York film preview: Equalizer 3, Cobweb and £3 films on Saturday

OK then, who’s up for a bit of geriaction?

That’s the (slightly ageist) term for action movies led by male film stars of a certain age – quite often revolving around the concept that inside every snoozing, be-slippered dad might just lurk the ice-cold heart of a trained killer.

We’re talking the kind of man – Liam Neeson in Taken being the most famous example – that can garotte his opponent with a guitar string, then wipe it down and teach you the chords to Stairway to Heaven, all before it’s time for Sunday lunch.

Genre stalwart Denzel Washington is back to reluctantly crack a few more skulls in Equalizer 3 this week – while elsewhere, there’s something nasty hiding in the walls in Cobweb.

Plus, see any film you like for £3 on Saturday as National Cinema Day returns…

New releases

The Equalizer 3

Denzel Washington is back as the man who does whatever Edward Woodward would, as this big screen reboot of the classic 80s TV show returns for round three.

The story this time round begins with ex-assassin-turned-one-man-justice-dispenser Robert McCall (Washington) having found a degree of peace in Southern Italy – but just as a fragrant spoonful of raspberry gelato hovers tantalisingly at his lips, he’s dragged back into the vigilante game when he discovers his new friends are being menaced by the local crime lords.

So the scene is set for McCall vs the Mafia, with help at hand from Dakota Fanning’s rookie CIA agent; while behind the camera, Washington’s Training Day director Antoine Fuqua returns to orchestrate the latest cavalcade of strong violence and injury detail.

Cobweb

Tap-tap, tap-tap…A young boy is plagued by sinister nocturnal sounds from inside his bedroom wall in this tense chiller – but could the real threat come from somewhere even more terrifying?

When eight-year-old misfit Peter (Woody Norman, C’mon C’mon) begins hearing a disturbing tapping sound through the wall at night, his overprotective parents (Fatal Attraction’s Lizzy Caplan and The Boys’ Antony Starr) insist it’s his imagination.

As their refusal to believe him turns to anger, Peter begins to fear they could be hiding a terrible secret…

Passages

A same-sex couple’s marriage is jeopardised when one of them begins an affair with a young woman in this acclaimed drama from director Ira Sachs (Love Is Strange, Little Men).

Rising German star Franz Rogowski (Great Freedom) plays restless filmmaker Tomas, whose casual fling with teacher Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Colour) turns to something more serious, eliciting the very hardest of Paddington hard stares from his artist husband Martin (Ben Whishaw).

A hit with critics on its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, this thorny, Paris-set relationship saga was championed by Time Out as ‘an achingly beautiful film that’s sexy, sad and so very French’.

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Other screenings

£3 films on National Cinema Day

Fancy doing Barbenheimer on a budget? You’re in luck, as this Saturday sees cinemas slash their prices for the second annual National Cinema Day.

That means you can see all films at participating cinemas for just £3 – including everything from this week’s new releases to the summer’s biggest blockbusters.

Cineworld, City Screen and Vue are taking part in the promotion, which also takes in some older favourites from Peter Pan to Jurassic Park (both showing at City Screen and Vue) – while the discounted price also applies to IMAX screenings of The Equalizer 3, Blue Beetle and Oppenheimer at Cineworld.

In fact, never mind Barbenheimer – at these prices you can afford a double-double bill. Barbenheimerheimerbarben, anyone?

Community cinema

South Bank Community Cinema kick off their autumn season with an acclaimed release from earlier this year in the form of nail-biting Chilean thriller 1976.

Set in Chile in, you guessed it, 1976, the film sees a bourgeois doctor’s wife (Aline Küppenheim, A Fantastic Woman) drawn into the dangerous world of the anti-Pinochet resistance when she is asked to shelter a wounded young man.

Hailed by Sight and Sound as a ‘remarkably assured, deeply unsettling debut feature’ from director Manuela Martelli, the film shows at Clements Hall, South Bank on Fri 1st at 8pm (doors 7:30pm) — tickets are £4 (cash only), and SBCC advise that it’s best to book in advance by e-mailing [email protected].

Family-friendly screenings

As pencils are sharpened and satchels tightened (yes, it is a long time since I went to school; why do you ask?), the glorious summer of daily low-price screenings comes to an end this week, with the cinemas’ various budget strands returning to their usual weekend-only schedule.

Making its budget debut this weekend is Disney’s latest live action remake (where ‘live action’ often more accurately means ‘CGI soup with humans bobbing about in it somewhere’), The Little Mermaid, which shows at both Cineworld (£2.50, Fri 1st, Sun 3rd) and Vue (£2.49, Fri 1st, Sun 3rd; £3.00 on Sat 2nd); Cineworld also have screenings of Norwegian superhero tale Just Super on Sat 1st and Sun 3rd (£2.50).

Meanwhile, the original animated Peter Pan flies back onto the big screen as Disney continue their centenary celebrations: City Screen have general admission screenings on Fri 1st and Sat 2nd (£6.00 child, £8.00 adult), and a Kids’ Club screening on Sun 3rd (£3.30), while Everyman have two Toddler Club screenings on Fri 1st and Sat 2nd (£6.10 child, £8.60 adult), followed by a general admission screening on Sun 3rd (£9.40 child, £14.40 adult).

It’s also showing at Cineworld on Fri 1st and Sun 3rd (£5.99), and at Vue daily from Fri 1st to Sun 3rd (£6.99 – £9.99) – plus Vue are whetting appetites for the forthcoming Wonka prequel film with screenings of the 1971 Gene Wilder classic, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (daily from Fri 1st to Sun 3rd, £6.99 – £9.99).

Other new releases and previews

It’s a busy week for new releases, so if the three above don’t take your fancy, you can also choose from Sound of Freedom (Cineworld, Everyman, Vue), a based-on-a-true-story action thriller about a federal agent’s crusade against child sex trafficking; a new take on Maigret (City Screen) which sees Gerard Depardieu don the legendary detective’s hat and pipe; and British stage play adaptation And Then Come the Nightjars (Vue), which follows the 20-year friendship between a farmer and a vet who meet during the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak.

There’s an Autism-Friendly screening of the all-conquering Barbie at Cineworld on Sun 3rd, while City Screen have two more encore performances of the ever-popular Fleabag stage show on Sat 2nd and Weds 6th.

You can also catch a preview of Past Lives at City Screen on Tues 5th, ahead of its release next week – this highly acclaimed drama follows two Korean childhood sweethearts who meet up years later in America.

Dinos run amok and Harry turns back the clock: old favourites back on the big screen

As the tagline said, it was an adventure (and an Alan Partridge catchphrase) 65 million years in the making – which I suppose technically makes this week’s reissue of Jurassic Park cinema’s first 65,000,030th anniversary screening.

As last year’s distinctly underwhelming Jurassic World trilogy-closer confirmed, no-one has come close to capturing the dino-magic of Steven Spielberg’s classic 1993 original, back to reclaim its rightful place as king of the jungle at City Screen (daily), Everyman (Sun 3rd and Tues 5th) and Vue (daily) – while Cineworld are bringing the raptors right into the room with a 3D screening on Weds 6th.

And talking of questionable franchise extensions, any Potterheads sceptical about the need for the newly-announced TV adaptation of JK Rowling’s beloved books can bask in the comfort of the original film saga with screenings of the first two chapters at Cineworld and Everyman this week: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone shows at both cinemas on Fri 1st (plus a Baby Club screening at Everyman on Tues 5th), followed by The Chamber of Secrets on Sat 2nd (Everyman) and Sun 3rd (Cineworld).

And finally, it’s a good week for fans of De Niro and Pacino – not only are Everyman showing the Hollywood titans’ inaugural big screen confrontation in Heat on Fri 1st, but you can also catch De Niro in two of his classic Scorsese collaborations at City Screen: Taxi Driver is showing on Sat 2nd, with 1990 mob masterpiece Goodfellas following on Sun 3rd.

Then on Mon 4th there’s a chance to catch a lesser-seen Pacino movie in the form of Cruising (City Screen), a cult 1980s crime thriller in which he stars as a cop going undercover to catch a serial killer in New York’s gay S&M scene, showing in tribute to its director, the late William Friedkin (of The Exorcist fame) – a man whose films turned heads in more ways than one.