Twenty-five years ago, in the summer of 1993, Jurassic Park opened its doors for the first time. There were one or two teething problems, as you might recall…
In 2015, Jurassic World proved that certain vital security lessons still hadn’t been learnt – and this month, Chris Pratt and friends are back to clear up the mess in the latest instalment.
Another franchise hits the re-set button as Sandra Bullock leads an all-female heist crew in Ocean’s 8, while Toni Collette discovers some chilling family secrets in highly anticipated horror Hereditary.
And don’t forget York Festival of Ideas is on this month, with several movie-related events, including its own two-day film festival!
Comedy
Book Club
There’s some top acting talent headlining this romcom, even if the premise sounds like the basis for the kind of sitcom BBC1 try and sneak out at 10pm on a Wednesday in mid-summer and hope no-one notices.
Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen star as a gang of lifelong friends whose choice of Fifty Shades of Grey for their book club sparks a series of changes in their lives.
Married restaurateur Carol (Steenburgen) is inspired to spice up her love life, while Federal judge Sharon (Bergen) steps out of the twenty-year shadow of her divorce.
Meanwhile, recently widowed housewife Diane (Keaton) attracts the attention of a dashing pilot (Andy Garcia), and hotelier Vivian’s carefree life of casual relationships is shaken when she reconnects with her old flame (Don Johnson, who – fun fact! – is the father of Fifty Shades star Dakota Johnson).
Action/Adventure
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Here we go again…The sequel to 2015’s franchise re-starter Jurassic World sees that film’s central couple – dino-wrangler Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and former park operations manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) – return to Isla Nebular, the island which previously housed the ill-fated theme park, and has now been taken over by the dinosaurs.
They’re there because a soon-to-erupt volcano threatens to make the dinos extinct all over again – including Blue, the raptor that Owen hand-reared.
We’re promised new breeds of super-massive dinosaur, a world-threatening conspiracy, and the return of the original movie’s Dr Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), still warning everyone about the dangers of playing god with nature.
I’m sure they’ll listen to you one of these days, Ian…
Sandra Bullock takes over from George Clooney in this all-female reboot of the Ocean’s franchise, which began with Ocean’s 11 in – yikes – 2001.
Bullock plays Debbie Ocean, estranged sister of Clooney’s Danny, who’s plotting to – wouldn’t you know it – pull off the heist of the century. (Maybe if Mr and Mrs Ocean had paid their kids a bit more attention when they were growing up, all of this could have been avoided.)
The setting this time is New York’s star-studded annual Met Gala, and the target is a necklace that’s worth more than $150 million.
To pull it off, she’ll need a crack team, of course – including the likes of Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Cate Blanchett and Helena Bonham-Carter.
Taking over directing duties from the original trilogy’s Steven Soderbergh is Gary Ross, the man behind the first Hunger Games movie. You’d have thought Ross’ former leading lady Jennifer Lawrence would be a shoo-in for this sort of caper, but she’s nowhere to be seen – perhaps they’re saving her for Ocean’s 9…
Horror
Hereditary
It seems a fairly regular occurrence that a new horror movie is hyped as “the scariest movie in years”, but if the buzz around this one is anything to go by, it might just live up to that title.
Hereditary focuses on the Graham family – parents Annie (Toni Collette) and Steve (Gabriel Byrne) and their two children – who are grieving after the death of the reclusive family matriarch, Ellen.
Their fears start to build as a series of cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets all point to a sinister legacy which their family may not be able to escape.
The feature debut of writer-director Ari Aster, the film terrified audiences at its Sundance Festival premiere earlier this year, with AV Club claiming that “This isn’t a scary movie. It’s pure emotional terrorism.”
Drama
My Friend Dahmer
Unlikely to be this month’s most comfortable watch, this drama tells the story of the young Jeffery Dahmer, who went on to become one of America’s most notorious serial killers.
Based on a 2012 graphic novel by Dahmer’s school friend John “Derf” Backderf, it depicts Dahmer’s life as a shy adolescent in high school in the 1970s.
His out-there antics bring him to the attention of Derf and his friends, who welcome him into their group – but as his behaviour grows ever wilder in a bid to keep their attention, their initial amusement slowly changes to concern.
Disney Channel graduate Ross Lynch plays Dahmer, with Alex Wolff as Derf and Anne Heche as Dahmer’s mother, Joyce.
The Happy Prince
Critics will, I’m sure, be dusting off their “Born to be Wilde” puns for this one.
Rupert Everett not only stars as Oscar Wilde in this story of the great author’s last days, but is also the writer and director.
The film sees Wilde living in exile in France after completing his prison sentence for “gross indecency” in England following his affair with Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas (played here by Colin Morgan, currently to be seen in Channel 4’s AI thriller Humans).
As Wilde lays on his death-bed, a series of flashbacks return him to happier times from his past in what the Times has called ‘an 11th-hour masterpiece’ from Everett.
The supporting cast includes Emily Watson as Wilde’s wife Constance and Colin Firth as his loyal friend Reggie Turner.
York Festival of Ideas
The University of York’s annual festival of events around a particular topic returns this month, running from 5th to 17th June, with this year’s theme being ‘imagining the impossible’.
One particular event to flag for budding filmmakers is the two-day LUMA Film Festival, which takes place over the weekend of 16th/17th June.
Created by students in the University’s Department of Theatre, Film and Television, it offers a chance to see screenings of their work, as well as a series of talks and workshops from leading professionals in the UK film and television industry.
The programme of events for the weekend is yet to be released – check their website for updates – but with previous guests having included Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins and The Fast Show’s Charlie Higson, you never know who you might end up hearing from.
And for a flavour of the kind of activities that might be on offer, here’s a video of some trainee Van Dammes in a Screenfighting workshop from LUMA 2015.
All LUMA events are completely free to attend, though you do need to book in advance for the talks and workshops.
Aside from LUMA, there are several film screenings taking place over the course of the festival.
Films on offer range from a screening of the classic 1931 Boris Karloff Frankenstein (City Screen, Weds 6th) to documentaries on outsourcing (Merci Patron!, King’s Manor, Thurs 14th> and the music of Mongolia (AnDa Union: From the Steppes to the city, National Centre for Early Music, Sat 9th).
Elsewhere, there’s a chance to see a classic 1960s French James Bond spoof in That Man from Rio (King’s Manor, Mon 11th).
Some screenings are free but there’s a charge for others – for full listings and how to book, see the Festival of Ideas website.
Seasons and One-Offs
One of the most iconic films of all time returns to cinemas this month, as Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is re-released to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
If, like me, this is one of those classic films you’ve never, ahem, actually seen, chances are you know two things about it: it has that famous opening sequence with the monkeys and the “der…der…DER-DER!” classical music, and it has a creepily-voiced computer called HAL.
Well, on Sunday 3rd June, we can fill in the gaps in our knowledge, and experience the film in all its glory on the big screen, with showings at City Screen, Vue York and Everyman.
City Screen are also using it to kick-start their next Vintage Sundays season, showing several of Kubrick’s classic films.
Peter Sellers plays multiple roles, including the eponymous Dr Strangelove, in the cold war satire which screens on 10th, while Kirk Douglas leads the slave rebellion in historical epic Spartacus on 17th.
Jack Nicholson calmly and responsibly deals with the problems of writer’s block in The Shining on 1st July, but the week before that offers a chance to see one of Kubrick’s less well-known films.
Period drama Barry Lyndon, showing on 24th, follows the exploits of an 18th century Irish rogue (played by Ryan O’Neal) as he duels, fights, gambles and seduces his way through the world.
It’s one of those films that had an uneven reception on its release, but has since gone on to be seen as an overlooked classic – and here’s Mark Kermode explaining why you might want to give it a chance:
Among the supporting cast in Barry Lyndon was young Italian actor Leon Vitali. Never heard of him? That’s not surprising, as after working with Kubrick on the film, he gave up his flourishing acting career to become Kubrick’s loyal right-hand man, working closely with him behind the scenes for more than 20 years.
On Monday 18th, new documentary Filmworker tells Vitali’s story, offering a new insight into Kubrick’s filmmaking in the process.
While City Screen are making a song and dance about Kubrick, Everyman are just generally making a song and dance, with screenings of several much-loved musicals this month.
You can do the timewarp in The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Saturday 9th, or raise a glass to absinthe friends (sorry) with Moulin Rouge on Thursday 14th.
Madonna stops by to belt out Lloyd Webber’s timeless anti-lachrymosity anthem in Evita on Thursday 21st , while Sunday 24th sees the return of mildly popular Disney animation Frozen.
Then on Thursday 28th, John Travolta starts the weekend early with a dose of Saturday Night Fever.
Moving back over to City Screen, but sticking with the musical theme, there’s Ariel treat (sorry again) with a sing-a-long showing of Disney favourite The Little Mermaid on Thursday 14th.
City Screen’s Discover Tuesdays strand this month offers documentaries, an Argentinian period drama and a hallucinating Timothy Spall.
Of the documentaries, This Is Congo (5th) examines the long-running conflict in the region, while closer to home, Arcadia (19th) makes use of 100 years of archive footage to examine the British people’s relationship with their land.
The two fictional offerings are the highly rated Zama (12th), in which an officer of the Spanish crown in 18th century South America waits endlessly for a transfer from his remote outpost, and Stanley, a Man of Variety (19th), a one-man show with Timothy Spall as a prisoner who starts hallucinating legendary variety acts, from George Formby to Tony Hancock.
And finally, what could be more appropriate to tie in with this year’s York Pride event than, well, Pride? It’s showing at City Screen on Friday 8th, a day before the main event.
If you haven’t seen this rousing 1980s-set crowd-pleaser about the unlikely alliance of gay and lesbian activists and Welsh miners, I would definitely recommend it – and all the more so because this screening will include a Q&A with one of its subjects, campaigner Jonathan Blake, who was played by Dominic West in the film.
Community Cinema
Film at the Folk Hall fans don’t have much longer to wait – they relaunch next month! Meanwhile, South Bank Community Cinema’s summer season concludes with a pair of films which gave two of the UK’s most acclaimed actors their big screen debuts.
The iconic Malcolm McDowell made his entrance in Lindsay Anderson’s 1968 classic if…, showing on Friday 8th.
McDowell plays Mick Travis, the leader of a savage rebellion at an English public school in Anderson’s dark and witty tale, which last year was voted by Time Out as the ninth best British film of all time.
Then on Friday 22nd, there’s a chance to see Ralph Fiennes’ first film role. Back when the world of Hogwarts existed only in JK Rowling’s head, the man who would one day be Voldemort started out by playing another legendary character from British fiction, starring as Heathcliff in the 1992 version of Wuthering Heights.
Juliette Binoche stars as Cathy in this adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel from Peter Kosminsky (who more recently directed the BBC’s Wolf Hall series), which was filmed in Yorkshire – though not at Haworth itself – and is apparently one of relatively few screen versions to have adapted the full story of the novel.
Intriguingly, we’re promised an introduction by an original member of the film’s cast!
Both screenings are in Clement’s Hall on Nunthorpe Road. Tickets are £3 for members or £4 for guests.
Now, to sing us out, please welcome the one and only Ms Kate Bush…