometimes feel as if they push the run-time slightly beyond comfortably fitting, there’s still an emotional resonance to be found. The push-and-pull created by and with love interests such as George MacKay’s charming, wistful, at-times distant Edward Ferrars and Herbert Nordrum’s guarded Colonel Brandon, whose straight-faced regard, and growing potential feelings for Marianne, are treated with an occasional wry smile from behind the camera, particularly by screenwriter Diana Reid.

I was taken in and, again whilst eventually feeling the run-time, the film’s attitude to the emotions of its characters, letting them speak for themselves as they emerged in the moment, remains engaging. There’s a period romance here that leans traditionally in its tone, but creates a striking resonance in how we feel for the characters and their romantic plights.

With striking emotional modernity amongst traditional tones Sense And Sensibility doesn’t force us to feel the emotions of its characters, and instead has us feel for them in their moments of heartbreak and romantic wistfulness and levity.

Cert – U, Run-time – 1 hour 20 minutes, Directors – Steve Cox, Matthew Walker

When a strong growth formula for pumpkins is mistakenly used by the farmer (John Sparkes) for hair growth he’s soon mistaken by the nearby town for a bigfoot-style monster, it’s up to Shaun (Justin Fletcher) and the other sheep to s(h)ave him.

When Aardman have a genre they love to pay homage to their best work often comes out. See Curse Of The Were-Rabbit or previous Shaun The Sheep feature outing Farmageddon. In the case of the follow-up to the latter, The Beast Of Mossy Bottom, once the creature feature B-movie stylings come into play there are plenty of slapstick chuckles to be found.

Yes, the same tab A into slot A narrative structure is present that builds up in the first 15 minutes or so, but that’s not why we watch these films, we watch them for the silly humour that runs throughout them. Additionally, for the craft that goes into them. You might not be able to see the fingerprints on the models as much as you could 15-20 years ago, but you can still feel the effort that’s gone into the stop-motion style. Specifically crafting the timing of a gag – one chase sequence is paused à la the Were-Rabbit dogfight just so those involved can overtake a cyclist in the road – and its slapstick components for gags for all-ages.

Once The Farmer (John Sparkes) has started terrorising the streets of Mossingham after being turned into a bigfoot-style monster the creature feature conventions are brought in with plenty of gags surrounding them, with a clear love from the filmmakers for them – although perhaps not quite in the same way as aforementioned claymation flicks from the studio. The cause of the sprouting hair is a mistaken bottle of hair growth formula which actually contains a mixture created by Shaun (Justin Fletcher) for pumpkins, after a secret patch set up by the sheep is destroyed early on. All the set up and the various angles takes a bit of time, but once all in place the studio is on their usual, still very British but universally enjoyable, form.

There’s a call back to classic silent slapstick inspirations, but still light jokes about influencers that don’t feel out of place amongst these points. This is still a film where an angry mob forms chasing a ball of hair, identified as the farmer as he still wears his glasses, through the town until they stop at the locked vet and get through via the cat flap. There’s plenty of homage-based silliness that makes these films what they are, and allows things to flow and simply make for an entertaining 80-minutes, especially once the flow of the film is dictated by the jokes rather than narrative or set-up, once in place the film knows it can keep things simple and just have fun with the ideas and moments that it’s throwing out, especially with these characters and making a universal film.

There may not quite be anything on the same level as the start-to-finish hilarity of Farmageddon, but The Beast Of Mossy Bottom has plenty of good chuckles along the way. None more so than when the Aardman crew truly get into the genre that they’ve been inspired by, or are fully immersed in a particular moment and the craft behind a gag. It takes some time to get going, but once it does there’s plenty to enjoy about a film that may not quite roar, but certainly leaves its humorous mark.

Aardman continues to work best when working with genres they love and are inspired by, The Beast Of Mossy Bottom might take a little bit of time to get to that full immersion, but once it does there’s plenty of chuckles to be had at the finely crafted and timed silliness on display.

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 42 minutes, Director – Louis Paxton

On an isolated Scottish island siblings Isla (Gayle Rankin) and Sandy (Grant O’Rourke) take the council worker (Domhnall Gleeson) sent to move them on hostage.

You can almost hear in Domhnall Gleeson’s pleading to be let free from the Scottish island that siblings Isla (Gayle Rankin) and Sandy (Grant O’Rourke) have spent their lives on a whimpering of “I’ve been sent to move you on by mistake!” Sent by his boss (Michelle Gomez) instead of the usual, special-forces-esque doorstep enforcer (Emun Elliott), Daniel’s place is behind a desk, with his wizard figurines looking at him. Confrontation is the last thing he needs, instead of making eye contact he reads from the pre-prepared script on a tattered bit of paper, before the siblings attack the new incomer.

However, instead of killing him, as they’ve spent every day training for, they decide to hold him hostage, eventually hearing of the ways of the mainland while he discovers what their lives of solitude are like after everyone else on the island moved away. The quirks and idiosyncrasies of the consistently scrapping pair bring about a good few chuckles, as does Gleeson’s panicked responses to them as he fears for his life, against washed-up sex toys that have been confused as either weapons or simple fidget toys to spin around.

There’s a good deal to amuse throughout The Incomer, especially when it feels best connected to committing to silliness. As Elliott’s Calum turns up on the island to get the job done, the extremity of his attitude to work is so out-of-place with the job itself, alongside how seriously he treats it all, brings plenty of humour that feels most natural and effortless. The film overall doesn’t feel as if it’s forcing anything, and the lead performances help it along – particularly Rankin who captures the more sombre beats as Isla combats with the idea of being separated from the island she’s spent her life with, being taunted by a seal-like creature (John Hannah) coaxing her to join her family in the sea.

Occasionally things can feel as if they’re threatening to cycle in the quirkiness of what’s being shown, but there’s still a generally amusing nature to much of what we see, and again held afloat by the performances of the cast and the different elements we see. There could be a bit more done with Isla’s lone moments on the cliff edges, looking into the water and reflecting, but there’s enough done in the final stages to just about bring these to a proper close and make them properly worthwhile. Doing enough to not create a tonal clash with the more comedic beats, and eventually bringing more to them as the feuds between the siblings change. Bringing more to them and their lifestyle that helps to avoid repetition from the film.

A quirky indie Scottish comedy that brings about a good number of chuckles, although could do a bit more with its sombre moments, The Incomer gets the most out of its more absurd and silly moments but sometimes feels at threat of repeating itself.

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 40 minutes, Director – Anthony Maras

With days to go until the planned invasion, meteorologist Captain James Stagg (Andrew Scott) is brought in by allied military leaders to give a weather forecast that will determine if D-Day will go ahead, however he can’t provide the certainty, or forecast, they want.

It doesn’t matter that we know that D-Day goes ahead, it doesn’t matter that we’ve seen this story play out from multiple angles before – in the case of the actual D-Day sequence almost quite literally as some shots don’t try to disguise how they borrow from Saving Private Ryan – there’s still a tension to the countdown of Pressure. With just three days to go until the planned date of invasion meteorologist Captain James Stagg (Andrew Scott) is called in by allied military leaders to provide a weather forecast that will determine if the invasion can actually happen. However, his forecasts aren’t what key figures are looking for, especially when they contrast with historical data analysis, the kind that doesn’t work with the changing face of Northern Europe.

Tensions rise in the confined rooms of the country estate that’s being used as a base of operations. There’s pressure to get the invasion launched on time so as not to give anything away to the Nazis, to protect the lives of as many soldiers as possible and pull off a successful mission, and simply for the likes of General Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser, on particularly fine form when taking full command) to not lead another failure, such as Operation Tiger. It all successfully builds, catching you in the competing dramas between departments and just what is being laid upon Stagg.

Scott gives a strong performance of bubbling restraint as his emotions are concealed behind a stiff-upper-lip attitude, while his mind also thinks of his pregnant wife (Tamsin Topolski) at home, due any day soon. He and Fraser successfully butt heads and work together, capturing the push-and-pull that runs throughout the film, as the fate of the war is put into the hands of the characters, at least how the film puts it, of course historical accuracies and who had a bigger influence in reality has been brought up here as much as any other film relating to the subject of D-Day, World War II, or history in general.

And much like a number of these films you can maybe feel some coincidental timing in the narrative, alongside one truly crowbarred hymn that marks one of the most on-the-nose uses of a song this year. But, there’s still plenty of engagement and tension to be found in Pressure. It matches the seriousness and officious attitude of Stagg, whilst charting the emotional knocks and stresses that he and other characters face. Helped a great deal by the performances in quieter, more sombre moments where the characters are left alone, either literally or a distance from the rest of a scene’s activity. It’s in these moments that Fraser and Scott, alongside David Haig and director Anthony Maras’ screenplay – adapted from Haig’s play of the same name, with the film avoiding feeling stage-like – form the personal stakes for their characters without intruding on the grander points at play, instead contributing more to them whilst connecting us further overall.

Tightly told, the tension continues to build, led by the interactions and reactions of the characters. It’s an effective piece of work that stops you from thinking, or rather remembering, how it ends and takes you along for the journey up to that point. It’s perhaps the biggest success of the film, which has a number of them. Particularly relating to the tensions which crop up thanks to the interactions and knowledge of the characters at hand, each with strong performances behind them. At one point when it’s posed to him that the weather is boring, Stagg responds asking how it could possibly be boring. It controls our daily lives. We only ask when the rain will end, not why it rains, or why the wind blows, or where. Pressure captures that idea of a potentially detrimental force out of our control and with multiple charts and scenes of communicating with data centres at no point makes it boring.

Bringing suspense out through strong central performances creating the push-and-pull on the characters through their personal stakes as well as the pivotal point at play, Pressure captures the tension of the force that is the weather through feuding character interactions.

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 51 minutes, Directors – John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein

US Navy pilot Troy (Ryan Reynolds) is shot down over Cold War Russia, his only hope of getting back is America-obsessed former KGB agent Nikolai (Kenneth Branagh).

Ryan Reynolds is trying. After falling back into his Deadpool schtick, which only really works when playing Deadpool, he’s once again trying to not give the same performance in each film. The problem is, he doesn’t seem entirely comfortable in John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s latest action-comedy, Mayday. Thus, he often slips back into out-of-place wisecracks and wry, eye-rolling comments about those around him, in the vein of his Marvel antihero.

Slotting right into place, however, is Kenneth Branagh’s Nikolai. A former KGB agent with a fondness for America; after watching a pirated copy of Top Gun and listening to the same Springsteen cassette on a loop for years, his dream is to go to McDonalds and Reynolds’ Troy may help him achieve that. Having been shot down over Cold War Russia, the navy pilot is taken in by Nikolai, with the pair teaming up to get to safety without Russian forces closing in on them.

Daley and Goldstein switch things up a bit from the likes of Game Night and Dungeons And Dragons: Honour Among Thieves with some more 87North style action, particularly when Branagh contrasts the slightly, although enjoyably, cartoon accent with a punchy bar fight in a cramped room – forcing faces to tables, bottles and the bar itself. It’s such moments that the film finds its biggest drive and you can feel the momentum of the moment. As fast-paced action is being tracked and the characters are frantically moving around, trying to find or fight for an escape, there’s a quicker movement to the overall film that brings about more enjoyment.

More dialogue-based scenes while having some chuckles every now and then can feel slower and occasionally as if simply acting as bridges between the louder sequences, particularly in the chaos of the concluding stages. It’s where Reynolds appears to be most uncertain about his performance and stands out the most, whilst trying his best to work with the writer-directors and the style they’re bringing to this.

When truly bouncing off of Branagh, with his questions about America, what happens in the section of Top Gun where the man filming in the cinema goes to the toilet or simply sudden hiding places – one extended sequence involving the characters hiding in a cupboard is a hysterical highlight revelling in layered awkwardness as nothing can be said – there’s a more relaxed nature overall and a likable buddy aspect to both the characters and the film. The tonal blend may not quite flow as well throughout this film as in the filmmakers’ previous studio flicks (with this going straight to Apple TV+) but there’s still an amusing, if occasionally bumpy buddy – where the dysfunctional doesn’t always land in the right way – escape flick to be found here.

An occasionally bumpy ride as Reynolds tries to fit in with his non-Deadpool surroundings, Branagh brings much of the comedy, and successfully leads the swift action, in a film that feels most confident when it has an idea, or sequence, to truly run instead of bridge with.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 34 minutes, Director – Zach Cregger

Emergency courier Bryan (Austin Abrams) is tasked with taking an urgent delivery to a hospital, however a virus outbreak and human mutations hold him back at every turn along the way.

Hospital courier Bryan (Austin Abrams) makes many stupid decisions over the course of Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil. He knows he does, the film knows he does, but they’re the decisions that push the narrative onwards, and sometimes feel like the only decision given in a video game.

Stranded in the snowy hills towards Racoon City, needing to take a mystery package there as quickly as possible, his decisions are motivated purely by wanting to get back to girlfriend Michelle (Sarah Paxton) and get paid double for the further-than-usual-area delivery. But, a virus outbreak and mutations have other intentions as at each stage after stopping once in the middle of nowhere attacks come from many directions.

While I may not have found the humour in Cregger’s previous horror ventures, the otherwise much-praised Barbarian and Weapons, it’s definitely present here. The laughs bring fun to the scares; jumps, suspense and pure mutation-based icks. While Bryan might take his foot off the peddle to stop once or twice Cregger never does, creating a constantly moving 90-minutes of propulsive entertainment.

Abrams captures bafflement and exasperation in the lead character, as he simply wants to get the job over and done with. Even as people attacking him appear to have tentacle-like limbs his attitude is almost comparable to ‘I’m not even supposed to be here today.’ Yet, you still feel his desperation amongst the confusion about what’s going on around him. As he races down a street of abandoned cars, bodies throwing themselves off the towering buildings causing a mess of blood and glass there’s a mass of tension to the almost unexplained. Mixed with the pure visual aspect of the moment, and there are some great visual moments throughout – sequences lit up by police lights or car headlights as the camera moves around the action like its in a third-person video game sequence. 

Cregger mixes in some first-person camerawork, too, that slots in with the surroundings and tension of the moment. To highlight the approaching monsters; with unsettlingly tangling designs, or Bryan’s inability to shoot a padlock – a recurring gag showing his consistently poor decisions, and hope. Hsi easiest route is perhaps the tensest, and for us most entertaining. Perhaps Cregger’s most mainstream film to date, one likely to work for fans of the hit game series of the same name and those, like myself, completely unfamiliar, this is a non-stop thrill-ride from start to finish.

Barrelling with energy, scares and laughs this is surely one of the most fun films of the year. A cinematic audience experience that knows exactly how to go from one exciting sequence to another as fluidly as possible, all led by the actions and poor decisions of an amusingly determined, consistently disgusted, main character.

An effective blend of fun and thrills, Resident Evil puts the horror front and centre, but creates its fun with well-timed laughs. Making a point of its lead character’s poor decisions, it’s consistently propulsive entertainment from start to finish.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 2 hours 3 minutes Director – Michael Sarnoski

After being injured in an attack aged outlaw Robin Hood (Hugh Jackman) confronts his legend and past whilst recovering in a priory, where his recent battles catch-up with him.

On a recent edition of Kermode And Mayo’s Take I heard The Death Of Robin Hood referred to as Logan Hood. One of those reworked titles that made me kick myself wishing I had come up with it. It’s a fitting description as Hugh Jackman brings back some of the gruff, haggard and battle-worn nature of his aged Wolverine, this time battling with the legend that people have turned him into. A life of crime has isolated his Robin Hood in foggy hills and caves, most strangers who come across him end up meeting grisly deaths. Much like the thick coat around him, he carries the heavy weight of stories contrasting with his life and crimes.

After a brutal attack to assist Little John (Bill Skarsgård) in retaking his farm from the family who own the land, Robin is left injured, mysteriously left in a priory on an island to heal whilst it seems John and his family either fled or were killed. Here, as daylight streams in through the window writer-director Michael Sarnoski dramatically switches up the tone. Robin’s life of bloodshed and violent slaughter, which we see on full display during night-time fights, is shown in a bloodless, meditative reflection. Balancing his life, actions and legend, and realising that there may still be time to do good – especially when surrounded by the dedicated kindness of those looking after him, led by Jodie Comer’s Sister Brigid.

When familiar faces from Robin’s latest, and at one point seemingly last, battle crop up on the island his defensive side emerges. Jackman gives a strong performance conveying the tug-of-war between the character’s two sides, his constant alertness but want for peace in his life, in whichever form that comes. How accepting he is of death, depending on how it comes, appears to vary; especially as it shifts from begrudged fate and release to a quiet, disruptive threat and back. Playing this out in tune with Sarnoski’s quieter tone, akin to his Nic Cage starrer Pig, Jackman shows a dramatic internal battle in the central character, with the idea of an end hanging over in different shades.

Shades that work quietly and effectively, seen prominently in the relationships that Robin begins to build, particularly with Katie Breen’s young Margaret who appears to start to warmly view him as something of a father-figure. It’s also present in the choices that he commits to making – one boat ride in the later stages where anger and mistrust still bubble is particularly tense. Regret, life and legacy are at the core of The Death Of Robin Hood, Sarnoski finds a tonal balance between them whilst Jackman bears their weight with a strong central performance which captures a conflict as strong as the loud violence in much of the first act. Shrouded in mist, or a darkening wood, there’s an engaging, unexpected, soul-searching drama here revolving around the inner and outer battles of a legend and the man who wants nothing to do with them.

A meditative drama that captures violence in grisly battles and personal conflict, balanced by Jackman’s weighty lead performance and Sarnoski’s handling of the tonal shifts, The Death Of Robin Hood is a grisled look at legend and legacy.