Ever since 1902, when Georges Méliès’ silent short A Trip to the Moon wowed the crowds at French fairgrounds, the moon has been a source of wonder for filmmakers and audiences alike.
Whether it’s James Stewart offering to capture it for Donna Reed in It’s a Wonderful Life, or the iconic image from E.T. which makes up the Amblin Entertainment logo, it’s provided many a memorable big screen moment over the years.
But only now has that beautiful luminescent orb achieved its ultimate cinematic destiny – as a giant rock for Roland Emmerich to chuck at the Earth.
The disaster movie maestro is back to wreak global havoc once more with Moonfall – while The Souvenir Part II and Jackass Forever offer proof that the phrase “risk-taking cinema” means many things to many people…
New releases
Moonfall
Independence Day director Roland Emmerich once again marshalls a plucky band of square-jawed heroes and bookish tech geeks to save humanity from imminent destruction in his latest bombastic blockbuster.
The plot sees the moon knocked from its orbit by a mysterious force, setting it on a collision course with the Earth.
Before you can say “Savage Garden”, astronauts Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring) are launching a last-ditch mission to the moon and back, aided by Game of Thrones’ John Bradley as a conspiracy theorist whose time has come.
Cert 12A, 130 mins | |
Cineworld, Everyman, Vue | |
From Fri Feb 4 | |
More details |
The Souvenir Part II
Director Joanna Hogg has scored another huge critical hit with this follow-up to her semi-autobiographical 2019 drama, which followed the life-changing romance between a young film student and a charismatic older man in 1980s London.
Honor Swinton Byrne reprises her role as Hogg’s fictional alter ego Julie, who is continuing to find her voice as a filmmaker while struggling to deal with the aftermath of her tumultuous relationship (you can see how that played out on the iPlayer).
Tilda Swinton (Swinton Byrne’s real-life mother) returns as Julie’s mother Rosalind – dog lovers will be pleased to know that Swinton’s spaniels have also successfully renegotiated their contracts – while we can look forward to an expanded role for Richard Ayoade’s enjoyably waspish director Patrick.
Cert 15, 107 mins | |
City Screen | |
From Fri Feb 4 | |
More details |
Jackass Forever
Get ready to laugh, squirm and wince in equal measure, as the franchise which appears to inspire about 90% of the content on YouTube returns for a fourth big screen outing.
Johnny Knoxville rounds up the old gang for a new cavalcade of stunts, pranks and general tomfoolery, including human cannonballs, exploding portaloos, celebrity cameos and something terrifying involving a tarantula.
The film was mostly shot during the pandemic, which, as Knoxville explained in a recent Guardian interview, led to some amusing inconsistency when it came to on-set safety: “It’s like, ‘OK, wear your mask until you get to the alligator pit and take it off and jump in.’”
Cert 18, 96 mins | |
Cineworld, Everyman, Vue | |
From Fri Feb 4 | |
More details |
The return of Studio Ghibli
There’s no doubt that the films of Studio Ghibli are both more widely known and more easily accessible today than they were even five years ago – most of the beloved Japanese animation house’s filmography has been available on Netflix for a couple of years now – but for fans and newcomers alike, the big screen remains the best place to experience Ghibli’s dazzling animation and lose yourself in its magical world.
City Screen’s latest Ghibli season begins this weekend and runs through to the end of March – and pleasingly, it’s their most extensive for a long time, offering a chance to explore some lesser-seen gems beyond the studio’s greatest hits.
That means we’ll get to see the more reflective, adult-oriented likes of Only Yesterday and From Up on Poppy Hill as well as evergreen favourites such as My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away.
Things kick off on Sat 5th with Ghibli’s first official feature, swashbuckling steampunk adventure Laputa: Castle in the Sky, followed on Sun 6th by a later release, 2002’s The Cat Returns, a Lewis Carroll-esque tale of a young girl who is transported to the Kingdom of Cats.
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Other screenings
Proving that Studio Ghibli doesn’t have a complete monopoly when it comes to critically adored anime, sci-fi fairytale Belle – an internet-era take on Beauty and the Beast – was a huge hit on its premiere at Cannes last year, earning a 14-minute standing ovation from the audience.
You can see what all the fuss is about at Everyman, where it’s showing in a variety of subtitled and dubbed versions this week.
There’s another hotly tipped animation on offer at City Screen on Tues 8th in the form of Flee, a documentary about Amin, a refugee who fled Afghanistan as an unaccompanied minor in the 1980s to build a new life in Denmark.
City Screen are also showing The Eyes of Tammy Faye throughout the week – Jessica Chastain has received plenty of plaudits for her role as the titular US televangelist, one half of a trailblazing husband and wife team who soared to fame in the 1970s and 80s, only for financial scandal to bring them crashing down.
While we’re on the subject of hucksters and rise-and-fall stories, Guillermo del Toro’s new film noir Nightmare Alley is getting the prestigious black-and-white makeover treatment, showing in glorious monochrome at City Screen on Sat 5th and Mon 7th (the full colour version is, of course, still on general release too).
Iconic French New Wave drama Jules et Jim returns to the big screen this week (City Screen, Fri 4th, Sat 5th, Mon 7th, Thurs 10th) – director François Truffaut’s much-loved 1962 film follows the romantic complications that ensue when Jeanne Moreau’s free-spirited Catherine enters the lives of the two best friends of the title.
Meanwhile, a couple of classics of slightly more recent vintage are on offer at Cineworld and Vue – Harrison Ford dons the fedora once more in Raiders of the Lost Ark (Cineworld, Mon 7th), while Rydell High opens its doors again as Grease comes rocking and rolling back to Vue (Fri 4th, Sat 5th, Sun 6th, Tues 8th).
And staying on a musical note, the first part of Netflix’s upcoming Kanye West docuseries jeen-yuhs screens at Vue on Thurs 10th, while on the same night at Cineworld, The Beatles: Get Back – The Rooftop Concert offers fans a chance to revisit the band’s legendary final live performance, with the Fab Four rocking out in full IMAX splendour.
Also putting on a show are Buster Moon and pals in Sing 2, which is Cineworld’s autism-friendly screening this month (Sun 6th), while their budget family-friendly options this week are Encanto and The Croods 2 (both on Sat 5th/Sun 6th, tickets £2.50); over at Vue they’re offering the double-bill of The Gruffalo’s Child and The Stick Man (Sat 5th/Sun 6th, £2.49), while City Screen’s Kids’ Club screening is The Addams Family 2 (Sat 5th, £3.00).