Now this is a story all about how his life got flipped-turned upside down…
It’s now two years since Will Smith made headlines for all the wrong reasons at the 2022 Academy Awards, courtesy of the event variously known as The Slap Heard Around the World, The Slappening, or – and kudos to whoever came up with this one – The Pursuit of Slappyness.
Ever since he stepped up and gave Chris Rock a cheek-stinger that registered 8.9 on the Peggy Mitchell scale, the Fresh Prince has understandably been taking a break from royal duties – but this week he’s getting back behind the wheel for Bad Boys: Ride or Die, a return to the famously explosive action franchise in which a slap will be the least of his opponents’ worries.
Plus, cinephile geneticists will be queuing round the block to find out if final act twists are hereditary as Ishana Night Shyamalan makes her directorial debut with The Watched…
New releases
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
After proving they were Bad Boys for Life in 2020, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back for a fourth round of bickering, bonding and blowing stuff up in this latest instalment of the buddy cop saga.
Picking up from the previous film, the plot sees sparring partners Mike (Smith) and Marcus (Lawrence) spurred into action when their late lamented captain’s name is linked with a Mexican drug cartel, setting them out on a mission to prove his innocence.
After their investigations get too close to the truth, the pair find themselves outside the law and on the run along with Mike’s estranged son Armando (Jacob Scipio) – can they crack the case before their erstwhile colleagues catch up with them?
| Cert 15, 115 mins | |
| Cineworld, Everyman, Vue | |
| From Weds Jun 5 | |
| More details |
The Watched
For cinemagoers of a certain vintage, the realisation that The Sixth Sense is now 25 years old is enough to send chills down your spine all over again – and if that doesn’t make you feel your age, then M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter has helpfully got a film out this week.
Very much following in her dad’s footsteps, Ishana Night Shyamalan’s debut feature introduces us to Mina (Dakota Fanning), an American artist in Ireland who heads out into the depths of a sprawling forest (turn left at the noticeboard crammed full of missing person notices, then straight on) only to find herself stranded when her car breaks down.
Finding shelter in a bunker in the middle of the woods, Mina is shocked to realise she and her three fellow occupants are captives of the sinister Watchers, who observe them behind a glass wall every night – and a terrible fate awaits those who don’t make it inside before darkness falls…
| Cert 15, 102 mins | |
| Cineworld, Everyman, Vue | |
| From Fri Jun 7 | |
| More details |
The Dead Don’t Hurt
Two decades after he smouldered his way through The Lord of the Rings, Viggo Mortensen saddles up once more for this tale of love and violence in the old west, which also sees him step behind the camera.
Written and directed by Mortensen, the story follows the romance between his quietly spoken military veteran Holger Olsen and Vicky Krieps’ fiercely independent pioneer woman Vivienne LeCoudy, whose happy life together takes a dark turn when Holger leaves to fight in the Civil War.
Left alone in a frontier town rife with corruption, Vivienne finds herself crossing paths with its crooked mayor (Danny Huston) and a scheming ranch-owner (Garret Dillahunt), while becoming the recipient of unwanted attention from the latter’s violent son (Solly McLeod).
| Cert 15, 129 mins | |
| Cineworld, City Screen, Vue | |
| From Fri Jun 7 | |
| More details |
Other screenings
Family-friendly films
City Screen’s Kids’ Club arrives at chapter three of its fairytale journey on Sat 8th, as Shrek the Third finds our hero desperate to avoid becoming king of Far Far Away (tickets £3.30).
Meanwhile, Everyman are transporting you to a different magic kingdom with Toddler Club screenings of Disney’s Encanto (£6.25 for children, £8.75 for adult plus toddler).
There are airborne antics aplenty at Cineworld, with budget screenings of Butterfly Tale and Super Wings: Maximum Speed on Sat 8th and Sun 9th (£2.50), while Butterfly Tale is also Vue’s Mini Mornings pick this week (Sat 8th/Sun 9th, £2.49).
Vue also have a couple of screenings of Little Monsters (Sat 8th/Sun 9th, £6.99 – £9.99) and a double bill of the ever-reliable Julia Donaldson with The Gruffalo and Zog (Sat 8th/Sun 9th, £3.99).
Keanu’s world of leather and the greatest Star Trek ever: old favourites back on the big screen
As cinemas continue to celebrate the bumper crop of classics that came out in 1999, this week sees the return of one of that year’s most iconic releases in the form of The Matrix.
The film that came out of nowhere to redefine sci-fi and give amateur hackers wildly unrealistic career expectations, the Wachowski siblings’ masterpiece is back in cinemas in a pin-sharp 4K re-release, so you can see through the Matrix better than ever before: shades on and head to City Screen (Sat 8th), Everyman (Fri 7th, Sat 8th) and Vue (Sat 8th, Thurs 13th).
The Pride Month party continues apace with, well, Pride, the politically charged, crowd-pleasing tale of the unlikely union between gay and lesbian activists and Welsh miners in Thatcher’s Britain – it’s marching back to the big screen at Vue (Sat 8th), Cineworld (Weds 12th) and City Screen (Thurs 13th).
And with Josh O’Connor the man of the moment thanks to his highly acclaimed turns in Challengers and La Chimera, there’s a chance to see his breakthrough role in 2017’s Yorkshire-set gay romance God’s Own Country at City Screen on Sun 9th.
Oscar Isaac and his scene-stealing feline co-star bring City Screen’s Coen brothers season to a close with Inside Llewyn Davis, which follows Isaac’s down-at-heel folk singer’s attempts to make it big in the New York scene of the 1960s.
City Screen’s Stanley Kubrick season continues with Matthew Modine being put through his paces in 1987 war drama Full Metal Jacket on Sun 9th, while the director’s earlier classic 2001: A Space Odyssey is this week’s Throwback screening at Everyman (Sun 9th, Tues 11th).
Hogwarts heads have a few more chances to catch a 20th anniversary screening of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, seen by many as the boy wizard’s best big screen outing, not least due to the presence behind the camera of Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron – it’s showing at City Screen (Fri 7th, Sat 8th, Mon 10th), Everyman (Weds 12th, Thurs 13th) and Vue (daily from Sat 8th).
And talking of series high points, Vue will be beaming viewers aboard the Starship Enterprise on its most celebrated cinematic adventure this weekend, as Kirk faces off against an old foe and Spock makes the ultimate sacrifice in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Phasers set to stun and hankies at the ready on Fri 7th and Sat 8th.