Taika Waititi, after the success of Thor: Ragnarok, is back to direct this latest standalone Thor adventure. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) feels a little lost in life. Cut off from love after his painful breakup with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), he lives simply, contemplating what his purpose is and travelling the universe to help wherever God like help is needed. This changes when he finds out that God’s are being hunted and killed by Gorr (Christian Bale) and Asgard is next. When Gorr arrives in new Asgard, Thor realises he needs to put an end to it. Aided by Valkyrie (Tessa Thomson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and Jane, he heads off to build an army and bring Gorr’s reign to an end.

Of all the MCU characters, Thor is amongst the most fun, especially in the hands of Waititi. That is the case here, in this whirlwind of fun, laughs, silly action, colour all witt a great soundtrack. While not quite up to the standard of Ragnarok, there is a lot to enjoy with Love and Thunder.

It is at its best when it is at its most crazy, when it’s fast paced with rapid fire gags, all helped by Hemsworth wonderful comedic delivery of a God who doesn’t still quite get mere mortals. The cast around him are equally good and there is a fair number of cameos to keep you on your toes.

The film works brilliantly for 2/3rds but it can’t quite stick the pace, with a final act that feels a little laboured. There is also the waste of Bale’s Gorr, with his God Killer story only really a plot device to get us from one end of the film to the other. You’d assume however, that Waititi didn’t want to explore the darkness of Gorr’s revenge mission and preferred to stick with, what is basically, a Marvel romcom.

Love and Thunder doesn’t reach the heights of Ragnarok but it is 2/3rds a fantastic romp and even if it does tail off at the end, there is enough fun and humour all with a great soundtrack, to keep you entertained.

Angus MacLane directs this latest addition to the Toy Story catalogue. The film opens explaining how in 1995 Andy bought a Buzz Lightyear action figure (he’s not a toy!) based on a character from his favourite film and Lightyear is that film. We find Buzz and his crew in hibernation as they travel home. Buzz is awoken as the ship finds life on an uncharted planet. However Buzz (voiced this time by Chris Evans) and his fellow Space Ranger, Alisa Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) realise the planet is less than friendly. While escaping Buzz overcomits the take off and damages the craft stranding everyone. After a year of effort they recreate the fuel crystal needed to get them home, but when the tests don’t go to plan, Buzz finds himself in a different time and place and with a bunch of brand new problems.

So did Toy Story need a Buzz Lightyear action figure orgin story? Of course not. Does it add anything to the Pixar classics? Definitely not. So is it worth it?

Well, what you get with Lightyear is a solid but definitely not spectacular Pixar animation. Which is reality means it’s decent enough, but in a world where Disney+ has been the home of recent (and better) Pixar films, it’s odd they chose this for the cinema.

It’s fine, looks brilliant, as you’d expect and the voice cast all deliver. Evans does a fine Buzz and the supporting cast of Keke Palmer (Izzy), Taika Waititi (Mo) Dale Soules (Darby) and scene stealer Peter Sohn (Sox) are all solid. The story is ok and moves along nicely for its 100 minute run time, with decent action sequences and humour throughout.

What it really lacks though is the thing great Pixar films have, a real emotional core, a heart that drags you right in. While its along way from terrible such a beloved character deserves something with heart and more than passable entertainment.

We didn’t really need a Buzz “origin” story and Lightyear proves that. It lacks the heart of Toy Story and is nowhere near Pixar’s best. That said it’s passable entertainment which I enjoyed while it lasted, but already the memory of it has drifted into infinity and maybe beyond.

Directed by Jeremiah Zagar, written by Will Fetters and Taylor Materne is this nuts and bolts sorts movie. Adam Sandler is Stanley Sugerman a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers, who is great at his job, but wants more, a place on the coaching team. When club owner Rex Merrick (Robert Duvall) gives him the chance he’s ecstatic. However when Merrick suddenly passes away and is replaced by his egotistical son Vince (Ben Foster), Stanley quickly finds himself back in the road. When he finds himself on a wasted trip to Spain, he wanders of to a local basketball court he finds a unique talent, Bo Cruz ( Juancho Hernangomez) hustling on the courts. Stanley is desperate to get him to the US and find this generational talent a place in the NBA. But he has a lot to overcome, including his old boss and Bo’s attitude and lack of belief, can he be built into a basketball star?

If the plot sounds familiar, you’d be right, this is almost every other underdog sports film you’ve ever seen. Sandler’s Sugerman is full of doubt and has his own history to deal with. Cruz, has a past and his own concerns about his ability and doubts he’ll make it. But the two together help each other grow. If you sat down at the start and plotted this out, you’d pretty much ball it. Think the later Rockys and swap boxing for basketball, heck it’s even set in Philadelphia!

Not that this makes it a bad film, it’s got a good heart and in Sugerman and Cruz two characters to pull for and Vince a bad guy who deserves his comeuppance. Queen Latifah is solid as ever as Sugermans wife as is Anthony Edwards as Cruz’s on court nemesis, Kermit Wilts. The non acting cast are also more than passable.

The two main performers are what make this work with a good on screen chemistry. Sandler’s character feels like one he’s played for laughs, but he delivers it well with the comedy removed and Hernangomez is likeable and vulnerable.

Hustle hits all the sports movie beats you expect. But with Sandler and Hernangomez’s likeable screen presence you are invested and want them to succeed. While it won’t change your world, it’s an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.

Colin Trevorrow directs the latest installment in the behemoth franchise that is Jurassic Park.

We find a world where dinosaurs now live amongst us, but all is not well as man and nature struggle to adapt. This is made worse when a plague of giant locusts start to devour crops around the United States. Drafted in to examine the “plague” is Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) she realises she needs help and hunts down her old Jurassic Park adventurer Alan Grant (Sam Neill). Meanwhile we find Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) still living alongside Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen (Chris Pratt) who are protecting her from anyone who wants to do her harm. However, when Maisie is kidnapped alongside a baby raptor, Claire and Owen set off in pursuit. Meanwhile Ellie and Alan have discovered a genetics company maybe behind the locust plague and need access to their facility in Italy to prove it. Luckily they have help on the inside by way of Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). So, off everyone sets on a jet setting adventure to save Maisie and the world.

Yes Dominions plot is as silly as it sounds, it’s a bit like Jurassic Park meets James Bond with a sprawling chase across the globe. Which includes bad guys and a world domination fixated organisation head in his secret lair. Oh and of course we have dinosaurs, old favourites as well as bigger and badder newcomers.

But for all of its big, brash, loud action, and incoherent plot. I really enjoyed it. Yes it’s silly and makes no sense, but I didn’t mind. It was like someone had decided if this was a closing chapter to the story, they’d take everything they could think of and throw it on the screen. To be honest I enjoyed its madness and commitment to it!

Jurassic World Dominion is some kind of dinosaur, James Bond cross. It throws anything it can think of on screen and adds dinosaurs to it. Yes it’s a mess and too long. But you’ll either go with it or you won’t. I did and had a good time doing it

Alex Garland writes and directs this British “folk horror”. Jesse Buckley is Harper, who heads off to a countryside rental property to give herself the time to get over a failed abusive marriage (husband played by Paapa Essiedu) which ended in the most traumatic way. She is met by the landlord Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear) who gives her the tour and instructions to the village. As Harper explores she realises it is not as quaint and friendly as she thought. Firstly she is pursued by a naked man through the woods, meets an unpleasant schoolboy, a judgemental vicar, a partially helpful policeman and then less than friendly locals in the pub (all played by Kinnear). Quickly it moves from creepy to increasingly threatening and dangerous for Harper.

This will not appeal to everyone and those that don’t like it really won’t like it. But that’s not me. I found this an intriguing take on abusive relationships, objectification of women and trauma, all wrapped in a folk horror that more than borrows from the David’s Cronenberg and Lynch.

The story is carried by two fabulous performances, Buckley takes us with her into this odd world, we feel her anxiety and fear but also the hurt and confusion she still feels over her relationship with her husband. Then there is Kinnear, who plays pretty much everyone else, from naked stalker to creepy schoolboy and does it brilliantly, injecting life and personality into each to the point you forget it’s him.

Where this will divide is its final act. It is a final act that goes all in on its horror and when I say all in, I mean all in, as It gets ever more fantastical and body horrific.

The choice of one actor playing all the male roles raises questions about what that means and while this will divide, films that make people think should always be welcome.

Men really won’t be for some. But it is ambitious and while not always succeeding it is different and refreshing. The two central performances are fantastic and while the third act will lose some. I found it smart, odd and intriguing.

Loren Bouchard, Bernard Derriman and Nora Smith bring the successful animated TV series to the big screen. Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) and Linda (John Belcher) are struggling to make their business loan which is made worse when the bank won’t extend it and gives them a week to find the money. Selling lots of burgers is the answer, however that’s made tricky when a sink hole opens up in front of the restaurant. If that’s not enough a skeleton is found at the bottom of the hole, which turns out to be the remains of a “Carnie” from the fun park. With a sink hole to fill, and a murder to solve and save the restaurant all in a week, things don’t look great. But all is not lost when the three Belcher kids Louise, Tina and Gene (Kristen Schaal, Dan Mintz and Eugene Norman) set off on a Scooby-doo like adventure to solve the murder and save the restaurant.

The trick with any type of cartoon series transition to the big screen is to ensure you can stretch a 20 minute show into a 100 minute movie, without it out staying its welcome. Bob’s Burgers manages to pull that off pretty successfully.

The story is a crazy ride, a Scooby-Doo type mystery including its own theme park and twists and turns, that keeps you engaged. Underneath the craziness are some nice explorations of the strength of family, supporting one another and characters finding inner strengths they didn’t know they had. None of which is layed on too thick.

The other trick with something like this is to get the extended cast right which it does with the Fischoeders, Grover, Felix and Carlton (David Wain, Zach Galifianakis, Kevin Kline) who are at the heart of the mystery. There is also the use of some fun musical numbers that work well.

Taking 20 minute cartoons to the big screen is hard, but with Bob’s Burgers they’ve done a pretty good job, managing to maintain its rather off beat style in this bigger story. If you’re wondering, I’m not a particular watcher of the show, but it still worked pretty well for me.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski is the sequel to 1986’s Top Gun. Tom Cruise’s “Maverick” is still being a maverick, but now as a test pilot, pushing the limits of new aircraft and the patience of senior officers. When Admiral Cain (Ed Harris) arrives rather than closing down the test, he is there to return Maverick to Top Gun at the request of his old wingman “Iceman” (Val Kilmer). To train an elite team of recruits for an almost impossible mission. It is there he comes face to face with his memories and regrets, including the son of “Goose”, “Rooster” (Miles Teller), lost love Penny (Jennifer Connelly) and a determination to do right in the face of bureaucracy, especially Jon Hamm’s Admiral Simpson. Can Maverick pull the team of talented Top Gun pilots into shape and get them set for this toughest of missions in three weeks?

I have to admit I was never a particular fan of Top Gun. A film of its time, like Rocky with fighter jets. To be honest 36 years later not much has changed.

That’s not to say this is a bad film, there is a lot it gets right. A wonderful first 5 minutes brilliantly invokes the original. The air action is breathtaking as you feel all of the tension of the cockpit. And of course, Cruise delivers his signature character pushing back at authority, with a quick wit and engaging smile. There is also a touching scene with Kilmer, mirroring the actors’ real-life health challenges.

However, as with the original, it has its problems. The story is paper-thin and predictable and while the fantastic flight sequences keep you engaged, It’s pedestrian at times and develops little of interest beyond Maverick’s tale and not all of that held my attention. As someone ambivalent toward the original I didn’t have the nostalgic fondness toward it to make up for the lack of story.

For fans of Top Gun, Maverick brilliantly invokes the original and fans will enjoy that. But for those less invested in it, apart from some thrilling airborne action, it offers little else.

Written and directed by Dan Kwan and
Daniel Scheinert is this latest entrance into the world of multiverse storytelling. Michelle Yeoh is Evelyn, a hard working business owner running a laundrette with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan). She has a difficult relationship with her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) and still desperate to please her father (James Hong). Her life changes when attending an IRS audit with their auditor Dierdre (Jamie Lee Curtis). There she discovers that rather than an overwhelmed, underachiever, she is the central hope for saving not only one universe but the billions of other universe’s that are under threat.

I think it’s fair to say this isn’t quite the film that you expect, it is absolutely chaotic, but at the same time beautiful. While the premise may suggest sci-fi adventure, it really isn’t. Instead it uses that to explore the madness of life, whether the madness has meaning. Most touchingly it examines realtionships, between husband and wife, mother and daughter, father and daughter and the mights and maybes of everyday life.

The madness of life and it’s seamlessly endless craziness are depicted in an equally unfathomably crazy adventure story. We rapidly bounce between multiverses as Evelyn uses them to pick up new skills. Including a Universe where people have hot dogs for fingers, one where no life ever formed and a Universe ending bagel.

It’s a joyously original film and while its madness takes a little while to settle in, the pay off is very much worth it, as the story layers peel back to show a story full of depth and heart.

Performances are great and with martial arts fight scenes you get the balletic beauty that only they bring. The story also zips along and while of course there is CGI, it’s not overwhelming, with most action taking place in an IRS building and Evelyn’s laundrette.

In a world where multiverse films are becoming commonplace, this sets a high bar for others. Original, funny, crazy and beautiful in equal measure. If you could only see one multiverse film, I’d suggest this one.

Directed by Joachim Trier and starring Renate Reinsve is this thoughtful and smart story set in contemporary Oslo (yes it is in Norwegian, with subtitles). Reinsve is Julie, who we follow over a four year period as she tries to make sense of her life, her career and relationships. She is smart and talented and has the ability to chase whatever she wants and there’s the problem. She is also directionless, we see her at university change her studies at a whim, surgeon to psychiatrist to photographer. This is reflected in her realtionships as she shys away from long term commitment. And as she reaches 30 she seems as unsure as ever or is she just pursuing a version of life that doesn’t exist.

I really enjoy a cinematic portrait of life, a film which potrays characters you believe in, empathise and sympathise with. You get all of that here, in this smart well told story. It feels very much like Richard Linkletters outstanding “Before” series of films, as we spent time following a character who is chasing a version of life and while chasing it perhaps it is passing her by.

Built around three excellent performances alongside Reinsve’s outstanding performance as Julie, we also have Anders Danielson Lie as Aksel and Herbert Nordrum’s Eivind. While this is very much Julie’s story, we get enough time with all of the main characters to care for them. There is no good or bad guys, no rollercoaster of a plot, what we get is a depiction of life, its mundanity at times, and its personal difficulties at others. We see Julie’s difficult relationship with her father, beautifully and painfully shown when she visits him after her birthday. We also see how life changes, as people mature and their asperations change with them. All of this done in a gentle and wonderfully engaging way.

This is a really well done look at life with all its complexity and nuance. Carried by three excellent performances, we get a thoroughly engaging story with a set of characters you care for. You don’t believe any of them are the worst of us, more they are just us. Well worth seeking out.

Sam Raimi enters the Marvel Universe, with Micheal Waldron’s penned latest outing for Doctor Strange. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is still wrestling with the problems of the multiverse and while at the wedding of Christine (Rachel McAdams) he finds himself saving the life of a girl, America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez). But she isn’t any girl, she is one he has dreamt about. When he discovers she has moved through the multiverse, he knows he needs specialist help and seeks it in the form of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). But that visit opens a battle Strange did not expect.

The film certainly delivers on its titular madness as it romps through the multiverse, meeting a range of characters, some familiar, some crowd pleasing cameos. The potential for this to have been a disjointed mess would seem pretty high. But Marvel’s masterstroke was to put it in the hands of Sam Rami.

What he does is take a relatively predictable script and have real fun, pulling from his back catalogue and no doubt favourite films to bring something fresh to the MCU. Being Rami he of course uses plenty of horror inflections, especially as Strange and Chavez are chased though the different universe’s. Importantly though he also has that light comedic touch. That levity is something that Marvel judges well and is right up Raimi’s street.

It is these things that makes this an entertaining adventure and one that delivers something a little different from the usual MCU fair.

There are a couple of issues. Firstly it does lean on some of Marvel’s non cinema properties, Wandavision particularly, which, while not essential helps apply context. Secondly is Wanda herself, a complex character, who while at the centre of this story, remains rather one dimensional.

Multiverse of Madness, while having a relatively basic story, in the hands of Sam Rami is something fresh and fun. His horror-humour background shines through and brings a great mix of dark tension and light madness. Making it an enjoyable multiverse adventure.