Elvis & Nixon, Trumbo and, um, Up Pompeii: Your Week In Film (June 20-26)

The King and I: Shannon and Spacey in Elvis & Nixon

Monday 20th: Trumbo (DVD, Blu-ray and VOD) is a thoroughly enjoyable biopic of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Roman Holiday, Spartacus), who was blacklisted and jailed for being a communist during the McCarthy 'witch hunts' of the 1950s. Jay Roach's film was damned with faint praise on its cinema release but deserves better as it boasts a sharp script (as you'd expect) and uniformly top-notch performances (Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston is gloriously OTT in the title role, but it's Dean O'Gorman's uncanny turn as Kirk Douglas that really caught my eye). Although the film's main theme - freedom of speech - is one well trodden, it never once tries to duck Trumbo's political affiliations; he was an unapologetic red who, even when subjected to the most heinous pressure, refused to renounce his beliefs. I'm not sure Hollywood has ever properly faced up to this particularly shameful episode in its history but Trumbo is a pretty good start. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has all got a bit too slick and soulless of late so Guardians Of The Galaxy's debut on Netflix UK is a timely reminder of how to do a big, blockbusting superhero movie right. Director/co-writer James Gunn's film is an action-packed treat that is also joyous, wildly inventive and laugh-out-loud funny. Like most Marvel movies it's slightly hobbled by an underwhelming villain (Ronan The Accuser) but you'll be too busy mainlining the manic pop thrill of the rest of it to care too much. Over at MUBI, Molly Ringwald stars in John Hughes' teen classic Pretty In Pink, in which she has to choose between two potential suitors - one called 'Duckie', the other named 'Blane'. I can't remember how it ends but I hope to god she opted to stay single.

Red menace: Bryan Cranston is communist Trumbo 

Tuesday 21st: In Cop Land (01:45, Film4) Sylvester Stallone gives probably his best performance as the bumbling sheriff of a New Jersey town populated by New York City police officers. When Robert De Niro's internal affairs officer shows up to investigate a murder, Stallone - overweight and partially deaf - slowly discovers his patch is a little more than a front for the mob and riddled with corruption. James Mangold's film remains an under-appreciated crime thriller.

Police and thieves: Stallone lights up Cop Land

Wednesday 22nd: I know everyone has Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and a dozen other ways of accessing movies these days but that's still no reason for terrestrial TV channels to schedule their best films at such inconvenient times. Blue Valentine (01:30, Channel 4) is the latest to be dumped in a post-midnight slot which is a shame, as Derek Cianfrance's drama not only boasts fine performances from Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, but also a refreshingly unvarnished approach to the subject of marriage and what happens when one starts to unravel. Cutting between time periods, we see the evolution of working class couple Dean and Cindy's relationship from their initial courtship to ultimate parting in a melancholic movie well worth the space on your PVR.

Bad romance: Blue Valentine's star-crossed lovers

Thursday 23rd: Independence Day: Resurgence hits cinemas. No Will Smith this time, so you'll just have to make do with Jeff Goldblum, Liam Hemsworth and Bill Pullman teaming up to save the planet from aliens with a penchant for blowing stuff up. They're doing it in 3D this time, you'll no doubt be delighted to hear. Due to the EU referendum result and its aftermath, Kermode And Mayo's Film Review (14:00, BBC Radio 5 Live) is a day earlier this week. Actor Eric Stonestreet chats to Mayo about The Secret Life Of Pets, a new animated movie from the makers of Despicable Me. In The Film Programme (16:00, BBC Radio 4), Nell Dunn talks about her screenplay for Ken Loach's ground-breaking drama Poor Cow, which is back in cinemas from tomorrow. Fantasy and reality merge in Blind (01:05, Channel 4), an extraordinary Swedish film from first-time writer/director Eskil Vogt. Chronicling a young, visually-impaired woman's struggle to come to terms with isolation and paranoia, it boasts a great central performance from Ellen Dorrit Petersen.

Out of sight: Ellen Dorrit Petersen stars in Blind

Friday 24th: Elvis & Nixon is probably your best bet in cinemas this week and purports to tell the true story of the pair's famous Oval Office meeting in 1970. Michael Shannon is the king of rock'n'roll, Kevin Spacey is Tricky Dicky and, judging by the trailer (below), it looks an absolute hoot. Two films released simultaneously in cinemas and on VOD from today are Italian mob thriller Suburra and intriguing memory-loss drama Remainder - I shall be checking out both. Irrational Man (09:15 and 18:15, Sky Movies Premiere, also available on NOW TV) is another of Woody Allen's late-period lesser works but at least Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone can be relied upon to turn in fine performances, even if the script is merely passable. Phoenix plays a depressed philosophy professor given a new lease of life after he kills a corrupt judge. Stone is the optimistic, love-struck student trying to save the professor from himself.

Double Trouble: Elvis & Nixon hits cinemas today

Saturday 25th: In the mood for a bit of music but not keen on sitting through the Argos Alison Moyet (aka Adele) at Glastonbury? Allow me to again point you in the direction of MUBI who are still showing excellent Talking Heads concert flick, Stop Making Sense. Filmed in 1983, Jonathan Demme's film captures the band - rumoured to be reforming for a new tour and album - at the height of its powers. Miss You Already (Amazon Prime Video) is an over-the-top but engaging dramedy about two best friends whose relationship is threatened when one (Drew Barrymore) gets pregnant at the exact same time the other (Toni Collette) is diagnosed with breast cancer. Its melodrama is set to 11 throughout and Morwena Banks' script is hardly cliché free, but Collette is always worth watching, even when she plays a selfish pain in the arse as she does here. L.A. Confidential (23:20, BBC1) is Curtis Hanson's noirish tale of police corruption in 1950s Los Angeles, starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce as cops with very contrasting styles but only one goal: root out the bad guys. Based on the James Ellroy novel of the same name, it's intricately plotted, nicely acted and just as hard-bitten as you'd expect.

Good cop, bad cop: Stakes are high in L.A. Confidential 

Sunday 26th: Lots of good stuff on today, including Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1 (22:10, Sky Atlantic), enjoyable Nick Hornby adaptation High Fidelity (23:15, BBC One), superior supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense (23:20, Channel 4), and Bruce Robinson's wonderfully-quotable Withnail & I (23:00, Gold). If your tastes are a little more down market, there's profoundly un-PC Frankie Howerd comedy Up Pompeii (21:15, Gold). Despite its innumerable shortcomings, any film that includes Howerd, Patrick Cargill, Michael Hordern, Bernard Bresslaw, Madeline Smith and Lance Percival amongst its cast can't be all bad.

Let's be Frank: Up Pompeii is an un-PC treat

UK box office top 10
1. Me Before You
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows 
3. Alice Through The Looking Glass
4. Warcraft: The Beginning R
5. X-Men: Apocalypse R
6. The Nice Guys R
7. The Boss
8. Angry Birds 
9. Mother's Day 
10. The Jungle Book R

R = Recommended

All information correct at time of publication

5 for Friday (September 11): Trailers, new releases and box office

This week's most intriguing cinema releases, including The Visit (pictured above)...

1. Pasolini 

What is it? Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini (Salo, The Gospel According To Matthew) was murdered in 1975. This mix of fiction and reality from Abel Ferrara (Welcome To New York, Bad Lieutenant) seeks to document his final day. Willem Dafoe is Pasolini.

Critical consensus? A healthy, if not spectacular, 69 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Where in the UK can I see it? Key cities only but it is also available right now via Curzon Home Cinema. Also released on DVD and Blu-ray next month.

My take: Welcome To New York was one of my favourite films of last year and I’ve been curious to see what maverick director Ferrara would do next. Pasolini – a poet, playwright, novelist, critic, communist and defiantly ‘out’ gay man, as well as the director of one of the most controversial movies ever made (Salo) – is a fascinating choice of subject. That Dafoe fella can act a bit, too.

2. Irrational Man 

What is it? Writer/director Woody Allen’s 3,016th film (I may be out a couple there). Joaquin Phoenix is Abe, a tormented philosophy professor conducting affairs with both a colleague (Parker Posey) and one of his students (Emma Stone). In a bid to give his existential angst meaning, Abe decides to murder an unethical judge. As you do.

Critical consensus? A highly irrational 41 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Where in the UK can I see it? This is getting a wide release so should be fairly easy to track down.

My take: I doubt Woody (80 this year) has another Crimes And Misdemeanors or Hannah and Her Sisters in him but, every now and again, he pops up with something roughly in the same ballpark quality-wise. The sublime Blue Jasmine proved that, although last year’s Magic In The Moonlight felt like something he’d dashed off in an afternoon. To be honest, I’m just happy he’s still out there making movies – we won’t have him forever.

3. In Cold Blood (reissue)

What is it? Richard Brooks’ 1967 adaptation of Truman Capote’s controversial non-fiction novel gets a swanky new 4K restoration. A docu-drama, it tells the story of a Kansas family’s brutal murder at the hands of the gunmen who invade their home looking for cash. Robert Blake (Baretta, Lost Highway) stars.

Critical consensus? A mighty 89 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Where in the UK can I see it? It’s only getting a limited release, including at the BFI Southbank. Presumably, a Blu-ray release will be forthcoming.

My take: Brooks’ film is a critically-adored noir classic but, these days it’s impossible to think of it without also contemplating the fact its star, Blake, was tried and acquitted of murdering his wife in 2005. Later the same year, though, he was found liable in a California civil court of her wrongful death. In cold blood, indeed.

4. Containment 

What is it? This intriguing slice of low-budget British sci-fi sees a man awake to find the doors and windows of his flat sealed shut, and his power and water switched off. At first he thinks it’s someone’s idea of a prank but then notices the foreboding figures outside his window wearing Hazmat suits. His nightmare is only just beginning…

Critical consensus? Only four reviews on Rotten Tomatoes so far but they’re all positive. Even Sight and Sound likes it!

Where in the UK can I see it? It’s only getting a limited cinema release but is out on DVD early next month.

My take: I do like a bit of dystopian Brit SF so will definitely check out Neil Mcenery-West’s debut as writer and director. The fact it’s set in a tower block immediately made me think of JG Ballard’s High Rise, an adaptation of which directed by Ben Wheatley (The Kill List, Sightseers) is out later in the year.

5. The Visit

What is it? M Night Shyamalan discovers found-footage horror a squillion years after everyone else as two rosy-cheeked kids go to stay with grandparents they’ve never met for a week. Unfortunately, for the children, it turns out the golden oldies have a deep, dark secret. Scary stuff ensues…

Critical consensus? A just-about fresh 62 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Where in the UK can I see it? Everywhere!

My take: Yes, we all know Lady In The Water, The Last Airbender and The Happening were terrible but let’s not forget, way back when, Shyamalan gave us The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, and that one about the aliens invading a planet covered in water even though it was poison to them. What I’m saying is, as surprising as it sounds, this looks pretty good.

                                                      

Also in cinemas this week…

Brahmin Bulls

Hero

La Famille Belier 
The Master Mind Kinda Sukha

Swimming Pool (from Saturday)

The World Of Astley Baker Davies

Yatchan
Zoran, My Nephew The Idiot 

UK box office top 10

1. Straight Outta Compton
2. Inside Out
3. No Escape
4. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
5. Me And Earl And The Dying Girl
6. Pixels
7. The Transporter Refuelled
8. American Ultra
9. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
10. Hitman: Agent 47 

US box office top 10

1. War Room
2. Straight Outta Compton
3. A Walk in the Woods
4. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
5. The Transporter Refueled
6. No Escape
7. The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
8. Un gallo con muchos huevos
9. Sinister 2
10. Inside Out