The Banshees of Inisherin ★★★★☆
Directed by Martin McDonagh. Starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan, Pat Shortt, Gary Lydon, David Pearse, Sheila Flitton. 16 cert, gen release, 114 min
Farrell and Gleeson, reuniting with McDonagh for the first time since In Bruges, play Pádraic and Colm, two old pals living listlessly on a Hindeian island off the west coast during the Civil War. One day, Colm announces he is no longer friends with the younger man. What follows is a bracing, funny, often moving return to the Gothic hyper-Irishness of McDonagh’s earlier plays. The leads play off one another in a perfect complement — sulky gorilla opposite enthusiastic puppy — that builds on the connections made during In Bruges. Condon, Keoghan and Pearse flesh out a superb cast. Full review DC
Wendell & Wild ★★★★☆
Directed by Henry Selick. Voices of Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Angela Bassett, Lyric Ross, James Hong, Ving Rhames. 12A cert, gen release, 106 min
Partnering with co-writers and voice cast Peele and Key, Selick, the man behind Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas, begins Wendell & Wild as he means to go on: with the tragic accident that orphans the film’s heroine, Kat (Ross). Years later, as a punkish teen, Kat is enrolled in a snooty boarding school back in her home town of Rust Bank. The pacey, wacky action ensures that 106 minutes fly by. The ghoulish, greenish palette resembles the novelty sweets handed out during trick or treating. And any addition to the Henry Selick canon is a welcome addition indeed. Full review TB
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Decision to Leave ★★★★☆
Directed by Park Chan-wook, Starring Tang Wei, Park Hae-il, 15A cert, gen release, 139 min
South Korean master Park returns with a feverish riff on Hitchcock’s Vertigo. When an experienced mountain climber is discovered at the bottom of a cliff, Busan-based detective Hae-joon gets on the case. A good, diligent cop who prioritises his profession over the wife he sees only at weekends, Hae finds his life is upended by his prime suspect. Another director might have fashioned Basic Instinct from such voyeuristic clay. Park dances with the material. Eschewing sex in favour of simmering sensuality, Decision to Leave coalesces into an intricate ballet between the main characters. Slick. Involving. Ingenious. Full review TB
Black Adam ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Pierce Brosnan. 12A cert, gen release, 124 min
Johnson reappears in the Middle East after 5,000 years incarceration. He is not happy. The enormous screeds of voiceover suggest efforts have been made to make sense of Black Adam for viewers unfamiliar with whatever DC comic that character comes from. It doesn’t work. We are left with an enormously chaotic entertainment that spreads endless confusion as it fails to follow up on its glib parallels with contemporary discontents. Black Adam does, at least, prove itself open to heart-warming diversity. They even find space for an older gentleman from Navan. I have no idea what Brosnan is doing, but he looks to be having fun. Full review DC
