AMMONITE ★★★☆☆
Directed by Francis Lee. Starring Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Jones, James McArdle, Alec Secareanu, Fiona Shaw. Premium VOD, 117 min
Mary Anning (Winslet) and Charlotte Murchison (Ronan), two admired 19th-century fossil hunters, become romantically entangled. For all that we learn about Anning and Murchison's achievements, the film may as well be set among shelf stackers in a suburban hardware giant. We do, however, get to see two of the era's finest actors stretch out. Winslet fares better as a determined character hardened by repression. Ronan tries hard, but can't enliven the underwritten ingenue. Professionally carried off, but disappointing from the director of the excellent God's Own Country. DC
TINA ★★★★☆
Directed by Dan Lindsay, TJ Martin. Featuring Tina Turner, Angela Bassett, Oprah Winfrey, Kurt Loder, Katori Hall, Erwin Bach, Carl Arrington. Sky Documentary, 118 min
Stirring study of the force of nature that is Tina Turner. At 118 minutes, this old-fashioned marriage of talking heads and footage is long for a music documentary. But there's plenty to mull over, a fine array of contributors, and wonderful archive material. Turner's grim marriage to Ike Turner casts a long shadow over events. It's an issue that never goes away for, despite her mesmerising stage presence and many remarkable achievements. This remains, nonetheless, a triumphant celebration. TB
SIX MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Andy Goddard. Starring Eddie Izzard, Judi Dench, Carla Juri, James D'Arcy, Celyn Jones, Jim Broadbent, David Schofield. Sky Movies, 99 min
Silly romp starring Izzard as a secret service agent sent undercover to investigate a finishing school for the daughter of Nazi bigwigs on the English south coast (apparently such a place existed). There is potential here for a camp entertainment of the silliest order: Invasion of the SS Schoolgirls; Netball, Nocturnes and Nazis; The Belles of Saint Swastikas. But Izzard has instead written himself into an unconvincing variation of The 39 Steps. The cliches mount. The lead fails to overcome miscasting. Dame Judi yells "Sieg Heil!" at the wireless. DC
MALMKROG/MANOR HOUSE ★★★☆☆
Directed by Cristi Puiu. Starring Frédéric Schulz-Richard, Agathe Bosch, Marina Palii, Diana Sakalauskaité, Ugo Broussot. VOD, 201 min
Over the course of a day – almost rendered in real time thanks to the three hours-plus runtime – four Russian aristocrats argue in French at a Transylvanian manor. Hot turn-of-the-century topics are considered through the spectrum of Vladimir Solovyov's War and Christianity: The Three Conversations, of which the film is a loose adaptation of sorts. The latest from a creator of the Romanian New Wave is a talky slog, but it's seldom short of ideas. TB
