45 Years (15)
Directed by Andrew Haigh
5/5

Frequently when the BBC or the National Lottery are involved in producing a film, my heart tends to sink. I believe the BBC should spend our licence money on broadcasting, and the NHS and similar public enterprises — not ego-and-profit-driven movies — deserve lottery funds.

This time, I was so wrong.

Everyone involved in making this moving and perfectly played BBC-Lottery-funded picture completely justify every penny spent.

In Norfolk, childless Kate and Geoff Mercer — impeccably played by Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay — are preparing a party to celebrate 45 years of marriage.

Their idyllic lives are derailed when Geoff learns the body of his first love Katya, who died in a mountain fall in Switzerland in 1962, has been found preserved by the ice. And, because they were engaged, Geoff is named as next-of-kin.

Their reactions and subsequent emotional turmoil is subtle and heartbreakingly truthful as they react to the news and, inevitably, their relationship is threatened.

It’s would be impossible to overrate the lead performances. Courtenay and Rampling create flawed, moving characters whose actions and reactions are utterly believable.

Writer-director Andrew Haigh never puts a frame wrong in bringing David Constantine’s story In Another Country to the screen. Miss it at your peril.

Review by Alan Frank

We Are Your Friends (15)
Directed by Max Joseph
3/5

This refreshing tale of hopes dashed and ambitions achieved flavoured with established coming-of-age tropes is hardly landmark moviemaking.

That said, thanks to Zac Efron’s unexpectedly winning portrait of Cole — a 23-year-old would-be DJ — hoping to escape the entertainment backwoods of the San Fernando Valley into Los Angeles the promised land of showbusiness, the show keeps you watching.

Cole, who lives and schemes with three friends and spends nights trying to create the star-making track he needs, is basically getting nowhere until he has the luck to meet charismatic but flawed older DJ James (Wes Bentley).

James becomes his mentor. But Efron’s aspirations are threatened when he falls for Bentley’s girlfriend Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski) and relations with his long-time friends come under pressure.

First-time feature film director Max Joseph understands his principally teenage audience, delivering a lively, glossy coming-of-age saga and Efron proves he can act — his climactic DJ spin is terrific.

Review by Alan Frank

Barely Lethal (12)
Directed by Kyle Newman
3/5

A teenage trained assassin fakes her own death in order to enrol in high school and experience a normal adolescence in this predictable but surprisingly fun spy film for tweens.

It seems perversely wrong to see Samuel L Jackson, as Hardman, teaching little girls how to become coldblooded killing machines in this action comedy, which is a cross between Kingsman meets 16 Candles meets Pretty in Pink.

Hailee Steinfeld plays Megan aka Agent 83 for all it is worth as she realises that being a covert operative is a piece of cake compared to being at high school.

But it is Dove Cameron as Liz Larson — her foster sister — who steals the film with her sassy and nuanced performance.
Barely Lethal is charming and highly entertaining and puts Hitman: Agent 47 to shame.

Review by Maria Duarte

Hitman: Agent 47 (15)
Directed by Aleksander Bach
1/5

Unlike its elite assassin “hero” Agent 47 — sensibly played hairless by Rupert Friend, who might be lucky enough not to be recognised — this wearisome confection of overused action movie cliches misses most targets.

Someone should have shot the 2007 video-game-based original and put it out of its misery instead of rebooting it and putting filmgoers into their misery as Agent 47 shoots to kill and acts to bore, using his mega-strength to wreck a corporation planning to solve scientific secrets from his past and create an army of killers.

Also involved are Zachary Quinto as John Smith “holding key secrets and unimaginable strength,” who, fortunately, has Star Trek to fall back on when this fails to launch and Hannah Ware as Katia, seeking the secrets of her past.

The best performances come from stuntmen who help deliver the plentiful stirring action that is the film’s sole entertaining merit, along with excellent background performances by Singapore and Berlin.

Review by Alan Frank

Miss Julie (12A)
Directed by Liv Ullmann
2/5

Set in 1890s Ireland on a midsummer night this three hander is more akin to a minimalist Irish version of Downton Abbey.

Jessica Chastain plays Miss Julie, the daughter of an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, who encourages her father’s valet John (Colin Farrell) to seduce her. A fierce battle of wills ensues watched by John’s fiancee and the household’s cook Kathleen (Samantha Morton).

This adaptation of August Strindberg’s play by actor/director Liv Ullmann feels terribly theatrical and lacks any cinematic appeal as most of the action takes place in the kitchen of this aristocratic mansion.

Both Chastain and Farrell, who deliver most of the intricate dialogue are superb, while Morton is somewhat wasted.

However, it is tediously long and contrived.

Review by Maria Duarte