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Buzz Lightyear, Thor and Elvis are all in the building
Summer’s nearly here, which means sunny days and an array of exciting cinema releases once again locked in mortal combat. Top Gun, Thor and Jurassic Park are back, Elvis is in the building, and if big blockbusters aren’t your bag, there’s seriously buzzy new releases from Alex Garland, Jordan Peele and Mia Hansen-Løve to entice you into the dark. Plus, you know… aircon. Here’s the movies to see and when to see them.
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This mind-bending action-comedy is being billed as a 2020s answer to Being John Malkovich, with a bit of The Matrix thrown in – which sounds pretty great, right? Michelle Yeoh plays a jaded Chinese-American woman who tumbles out of her humdrum life and into a bonkers interdimensional caper. Hold tight.
Out in the UK May 13
The great Terence Davies returns with a cine-ode to another queer artist, Siegfried Sassoon, that spans the Great War and the Jazz Age. Two fine actors play the war poet as a young man (Jack Lowden) and the embittered older version (Peter Capaldi). It features ’20s Bright Young Things like Ivor Novello and Stephen Tennant, so the dialogue will be sharp enough to cut you.
Out in the UK May 20
Feeling the need for speed? Tom Cruise’s pilot Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell is back to buzz the tower of a cinema near you. The rule-breaking naval aviator is training up a new generation of jet jockeys and annoying his superiors in a sequel that touches down a mere 36 years after the original. Everyone will be wearing Aviators again by early June.
Out in the US and UK May 27.
A new Alex Garland film is always a cause for celebration… and trepidation. The writer-director may have concocted his most disturbing tale yet with a horror skew on male toxicity that has a grieving Jessie Buckley holidaying at Rory Kinnear’s country house. The twist? All the other men in the village are played by Kinnear too. Yikes!
Out in the UK Jun 1
An American actress (It Follows’ Maika Monroe) relocates to Bucharest with her fiancé as a serial killer runs loose in the city, In her isolation, she begins to suspect that someone in the neighbouring apartment building is monitoring her. A kind of glammed-up Rear Window for the gaslighting era, Watcher marks the debut feature from director Chloe Okuno, who has already produced a few impressive horror shorts.
Out in the US Jun 3
Mia Hansen-Løve’s latest is not, alas, a sci-fi set on a remote atoll overrun by robot Ingmar Bergmans but a drama that sends Tim Roth and Vicky Krieps’s couple to the Swedish director’s island for inspiration.
Out in the UK Jun 3
This dino disaster flick reunites Jurassic Park trio Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum with some new breeds of scaly terror. The dinosaurs are everywhere in this one, which is not as fun as it sounds.
Out in the UK and US Jun 10
An ageing CEO wants to leave a lasting legacy and reckons that a hit movie with artistic weight will do the job for him. Enter Penélope Cruz’s gail-force auteur, Lola Cuevas, and two ego-riven actors (Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martínez), whose temptuous, often ridiculous attempts to collaborate make this a must-see send-up on the moviemaking process.
Out in the US Jun 17
The famous Toy Story spaceman gets a spin-off adventure in a Pixar movie set in a galaxy far, far away. He’s not the Buzz Lightyear we know and love, but the astronaut that the toy Buzz is based on. Don’t let that dim your excitement levels: this will be a bit like Interstellar only, you know, for kids.
Out in US and UK Jun 17
Sex comedies aren’t just for horny teenagers. In this one, Emma Thompson plays Nancy Stokes, a recently widowed 55-year-old whose romantic life died long before her husband did. So she treats herself to a night with a young escort (Daryl McCormack of Peaky Blinders), leading to a midlife sexual reawakening. Directed by Animals’ Sophie Hyde, it’s already won festival raves for its sex-positive message and the tender, understatedly funny performances from its two leads.
Out in the US and UK Jun 17
He’s done The Great Gatsby and now Baz Luhrmann is bringing his extrovert vision to another American icon in Elvis Presley. The snake-hipped songster is played by newcomer Austin Butler, while Tom Hanks is his legendary manager Colonel Parker.
Out in the US and UK June 24
British arthouse mastermind Peter Strickland jams a finger down the throat of artistic pretension in this dark comedy about the infighting and power struggles within a troupe of experimental musicians who use food as instruments. Its gloopy, gloppy trailer looks intriguing, and the In Fabric and Duke of Burgundy director has already established himself as an acquired taste well worth acquired, so fans will likely eat it up… in a manner of speaking.
Out in the US and UK Jun 24
Yes, more Minions. Yay? A sequel to the Despicable Me prequel that gave the one-eyed anthropomorphic Twinkies their own mega-successful spinoff franchise, this instalment functions as an origin story for Gru, the supervillain turned super-softie voiced by Steve Carell. Sure, if you’re not six years old, the incessant nattering of those little yellow bastards can get annoying. But the other human voices include Taraji P Henson, Michelle Yeoh, Alan Arkin, Danny Trejo and Jean Claude Van-Damme – casting that’s either brilliant or insane, or possibly both.
Out in the US and UK Jul 1
Chris Hemsworth’s Norse god has been through some stuff – the loss of a brother, the whole Thanos thing and several pints – and now he must face Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher in ‘Thor Four’, as Marvel wisely didn’t call the film.
Out in the US and UK Jul 8
Jordan Peele’s evolution from sketch comedian to master director should be complete with this mysterious alien-invasion horror starring Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer. Nope? Yup, more like.
Out in the US and UK Jul 22
The world’s appetite for comic-book movies is apparently so insatiable we’re getting one about superhero pets. On the other hand, we’ve already had a few movies based on superhero Lego figurines of all things, and those turned out pretty well – and Jared Stern, co-writer of the wildly entertaining The Lego Batman Movie, is both writing and directing this one. Plus, it’s got The Rock voicing Krypto, Superman’s dog, who’s tasked with assembling a team of fuzzy superfriends to rescue the Justice League from Lex Luthor. How could it go wrong?
Out in the US and UK Jul 29
Chugging along in their dusty SUV, the family in this loveable Iranian roadtrip movie will be along to steal your heart in mid-summer. Mum, dad and two sons reveal their secrets, hopes and fears in a couple of captivating hours backdropped by glorious landscapes. It’s a debut film by Panah Panahi, son of great Iranian director Jafar Panahi (Taxi), and marks him out a chip off the old block.
Out in the UK Jul 29
Not to be confused with Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ sequel – that really is happening, though – this psychological thriller stars Rebecca Hall as a well put-together single mom whose life (and sanity) begins to unravel when her abusive ex (Tim Roth) unexpectedly re-enters it. Early reviews out of Sundance praised Hall’s nervy performance, while the movie itself might require a few viewings to fully absorb.
Out in the US and UK Aug 5
