There’s a famous moment in Back to the Future Part II when Marty McFly, catapulted thirty years forward to the Hill Valley of 2015, suddenly cowers in terror when he’s attacked by a holographic shark advertising Jaws 19 at the local cinema.
While that particular sequel (and, mercifully, the 14 others that would have preceded it) never came to pass, you’d probably have got slim odds betting that, eight years on from that oh-so-futuristic sounding year, two of the summer’s biggest blockbusters would star Michael Keaton as Batman and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones.
And yet that is where we find ourselves in 2023, with a new Indy film just a couple of weeks away and Keaton clambering back into the Batsuit this week courtesy of The Flash’s timeline-twisting shenanigans.
Still no hoverboards though…If you prefer your nostalgia more 1990s-style, then you can Take That and Party like it’s 1993 with Aisling Bea and pals in Greatest Days.
New releases
The Flash
It may be his name above the door, but it’s possibly not Barry Allen, aka The Flash, whom film fans of a certain age will be turning up for in this latest DC caper.
That’s because this first solo big screen outing for Ezra Miller’s superfast superhero also sees Michael Keaton revving up the Batmobile for the first time since 1992’s Batman Returns, thanks to every comic book franchise producer’s new best friend, the multiverse.
The story sees Barry use his powers to travel back in time in order to save his family – but in time-honoured sci-fi style, his actions result in the birth of an alternative future where Keaton’s Caped Crusader still has the keys to Wayne Manor and, more troublingly, Superman’s old foe General Zod (Michael Shannon) is very much alive and kicking…
IT director Andy Muschietti marshals the multiversal madness, while the screenplay here is courtesy of Christina Hodson, who was previously responsible for one of the better-received DC movies, Birds of Prey.
| Cert 12A, 144 mins | |
| Cineworld, City Screen, Everyman, Vue | |
| From Weds Jun 14 | |
| More details |
Greatest Days
Take That get the Mamma Mia! treatment in this big screen adaptation of the hit stage show, which sees a gang of old friends head out on a life-changing holiday to see their beloved teen idols in concert.
The great Aisling Bea leads the cast as Rachel, a nurse who wins a radio competition to see her favourite band The Boys (who just happen to sound an awful lot like a certain 90s Manchester combo) play a huge reunion show in Athens – prompting her to reconnect with her old schoolfriends for an emotional trip they’ll…wait for it…never forget.
A feelgood tale promising tears, laughter and dancing on the streets of Clitheroe, it’s hailed by Film Stories as ‘a wonderful surprise…an unexpected high bar to really kick the summer movie season off’.
| Cert 12A, 112 mins | |
| Cineworld, City Screen, Everyman, Vue | |
| From Fri Jun 16 | |
| More details |
Other screenings
Other new releases and previews
Wes Anderson fans can get ahead of the game with preview screenings of the director’s eagerly awaited new film Asteroid City ahead of its release next week.
Offering the intriguing prospect of Anderson dabbling in the realms of sci-fi, the film follows the attendees of a Stargazer convention in a small desert town in the 1950s – you can catch it at City Screen on Tues 20th and Everyman on Weds 21st.
Who knows, it might also turn out to be the mystery film shown at Secret Screenings taking place at Cineworld and Vue on Tues 20th – or could they possibly involve a certain whip-cracking archaeologist? You’ll have to pay your money and take your chance…
Sadly she’s not among Asteroid City’s sprawling cast list, but it would certainly be interesting to see Phoebe Waller-Bridge lend her comic chops to the Anderson-verse one of these days – for now though, you can still catch encore screenings of her 2019 one-woman Fleabag show at City Screen (Sat 17th, Sun 18th, then matinees only from Mon 19th to Thurs 22nd), Everyman (Fri 16th, Thurs 22nd, plus matinee on Tues 20th) and Vue (Tues 20th).
Showing at City Screen on Weds 21st, documentary Name Me Lawand follows its eponymous five-year-old subject, a deaf Iraqi boy whose family seek asylum in Derby, and his journey from being voiceless to a voice representing others.
And it’s a busy week for BTS fans as two of the K-Pop sensations have documentaries out, with screenings of SUGA: Road to D-Day and J-hope in the Box taking place at Vue on both Sat 17th and Sun 18th.
(I must confess that I’m unfamiliar with their work, but the second one has left me with an unintended earworm adapted from another pop colossus: “Don’t be fooled by the rocks that I got, I’m still, I’m still J-hope in the box”. Showing my age in more ways than one there…)
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Family-friendly screenings
Everyone’s favourite feline adventurer makes his debut in the budget family-friendly slot this week, as Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is this week’s Mini Mornings screening at Vue (Sat 17th, Sun 18th, tickets £2.49), while there’s an Autism-Friendly screening of the film at City Screen on Sun 18th (tickets £3.30).
Pixar’s evergreen The Incredibles is City Screen’s Kids’ Club screening on Sat 17th (£3.30), while Cineworld’s Movies For Juniors selections are firm favourite How to Train Your Dragon and the more recent release Mummies, both showing on Sat 17th and Sun 18th (£2.50).
Gay romance and Tom Cruise in his pants: old favourites back on the big screen
As Pride Month continues, there’s a great selection of LGBTQ+ films on offer at Vue this week.
You can catch Barry Jenkins’ modern classic Moonlight on Fri 16th and Weds 21st, while Call Me By Your Name, the film that launched Timothée Hal Chalamet into the celluloid stratosphere, screens on Thurs 22nd.
Plus, they have a couple of screenings of last year’s underseen romcom Bros on Fri 16th and Weds 21st – that rarest of things, a major studio comedy that’s actually funny, it’s well worth catching if you missed it first time round.
Next up, he may be more famous for running these days, but it was actually dancing that kicked things off for a young Tom Cruise in the most famous scene in 80s teen comedy Risky Business, celebrating its 40th at Vue on Thurs 22nd.
Speaking of which, there’s more toe-tapping on offer with City Screen’s You Should Be Dancing season on Sun 18th, as Roy Scheider swaps all that Jaws for All That Jazz, Bob Fosse’s classic 1979 drama about a celebrated theatre director on a path to self-destruction.
Meanwhile, City Screen’s season of Wes Anderson double bills reaches its grand finale on Sun 18th with two of the director’s best-loved films, 2001’s dysfunctional family saga The Royal Tenenbaums and 2012’s charming coming-of-age tale Moonrise Kingdom – and Everyman are also getting in on the act, with Ralph Fiennes’ dapper concierge getting in all manner of scrapes in 2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel on Sun 18th and Tues 20th.
And finally, if you fancy marking the longest day with a ritual sacrifice but you can’t be bothered clearing up afterwards, you’re in luck – folk horror classic The Wicker Man is celebrating 50 years of sterling work for the Scottish tourism industry with special Summer Solstice screenings at Cineworld, City Screen and Vue on Weds 21st.