Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 56 minutes, Director – Simon McQuoid

When in need of a new member to fight in a tournament that will determine the fate of the Earthrealm, its defenders bring in washed-up action movie star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) to take part in Mortal Kombat.

What I appreciate about the violence of these recent Mortal Kombat films is that they’re not gory just for the sake of being gory, neither for edginess or just to show off an R rating. Instead, it’s there with a grin from behind the camera as it’s simply the way those making the film have seen it fit to be. Because they believe that there should be some effects to the violence of a film adaptation of a game all about not just fighting but Mortal Kombat.

And there’s plenty of amusing CG splatter on display, more than some recent slasher movies, as the narrative links fight to fight over the course of a tournament that will determine the fate of the Earthrealm. Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) seeks to destroy just this, with the help of an amulet that will grant him immortality, and so challenges the Earthrealm defenders to face him and his team in various stages. However, in need of a fifth team member they recruit, having been chosen by the gods, washed-up 90s action movie star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), think Steven Seagal but with self-awareness.

The fights are jumped straight into with little build-up and that’s just the way the film wants it to be. Why waste time with exposition when you can have people throwing fire at each other or getting close to caving heads in? The exposition, and indeed narrative linking the stages of the Mortal Kombat tournament, are undeniably thin, but the entertainment factor helps to get away from this. Both in regards to fight sequences – even with some occasionally distracting heavy green screen – and humour scattered throughout, particularly coming from Urban’s Cage, who the film fluctuates as to whether he’s the main character or part of a core team, and Josh Lawson’s returning Kano, complete with Deadpool style quips and insults.

You could easily poke at this film and some of its structure, throwing characters around and sending them wherever via portal for whichever fight for the easiest reason but it’s made as a pure entertainment flick and does a pretty good job at being that. There’s fun, and some audible winces, to be had when it comes to the powers and weapons on display, and the eventual effects that they have. A nod to the video games and just what they can allow without feeling like you’re watching over someone’s shoulder while they play. Splattery, funny and certainly not taking itself too seriously, whilst being made with both seriousness and a grin it may, like the first instalment, be forgotten quickly after viewing, but for just under two hours it’s perfectly good action entertainment.

Another entertaining action flick, Mortal Kombat II may be thin on plot and exposition, but its enough to link together the heavy-CG violence which makes the most of both splatter and the powers that cause it.

Release Date – 8th May 2026, Cert – PG, Run-time – 1 hour 49 minutes, Director – Kyle Balda

When their shepherd (Hugh Jackman) is found dead, his flock of sheep take it upon themselves to investigate his murder.

For anyone who may have wrongly doubted it, the power of Emma Thompson is very much still alive and well. She walks into The Sheep Detectives around half an hour in through and somehow manages to completely turn things around. A lacklustre, on-the-nose murder mystery suddenly gains its laughs in the biggest portion of her brief appearances as the lawyer of shepherd George Hardy (Hugh Jackman). After he was found murdered she’s present to read his will, and reveal one of the possible motives for the gathered few in the village of Denbrook, where George had some secrets and rivalries.

However, the police (Nicholas Braun with not too shabby English accent) are struggling in their investigation and so the sheep still grazing in George’s meadow take it upon themselves to try and work out who the murderer is, inspired by the murder-mystery stories he would read aloud to them each night. Once past a series of cartoon behaviour which produces little but bland and faltering jokes we see smartest sheep Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) take the lead alongside never-forgetting Mopple (Chris O’Dowd). The story isn’t so much about the mystery; that’s kept fairly simple and straightforward, but about the central sheep, with tinges of details about grief and remembering rather than choosing to forget.

There’s intentionally a film made that should work rather well for all ages, broader than the traditional family labelling. It’s playing for a very wide audience and should generally have something to appeal to everyone, especially once it properly kicks in with the aforementioned arrival of Emma Thompson who brings about the bigger narrative focus and push for the sheep and actual chuckles – definitely a strong tonal shift for writer Craig Mazin, adapting Leonie Swann’s novel Three Bags Full, having spent the last few years working on TV projects Chernobyl and The Last Of Us (having written films in the Scary Movie and Hangover series before that).

The impact of this film may not be quite as striking, or memorable. In fact, it’s likely that it’ll be hard to remember much of it shortly after it’s finished. But, for its run-time there’s enough to like and be amused by, especially once the narrative factors are in play for the sheep to investigate. This is a solid slice of likable amusement for all ages.

It might take some time to properly get going, but once past some lacklustre build-up and properly focusing on the sheep investigating there’s solid, if forgettable, amusement to be found in The Sheep Detectives with a good deal of chuckles once the titular flock turn away from being cartoons.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 47 minutes, Director – Damian McCarthy

American author Ohm (Adam Scott) visits an Irish hotel where his late parents had their honeymoon. However, a disappearance and tales of a witch lead him to become trapped investigating the haunted corridors.

I’ve been thinking quite a bit over the last couple of weeks about 2019’s The Hole In The Ground, Lee Cronin’s chilling Irish indie feature debut. Both with his own The Mummy being recently released in cinemas, albeit with more links to his Evil Dead film, and now the appearance of writer-director Damian McCarthy’s Hokum. The latter certainly strikes a more similar tone when it comes to the creeping claustrophobia of trippy folklore that closes in around both central character and viewer.

Successful American author Ohm (Adam Scott) travels to a secluded Irish hotel where his late parents spent their honeymoon, hoping to spread their ashes nearby. His current novel is in need of an appealing ending, and middle, causing him to arrive grumpy and often rude to staff. However, fear quickly breaks his tired and careless expression as folk tales of a witch in the locked and closed-off honeymoon suite start to seem true as he investigates the walls of the closed-for-off-season hotel when he hears of the disappearance of a staff member.

The Shining is an obvious reference, but there’s no doubt that particularly in the third act it comes to mind as the truths of the hotel are unravelled. Unravelling is truly what the mystery at the heart of Ohm’s journey is all about. Gradually unfurling with each detail, revelation and question that rise through visions and behaviours of supporting characters – not to mention an unsettling rabbit-like character who leaves a lasting effect despite only a brief appearance.

There’s a touch of 70s horror to the interactions Ohm has with locals, particularly David Wilmot’s Jerry who becomes particularly drawn into the mystery of the hotel and disappearance linked to it. Not quite a ‘turn back!’ style, instead one that’s quieter and more about the tone of the interactions and what they say about the characters, building up to their actions in the later stages of the narrative as things twist in uneasy fashion. Each decision works with the slick pacing and escalation that bring you in quickly and create initial unease that’s maintained with how rooted in folklore the film is – with many events taking place in looming woodland if not the dimness of the hotel.

Hokum strikes its tone early on and keeps that going with strong links to folklore which enhance the horror and creeping tone already established by the surroundings and how Damian McCarthy views them through Adam Scott’s increasingly haunted perspective. It builds and builds with growing creepiness and eventual suspense tracked through the mystery at the centre of the narrative. Entertainingly uneasy, it’s a great indie folk horror.

Rooted in folk tale style from start to finish, Hokum is consistently entertaining and creepy with its eerie design and visions, some of which, like the most unsettling of tales, will stay with you for a good while after.

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 59 minutes, Director – David Frankel

After being fired from her newspaper journalism job, Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is re-hired at Runway as features editor, trying to navigate a demand for clicks over industry insight and editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep)

A lot has changed around the characters in the world of The Devil Wears Prada, even if they, for the sake of the viewers, haven’t. There’s not just as much dialogue said with an eye roll or disapproving hmmm as 20 years ago, there’s more. It seems that the tone of many of the standout quotes from Andy Sachs’ (Anne Hathaway) last stint at Runway have been taken to make for the dominant tone throughout the screenplay, an original instead of being based on either of Lauren Weisberger’s sequel novels to her 2003 original.

Runaway may still be a, albeit thinner, print magazine but the majority of its ‘content’ gets put online in a fight for clicks and social success. After losing her journalism job in a series of layoffs Andy is employed as the new features editor to try and see the magazine through a turbulent controversy linking to their promotion of a brand using sweatshops. As things develop it becomes apparent that the directions this sequel takes gives it a narrative that’s certainly not as simple as last time, but not the most complex tangle. However, it is a very plot-heavy film when it comes to each scene’s contribution, coming across as slightly more complex than it actually is due to all the pawns in play.

Whilst balancing demands from magazine owners to get better stats with her pieces, snark thrown from ever-present editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep performing as if she hasn’t broke character for two decades) and a late-in-the-day introduction for love interest, apartment contractor Peter (Patrick Brammall), a strand which feels as if it could be easily cut to ease the run-time, Andy is trying to work out what journalism means and stands for in this day and age, particularly in the fashion industry. It’s an idea that fluctuates in how much it wants to be played with, at least in terms of how passionately it’s put across. Another sign of just how much the film seems to try to juggle, despite not really being as complex as it seems.

It seems the case that instead it’s more trying to fit as much as possible in. Including occasional throwbacks to the first film, which feel held back by being slightly forced, and new characters going just beyond catch-up parts of relationships and context. Emily (Emily Blunt) returns and occasionally feels like she’s slightly jammed in because she needs to be there instead of having a proper course thought out for her character, although still selling the snark and frustration and getting one of the best lines of the film (once again about carbs).

With how much is stuffed into The Devil Wears Prada 2 you’d hope that there will be enough that lands and works. For the most part things generally land successfully, including a good handful of the gags. There may not quite be anything laugh out loud funny, but there’s a lot that’s perfectly amusing to help see things through. The sequel may not have lines of dialogue that will be quoted in 20 years time, but it’s got enough to provide a few chuckles for the duration of the run-time. Helped by the welcome familiarity of the central ensemble who appear to be having great fun being back with each other and these roles. So does the film with just how much it wants to give them to do.

Not complex, but it may seem it from just how stuffed it is, The Devil Wears Prada 2 may be overlong, but it proves to be consistently amusing whilst on, with help from a returning cast who jump right back into character with ease.

Release Date – 15th May 2026, Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 40 minutes, Director – Steven Soderbergh

Art restorer Lori (Michaela Coel) is hired by the children (Jessica Gunning, James Corden) of famous artist Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) to forge unfinished masterpieces for the sake of their inheritance.

Steven Soderbergh has been quoted a lot recently about embracing and using AI in his upcoming films. It feels particularly a shame that a director such as himself, having become known for making low to mid-budget crowdpleasers with quick turnarounds, would make headlines with such comments after making a film all about the humanity and emotion of art, and our relationship to it. The expression that it allows for. As Ian McKellen’s Julian Sklar revisits unfinished masterpieces, the third set in his Christophers series, he throws paint and an assortment of art supplies at the canvas with a mixture of intent and emotions.

He wishes to destroy them, wanting to remove a part of the past that’s been sat covered up on the top floor of one of his neighbouring homes for 25 years. Having hired new assistant Lori (Michaela Coel), he asks her to do the job, not knowing that she’s been hired by his children (Jessica Gunning, James Corden) to forge the remainder of the works in the hope they’ll be worth millions by the time inheritance comes around. The relationship between Lori and Julian is punchy and fluctuates as much as their bonds with art itself – Lori works part time as a restorer when not working in her food van or making her own private work – and throughout McKellen and Coel are magical, appearing to relish the opportunity to perform with each other.

Soderbergh makes a rather quiet film, much quieter than expected from the trailer which makes The Christophers look much more comedic than it is. One that’s reflective, with a scattering of likable chuckles here and there, largely in the form of quips and jabs from Sklar when he’s not recording Cameo messages for £249, making another use for his easel for him to do so. There’s a lot hidden for him, as there is for Lori, that gradually unravels over the course of the film, although intentionally not in its entirety, and certainly not in upfront style. Yet, you can see how much is held in by both characters from their pasts. Leaking through in their interactions and resentments.

During the scene where McKellen attacks the canvas we never actually see the development of the picture itself, only his face, actions and the back of the easel. The Christophers isn’t a film about the art itself, but our relationship with it and what we put into it. From the start to the very end. Subtly done and finely constructed it’s a welcoming look at creation and the feelings that go into, and come from, it; and how those can linger and change over the years. Gently told with a gliding pace, it’s easy to be captured by the performances and the details gradually unveiled by them and the screenplay. With effects and crafted images lasting in the mind long after the credits have finished rolling.

A gentle and amusing look at changing relationships with art and creation with two excellent performances from Coel and McKellen who naturally bring out the subtle and layered unravelling details of their characters.

Cert – Recommended ages 13+, Run-time – 1 hour 37 minutes, Director – Ric Roman Waugh

After surviving a suspected world-ending comet, the Garrity family (Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roman Griffin Davis) must leave the safety of a collapsed Greenland bunker to search for a new safe place on what remains of Earth.

For the convenience of Greenland 2: Migration the world-ending comet in the first film was only 70% world ending. What remains of the world, largely Europe, has seen society decline, and given almost everyone a gun. A series of grey, misty landscapes, and gunshots, are explored by the Garrity family (Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roman Griffin Davis) who having survived the apocalypse in a tense race against time must venture out into uncertain air and terrain to try and find a new place of safety when the Greenland bunker, housing some of the best, most capable minds to rebuild when things are better up top, collapses.

The journey towards somewhere that’s green – although not quite the kind you’d find in Better Homes And Gardens magazine – sees them venture the not-quite-wasteland and harsh weather conditions that have been created by the comet with bursts of tension rather than the continuous race of the first film. Migration is a film of individual characters and situations, the post-disaster movie. The individual segments and chapters start to make the joins and divides between them visible.

Having been, as many were, pleasantly surprised by the suspense of Greenland when it landed on streaming during the pandemic I sat often wanting to like the sequel, which arrives in the same form in the UK having failed to make back even half its $90 million budget during its US release in January. However, the more it goes on during a generally contained 97-minute run-time, the more it started to falter and lose me, despite still wanting to like it more than I did. There are good moments and bursts here and there, largely when looking at the weather and details of the new environment; although with growing repetition when it comes to some of the military figures or gangs we see cropping up. All treated with the same stone-faced seriousness, which still works for the tone the film wants to strike although this time around sometimes feeling a bit much whilst still avoiding a need or want for silliness.

Sometimes with the segments that the Garrity family walk through feel like they’re putting the journey to a better place to one side in order to feature more ramshackle locations and tired-looking extras, despite those being on the way. Tension and drama don’t escalate here, instead they appear at irregular intervals in varying degrees – although overall the drama feels as if it decreases over time as interest starts to fade. This is less of a race and more of a brisk walk, with the odd rest stop, to safety.

A post-disaster movie with bursts of tension, but not the race against time feel of beforehand, Greenland 2: Migration has its moments but not quite enough consistent, especially in characters, leading to a feeling of wanting to like it more than actually liking it.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 35 minutes, Director – Genki Kawamura

A man (Kazunari Ninomiya) finds himself trapped in a cycle of almost identical subway corridors, having to spot anomalies in order to get out.

It feels cheap to refer to an enjoyable single-location indie flick as having a gimmick. I’ve long-enjoyed low-budget films that pull off a clever narrative concept with what little money they have – think of genre titles such as Cube, Buried or the $7,000-budgeted Primer. Exit 8 slots right in amongst those as we spend time in a set of almost identical subway corridors, following Kazunari Ninomiya’s Lost Man as he tries to escape.

He’s told by a sign in the opening stages to continue if there are no anomalies, and turn back if there are. Each successful corridor brings him one step closer to exit 8, each failed one sends him back to level 0. While some changes are a poster or wording on a sign, others involve blood dripping from the ceiling or uneasy interactions with a character credited as Walking Man (Yamato Kochi).

Co-writer (alongside Kentaro Hirase) and director Genki Kawamura, adapting Kotake Create’s 2023 game The Exit 8, has stated that with the film he wanted to focus less on supernatural horror as a repetitive, boring lifestyle can be just as terrifying. There may not quite be terror in Exit 8, although it best fits in to the horror genre, but certainly eerie moments and a solid amount of tension in the wake of The Lost Man’s fear he may never escape – especially with the more difficult to notice changes.

We’re not entirely playing on, the film’s not asking us to. The focus is on the fear at the centre of the film, and the ways in which the corridors repeat and play with those travelling through it – we see perspectives of others who have been caught part way through. It’s here that things don’t quite get repetitive, events are largely well-contained with enough engagement in the situation to stretch to just over 90-minutes, but certainly show signs of slightly losing steam.

Additions are made without feeling like grabbing for an idea to keep things going, they fit in and work for the narrative at hand. In fact, here such points seem to help things along and hold engagement in the characters and the growing tiredness they feel at the sight of shining white walls, each reflecting the light from each other and above. The setting is well captured and used with each corner turned, level advanced or restarted – with each step successfully avoiding the feeling of a video game declaring ‘level up!’ or otherwise.

What we have here is a solid, occasionally tense cycle that leans into that factor without feeling numbly repetitive. Things might show signs of steam being lost around the halfway point as we shift perspectives, but there’s still plenty to like in the low-budget genre fare on display. One that utilises what it has with likable effect and avoiding feeling gimmicky.

A likable low-budget horror that leans into its repetition without feeling boringly so. Utilising its ideas and bringing in additions that don’t feel like overkill, there’s solid tension occasionally cropping up to help see the central character’s panic through.

Cert – 12, Run-time – 2 hours 7 minutes, Director – Antoine Fuqua

Michael Jackson (Jaafar Jackson) rises from the control of his abusive father (Colman Domingo) to create his own music and become one of the biggest selling musical artists of all time.

Whilst Michael Jackson (Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson) thinks about his entire life before he goes on stage one of the first things he reflects on is how multiple people refer to his vocal talents as a God-given gift. Only later does this come into full fruition as at a key turning point for him and his career he looks to his bodyguard (KeiLyn Durrel Jones) and starts to speak as if he genuinely believes he’s Christ. The biopic of the King of Pop appears to believe that he can do no wrong, everything is an iconic and motivational moment. Whilst sidestepping some conventions there are still on display as we see the rise to independent success of not Michael Jackson, or even Michael, but Generic Musician Biopic Protagonist.

With some form of producing credit for most of Jackson’s surviving family there’s a smear of sanitisation from start to finish. To the point that there seems to be nothing personal on display for the titular icon. Not in terms of controversies and accusations about Jackson which have plagued the film’s production and build-up to release (and many early reactions to it, too) – early versions of the film dealt, according to producer Graham King in “unbiased” manner, with accusations of child sexual abuse until legal clauses, one which forbade any mention of one of Jackson’s accusers in the film, led to rewrites and reshoots in 2025 – but simply in terms of personal feelings about almost anything. To call the film Michael may be to get across how famous he became, that we know who he is from just his first name. In terms of what we see on screen it’s a signifier of just how utterly bland he and his story are made to seem.

Conventions are worn before they’re even properly tread. Colman Domingo tries to give something to Jackson’s abusive father and childhood (young Michael is played by Juliano Valdi) manager during his time with the Jackson 5/ Jacksons, but with how one-dimensionally the scenes are written even he struggles to create an emotional hit. Instead, the film wishes to focus on the music. A series of concert performances and general creations of songs moving from one to the other with a growing feeling of ‘if they like the songs they’ll like the film.’

The more performances or recreations of music videos we get the more things start to feel as if they’re meant to sell music rather than properly tell a story of the artist, or what inspired some of their biggest songs – the closest is a slight spark towards the start of a sequence about Beat It which quickly delves into another strand about how great a dancer Jackson was. Jaafar Jackson gives a solid enough performance and certainly has the moves, his uncle’s vocals are dubbed into musical performances, but doesn’t have the screenplay to create any emotion.

Things move along for two hours with increasingly bland style. Overfamiliar and played far too safe, as if afraid to mention anything negative at all. The more music is put at the centre rather than Jackson himself the more disinterested the film feels in him, or actually telling a story. It simply likes his music. It’s much like Jackson’s connection to Peter Pan, cartoons and classic comedy like Chaplin or the Three Stooges. We see him picking up the former multiple times throughout the film, having read the book – or rather enjoyed looking at the pictures – since childhood, but his connection seems very surface level and unexplored, the name Neverland seems to be more striking than anything to do with the place itself. With Michael it’s the name of the artist and his music that seems most striking for those behind it rather than who he was as a person.

A bland set of conventions with very little in the way of personal story for the central figure, the focus of Michael is solely on the name and music. You could get more insight, and just as many tracks, listening to a greatest hits album.

Cert – PG, Run-time – 1 hour 36 minutes, Director – Max Walker-Silverman

Rancher Dusty (Josh O’Connor) reconnects with his family after losing his home in a wildfire, and discovers a found family in an emergency camp for those in similar situations.

It can be difficult to find hope, or a sense of place, in the world at the moment. Yet, of all places right now, one of the most touchingly hopeful pieces of cinema I’ve seen for a long while has come out of America. Amongst hardship and knockbacks, Rebuilding is about people connecting, coming together and helping each other. It’s about kindness.

Dusty (Josh O’Connor) is living in a mobile home in an emergency camp for those who have lost their homes in a wildfire. His hopes of returning to ranch and farm life are dashed by the fact that the land won’t be able to grow anything for years. His attempts to connect with his young daughter, Callie-Rose (Lily LaTorre), are often knocked back as she talks about her mum’s new partner when Dusty can’t even provide Wi-Fi in his current circumstances.

Yet, in each strand there’s a consistent sense of hope. People helping each other and offering a hand. Familial connections are establish with both found family in the camp and reconnecting with ex-wife Ruby (Meghann Fahy) and mother-in-law Bess (Amy Madigan on very different form to her recent Oscar-winning turn as Weapons’ Aunt Gladys). Each performance and gesture throughout rebuilding is packed with subtlety. It’s a film of thought, of people having to behave and think in the moment; thinking about how to build back but what will happen to what they build when the next fire comes along.

I was truly struck with lump-in-the-throat emotion watching writer-director Max Walker-Silverman’s film, apparently inspired by his own experiences. O’Connor in the lead role, as many would expect, is excellent capturing the subtlety of trying amongst exasperation. Clinging on to the last bit of energy that he has, before being pulled up by those around him. Community and support are key to his journey, both that which he displays and that from those around him.

The film itself is quiet and gently paced, just over 90-minutes and not exceeding its run-time at all. It’s a world I could have spent so much more time in, direct from the American indie scene. In a landscape that’s used to showing themes of isolation and struggle, there’s a calmness in the film’s encouragingly spirited nature. A genuinely emotional aspect to the film that observes our connection with people and life, alongside what we hold close and when. I left with a positive, stirred feeling; a faith in humanity. It’s been a long time since I walked out of the cinema like that.

On the surface, not a great deal happens in Rebuilding. Yet, the affecting qualities and different familial connections, spurred on by a set of emotionally responsive performances, make for 90-minutes of truly hopeful cinema.