Priscilla ★★★★★
Directed by Sofia Coppola. Starring Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Dagmara Dominczyk, Ari Cohen, Tim Post, Emily Mitchell, Raine Monroe Boland. 15A cert, gen release, 113 min
Beautifully made, quietly alarming study of Priscilla Presley’s marriage to Elvis from the always tasteful Coppola. Spaeny gives us a Priscilla who, though manipulated and (for once, the word is appropriate) gaslighted from early in the relationship, always has an inkling that something is not quite right. The enormous Jacob Elordi makes something frustratingly elusive of Elvis. Some may long for more explicit denunciation of what we would now call grooming, but Coppola is keen to get us behind Priscilla’s eyes. The ambiguity is her subjective ambiguity — something she eventually shakes off. Beautiful period detail. DC
Ferrari ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Michael Mann. Starring Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Sarah Gadon, Gabriel Leone, Jack O’Connell, Patrick Dempsey. 15 cert, gen release, 130 min
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No spoilers, but towards the end of Mann’s uneven biopic, there’s a startling sequence that reminds the viewer that this is the work of a virtuoso filmmaker. If only one could say the same for the rest of this plodding movie. Driver, a great actor who failed to get the post-House of Gucci memo on affecting phoney Italian accents, affects a phoney, Italian accent as the mech bro of the title. Among the salmonella-rife undercooked female parts, Penelope Cruz converts a nothingy wifey role into fabulous distress. But even she can’t save Ferrari. Who knew a film about fast cars could be such a slog? TB
Jules ★★★☆☆
Directed by Marc Turtletaub. Starring Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Zoë Winters, Jade Quon, Jane Curtin. 12A cert, gen release, 88 min
Kingsley plays an older gentleman who encounters a spaceship in his back garden. Alarmed, especially on account of his azaleas, he calls 911 and his perennially worried daughter. The authorities promptly dismiss his claims and his daughter doesn’t pick up, leaving Milton to take care of a silver-skinned, large-headed visitor from another world. Working from a screenplay by Gavin Steckler, this is a wry, lo-fi ET for elders. The pleasant dramedy is jollied along by its veteran ensemble and the odd narrative curveball: a subplot about dead cats yields a macabre surprise. TB
Freelance ★☆☆☆☆
Directed by Pierre Morel. Starring John Cena, Alison Brie, Juan Pablo Raba, Christian Slater, Marton Csokas, Alice Eve. Amazon Prime, 109 min
Cena, a former special forces op, is dispatched to protect a journalist (Brie) as she interviews a Latin American despot. Blah, blah, blah…things go wrong and we end up fleeing from rebels in the jungles of (checks notes) Caldonia. No rocket launcher remains unfired. No helicopter remains uncrashed. What really disappoints is the utter lack of fizz between Cena and Brie. You would get more sparks from rubbing a wet flannel with a wetter rock. But try it anyway. It could hardly be more tedious than waiting for Freelance to crawl to its predictable denouement. DC
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