THE SHEEP DETECTIVES
No one expected this to be as good as it was. When I first saw the trailer, I immediately rejected it in the way I rejected Harold and the Purple Crayon or Thelma the Unicorn, as a trashy, money-grabbing children’s film to be forgotten indelibly. Let the record show, its marketing did it dirty. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Chris O’Dowd preside over a flock of sheep who investigate the murder of their shepherd George (Hugh Jackman, alive and well in many a flashback), sneaking in hints to the dumbfounded local police (Nicholas Braun with a pitch perfect British accent) to speed the process up before their farm is repackaged as a meat grinder. The love child of Paddington and Shaun the Sheep, not only does The Sheep Detectives treat difficult topics such as grief and betrayal in a gentle and appropriate manner (accessible for children, gut-wrenching for adults), it is also deeply, deeply funny – I believe the last time I laughed that hard in the cinema was watching Intouchables in 2012 (two thousand and twelve!). Packed with action and comedy royalty, including Emma Thompson as an intrepid solicitor, The Sheep Detectives is so much more than a children’s film – it’s a cozy Sunday afternoon British masterpiece in the making.
Final verdict: your cinematic culture depends on you watching this film – drop everything and go see it now.
TUNER
Leo Woodall stars as piano tuner Niki with a hearing condition that gives him heightened sensitivity to sound in this crime thriller from Daniel Roher, a hell of a ride that nevertheless does exactly what it says on the tin. Dustin Hoffman co-stars, though not nearly as much as he should, as Niki’s mentor Harry, a friend of his late father’s, all jokes and refusals to take medicine. When Niki discovers by chance a talent for safe-cracking, he embarks on a criminal crusade to pay Harry’s hospital bills – but working with thieves isn’t all it’s cut out to be. Woodall is excellent in the lead, and Lior Raz as his employer Uri provides the perfect balance of fellowship and danger. Havana Rose Liu plays Ruthie, the driven student pianist Niki falls in love with – it’s a lovely, if slightly dull and predictable aspect of the film. While there are no evident surprises in Tuner and it’s not one I’ll look to rewatch anytime soon, it certainly gets its sound right – at almost every instance, there is an uncomfortable buzz, representative of Niki’s hearing, and when inevitably, he is threatened with noise, I could quite literally taste the pain of the whistling.
Final verdict: if you like Leo Woodall, you will be much pleased. If you are sensitive to sound, think twice.
THE CHRISTOPHERS
Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel co-star in this almost chamber play about a famous eccentric painter and his personal assistant. Unbeknownst to the former, the latter has been hired by his two unscrupulous children to finish a series of paintings he never completed behind his back, with the ultimate goal being to sell them off as originals for a fortune. The premise is an exciting one, but the fun and games stop there. McKellen plays the cantankerous scholar with evident glee (like Olivia Colman playing an evil matron or Maggie Smith a crabby aunt) and equal talent, and Coel is adept as his no-nonsense assistant, but the script feels either a little too drawn out or wobbly, or a mixture of both. McKellen and Coel happily bounce off of each other, and their obvious differences make for wonderful storytelling, but perhaps there isn’t enough material here, leaving it feeling as unfinished as the paintings themselves.
Final verdict: unless you are intent on watching all of Ian McKellen’s films OR you are a die-hard art, you may find better elsewhere.
OBSESSION
The talk of the town. Though I am busy writing an extensive essay on this one, a review still seems in order. Few will need an introduction to this one – infatuated with his friend Nikki (Inde Navarette), Bear (Michael Johnston) wishes on a “One Wish Willow” for her to love him more than anyone in the world. And then she really does. Filmed on a 750,000 dollar budget, it has now grossed over 400 million at the box office, making it the highest-grossing film with a budget of under 1 million. Its director, Curry Barker, is a former YouTuber who came up with the idea while watching an episode of The Simpsons. His second film has already wrapped filming. Concerning Obsession, it’s the neatly-packaged gift that keeps on giving – great performances, a steady rhythm as the plot develops, and absolute carnage at just the right times. I don’t truly believe Obsession was as well thought out as fans believe (and this is by no means criticism) – more so, it’s a simple story that serves as a base for more complex thinking, touching on the ever-present themes of 2026, from consent to modern dating, true love to incel culture. And that is a feat within itself.
Final verdict: in this kindest way possible – where have you been if you have not seen this yet?
THE NORTH
The North marks writer-director Bart Shrijver’s second feature about long-distance hiking, following Human Nature in 2022, about a woman who walks the Arctic Norway. However, while this focused more on solitude, The North turns instead to friendship, as former best friends Chris (Bart Harder) and Luis (Carles Pulido) reunite after ten years to hike the Scottish Highlands together. It becomes clear, within the first twenty minutes, that there is some unresolved tension at the heart of their relationship – unfortunately for us, we are never let onto what that actually is. I’ve seen a lot of reviews about The North being about “men not being able to communicate”, claims that “men will do anything but go to therapy”. But fundamentally, the problem here is just the script – there is no cleverness or weight in their silence, and so instead of a genuine painstaking desire for them to just share their feelings, there is only a genuine irritation as they cross rivers and scale mountains in their eternal silence. There are some lovely moments, certainly, the highlight being a game of Uno in their tent, and the story finally comes alive when they meet others – but of course, they are just passing, as one does on hikes. So, at just under two and a half hours, this ends up being quite gruelling to watch – but the Scottish Highlands are as beautiful as ever.
Final verdict: if you like hiking films or the Scottish Highlands, this has got some great shots.
TOY STORY 5
Woody and the gang are back – or is it Jessie and the gang now? Everyone’s favourite cowgirl (Joan Cusack) gets her centre stage moment in Disney’s Toy Story 5, by all means better than the fourth, never trumping the original three. It’s a somewhat repetitive schema – in each instalment, the toys must prove they are no longer obsolete to their child, in this instance little Bonnie (Scarlett Spears). The enemy in number five is, unsurprisingly, “tech”, the umbrella term for all things harmful to young brains – tablets, screens, cameras. In other words, anything with a battery pack. When Bonnie’s parents get her a Lilypad (Greta Lee), a fictional-ish tablet on which she can play games with prospective friends, the gang realises that the age of toys is over – tech now reigns supreme, and children aren’t interested in make believe anymore. Determined to help Bonnie make a “real” friend, Jessie embarks on a madcap journey through her past to help the child she loves – and prove her worth in the process. All the usuals are back on top form (Forky is more of a background character in this one, which I was not mad at), and though it isn’t particularly memorable, it is both enjoyable on the moment and adept at highlighting the current failures of education and the importance of imagination for children – I hope many youngsters pick up a toy after seeing this one.
Final verdict: I feel there are two very distinct groups of people – those who will default to watching this and you can’t change their mind, and those who will never watch this and you can’t change their mind. You already know which one you are.
BACKROOMS
The (second) talk of the town. Almost as impressive as Obsession is Backrooms’ run at the box office, currently estimated at 350 million dollars globally for a 10 million budget. YouTuber Kane Parsons was offered the role of director by A24 at the tender age of 20 after his successful web series Backrooms, a found footage style horror inspired by the “Backrooms” creepypasta and focusing on an extradimensional space composed of interconnected and – mostly – vacant rooms. Developing on this, it focuses on furniture store owner Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who discovers this seemingly liminal space through a wall in his downstairs show room. When she suspects something is amiss, his therapist Mary (Renate Reinsve) follows him down there, to devastating consequences. Frankly, I am captivated by the production design on this one – each room is more unsettling than the next, and yet, it’s always frustrating when a door remains unopened. Parsons, both with his web series and this film, banks on our fascination for discovery, for the strange, the uncomfortable – but also the monotonous and day-to-day, as there is always something familiar in each room, be it a swimming pool or a Christmas tree. It’s truly enthralling stuff – where Backrooms falls flat for me is in its desire to be overtly showy in the second half, namely by introducing the entities rather than a distant shuffling of feet or growl. It is here, when the concrete invades the absurd, that it lost me.
Final verdict: go for the horror, stay for the interior design inspo.
DISCLOSURE DAY
Steven Spielberg’s long awaited UFO sci-fi thriller opens with a tense standoff between Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor), resident good guy, and Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), resident bad guy. Daniel, an ex-employee at the terrible Wardex Corporation and a cybersecurity specialist, has stolen top secret material he believes belongs to “the people”, which Scanlon, Wardex’s CEO, is intent on getting back. While Daniel and girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) hide out, meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) suddenly develops the ability to read people’s thoughts and speak languages she has never learned after a cardinal flies into her home. Somehow, the two are connected, and vital in the whistleblowing plan that Daniel’s former boss Hugo (Colman Domingo) has got going on, namely to tell “the people”, once and for all, that aliens are real. The entertainment factor is really the only thing that Disclosure Day has got going for it, if that – it’s full of voracious plot holes, totally lacking in any humour whatsoever, and at times, so painfully ridiculous I struggled not to roll my eyes. Most importantly, Daniel and co spend two and a half hours (or roughly three days in their time) trying to get this information out to the public – not to be that person, but it could have been an email.
Final verdict: please just watch E.T.
THE INVITE
After the devastation of Don’t Worry, Darling (which I enjoyed, actually!), Olivia Wilde returns on her best form since Booksmart with The Invite, a chamber play comprised of four. As housewife Angela, Wilde is unabashedly over the top, uptight and eager to please on the night she invites her upstairs neighbours, Hawk and Pina, for cheeses and meats. These (the neighbours, not the aperitifs) are played by Edward Norton and Penelope Cruz on equally top form, exuding sex appeal and oozing calm. Angela’s husband Joe (Seth Rogen), meanwhile, has just cycled back on a foldable bike from his dead end job and wants nothing more than to smoke some weed in peace. As the evening progresses, it is safe to say that tensions, in all of their forms, rise to their peaks (pun intended). Indeed, it will come as no surprise to those who have seen the trailer that the invite in question is, in fact, that of partaking in group sex, and that while Hawk and Pina are well-versed in this activity, Angela and Joe appear to be relatively sexless in their marriage. Naturally, the result is something deeply human, but unequivocally awkward and painful to watch. Let it be known that there is nothing truly novel at play here – at all times, the ending is predictable (regardless of the ambiguity), and there is a certain sense of having seen all of this before. This is not to say however that The Invite is anything but infinitely and deliciously enjoyable. There isn’t a moment to breathe throughout – either you’re laughing, heavily cringing or watering at the eyelids. Wilde and co are expertly cast, a true joy to behold on screen – I could have sat listening to them for hours, vitriolic arguments and all.
Final verdict: an absolute rollercoaster of delight, and well-worth the watch – maybe not with your parents though.
