Josh Cooley directs Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Annie Potts in this unexpected fourth entry to the beloved Toy Story trilogy… this time Woody is relegated in Bonnie’s affection so tries to protect her new favourite toy on a road trip; Forky, a creation who is so makeshift he wants to be trash.

We didn’t ask for this. Like John Wick 3, it does what it is great at so well you feel like a curmudgeon for pointing out the rest isn’t quite as good. You chuckle rather than laugh out loud. You admire the new characters but miss the ensemble as they move just out of the spotlight. New “villain” Gabby Gabby is a complex delight, Forky works. It looks fantastic… that opening rainfilled shot… WOW! But who turned up to the Toy Stories for their CGI artistry? It is a decent extension, a better summer blockbuster than nearly everything released so far this 2019. But markedly not as perfect as those three stone cold classics that it shares a name with. Legacy still intact but let’s not wear the details off a universally adored plaything, hey?

7

Todd Douglas Miller directs Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins in the documentary where the first moon landing mission is captured using large format cameras.

Just dazzling. My favourite type of documentary is a collage of footage. No talking heads, no narration. We can experience being there, like we are making history. Spectating man’s greatest achievement… where’s my cardboard sun-visor? I want to watch the explosive lift off again, and again.

8

Mary Harron directs Gretchen Mol, Lili Taylor and Chris Bauer in this biopic of the 1950s bondage and nudes star.

Enjoyably unjudgmental; both the film and Mol’s approach to her iconic character. She’s revelatory in this… sunny, positive, more open than naive and never portrayed as stupid. She’s only ever the victim when she has no agency. The film mixes period appropriate black and white photography, reanimated antiquated establishing shots and bright 8mm holiday footage. Kink and flesh are kept to a relative minimum… I’m not sure whether that adds or detracts. While the film never reaches true greatness, it equally rarely puts a foot wrong. Far less distastefully formulaic than most Hollywood biographies.

7

Freddie Francis directs Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Donald Sutherland in this standard 60s Amicus horror anthology taking in killer plants, voodoo jazz tunes and art critics chased by vengeful hands.

Donald Sutherland plays Bob Carroll.

6

Peter Hyams directs Sean Connery, Frances Sternhagen and Peter Boyle in this High Noon set in space mash-up.

The look, FX and vibes are ripped off from Ridley Scott’s Alien. Genuinely, this could be an alternative prequel or a sequel to the 1979 space mining corporation classic and that’s no bad thing. The plot is the Gary Cooper classic with a space amphetamine twist… equally no bad thing. If you don’t come looking for originality then Outland has juicy stuff to offer. Cat and mouse chases through weaving, sprawling future corridors and hive cells. Steadicam is employed daringly to launch you right into the dash and dodge of these battles. A dedicatedly nuanced performance from the far too often glib Connery. An eclectic support cast. A rousing Jerry Goldsmith score (again sharing DNA with his superior work on Alien). Shock moments that will sate your bloodthirsty cravings. A fine Friday night macho blockbuster from the near past.

8

My Top 10 Sean Connery Movies

Bryan Forbes directs Michael Caine, Ralph Richardson and Peter Cook in this Victorian era farce about two ageing brothers who must outlive each other to win a lottery prize.

A sluggish mess… wasting the talents of Pete and Dud AND Peter Sellers. Dated Sixties attitudes deflate good production values. Rambling nonsense even derails a sexually chaste romance between beautiful kissing cousins Caine and Nanette Newman. Everyone except her feels miscast and half mast. A sleep inducing mess.

2

David Yarovesky directs Elisabeth Banks, Jackson A Dunn and David Dunham in this horror that subverts the classic superhero origin story set-up; what if a childless couple adopted an alien refugee and he grew up evil?

One of those situations where if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the movie entire. There’s just not enough weight or nuance to Brightburn beyond its high concept pitch. It is a reasonably crafted, reasonably acted and surprisingly gory horror. Yet not one that has anything further up its sleeve than being a dark reflection on those 5 minutes where Pa and Martha Kent find a naked baby Supes in his krater back in 1978. 5 minutes stretched over 90.

6

Lloyd Kramer directs Lindsay Lohan, Grant Bowler and Theresa Russell in this romantic biopic of the on-off Hollywood romance between Liz Taylor and Richard Burton.

And then this happened. And then this happened. And then this happened. And then this happened. And then this happened. Plotted like a Wikipedia entry, there’s little to like about this TV movie where fallen star Lilo plays original scandal attracter, Cleopatra herself. The scenes move way too rapidly for her to do anything much more than look beautiful in Liz Taylor drag. Yet the story is chopped up by a few scenes set in a black box theatre where an out of time Burton and Taylor reminisce to camera. These mannered separations work, and Lohan feels like she’s putting in a markedly better performance during these interludes. The bulk of the film has no grain or heft, it is just a series of vapidly condensed incidents. Yet there’s camp pleasures in the budget opulence recreated. And bless her for all her public trouble, Lohan is an old school movie star who dominates the screen, even at half strength, even in tosh like this.

4

Lars Klevberg directs Aubrey Plaza, Brian Tyree Henry and Mark Hamill in this horror remake of the killer doll frames his child owner chiller.

A genuine surprise, in that it improves on just about every aspect of the terminally alright original. The kills are gorier, the humour hipper, the political swipes are on point. Everyone brings their A-game to a B-Movie. Plaza and Henry are self aware, seductive presences, imbuing the stock material with their unique personalities. The cinematography, editing and production design is all just noticeably cared about more than any of the previous franchise entries ever did. This is a great looking horror flick. As for Chucky being the result of dodgy AI rather than supernatural possession, it works. As for the kids being aged up slightly to give the heroes a Stranger Things vibe, it works. As for the often spectacular deaths being tied into a synced up app that controls multiple household appliances and security systems, it works (just). There could probably be one or two more murders in the first act is the only real gripe I can bring against the entire production. Child’s Play doesn’t reinvent the wheel but certainly adds embellishments to a tired, unambitious series that acerbate the entertainment and quality. I’m not going to make any argument that this is a new horror classic but the upgrades are winning, you leave the multiplex happy you took a risk. Horror resurrections genuinely never get such loving, understanding overhauls. One in the eye for the defanged and slick Platinum Dunes crowd.

7

Lee Daniels directs Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey in this steamy 60s set thriller where a pair of journalists use a woman who writes to prisoners to access a killer.

Very lurid. Very rum. Very undisciplined. You get to see a lot of prestige actors vamp and camp it up. Nicole Kidman simulates a blowjob, Efron gets pissed on and is racist. McConaughey likes rough trade. There’s no denying the entertainment value in watching Hollywood’s best and brightest make an exploitation soap. And it’s not all rubbernecking. John Cusack does fantastic against type work as a hillbilly bad egg… his most exceptional screen work since his millennium heyday. Yet it is haphazard- good on atmosphere, bad on focus. The events tumble into each other with a random escalation, a messy pantomime that never convinces. Like Monster’s Ball, if so much tragic shit happened in a smalltown over a short period, well… shit… Mulder and Scully would be called in. Daniels employs every technique in the book to keep the plates spinning… split screen, discombobulated flashcuts. He’s no De Palma… there’s no playful control or cinematic grandstanding in the flourishes. This is everything but the kitchen sink filmmaking, it doesn’t really work but you can’t take your eyes off it while it all jiggles and flails about.

5