York film preview: The Bikeriders, The Exorcism and Green Border

“If you have a problem with me, you talk to my boss – the Pope!”

The above zinger, as delivered by Russell Crowe in The Pope’s Exorcist, was definitely a contender for 2023’s Line of the Year – truly, Catholicism has never sounded so macho.

Crowe is back in the cassock this week in The Exorcism – but confusingly, while it looks to promise all the head-spinning, pea soup-spraying action the title would lead you to expect, it’s nothing to do with the earlier film.

Well, that’s what they’re claiming anyway – perhaps an end credits sting will reveal it’s actually part of a new Crowe-centric franchise, to be followed by an Avengers Assemble-type effort which sees the actor reprise key characters from his illustrious filmography.

Exorcist vs. Gladiator, anyone? Noah x Zeus? Welcome to the Croweniverse…

New releases

The Bikeriders

Throughout the 2010s, US indie director Jeff Nichols carved a reputation for himself as the maker of films (such as Midnight Special and Loving) which were enigmatic yet accessible, their stories and characters lingering with you long after the credits rolled.

Set in the world of 1960s bikers and starring the tantalising triumvirate of Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy and Austin Butler, Nichols’ latest release feels like it might be the one to propel him to the big leagues.

The fictional story (inspired by a cult 1968 photo collection) follows the fortunes of the Vandals, a Chicago motorcycle gang led by Hardy’s Brando-esque tough guy Johnny, as their halcyon early days as a makeshift family of outcasts slowly curdle into something darker and more sinister.

The Exorcism

There’s a distinctly meta feel to this horror starring Russell Crowe as a troubled actor whose latest role has him battling demons both personal and, well, demon-y.

Riffing on the oft-reported tales of the on-set misfortunes which plagued the likes of The Omen and The Exorcist, the plot sees alcoholic thesp Anthony Miller (Crowe) accept a role as a priest in a new supernatural chiller after the previous incumbent died in, er, suspicious circumstances.

Intriguingly, the film’s director Joshua John Miller (I mean the real film’s director, not the director of the film within the film, gosh all this meta stuff gets confusing doesn’t it) has a personal connection to the subject matter as the son of actor Jason Miller, who played Father Karras in The Exorcist back in 1973.

Green Border

There have been rave reviews for this powerful new film from Agnieszka Holland, the celebrated Polish director whose career has taken in everything from Oscar-nominated Holocaust drama In Darkness to episodes of hit US TV series including The Wire and House of Cards.

The story follows a group of Syrian, African and Afghan refugees who travel to Belarus hoping to cross the border into Poland – only to find themselves the victims of political machinations which leave them stuck in the no man’s land between the two countries, the ‘Green Border’ of the title.

Focussing not only on the migrants themselves but also the border guards and the citizen activists whom they encounter, Holland’s film was hailed by Variety as ‘a heart-in-mouth thriller…that wraps its social critique in the razor wire of punchy, intelligent cinematic craft’.

Other screenings

Family-friendly films

Your budget viewing option at Cineworld this week comes courtesy of Po and pals, as Kung Fu Panda 4 high kicks its way onto the screen on Sat 22nd and Sun 23rd (tickets £2.50).

Vue’s Mini Mornings selection is live action adventure The Present, an Isla Fisher-starring time loop caper which actually sounds quite fun (Sat 22nd, Sun 23rd, £2.49), while their Big Shorts strand offers a Julia Donaldson double bill of The Gruffalo’s Child & Zog and the Flying Doctors (daily, £3.99)

Over at City Screen, a young girl struggling with her parents’ divorce discovers a whole new world of fishy friends in Chinese animation Deep Sea on Sat 22nd (£3.30), and there are more aquatic antics in Everyman’s Toddler Club in the form of last year’s Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (Fri 21st, Sat 22nd, £6.25 for children, £8.75 for adult plus toddler).

And showing at Cineworld on Sat 22nd and Sun 23rd (£7.99) and daily at Vue (£6.99 – £9.99), Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow follows the exploits of an arachnid detective as he cracks a Poirot-esque murder mystery – no, I don’t know why they didn’t call it SpiderCop! either.

Teens in hoodies are Earth’s defenders and “Never give up, never surrender!”: old favourites back on the big screen

City Screen have got some cracking film seasons on the go at the moment (and that’s before we even get to their 80s Movie Mix which will be rolling out over the summer), with this week seeing the launch of One Crazy Night, a series of movies which take place over, you guessed it, one night.

It’s kicking off in fine style on Sat 22nd with Attack the Block, Joe Cornish’s much-loved 2011 directorial debut about a London street gang who find themselves defending their high-rise home from alien invaders – the cast boasts both a future Star Wars hero and a Timelord-in-waiting in the forms of John Boyega and Jodie Whittaker.

Also starting at City Screen on Sun 23rd is a celebration of Paris on film, taking us on a journey through some of the cinematic high points of that most chic of European capitals – first up is 1962 drama Cléo from 5 to 7, one of the most acclaimed works by legendary French New Wave director Agnès Varda, which follows a young singer as she walks the streets of the city while awaiting the results of a biopsy.

On Mon 24th, City Screen’s Bette vs. Joan season continues with 1945’s noir melodrama Mildred Pierce, an adaptation of a James M. Cain novel which bagged Joan Crawford the Best Actress Oscar (and was more recently remade as a TV miniseries with Kate Winslet).

And with Pride Month in full swing, there’s a cornucopia of queer cinema classics on offer in York cinemas this week.

It’s all aboard Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at City Screen on Sat 22nd, and have your ruby slippers at the ready on Mon 24th for a Dementia-Friendly screening of The Wizard of Oz.

Over at Vue, you can catch Yorkshire-set romance God’s Own Country on Sat 22nd and Oscar-winning coming-of-age tale Moonlight on Sun 23rd, while Cineworld play host to Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara’s star-crossed lovers in Carol on Weds 26th.

Meanwhile, Everyman are revisiting 80s-set feelgood favourite Pride on Sun 23rd and Tues 25th, as well as 2017’s excellent trans drama A Fantastic Woman on Mon 24th and Weds 26th – plus their Late Nights strand is screening a very recent film which feels destined to attain cult classic status, the Kristen Stewart-starring romantic thriller Love Lies Bleeding, on Fri 21st.

Horror fans are also in for a treat this week as Cineworld host a series of IMAX screenings of the first two films from the twisted mind of director Ari Aster – Toni Collette’s clan comes into a most unwelcome inheritance in the none-more-creepy Hereditary (daily from Fri 21st to Weds 26th), while Florence Pugh has a far from relaxing European vacation in Midsommar (Fri 21st, Mon 24th, Tues 25th, Weds 26th).

And finally, we continue to revisit the hits of 1999, the year when cinema provided much-needed succour to audiences living under the looming shadows of the Millennium Bug and Geri Halliwell’s solo career.

This week it’s Cineworld’s turn to take you back into The Matrix (Fri 21st, Sat 22nd, Sun 23rd and Tues 25th), while on Fri 21st Vue have a very welcome screening for Galaxy Quest, the delightful sci-fi comedy about the washed-up former cast of a Star Trek-type show, featuring an all-timer of a performance from Alan Rickman as a waspish British thesp – rarely have words more audibly turned to ash in an actor’s mouth than when he has to utter his catchphrase at a supermarket opening (“By Grabthar’s hammer, what a savings…”).