F1 ★★★☆☆
Directed by Joseph Kosinski. Starring Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem, Tobias Menzies, Kim Bodnia, Shea Whigham, Joseph Balderrama, Sarah Niles. PG cert, gen release, 153 min
Without cliches, narrative art would have withered away before the ancient Greeks got into their stride. But F1 is too thuddingly familiar. Throw a bowling ball off a cliff and you would be less sure of its trajectory. Pitt is the ageing veteran brought in to complement Idris’s naive young gun in a failing Formula 1 team. After a great opening sequence, the film settles for smooth relays that, though stirringly noisy on the big screen, don’t get you much closer to the actuality than highlights on the telly. Thank goodness for Condon as the team’s earthy tech director. Full review DC
From Hilde, with Love/In Liebe, Eure Hilde ★★★★☆
Directed by Andreas Dresen. Starring Liv Lisa Fries, Johannes Hegemann, Lisa Wagner, Alexander Scheer, Emma Bading, Sina Martens, Lisa Hrdina, Lena Urzendowsky. 15A cert, limited release, 124 min
Moving study of Hilde and Hans Coppi, members of a vital anti-fascist movement in Germany before the second World War. Laila Stieler’s screenplay characterises the couple as full-blooded, carnal, spirited people. Given to neither grand pontification nor cinematic heroism, they giddily run away after posting pro-Soviet political slogans at night. They fall madly in love, their sexual encounters framed as domestic acts of defiance. It’s an Austen-worthy coupling. Their summery encounters, gorgeously shot by Judith Kaufmann, are starkly counterpointed by their wretched capture and incarceration. Full review TB
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The Moon Is Upside Down ★★★★☆
Directed by Loren Taylor. Starring Victoria Haralabidou, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Loren Taylor, Robbie Magasiva, Robyn Malcolm, Rachel House, Jemaine Clement. Limited release, 100 min
Lovely, eccentric New Zealand comedy-drama. Taylor makes a striking directorial debut that features a strong contender for cinema’s clumsiest sex scene. Best known for cowriting and starring in Eagle vs Shark with her former partner Taika Waititi, she deservedly won the best first feature award at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival for this quietly moving and darkly funny triptych of stories. Where Eagle vs Shark mined the comic potential of socially awkward love amid fast-food counters and video arcades, The Moon Is Upside Down finds emotional gravitas on the dustier backroads and dead-end motels of far-flung Wellington. Full review TB
M3gan 2.0 ★☆☆☆☆
Directed by Gerard Johnstone. Starring Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Ivanna Sakhno. 15A cert, gen release, 120 min
Oh, no. The sequel to M3gan is absolutely t3rribl3. It as if nobody involved with that 2022 cybershocker has any idea what made it such a hilarious blast. M3gan was, more than anything else, a possessed-doll movie in the vein of Chucky, Annabelle and Dead of Night. Now a rival cyborg wants to take over the world, and a reformed M3gan finds herself on the side of good. Sound familiar? These people think they are making Terminator 2, which would be bad news even if the central antagonist hadn’t lost all association with uncanny valley. Dire. Full review DC
