Cert – 18, Run-time – 1 hour 12 minutes, Director – Elizabeth Lo

Looking at the world from a dog’s-eye-view as Zeytin roams the streets of Istanbul, where stray dogs are allowed to live freely.

There’s an innocent, joyous grin that spreads widely across the face as dogs pounce, play, sniff and go freely about their days in Stray. It’s the type of content that makes up short, amusing videos on social media that you sometimes can’t help but watch because of the dog-related content. Yet, there’s much more than just these base moments of delight in Elizabeth Lo’s film. As she follows proud and playful dog Zeytin the camera is kept at the height of a dog’s head, as the world is naturally explored and people and animals are seen going about their days. Turkey is one of the few countries in the world where stray dogs are allowed to roam freely without risk of being taken in by kennels or authorities, or being euthanised. It’s almost made to seem as if humans and dogs, mostly, peacefully co-exist on an equal level with the occasional interaction.

While there are, of course, the humans that want to give Zeytin and co – including Nazar and Kartal – fuss there are also those that almost mentally depend on them. We spend time with a group of Syrian refugees who find mental calming and relief in the company of the canines. If they had the funds – and, as told by one person, didn’t sniff glue from plastic bags – they would likely try to take them in as their own. They’re a source of comfort and distraction. They share qualities of residing in Istanbul, and having their own lives apart from the busy city streets. This relationship, one of a handful explored over the short course of the film, goes to some shocking and surprising places as Lo explores just how far some people will go for this bond.

Throughout philosophical quotes appear across the screen looking into the connection of humans and their apparent best friends. How we’re apparently not so unalike, and perhaps need each other; or at least we need them. All forms of dogs are integrated into Turkish society, going about their days and getting on with their various business (whatever your mind came up with, it’s very likely correct – yes, even in the middle of a crowded street). They walk amongst humans and appear to behave like them, and yet we’re reminded throughout; thanks to the interactions that they have with each other and other species, that these are dogs – the occasional moments of butt-sniffing certainly remind us of this.

Stray tells its story simply and effectively, constructed so as to gradually travel across its course with the viewer alongside Lo and her canine subjects. Within this it manages to pack in quite a lot of detail, never forced so as to disconnect the audience. We see the world from a dog’s perspective, marvel at their play and interactions with humanity, yet find ourselves further engaged and interested by the connections that humans form with them. For the most part this is a fairly innocent film, and that helps with a number of the themes and ideas that are brought up and naturally occur over the course of the run-time. And even those more serious points – this film does after all have an 18 rating from the BBFC for, as their description says, “drug misuse” – are dealt with well and yet in a manner that doesn’t distract from the overall style and feeling of the film. Definitely one for dog-lovers, there’s plenty there for others as the film gently travels along its course of looking at centuries old bonds between dogs and humans.

Playfully filled with plenty of delightful “aww” moments Stray isn’t without its seriousness, in an interesting and effective layer of human-canine relationships.

Cert – PG, Run-time – 1 hour 41 minutes, Director – Tim Story

After lying her way into a job at a high-end New York hotel, Kayla (Chloë Grace Moretz) finds herself employing cat Tom to deal with mouse Jerry, who has made a home in the hotel walls, while trying not to disturb an upcoming influencer wedding.

Judas And The Black Messiah’s acting Oscar nods raised a number of questions when recently announced? How can the title characters both be played by supporting actors – at least one is surely the lead, especially when the two are highly prominent within the story and almost always at least one is on screen? Now, in Warner Bros latest, the title characters are certainly support – although in this case it’s highly unlikely the film will be receiving any major awards nominations.

Instead we focus on Kayla (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young woman who has, to her own surprise, blagged her way into a job at a high-end New York City hotel. Everything is precise, clean and expertly maintained in hundreds of rooms and suites across the 21 floor layout. It’s exactly the way that smiling general manager Henry (Rob Delaney) and suspicious events manager Terence (Michael Peña) wish to keep it. Especially in the run-up to a highly publicised influencer wedding (between Colin Jost’s Ben and Pallavi Shada’s Preeta) taking place in just a matter of days. This is, of course, the worst time to have a mouse problem. Cue Jerry making his home in the hotel walls. With Kayla tasked with removing the animated rodent she hires other half of the classic double act Tom to sort things out.

The pair’s slapstick actions are left aside for most of the run-time, only thrown to every now and then, as we primarily follow Kayla trying to keep her job for a week, despite being severely unqualified for the position. When they do get their time to shine there seems little impact, it almost feels as if the creators aren’t sure as to what they should be doing with the iconic enemies. “This not talking thing is really getting old” shouts one character in what feels like a channelling of the thoughts and feelings of the creatives in regards to the titular duo – who remain mute, aside from the odd grunt, scream and giggle, throughout, unlike the generally weak-middling received 1992 film. In fact, the pair don’t overly get a proper moment until just over half an hour in, some mild exposition and brief early glimpses of chaos – Tom aspires to tour with John Legend while Jerry simply wants to find a good home – but nothing major. Even once the main course for the duo’s antagonism is established we get odd moments such as flossing (which only just felt relevant when Wreck-It-Ralph did it back in 2018) and highly autotuned piano ballads – alongside an oddly hip-hop, rap heavy soundtrack.

While there’s a fairly amusing skateboard chase it comes very late in the day and simply makes you wonder why the rest of the film couldn’t have been like this. At least we finally see Tom and Jerry doing something beneficial, even if by this point the plot has become a series of cliché chunks. The majority of the film simply seems tired, uncertain (much like some of the cast, Moretz tries to give the weak material her best), and somehow out of date. This iteration of Tom And Jerry, causing occasional minor damage to locations that are apparently within the Big Apple, feels as if it belongs more to the period of live-action CG hybrids such as Yogi Bear and Alvin And The Chipmunks, which even in the late-2000’s – early 2010’s felt somewhat tired and out of date.

Tom And Jerry’s major problem is that it feels unsure as to what to do with its title characters, pushing them aside to make way for a tired plot. By replacing hammers for hotels the film lacks humour and indeed chaos.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 4 hours 1 minute, Director – Zack Snyder

Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) assembles a team of heroes to stop alien Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) from combining three motherboxes hidden across Earth that will cause humanity to be put into dark enslavement.

It’s been a long road to Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Family tragedy prevented the director from completing 2017’s Justice League – this cut is dedicated to his late daughter Autumn – and led us to receiving Joss Whedon’s re-written and re-shot cut, and a number of allegations of misconduct on set, including on previous projects. Now, after much deliberation as to the existence of this particular film, demands to see the original vision and cries of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut we finally see a release of a director’s cut unlike any other. It’s a grand achievement, and one that will certainly please the fans who have campaigned so hardly on platforms such as Reddit, Twitter, petition sites, and of course many other places, to see this film – free from any of Whedon’s content.

At two hours long the original cut of Justice League felt as if it could be at least half an hour shorter in it’s dark, jumbled state. Yet, somehow Zack Snyder’s take – with a screenplay by Chris Terrio – almost justifies a four hour run-time, made up of six chapters and an epilogue. The look may still be dark, grey and dim, although this becomes something you gradually get used to over the course of the film, and very CGI heavy, but there’s plenty more story. A story that isn’t as gritty, and that of which there is isn’t there simply for the sake of being dark and brooding.

Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) is attempting to assemble a team of heroes who can battle against the force of the seemingly unstoppable Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) – a horned alien with spiked, metallic armour covering all but his lizard-like face, which Vic Reeves would have a field day describing on the panel of Shooting Stars. Steppenwolf arrives on earth to find and synchronise three motherboxes that when combines will plunge the Earth into dark enslavement to his own master Darkseid (Ray Porter). Steppenwolf very much seems to be the assistant to the barely seen Darkseid, while seemingly the core villain of the piece he doesn’t cause much impact due to constantly being overshadowed by his goal and large amounts of backstory about his master.

One thing that the Snyder Cut is heavy with is backstory and individual character insights. The first two hours is spent jumping from place to place, landscape to landscape. Focusing largely on already established characters such as Batman, Aquaman (Jason Mamoa) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) – whose returning electric cello theme is one of the highlights of the film. It takes a while to actually get a scene with Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen, AKA The Flash in action, and 76 minutes for Ray Fisher’s Victor Stone/ Cyborg to get a proper scene with more than one line of dialogue.

Luckily, the pair become bigger players later on (even if The Flash possibly gets the least development out of everyone) and feel less pushed aside once actually brought into the team. With so much to handle during this first half of the film the content proves to be some of the more engaging beats of the piece. The various battles with Steppenwolf simply don’t hold quite work or have that much emotional connection in, yet the more detailed story and characters, are enough to be engaged in, luckily these form the core of the film with most of the fights not lasting very long before moving on to something new.

Once the team is assembled we see them searching for the motherboxes themselves, led by Bruce Wayne: war strategist, and trying their best to save the world. There’s less jumping around from place to place and more focus on the task at hand, meaning less backstory too. The flow picks up and there are less changes in scene to scene pacing, apart from once again Superman (Henry Cavill) popping off for twenty minutes to talk to Lois Lane (Amy Adams). It’s also during such moments that we again focus on the Justice League themselves, the main drive and push of the film. Their search and mission is seemingly more integral than the force at hand, Steppenwolf certainly isn’t the strongest villain, and, again, feels more like an assistant for a darker, less present, force. He provides the task at hand, and some good moments for other characters, but never exactly has his moment to properly shine (apart from perhaps early on during an extended arrival sequence, proving his strength, in a battle with the Amazonians).

It takes almost until the three hour mark for someone to say “we actually, finally, have a plan” and while that does feel to be slightly the case with the film as a whole it’s certainly not poorly constructed. Character backstories and worldbuilding add to the film and make for a much more engaging story than what we had before, and even better formed characters. The villain may not be the most well-formed element, but neither is he at the forefront of the piece, that spot belongs to the Justice League; Zack Snyder’s Justice League. At the end of the day this is a film for the fans who wanted it, the fans who allowed for a director to actually succeed in having their vision be seen. Some may see this as much their film as it is the director’s, the writer’s and everyone who worked on it, and that’s a perfectly justified viewpoint. This is a film for them, and it’s likely to be an understandable hit with them. When watching the film it’s easy to see how and why.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League may have some slight inconsistencies in pacing and initial jumping between characters, yet, there’s still a better, more detailed and entertaining story and set of characters at hand. Putting such points, and a background villain, aside for an enjoyable four hour achievement; that will, most importantly, please, delight and enthral the people who lead to its release.

Cert – 18, Run-time – 2 hours 22 minutes, Directors – Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

An Iraq War veteran (Tom Holland) finds himself returning to financial struggle and drug addiction, turning to robbing banks to cope with both.

For the Russo brothers their latest directorial feature, Cherry, is a vast tonal shift from the blockbuster heights with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Alike to Spielberg going from Jaws, Indiana Jones and E.T. to The Color Purple, or Scorsese turning from The Departed and Shutter Island into Hugo (or even The Wolf Of Wall Street after that). Cherry is a gritty mixture of genres as it tells its story across its various chapters, each with a new style and feel to them. It’s certainly something more intense and different from the duo, and especially from lead Tom Holland – his take on a drug addicted Iraq War veteran bank robber is far from his take on everyone’s favourite friendly, neighbourhood Spider-Man.

Holland is strong in this leading role, as we watch his character journey through a downward spiral of destruction. The film starts off as a high-school/ college romance between him and girlfriend Emily (Ciara Bravo). However, when she breaks up with him he joins the much less comfortable conditions of the army, eventually being sent off to fight in Iraq. During action sequences in the seemingly never-ending dusty landscapes of the Iraq desert there seem to be clear inspirations from films such as Platoon. It’s just one of many films that jump out over the course of the 142 minute narrative. Each chapter appears to have its own style and identity. A new set of techniques to get across points. While we initially begin with Holland’s voiceover and fourth wall breaks these are gradually dropped as the film goes on in favour of gritty realism, as he begins to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on returning home.

Because of this Cherry (Holland’s character) develops a drug addiction on returning home, his re-blossomed relationship with Emily becoming increasingly damaged as she too becomes reliant on heroin. For the most part this is the most that Bravo has to do in the film. It appears that screenwriters Angela Russo-Otstot and Jessica Goldberg want to focus on Cherry himself, after all he is the titular character (the story is based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Nico Walker, entitled Cherry), and aren’t always sure on what they should do with Emily. This especially being the case when Cherry turns to robbing banks in increasingly planned (although not always well executed) attempts. This includes him going from his regular clothes and stammering his demands to staring down the member of staff with his demands written on a dollar bill, in a baggy suit that makes him look as if he’s walked off the set of Bugsy Malone.

As the situation gets worse, and you gradually get used to the change in tone (often it takes a bit of time to settle in to the feel of a new chapter) to that of a crime/ heist film, the bank names get increasingly aggravated. From “USPrank” to the likes of “Sh!ttyBank” and “Bank F*cks America”. Throughout it’s Holland’s central performance that remains consistent and helps to capture the tone of not just the individual segments but the overall character and story, and through the large amount of techniques that make up the scene to scene basis of the film he keeps something the same that the viewer can follow. There are some good ideas and inspirations throughout the film, and eventually each chapter has its moment, however sometimes it just takes a while to get there due to the change in tone that they provide.

Tom Holland is strong and consistent in the leading role of a varying film. Changing genre, style and techniques from chapter to chapter, it’s overall good but takes a few minutes to settle in to each new genre.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 2 hours 8 minutes, Director – John Lee Hancock

A former homicide detective turned small-town sheriff (Denzel Washington) teams up with a young California detective (Rami Malek) to track down a serial-killer whose murders match those from a previous case he oversaw.

How can you tell when a character is a psychopath? A twisted serial-killer that needs to be locked up? Films have many different ways of showing us this. Sometimes it’s down to the performance, sometimes the direction, a camera angle or the specific lines of dialogue in the screenplay. In John Lee Hancock’s latest, The Little Things, the answer to the question is when Jared Leto asks for “pineapples and jalapenos” on a pizza. The film attempts to keep the nature of Leto’s wild-eyed, rarely blinking character ambiguous, you’re supposedly meant to decide for yourself whether he’s a killer or not – his performance certainly alludes to the fact that he is. Either way fellow Academy Award winners Denzel Washington and Rami Malek are close on the case following him closely, from just after the hour mark onward.

Washington plays Joe Deacon, a former homicide detective turned small-town sheriff. When a number of murders similar to ones he investigated years before crop up he finds himself pairing up with detective Jim Baxter (Malek). The two travel throughout the county to the sites of new victims of a mysterious killer, going from scene to scene seemingly arriving at a dead end each time. While the content might have a feeling of a fairly by-the-numbers mystery-thriller it’s elevated by the two central performances.

Yet, even with the two performances that lead the feature there’s still a fair deal that the screenplay doesn’t quite delve into enough. Various hints to the past of Washington’s character during his time in the city are only briefly shown before either being forgotten about or left too long for any major interest to be formed around them. There’s a lack of impact because of this and the overall emotional engagement with the film dims. The idea that seems to be held on to for the longest amount of time, is the belief that Jared Leto is possibly the killer – in the eyes of Baxter and Deacon anyway – and the investigation into him. It might come in late into the film, and certainly be the point where it begins to weaken as it goes on; feeling more and more like a late-90’s, early 2000’s crime thriller, but it’s absolutely what the film focuses on most, which to an extent removes some of the mystery of the first half of the film for the, not as successful, mystery of a potential suspect.

This all coming from a screenplay that feels as if it comes from such an era, and hasn’t had an updated draft since. Featuring lines of dialogue such as “your d!ck is harder than Chinese arithmetic” before moving swiftly on to the rest of the scene. It’s all part of something that feels overall underdone and lacking. While it starts off fairly middling, if already dated, there’s a continuing spiral-like decline as the film repeats itself, forgets ideas and simply seems to delve into something different every so often in ineffective mystery. The biggest emotional response is that to the film’s most disturbing content, Jared Leto’s character’s pizza order.

The Little Things suffers not from a lack of focus, but from that which isn’t focused on enough, creating an overall feeling of something missing or not explored enough in the film, that which we do get unfortunately can’t be lifted by the central performances of Washington and Malek.

Cert – PG, Run-time – 1 hour 47 minutes, Directors – Carlos López Estrada, Don Hall

Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) has spent years trying to find the last dragon, Sisu (Awkwafina), in the hope of reassembling a gem that will remove the threat of the consuming force of the Druun.

In the past Disney have delved into the realms of Sherlock Holmes style characters (Basil The Great Mouse Detective), dark(ish) 80’s family fantasy (The Black Cauldron) and even explored video games (Wreck-It-Ralph). It’s surprising to think that it’s taken the studio 60 films, and 84 years, to create a piece with a truly adventurous exploration core to it. Their latest hero, Raya (Kelly Marie Tran), captures such spirit as she scours the South East Asian inspired regions of Kumandra for the last surviving dragon, Sisu (Awkwafina). There’s a richness to both the design and the animation of the various landscapes that we visit throughout the piece, whether sea-side markets or trap-laden caverns Raya acts as a fighting presence potentially amongst explorer ranks such as Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, above the likes of Dora (even in The Lost City Of Gold) with her higher degree of age-based universality.

Raya, alongside her ‘furrbug’ – an adorable hamster-armadillo hybrid – named TukTuk (Alan Tudyk), searches for Sisu in the hope of igniting the power within the shattered sections of a gem which once helped to ward off the purple-black fog-like force of the Drunn. Humans and dragons once lived in harmony in Kumandra, however when all but one dragon used their powers to create the gemstone – which now resides in secured pieces in the individual lands of each of Kumandra’s divided tribes. With the gemstone, and peace alongside it, broken, the Druun returns; enveloping whoever may be near it and turning them into a solid stone statue. Much of this detail is explained the build-up and exposition of the initial half hour of the run-time. It’s once the delightful Awkwafina arrives that the ball truly begins to get rolling.

For starters, there’s less reliance on comedic asides. While TukTuk is a strong character who may very well shift a lot of merchandise – and rightly so! – there are a great deal of moments in the early stages of the film where after the main action of the scene there’s a quick cut to him at the end of the scene for comic relief before moving on. Once we’re introduced to Sisu the comedic beats come more naturally in the form of dialogue while the plot progresses with more ease. The adventure form may be somewhat simplistic as we go from area to area in the dragon-shaped land, however writers Adele Lim and Qui Nguyen manage to avoid an episodic feeling, especially with the unique feel to each tribe’s area – all contributing to the overall feeling of the piece, which is held in place fairly well throughout.

If there’s one major element lacking from this piece it’s that of an opportunity to be able to see it on the big screen. Like many of Disney Animation Studios recent ventures this is a film made to be relished on the big screen, especially with, amongst the detail, the hints of action that come with the exploration of the world that is created. And while this works well on the small screen and certainly still has an impact; Raya is every bit as much of a triumphant character as she could possibly be and the films messages of unity and trust are made perfectly clear as the narrative develops, the command for something large to view this on. Yet, it speaks to how much of an engaging and enjoyable adventure Raya And The Last Dragon is that it works as well as it does on the small screen. Perhaps it’s down to the world that the brave and heartful central characters find themselves in, perhaps its such figures themselves. Whatever it might be there’s a lot to like about this particular Disney feature. It has their conventional markings, while also having a slightly different, more adventurous, feel to some of their previous efforts, with Tran’s Raya continuing their growing line of strong, engaging, female characters.

Kumandra serves for a world as detailed as the animation that brings to life the delightful characters at the heart of Raya And The Last Dragon’s other exploration of trust.

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 54 minutes, Director – Doug Liman

A married couple (Anne Hathaway, Chiwetel Ejiofor) whose relationship is cracking during lockdown plan a diamond heist.

Bad internet, relationship frustrations, bread-making and the extent of the effects of boredom are all elements of lockdown that have been poked fun of countless times over the past year. They’ve been the subject of a handful of stand-up sets, podcast conversations, TV show segments and more, and now it’s time for the film treatment. Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor both go through such events in lockdown comedy – the aptly named – Locked Down. It would be easy for such jabs and jokes to already feel old and monotonous, yet there’s something about director Doug Liman’s latest that feels enough of the moment to make it a worthwhile, mildly humorous, watch.

Perhaps it’s down to the central performances of the central pairing as a married couple struggling with their relationship during lockdown. Fashion CEO Linda (Hathaway) and delivery driver Paxton (Ejiofor) find themselves with a number of different stresses during the pandemic. Linda worries about having to send employees on furlough, or laying them off, and breaking the news via Zoom; meanwhile her husband suffers from lockdown boredom, barely having anywhere to drive to and spending most of his time inside. It’s not long until the urge to bake arrives, soon after he emerges into his street to read poetry late at night – to varying responses. Yet, it’s not long until the pair are met with a task that they can finally work on together, stealing a £3 million diamond from Harrods.

Throughout the planning process, which comes late in the film after we’re acquainted with the lives that may very well match our own, and a fair deal before the film is scattered with a number of famous faces, some as small supporting cast-members, others as brief cameos. From the likes of Ben Stiller and Mindy Kaling to more homegrown talent such as Stephen Merchant and Mark Gatiss. Luckily, the film avoids a feeling as if it’s simply trying to cram in a showcase of celebrity appearances for the sake of laughs, there’s a lack of a showy feel and they manage to simply exist as characters on the occasional video call that add to the frustrations of the central two figures, simply adding to their worries, stresses and growing use of cigarettes.

Once we finally get to the heist the laughs may die down as the plot finally begins to take form, in the second half of Steven Knight’s screenplay. At 114 this is a slightly too long film, once again proving that comedies should try, as much as possible, to stick to the 90 minute rule – while amusing, there are a number of moments that focus on small sections of the pairs lives that don’t overly impact the film. They push the run-time on and cause it to be truly felt as the main case of the ‘action’ takes place, leading the film from going to rather good to fairly average. While the performances are still good, and capture the needed lightness for the situation at hand – creating something enjoyable and of the time – the events in the outside world are surprisingly less entertaining than what we seem to have been living through for the last year.

Locked Down is certainly a film made up heavily with observational comedic beats. Held up by Hathaway and Ejiofor’s performances there’s a light helping of amusement to be found here, even when the film does eventually divert into its heist premise.