Domee Shi directs the latest from Pixar, again oddly straight to streaming on Disney+.

Meilin (Rosalie Chang) is a 13 year old girl of chinese dececnt, growing up in Toronto, a good student, a small group of good friends. She is devoted to honouring her parents and ancestors, she helps at home and in the family business, a temple they that attracts visitors to learn about their heritage. Life is good, her biggest problem is how her and her friends will get to see their favourite band. That’s until one morning she awakes to find she has turned into fluffy Red Panda. However Mum (Sandra Oh), is not shocked and explains that this is a family “inheritance” passed down through the families women, but it can be contained. At first the Panda Is a “curse”, until her friends find out and love her cuddly Panda form, turning Mei and the Panda into school celebraties! But that comes with its own problems as she now has choices she’d never considered and into conflict with her Mum like never before.

Turning Red has all you expect from Pixar. It looks fantastic a lovely mix between western animation and Anime. And of coursen, as a Pixar film, wrapped into this beautiful animation and humour is a layered story of growing up and testing boundaries.

While this doesn’t quite rank at the top of Pixar’s work, it doesn’t stop it being a wonderful bit of storytelling. Ultimately Pixar do good and very good films and this sits at the good end of good!

The story engages adults and children alike not with grown up jokes for adults and silly gags for kids, instead it is the same story but a story with layers that appeals to the whole audience.

The voice cast is super as you’d expect and the story is engaging, funny and emotional in all the right proportions.

Turning Red may not be a Pixar classic but it looks fabulous, with a talented cast and engaging story about growing up, finding your way and relationships. You can always trust Pixar to deliver and deliver again they do.

Matt Reeves is at the helm for this latest reincarnation of DC’s Batman. Robert Pattinson dons the dark suite as we discover him in a Gotham over run by crime, from petty robbery to organised gangs run by overlords who have criminals and corrupt public servants in their pay. The crimes take a new twist with the violent murder of the mayor. Heading the investigation Lt. Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) brings Batman to the crime scene, where they discover a clue left for him from a new menace to Gotham, The Riddler (Paul Dano). But this is only the beginning as Riddler starts to carry out a series of killings to expose the corruption at the heart of Gotham, which challenges Batman to face not only these crimes but demons from his own past.

So does this Batman bring anything new? I think it does. There is a lot to enjoy here. With a gorgeously dark gothic look and some refreshing grown up storytelling. It’s feels more like a noir detective thriller than superhero film and works really well.

While Pattinson doesn’t bring anything particular fresh to Bruce Wayne that’s Ok. Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman is a good foil and holds her own and there is good support from Wright as well as Colin Farrel (under a lot of prosthetics), John Turturro and Andy Serkis.

Oddly the film that this reminded me of most was Dirty Harry. Not for its world weary protagonist, but actually for its villain. Andrew Robinson’s Killer in Dirty Harry was wonderfully disturbing and Paul Dano’s subtle unhinged menace brings something marvelously disturbing here, a fabulous bad guy performance.

It’s not perfect, it is much too long with a final third that feels very “and here’s another thing”. But that’s a small gripe on what, even for its run time, is an enthralling and engaging grown up comic book film.

This is a detective story at its heart with a brilliantly disturbing foe. Yes it’s too long, but its well told story remains absorbing and engaging. This is a refreshingly dark, brooding, grown up film and for reminding us that you can do that with a comic book franchise it should be congratulated.

Director Roger Michell’s last film is based on the true story of the 1961 theft of Goya’s painting of the Duke of Wellington from the national gallery. Jim Broadbent plays Kempton Bunton a man struggling to hold down a job, but a social idealist wanting to do more for the good of the people. His latest focus is demanding that over 75’s get a free BBC TV licence. At his side is his long suffering wife Dorothy (Helen Mirren), loves her husband but is frustrated by his campaigning. When Kempton learns about the £140,000 spent on the Goya he is frustrated and decides enough is enough and takes his campaign to parliament. While there the Goya is stolen and next time we see it, it’s in Kempton’s spare bedroom! With the help of his son Jackie (Fionn Whitehead) he hides it and uses it to demand money to fund TV licenses for the elderly. But when the risk of getting caught gets too much Kempton returns the painting, gets arrested and stands trial.

While the story lends itself to a comic caper there is a little more to it than that. In the background is a sadness for Kempton and Dorothy as they struggle to come to terms with loss of their daughter.

While this does give it a little depth, ultimately it is pretty light fair, the kind of thing to watch with a biscuit and a cup of tea! Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. That’s very true here, a nice film with an unlikely hero and unlikely story.

Jim Broadbent is perfect as Kempton, his effortless charm and impeccable comic timing carry you along. Helen Mirren provides the perfect foil for him to work off. The two leads are well supported by a solid cast, but it is Broadbent who really makes this work.

The Duke is a nice enjoyable film, a fascinating and crazy story, well played with plenty of humour, heart and charm. It is pretty light and fluffy, and that’s just fine. One of those films that you’ll find on TV on a Sunday afternoon in years to come and settle down and watch again.

Joe Wright directs this screen adaptation of Erica Schmidt’s musical version of the Cyrano de Begerac story. Cyrano (Peter Dinklage) is a soldier with an artistic heart, a poet and a wit, but is also self conscious of his diminutive stature. Roxanne (Hayley Bennett) is his secret love, a long time friend, smart, articulate and wanting to be wooed. One night she sees at the theatre Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) a young soldier about to join Cyrano’s unit and she falls for him. But Christian lacks the poetic heart to woo her. Together Cyrano and Christian give each other what they lack, Cyrano gets his looks, Christian his voice. But as always the road to love is never easy, especially at a time of war, and is filled with jealousy and heartbreak.

There are certainly things to enjoy in this musical adaptation of the well known story, but sadly not everything worked for me as much as I wished it had.

On the plus side there are lots of beautifully judged performances and the three leads particularly bring lots of charm to the screen. Dinklage full of wit and charisma and Bennett brings effortless charm to Roxanne.

Visually it is gorgeous to look at from the packed theatre to the desolation of the battlefield. And the use of dance is inspired often bringing a real beauty to scenes.

Sadly not everything works as well. The musical numbers are a little hit and miss, and pacing felt a problem throughout.

That said the film finishes on a high with a beautifully moving final act from the battlefields to a heart wrenching moment between Cyrano and Roxanne.

But overall it was a little uneven, at its best it is beautiful, moving and funny. But it doesn’t sustain that throughout and ultimately falls a little flat overall.

I did want to enjoy Cyrano more than I did. There are moments to enjoy and the three leads are each enjoyable. At its best it is wonderful, but unfortunately it’s not at its best often enough.

Directed by Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin also written by Carolin and starring Tatum, is Dog. Tatum is Briggs a former US Ranger looking to get back on rotation after serious injury. When he is brought back together with his former company to remember his friend Rodriguez recently killed in a car crash, he takes the chance to push his case with his former Sargent. When he receives a call to come to the barracks he thinks persistence has paid off. However, it’s not the opportunity he expects as he’s presented with the job of taking Rodriguez’s Ranger hero dog, Lulu, on a road trip along the Pacific coast highway to his funeral. Lulu is as battle hardened and damaged a soldier as Briggs as they set off on a road trip that will change them both.

Presented with a synopsis about a damaged soldier and a damaged veteran dog on a road trip, you will imagine a certain type of road trip redemption story. Well imagine no more because Dog is that film. That’s not particularly a critisicm, it is just exactly the story you get. The Dog is the canine realisation of Briggs, all the trauma that Lulu has encountered and Briggs learns about are the things he doesn’t see in himself, but of course learns.

For all of its predictably that doesn’t stop it having a fair bit of charm, plenty of humour and some, if sometimes rather heavy handed, explorations of trauma and mental health. But what really makes it work is the ever watchable Tatum. A film almost made for his easy charm and comedic delivery and he has the perfect foil in his dog companion.

This is very much a vehicle for Tatum, there are a couple of cameo roles to enjoy Jane Adams and Kevin Nash as an isolated couple who live in the woods and Ethan Suplee as Noah the owner of Lulu’s dog sibling, in particular.

Dog won’t change anybody’s world, it’s a predictable road trip with a destination that of course visits self discovery and redemption on the way. But it’s not without charm and if what you want is Channing Tatum doing what he does best, with a dog for company, then this will work a treat.

Kenneth Branagh returns as Director and wearer of fabulous moustaches in his second outting as Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. Death on the Nile sees Poirot in Egypt and a guest at the wedding of Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer) and Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot). However proceedings are upset when Doyle’s former fiancée Jacqueline De Bellefort (Emma Mackey) aggreived at been dumped for her former friend interrupts proceedings. In order to escape her stalking the Doyle’s hire the Karnak a paddle steamer, which takes them and their wedding guests, the usual Christie style group full of secrets and motive, and of course Poirot, on a journey along the Nile. As they head off on this trip there is a murder and Poirot is called into action and of course all onboard are under suspicion.

I did want to enjoy this more as I do like Branagh as Poirot. But this second outting sadly is less than the sum of its parts. A well assembled cast, an Agatha Christie story and a sumptuous set. But sadly it seems to lack much of the fun and energy that was there to enjoy in Murder on the Orient Express.

Firstly it’s slow from the very beginning as we get a lot of Nile before we get to the death. We also suffer from one of the challenges that come with large ensemble casts of characters, we barely get to know any of them. And even for those not familiar with the story, the mystery is pretty well sign posted and you spend quite a lot of the film wating for it to reach its destination.

There are things to enjoy, Emma Mackey steals most of the scenes she was in, Sophie Okonedo and Annette Benning are reliable and watchable as is Branagh again as Poirot. And the final act does zip along and has the pace and intrigue lacking from the rest of the film. And it is big and bright and the humour when it does appear raises a smile.

Unfortunately though Death on the Nile does fall flat lacking the fun and energy of its predecessor. It moves too slowly and is all surface with little depth to engage you. Which is a pity, because Branagh as Poirot is enjoyable, but he needs to investigate why this doesn’t quite work.

Director Roland Emmerich dips his toes back into the world of sci-fi disaster movies with Moonfall. Astronauts Jo Fowler (Halle Berry) and Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) are on a 2011 satellite repair mission when tragedy strikes. Harper is blamed for the incident which costs him his career. We find both 12 years later in very different places, Harper struggling, Fowler a senior NASA figure. The two are brought back together when conspiracy theorist and “mega structurisist” KC Houseman (John Bradley) discovers the moon is out of its orbit and is on a crash course with Earth. Together they form an unlikely group sent on a last ditch mission to the moon to solve the problem and save the planet.

Yep, disaster heading toward the earth, rag-tag group head off on last ditch attempt to save the world. Indeed it is that film. These kind of films can either be an enjoyable, if often silly action adventure or they can be Moonfall.

This is a dreadful nonsense to the extent that you start to wish the moon would just get on with it and end it for us all. It fails on many counts a terrible script at the heart of it, that at numerous times has you begging for them to stop talking. Did nobody think actors were going to have to say this out loud? And of course a ludricous plot, which is often par for the these kind of films, but Moonfall jumps the shark Evel Knievel style creating a conspiracy theorists wet dream.

It’s not all bad, although mostly it is, it does have some moments. Its final act has some entertaining action sequences and in John Bradley we at least get some redemption with a performance not completely handicapped by the script. But sadly for the rest of the cast, and there are fine actors in this, they cannot dig themselves out from the terrible nonsense they have to deal with.

Moonfall is terrible, with very few redeeming qualities and you will find yourself asking for it to stop on multiple occasions. Sometimes there is a place for dumb fun but sadly this is so dumb with very little fun that it will have you cheering for the moon long before the end!

Guillermo del Toro writes and directs his first film since the Oscar winning, The Shape Of Water, with this dark twisting adaptation of William Lindsey Gresham’s novel. Bradley Cooper is Stanton Carlisle, who we meet setting fire to a house, he then moves on coming across a travelling carnival, a show full of Human curiousities, non more so than Clem Hoatley’s (Willem Dafoe) “geek” show. Carlisle is a grifter an ambitious conman who falls for Rooney Mara’s electric girl, Molly. He sees her as his future with their own act. We find them two years later, with their successful act delivering them a lifestyle and money. However, when they come across Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett) their lives change with new opportunities, but opportunities at a high cost

This is a wonderfully dark journey an intriguing winding story that twists and turns from start to finish. As you expect Del Toro builds an engrossing world, full of complex characters. Set in the 1940’s we get the full noir feel of the period. Dark corners, half lit faces and art deco buildings.

Cooper does the heavy lifting and his natural charm helps him carry off a likeable version of an unlikeable character, as he negotiates Carlisle’s falls and rises. But it is the supporting ensemble who add so much, Mara and Defoe, Toni Collette, David Strathairn and Richard Jenkins’s Ezra Grindle. But it is Blanchett’s femme fatale doctor who shines the most.

At 2hr30 the film has to engage and it did. I found it completely absorbing and while it twists and turns those turns are signposted, with Del Toro shunning cheap tricks and “out of nowhere” surprises.

I doubt it will be for everyone, but it was for me. I loved the world that the film inhabited and the intriguing nature of the story and the journey it goes on. It’s absorbing and dark, visceral at times all of which had me hooked from start to finish.

A deliciously dark, intriguing tale, that keeps you absorbed from start to finish. If you want dark and intriguing then this is the alley to head down.

Fran Kranz delivers an excellent writing and directorial debut in this powerful story of tragedy. Set six years after a high school shooting parents of one of the victims, Evan, Jay (Jason Isaacs) and Gail (Martha Plimpton) take the opportunity to meet Linda (Anne Dowd) and Richard (Reed Burney) parents of the perpetrator, Hayden. The aim, to find a a way through the unimaginable tragedy and its impact on their lives.

Filmed in fourteen days on a small budget, this is a remarkable film. While there is some early literal scene setting, the story takes place in a single room in the back of a church. A sparse and quiet space that is the perfect canvas for an experienced and talented cast to deliver their engrossing performances.

What they do brilliantly is capture the raw emotion of their impossible situation. And it never shys away of telling both sides of the story, the hurt of Jay and Gail is matched by that of Linda and Richard who want to mourn a son, while dealing with the reality he’s a killer. Throughout each tries to keep their anger and anguish inside, but neither can bury their emotions deep enough.

This is not a joy ride, there are no cinematic tricks to bring the horrors the couples are dealing with to the screen. The single room for the majority of the film is used very effectively, as the claustrophobic feeling it creates ramps the tension and anguish, as you relive the tragic events through those who remain.

Its subject matter makes this an intense watch. The four central performances are fantastic, engaging, delivering beautifully controlled emotion that leaves you on edge right to the emotional gut punches that bring some closure.

While it does perhaps run a little long, it does not detract from what is a throughly absorbing story, well directed and outstandingly performed.

In a world full of blockbusters it’s wonderful to see cinema like this. Shot on a budget, with a simple premise, but full of emotional dept. Delivered in a performance masterclass from its cast, that engages completely. Available at cinemas and to stream it deserves to be seen.

Written and directed by Kenneth Branagh is this semi autobiographical story set in his Belfast childhood. Buddy (Jude Hill) is a 9 year old, whose life is changed when a group storm down his street, attacking the homes of his Catholic neighbours at what is the beginning of the “troubles”. But this is just a backdrop to the story we follow and care about, Buddy’s life. How he sees his Ma (Caitriona Balfe) and Pa (Jamie Dornan) deal with Pa’s need to work away from home, financial worries and concerns for him and his brother (Lewis McKaskie) growing up in an unstable and dangerous Belfast.

Belfast is a brilliant piece of storytelling, it may well drift into rose tinted territory occasionally, but that’s a minor quibble over what is a fabulous film.

Its real strength is the juxtaposition of the seeming smallness of Buddy’s story against the scale of the troubles. It mostly uses the troubles as background noise, just another part of life among the things that are important to him. Growing up, his crush on a girl, his Granny (Judi Dench) and Pops (Ciaran Hinds), his family and friends.

The films charm lives in those details, its humanity and humour, set against the violence and the distrust embodied by Colin Morgan’s Billy Clanton. It’s how personal stories that are small in the bigger picture are so significant in the context of a family, something we can all relate too.

Beautifully shot in black and white, with occasional splashes of colour from those experiences that transport Buddy elsewhere, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a stage version of a Christmas Carol. A use of low angles show Buddy’s world and patient close ups add to the story telling.

The performances are as you’d expect in a Branagh film. But the star is 10 year old Jude Hill, bringing to life a cheeky kid, finding his way in a world that has changed overnight, but yet is still familiar, with a glorious charm.

Belfast is full of heart and humour. A seemingly small story that completely engages and commanfs your attention. Delivered by a cast who understand the power of understated performance. A brilliant film that’s warm and an absolute pleasure to share.