York film preview: A Minecraft Movie, Mr Burton and Death of a Unicorn

Voxels! Skins! Permadeath!

Yes, it does sound like a cracking Friday night at The Fulford Arms, but these words (well, one actual word and two collections of letters standing on each other’s shoulders inside a large overcoat and hoping the dictionary bouncers will let them in) actually all pertain to the sprawling online universe of Minecraft.

If you want to sound hip and in-the-know when you take the kids to the game’s inevitable big screen spin-off this weekend, allow me and my four minutes of extensive online research to be of help: voxels are the 3D version of pixels, which give the game its iconic blocky look (you know, like when Street Fighter wouldn’t load up properly on your Atari 520ST).

Skins – previously an E4-derived byword for teenage debauchery, this now refers to the contents of your online character’s digital wardrobe (I know this because a friend of mine expressed his bewilderment that his son chose to spend his birthday money on ‘skins’ for his avatar. “Why couldn’t he spend it on something practical,” he despaired, “like pogs?”).

And permadeath? That’s when the player loses all their lives and either has to restart the game completely or create a new character to continue – so kind of like when one of Ian Beale’s kids disappears for a couple of years in EastEnders then comes back with a different head.

All good? Good. Now head down to the cinema, order a family-size bucket of popcorn and engage survival mode…

New releases

A Minecraft Movie

The insanely popular video game gets a big screen makeover in this fantasy adventure starring Jason Momoa, Jack Black and Danielle Brooks.

The Jumanji-like plot sees four misfits transported into the mysterious Overworld, a bizarre land where, as Black’s expert crafter explains to them, “anything you can imagine is possible – as long as what you imagine can be built out of blocks”.

The mismatched quartet must team up and reconnect with their creativity to thrive in this strange new landscape (very much looking to assuage parental fears about excessive screen time there) and ultimately find their way back home – while fending off the attentions of some of its less friendly inhabitants.

Mr Burton

“To begin at the beginning…” Harry Lawtey (Industry) stars as Richard Burton in this biopic about the legendary actor’s early years, and the man who helped him to realise his potential.

The story takes us back to Port Talbot in 1942, when the young Richard Jenkins was a wayward schoolboy from a mining family whose talent for performing was spotted by his English teacher Philip Burton (Toby Jones).

Under Philip’s tenacious tutelage, and with the encouragement of kindly landlady Ma Smith (Lesley Manville), Richard begins to set his sights on a future far beyond the valleys – but must reckon with the legacy of his traumatic childhood.

Death of a Unicorn

Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega lead this comedy horror as a father and daughter en route to a weekend retreat with the dad’s super-wealthy employer when, wouldn’t you know it, they hit a unicorn with their car.

When the duo rock up at the family estate of Richard E. Grant’s big pharma billionaire with the battered beastie in their boot, the cynical clan are quick to spot a major money-making opportunity – a decision they soon come to regret when more of the mythical creatures turn up at their door, and they’re far less cute than the fairytales have led us to suppose…

The latest journey to the dark side from US indie darlings A24 (the studio behind last year’s Hugh Grant hit Heretic), the film boasts an impressive supporting cast including Will Poulter, Téa Leoni and Jessica Hynes.

Community cinema

They’re rolling out the red carpet in New Earswick this Friday, as Film at the Folk Hall hosts York’s Oscar Night – a celebration of cinema inspired by its screening of The Wild Robot.

This funny and moving eco-fable about a service robot marooned on an uninhabited island who makes foes of, and then friends with, the local wildlife delighted kids and adults alike on its release last year, going on to bag an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature at this year’s ceremony (though it ultimately lost out to surprise Latvian winner Flow).

It’s well worth a trip out in its own right, but, much like its resourceful protagonist, the Film at the Folk Hall team have gone that extra mile to make it a night to remember: the screening will be preceded by a film and TV quiz with prizes to be won, plus an Oscar-worthy red carpet photoshoot on entrance!

Get practising your best movie star poses and head on down to the Folk Hall, New Earswick on Friday 4th – doors are at 7, the quiz is at 7:30 and the film starts at 8pm. Tickets can be booked or reserved on their website: prices are £4 for general admission and £3 for concessions, with a small number of free tickets available to those who need them.

Easter holidays round-up

As toy ranges go, they don’t come much more wholesome than Sylvanian Families, so it will come as no surprise to know that the plot of the woodland creatures’ big screen debut revolves around a young rabbit trying to buy a present for her mum.

In a bonus for sleep-deprived parents, the Guardian advises that the film may have ‘a Temazepam-like effect’ – and you can still drive and operate heavy machinery afterwards. Result! Take your prescriptions down to City Screen (daily except Sun 6th and Mon 7th, tickets £5.00), Cineworld (daily from Sat 5th, £5.00) and Vue (daily, £3.99).

Moving along at a zippier pace is Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which is your budget viewing selection at both Cineworld (daily except Fri 4th and Tues 8th, £2.50) and Vue (daily from Sat 5th, £2.49), while City Screen’s Kids’ Club has a 10th anniversary screening of the first Minions movie on Sat 5th (£4.00), and Everyman are doubling down on the Donaldson with The Snail and the Whale & Zog and the Flying Doctors (Fri 4th, Sat 5th, £7.30 child/£11.20 adult plus toddler).

Plus there’s an Autism-Friendly screening of Disney’s latest live action remake Snow White at Cineworld on Sun 6th (tickets standard price: £8.99 child, £9.99 adult, £33.96 family).

Other new releases and previews

A struggling novelist finds himself tasked with looking after not only his own elderly mother but three of his friends’ mums too in tender Irish comedy Four Mothers, showing daily at City Screen this week.

Over at Vue, there’s a promising-sounding British directorial debut in the form of Restless (daily), the darkly humorous tale of an empty-nester driven to desperation by the arrival of a noisy neighbour, while Screamboat (daily) is the latest in the rather depressing trend for cheap horror cash-ins on beloved children’s characters on whom the copyright has expired (see Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey) – this one’s taking advantage of the fact that Disney’s Steamboat Willie, best known as the big screen debut of Mickey Mouse, has now sailed into the public domain.

With Easter fast approaching, The King of Kings (Cineworld, Vue, daily from Mon 7th) is an animated re-telling of the story of Jesus with a novel framing device – the story is narrated by none other than Charles Dickens, based on a book he wrote for his young children – and a starry voice cast including Kenneth Branagh as Dickens and Mark Hamill as King Herod.

And if you liked Wolf Hall but wouldn’t have minded a couple of barnstorming song-and-dance numbers to punctuate all those shots of Mark Rylance staring mournfully out of a latticed window, you’re in luck: showing at all four York cinemas this week, SIX the Musical Live! is a specially-filmed version of the theatrical smash hit in which Henry VIII’s wives step out of the shadow of ‘im indoors.

Have a right royal time of it at Cineworld (Sun 6th, Tues 8th), City Screen (Sat 5th, Mon 7th), Everyman (Sat 5th, Tues 8th) and Vue (Sun 6th, Tues 8th).

Bonnie and Clyde and an ABBA-tastic bride: old favourites back on the big screen

Last week saw City Screen launch a major season celebrating the New Hollywood era – that febrile period starting in the late sixties when Tinseltown underwent a radical creative rebirth courtesy of idealistic young directors – your Scorseses, Coppolas, Altmans et al – fired up by the possibilities of cinema and determined to rip up the rule book.

Set to run for the next couple of months, it’s a pleasing mix of names you know and names you don’t, but this week’s pick is certainly in the former category: credited as one of the key films that kickstarted the movement, Bonnie and Clyde (Sat 5th) sees Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway blaze a trail of death and destruction through the Depression-era South.

It’s showing in City Screen’s regular reDiscover strand, which on Sun 6th also offers a chance to see an early work by Parasite director Bong Joon Ho, who’s currently putting Robert Pattinson through his paces in satirical sci-fi Mickey 17: originally released in 2003, Memories of Murder is the South Korean maestro’s typically leftfield take on the brooding police procedural.

Talking of which, no-one gives better brood than Ryan Gosling, and his taciturn getaway driver in 2011’s Drive remains one of his career-best turns: put pedal to the metal and head down to Everyman on Fri 4th to witness him in all his monosyllabic, puffer-jacketed glory.

It’s followed in their Throwback strand by a film which boasts one of the most iconic car chases of all time: showing in tribute to the late, great, Gene Hackman, The French Connection (Sun 6th, Tues 8th) sees his detective “Popeye” Doyle plunged headfirst into the grimy underworld of 1970s New York on the trail of a French heroin smuggler.

And finally, let’s finish over at Vue, where they’re bringing back two classics of a very different stripe: first up, the RSPCA doesn’t have a vigilante unit, but if they did, it’d look a lot like John Wick, here to strike fear into the hearts of puppy pulverizers once more (Fri 4th to Mon 7th).

Then on Fri 4th and Weds 9th, you are cordially invited to Muriel’s Wedding, back on the big screen for its 30th anniversary – scrappier and spikier than Mamma Mia!, but just as feelgood and with no danger of you being serenaded by Pierce Brosnan. Take it away, ladies…