York film preview: Trap, Borderlands and It Ends with Us

In my weekly perusal of cinema listings, I’ve noticed in recent years that studios seem almost to be in competition as to who can provide the most vague synopsis for their film.

Maybe it’s a necessary corrective to the way that the trailers themselves tend to give too much away, or perhaps the idea is that the more loosely defined the plot, the bigger the potential audience (“Apparently this film is about some people who do a thing. That doesn’t sound like something I’ll definitely hate – let’s book!”).

It can sometimes border on the self-defeating though, as with the summary for this week’s new M. Night Shyamalan release, which reads: “A father and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realise they’re at the centre of a dark and sinister event.”

Given that the film’s entire selling point is its high concept set-up – that the dad in question is also a serial killer, and the concert is actually a giant FBI sting designed to catch him – it seems a little odd not to mention it.

In today’s spoiler-phobic world though, the maxim seems to be “The blander, the better”, so here’s my suggestion for the blurb to accompany the next re-release of Jaws: “The residents of Amity Island are looking forward to a busy summer season – but the Mayor and the Chief of Police clash over beach safety protocol.”

Sorted! Next up, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Hmm, that title might need a bit of tweaking…

New releases

It Ends with Us

Blake Lively stars in this adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s TikTok-approved bestseller about a woman who begins a new relationship which reopens the scars of her traumatic childhood.

When florist Lily Bloom (Lively) meets charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni), he seems like the perfect catch – but before long, he begins to show signs of the abusive behaviour that Lily witnessed in her parents’ marriage as a child.

The reappearance of her first love Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar) spurs Lily to realise she must make a difficult choice to stop history repeating itself.

Trap

So yes, this is the M. Night Shyamalan serial-killer-at-a-pop-gig film, pitched by the director as “What if The Silence Of The Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert?” (and partly inspired by a real-life sting operation in the 80s).

Josh Hartnett stars as doting dad Cooper Adams, who realises his fun night out with his daughter is actually an elaborate FBI plot to capture his murderous alter ego, The Butcher.

In other words, he knew they were trouble when they walked in – but will he be able to shake them off? Shyamalan’s real-life pop star daughter Saleka co-stars as the hitmaker at the heart of the ruse.

Borderlands

Considering it’s about a wisecracking team of mismatched space bandits, the soft-rock soundtrack to this film’s trailer suggests the producers aren’t overly worried about viewers making comparisons to a certain other, hugely successful sci-fi franchise.

Cate Blanchett leads the cast as Star-Lady…sorry, Lilith, an infamous outlaw who pulls together a motley crew of misfits to find the missing daughter of ‘the universe’s most powerful S.O.B.’ (Am I the only one who had to look up what that means?).

Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Ariana Greenblatt are among those tooling up alongside her in director Eli Roth’s adaptation of the hit video game series. Keepers of the Kosmos, anyone?

Other screenings

Summer holiday round-up

Bill Nighy! Susan Sarandon! Danny Trejo!

Calm down, I’m not announcing the new Strictly line-up – but this formidable threesome are among those lending their vocal talents to new Homeward Bound-esque animated caper Gracie and Pedro: Mission Impossible, showing daily at Vue this week.

There’s a similarly starry cast – including Amandla Stenberg, Laura Dern and RuPaul – in environmental fable Ozi: Voice of the Forest, which previews at Vue on Sat 10th and Sun 11th before going on general release next week.

Stop-motion wizards Laika Studios are currently beavering away on their next feat of fantasy, Wildwood, due out next year, but they’re taking time out this week to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their beloved first feature Coraline – bring your elaborately sculpted plasticine birthday cakes to Cineworld, City Screen and Vue on Thurs 15th.

Well-reviewed castaway tale Kensuke’s Kingdom continues at Vue on Sat 10th, Mon 12th and Weds 14th, as well as showing at City Screen on Sun 11th, Mon 12th and Thurs 15th.

The Garfield Movie is your budget family-friendly viewing option at Cineworld (tickets £2.50) and Vue (£2.49), showing daily at both – while City Screen’s Kids’ Club is keeping it retro with cult 80s sci-fi Tron (Sat 10th, £3.30), and Everyman’s Toddler Club is screening the all-conquering Inside Out 2 on Fri 9th and Sat 10th (£6.25 child/£8.75 adult plus toddler).

Younger viewers can catch up with their favourite canine chum in Bluey at the Cinema: Family Trip Collection, showing daily at both City Screen (£5.00) and Vue (£3.99), plus there’s the obligatory Julia Donaldson double bill on offer at Cineworld, with Zog and the Flying Doctors & Stick Man doing the honours this week (daily, £5.00).

And Everyman’s free admission series of Apple TV+ Children’s Hour screenings continues to be a hit, with screenings selling out well in advance – at time of writing, there were still tickets available for Yo Gabba GabbaLand (Fri 9th, Tues 13th), Me (Weds 14th) and WondLa (Thurs 15th), but make haste – there’s a free juice box and popcorn at stake!

Ferris pulls a sickie and John Waters gets sniffy: old favourites back on the big screen

There’s a chance to see a film widely regarded as one of the greatest superhero movies of all time this week, as the summer of Spidey continues with 2004’s Spider-Man 2, which sees Tobey Maguire’s web-slinger face off against Alfred Molina’s deadly Doctor Octopus – swing by Vue (daily), Cineworld (Fri 9th to Sun 11th, Tues 13th, Weds 14th) and City Screen (Fri 9th, Sat 10th) to catch all the action.

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, of course, as is abundantly proved by the Studio Ghibli classic My Neighbour Totoro, which continues at City Screen in a mixture of subtitled (Fri 9th to Sun 11th, Tues 13th) and dubbed (Sun 11th, Weds 14th) versions.

Coming in at the more pint-sized end of the spectrum are Frodo and friends, whose epic mission continues at Everyman in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, showing in its extended edition on Sun 11th and Tues 13th.

Having helped Winona Ryder take revenge on the horrible Heathers at City Screen last week, Christian Slater deploys his devilish charm in the service of Patricia Arquette in the Quentin Tarantino-scripted crime caper True Romance, showing in Everyman’s Late Night strand on Fri 9th.

It was of course the late, great Tony Scott behind the camera for that Quentin classic – and by happy coincidence, the director’s most iconic contribution to cinema is showing over at City Screen on that very same night, as Tom Cruise takes to the burnt orange skies in the original Top Gun, showing as part of the ongoing 80s Movie Mix season.

It’s quite the week for cinematic charmers, as that’s followed on Sat 10th by Matthew Broderick’s smirking smoothie in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

And finally, City Screen celebrate the Sultan of Sleaze himself on Sun 11th with a screening of Polyester, the first major studio picture by that most debonair desecrator of Middle American values, Mr. John Waters.

Dialling down the debauchery of his earlier films but keeping the camp, Waters’ 1981 comedy was famous on its original release for being accompanied by scratch-and-sniff cards to be deployed during the screening, allowing viewers to inhale delightful aromas such as roses, dirty shoes and flatulence.

No word yet as to whether City Screen will be reviving this gimmick on Sunday, but you could always have a hearty meal of beans on toast beforehand…