Movies

^{Starring: Tom Brady, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno}

A redoubtable cast of evergreen performers star in this sports comedy movie. Who, you ask? Try Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field, playing lifelong friends who embark on a mission to go to the Super Bowl and meet their hero, Tom Brady. 

^{Starring: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio}

From first-time director Charlotte Wells comes this sweetly romantic and really rather brilliant coming-of-age drama about an 11-year-old girl, Sophie, who while on holiday with her dad befriends older teenagers and begins to learn about life. 

^{Starring: Henry Goulding, Noomi Rapace, Daniela Melchior}

Unlike Fight Club, Assassin Club doesn’t have rules, it just has two possible options: kill or be killed. This is what hitman Morgan discovers when he’s hired to kill seven people – only to discover that they have also been hired to kill him.

^{Starring: Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Diego Calva}

Lengthy and challenging, Babylon wrenches wonderful performance form Pitt and Robbie to tell the story of excess and depravity in early Hollywood. It’s fair to say that critics have been divided, but those who loved it, LOVED it.

Starring: Josh Duhamel, Elisha Cuthbert, Mel Gibson

Telling the mainly true story of a criminal who goes on a bank-robbing spree while being hunted by cops and trying to hold down a relationship, Bandit is by turns funny, dramatic, action-packed and heartfelt. 

^{Starring: Rory Kinnear, Joel Frye, Phoebe Dynevor}

This true-life story of Burnley man Dave Fishwick (Kinnear), who in 2011 set up his own bank in order to serve his community, does the impossible. It takes the world of banking – or at least Dave’s bit of it – and turns it into it funny and supremely charming entertainment. 

^{Starring: Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean}

Two lifelong friends are at an impasse when one ends their relationship.

^{Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Mara}

Banks (who elsewhere has written and directed Cocaine Bear) leads the cast in this acclaimed drama. She plays 1950’s housewife Joy, who in order to have a lifesaving abortion must make contact with a mysterious underground women’s network called The Janes.

^{Starring: Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Tom Brooke}

From Sam Mendes, a moving drama about human connection in turbulent times.

^{Starring: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen}

Spielberg’s most personal movie yet tells of young Sammy Fabelman, who aches to be a movie director. However, Sammy soon discovers that his family life may not be all it seems. What emerges is (yet another) masterpiece from the master.

^{Starring: Tosin Cole, Jacob Latimore, Karen Obilam}

If you’re of a certain age (which is a nice way of saying, ‘if you’re ancient’) you’ll remember the original House Party, a raucous comedy starring hip hop duo Kid ’n’ Play. This new version is described as a ‘remix’ – where the laughs come just as thick and fast.

^{Starring: Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union, Bokeem Woodbine}

Writer-director Elegance Bratton’s acclaimed debut is the tale of Ellis, who having been turfed out of his home for his sexuality, decides to join the Marines. There he finds prejudice and challenges beyond his imaginings – but also camaraderie and fellowship.

^{Starring: Aimee Lou Wood, Bill Nighy, Alex Sharp}

Living is the story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive office routine to a shadow existence, who at the eleventh hour makes a supreme effort to turn his dull life into something wonderful.

Starring: Sally Hawkins, Steve Coogan, Harry Lloyd

The incredible true story of how Richard III’s remains were found in a Leicester car park is told in this comedy-drama from legendary (and Leicester-born) director Stephen Frears. 

Starring: Tom Hanks, Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller

A cranky retired man strikes up an unlikely friendship with his boisterous new neighbours. A remake of the 2015 Swedish film. 

^{Starring: Kevin Hart, Woody Harrelson, Kaley Cuoco}

Hart and Harrelson make a great pairing as a hitman and a loser who are mistaken for each other at an Airbnb. True, the critics have not been kind to this one, but if it’s funny, undemanding entertainment you’re after, this is your man. 

^{Starring: Storm Reid, Nia Long, Joaquim de Almeida}

A tale of a teenager who hunts for her missing mother using only the tech at her fingertips – proper edge-of-your-seat stuff with a wicked twist in its tail.

^{Starring: Harry Styles, Emma Corrin, Gina McKee}

By any standards, Harry Styles is so hot right now (as Zoolander’s Mugatu might say). He’s won Grammy awards, Brit awards, acting accolades and now the lead role in this poignant and acclaimed drama about a love triangle between a married cop, a museum curator, and his partner. 

^{Starring: Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett}

Guy Richie’s latest finds him once again working with Statham and – in an absolutely side-splitting, showstopping, scene-stealing turn, – Hugh Grant for a tale that you could safely describe as Mission Impossible meets Snatch.

^{Starring: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan}

The investigation into movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is the subject of this drama focusing on New York Times reporters Megan Twohey (Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Kazan). The result is an absorbing slice of procedural journalism that details the legwork in full.

^{Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Coolidge}

If you’re looking for undemanding fare, Shotgun Wedding ticks the box using human blood for ink. Starring J Lo and Duhamel on scintillating form, this tale of a couple who fight back against pirates who gate-crash their wedding is gory and action-packed. 

^{Starring: Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins}

No doubt about it, The Son is an emotionally shattering experience – just as you might expect from Zeller, the director of The Father. In it, Jackman and Kirby play the couple who must look after Jackman’s grown-up son – and let’s just say the new arrangement doesn’t go well.

^{Starring: Kunal Nayyar, Lucy Hale, David Arquette}

A very sweet and romantic tearjerker here, with Nayyar as Fikry, who in the wake of his wife’s death is falling into ever deeper despair. However, a visitor to his bookstore is about to change his life, and if you’re wondering how, well, the clue is in the word ‘romantic’.

^{Starring: Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Adam Gopnik}

On one thing we can all agree: Blanchett absolutely owns this acclaimed, provocative, and very timely drama. As Lydia Tár, a conductor accused of sexual abuse, she gives a towering, note-perfect performance that has, quite rightly, been nominated for every award worth having. 

^{Starring: Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Jamie Renell}

In 1955, African American boy Emmett Till was tortured and lynched. His crime? Whistling at a white woman. This biopic focuses on his mum, Mamie, who pursued justice, and the impact of her work on the civil rights movement. Not an easy watch, Till is, however, an essential one.

^{Starring: Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau}

You might have heard about this one. It stars Fraser in a career-reviving turn as an obese teacher attempting to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter. Much drama ensues in what is a rewarding watch anchored by Fraser’s incredible performance.

^{Starring: Naomi Ackie, Nafessa Williams, Clarke Peters}

The complex and untold story of the incomparable Whitney Houston, the voice of a generation. 

^{Starring: Alexandra Daddario, Jean Smart, Kiernan Shipka}

A brilliantly performed, soul-searching and humorous drama, Wildflower tells the tale of Bea Johnson. Literally, that’s what it does. It follows her life from birth to graduation as she struggles with an intellectually disabled parents and an extended family who never agree on how to help.

^{Starring: Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley}

Winner of the best screenplay Oscar for actor-turned-director Sarah Polley, Women Talking uses its superb ensemble cast to tell the true-life story of a community of women who in the wake of a sexual assault revelation must decide on a course of action.