Film

Six of the best films to see at the cinema this weekend

Daniel Day-Lewis goes out in haute style, and Gerard Butler channels his inner Blackbeard

‘Toxic masculinity’: Daniel Day-Lewis in ‘Phantom Thread’

Donald Clarke
Tara Brady
Fri Feb 2 2018 - 06:00

PHANTOM THREAD ★★★★
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville, Camilla Rutherford, Gina McKee, Brian Gleeson, Julia Davis. 15A cert, general release, 130 min
Anderson's latest experiment in the cinema of tyranny stars Day-Lewis as a successful couturier in a version of 1950s London untouched by smog or rationing. Reynolds Woodcock (for it is he) is eventually challenged in his toxic masculinity by a smart young waitress (Krieps) with a terrifying fungal strategy. The technical elan is so icily persuasive that it's easy to put the film's many quandaries on the long finger. Spooky. Puzzling. Persuasive. Read our full review here. DC

JOURNEY'S END ★★★
Directed by Saul Dibb. Starring Sam Claflin, Paul Bettany, Asa Butterfield, Toby Jones, Stephen Graham, Tom Sturridge. 12A cert, general release, 108 min
Decent, well-cast adaptation of RC Sherriff's durable 1928 play concerning British soldiers in the dying days of the first World War. Dibb's film does not strain itself in opening out the drama. One significant action sequence, off-stage in the play, is enacted in hurried, confused cuts. The characters have visions of coming horror. But the picture succeeds mostly in the smartness of its casting. Bettany is warm, Butterfield impressionable. It still works. Read our full review here. DC

DEN OF THIEVES ★★★
Directed by Christian Gudegast. Starring Gerard Butler, 50 Cent, Pablo Schreiber, O'Shea Jackson Jr, Evan Jones, Dawn Olivieri, Mo McRae, Max Holloway. 15A cert, gen release, 140 min
Picture an Anchorman news team battle between cops and robbers. The cops are – wait for it – even more lawless than their targets. They are a hard-drinking, hard-partying, hard-bodied crew led by a growling Gerard Butler, who stands one eye-patch and wooden leg shy of being a full-blown Pirates of the Caribbean. "Do we look like the types that'll arrest you?" aaaarghs Butler. "We'll just shoot you." Passes the time if you can get past the daftness. TB

Watch the official trailer for Phantom Thread, the final film starring Daniel Day-Lewis before he retires. Video: Universal Pictures

EARLY MAN ★★★★
Directed by Nick Park. Voices of Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Miriam Margolyes, Timothy Spall, Rob Brydon, Richard Ayoade. PG cert, general release, 88 min
The latest stop-motion treat from Aardman Animation follows a group of prehistoric oddballs as they prepare for a football match against more technologically advanced neighbours. The film is not quite up to the standards of Wallace & Gromit. But what is? The puns are solid. The characters are charming. And the animation retains the homemade feel that began winning fans 40 years ago. It cheers you up simply to know they still exist. Read our full review here. DC

READ MORE

LAST FLAG FLYING ★★★
Directed by Richard Linklater. Starring Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, Steve Carell, Cicely Tyson. 15A cert, general release, 125 min
Belated spiritual sequel to Hal Ashby's 1973 comedy-drama The Last Detail. It's 2003, and Doc (Steve Carell), a widowed Navy corpsman and Vietnam veteran, has learned that his only son has been killed in an early skirmish in Iraq. He tracks down a pair of old Marine Corps buddies – city bartender Sal (Cranston) and country preacher Mueller (Fishburne) – and asks them to assist with the funeral. The journey is alternately sombre and loud. Read our full review here. TB

THE POST ★★★★
Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys, Bob Odenkirk, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sarah Paulson, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford. 12A cert, general release, 116 min
Effective, unflashy investigation of the Washington Post's efforts to print the Pentagon Papers – revealing the state's dishonesty about the Vietnam War – during a turbulent period for America. Hanks is solid as editor Ben Bradlee and Streep subtle as publisher Katharine Graham. But it's the film's conversation with events in its near future (Watergate) and distant future (the current Trumpocracy) that sets it apart. The cheeky closing shots will delight fans of post-classical Hollywood. Read our full review here. DC