Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2024 i Total Film

After a successful foray into the Scream franchise, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are returning to their Ready or Not roots with horror comedy Abigail, about a group of criminals hired to keep the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a crime boss captive for 24 hours. The catch – because there's always a catch – is that the innocent-looking child (played by Matilda's Alisha Weir) is actually a vampire. And not just any vampire, with the film reportedly a reimagining of 1936's Dracula's Daughter. She's not locked in with them, they're locked in with her… Melissa Barrera stars as Joey who, despite having a child of her own and taking the time to comfort a pre-transformation Abigail, is in as much danger as everyone else in the house. ‘I'm sorry…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE Gommorah and Pinocchio director Matteo Garrone's films were previously confined to Italy's shores, but in his latest, Io Capitano, Sicily is the light at the end of a dark and dangerous tunnel. Teenager Seydou (Seydou Sarr) makes the journey there from Dakar, but faces torture, starvation, and enslavement before he even reaches the sea crossing. It's a tough but radically beautiful watch, filled with magic, agony and triumph. But sadly, as director Garrone tells Teasers, ‘the reality is even worse. Sometimes, it's difficult to recreate things that are so violent they can look unbelievable. So this is an invocation of that violence rather than a representation.’ In 2023, nearly 3,000 people are estimated to have died attempting the crossing from north Africa to Europe (Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni,…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE When looking for someone to helm a woman-led superhero movie, turning to a director who's been involved with one of the best-received comic-book series of the past decade, Jessica Jones, makes perfect sense. ‘There's a groundedness, a grittiness, to Jessica Jones, which is definitely part of the cinematic vernacular of Madame Web,’ British director S.J. Clarkson, who oversaw two episodes of Jessica Jones, tells Teasers. ‘They're both loners, a little bit abrasive, a bit quirky, and on the outer edges of things. With JJ, she had PTSD. That [sense of] reality to it was its success in a way. I suppose it's the same with Madame Web.’ An origin story set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe, the film offers a different angle on Madame Web – aka Cassandra Webb –…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE The film of Robot Dreams is like a lasagne,’ announces its Spanish director, Pablo Berger. ‘There are different layers.’ It's a fair point. Adapted from the hit 2007 graphic novel by Sara Varon, this tale of a dog who builds and befriends a robot can easily be enjoyed, Pixar style, by all types of filmgoers. ‘I would love to think that Robot Dreams caters something to different audiences,’ adds Berger, when Teasers meets with him in London. ‘I would love to have in the same screening room kids, cinephiles, critics, casual film viewers.’ The film marks Berger's first animated project following three live-action features, including 2017's Abracadabra, and he certainly approached it from a movie buff's perspective. With no dialogue in the film, he created a silent movie inspired…

KUNG FU PANDA 4 (2024) The DreamWorks franchise that began in 2008 gifted Black with one of his most enduring roles: kindly, kickass, black-and-white bear, Po. ‘I love kung-fu cinema so this is the only real opportunity to explore that world for me. I've just had a blast. When I first got the offer, [former DreamWorks CEO] Jeffrey Katzenberg liked what I did in School of Rock and was like, “I just did Shrek, and things are kickin’ ass, and I think you'd be great as this panda.” At first, I was hesitant. I was like, “I don't know if I quite understand what the concept is.” He showed me a rough drawing of Po animated to a scene from High Fidelity. I got it in that moment. I was…

BEAST 2017 After stage, screen and TV work, Buckley made her feature debut in Michael Pearce's serial-killer thriller. In windswept Jersey, Moll is drawn to mysterious outsider Pascal (Johnny Flynn). Screen Daily called Buckley ‘a force of nature’. WILD ROSE 2018 Buckley excels as Rose-Lynn, a wannabe country singer whose ambition chafes against the demands of her life as a single mum. ‘I'd never really done country before,’ said Buckley of a role that showcased her astounding singing voice. I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS 2020 Charlie Kaufman's brainscrambler sees Buckley's Young Woman head to a remote farm to meet the parents of the boyfriend she's thinking of breaking up with. ‘I was so impressed with her performance in [Beast],’ said Kaufman. THE LOST DAUGHTER 2021 Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut cast…

OUT 9 FEBRUARY CINEMAS This globe-trotting sequel to 2017's The Jungle Bunch, itself spun off from a French kids’ television series, sees penguin Maurice (Scott Humphrey) and his fellow misfits travel the world in search of a scientist who can foil an evil beaver's plot to destroy their tropical home. Chaotic adventures follow, many of them derivative of superior mainstream fare (Ice Age, Kung Fu Panda). Yet a visit to an animal alt-Paris does fleetingly tickle, while the target audience's chaperones may appreciate the nods to Raiders and Mad Max's Furiosa.…

OUT 2 FEBRUARY CINEMAS Illumination's latest animated feature feels featherlight, even when served with a bonus Despicable Me short. A migrating mallard family flies from the US to Jamaica, despite the misgivings of worrywart dad Mack (The Big Sick's Kumail Nanjiani). The journey is slowed down by episodic capers along the way, while Mike White's screenplay lacks the respective satire/warmth of The White Lotus/School of Rock. The big-eyed expressions are enjoyably Looney Tunes, and the younger characters get a couple of big laughs. But overall it's hard to give a duck.…

OUT NOW NETFLIX Distinctly echoing Netflix's own Red Notice (starry cast, art theft, Interpol), this fun but by-numbers crime caper sees Kevin Hart's heist crew team up with agent Gugu Mbatha-Raw in a bid to thwart a terror plot. Their mission? To swipe $500m of gold from a mid-flight passenger plane. Hart gives a surprisingly low-key performance, leaving heist-mates Billy Magnussen and Vincent D'Onofrio to bring the LOLs. At a tight 100 minutes, F. Gary Gray's movie doesn't overstay its welcome; it loses some altitude around the midpoint, but then builds to a pleasingly dramatic – if nonsensical – climax.…

SCREEN OUT 9 FEBRUARY CINEMAS Triumph and tragedy form an inseparable tag team in writer/director Sean Durkin's emotional chronicle of the Von Erich clan, a close-knit family of sibling wrestlers whose rise to prominence in 1980s Texas was accompanied by a remorseless, almost Shakespearean succession of setbacks. Giving their sport a level of respect not often granted, the film calculates the cost the boys paid trying to live up to their father-slash-coach's exacting standards – a price that made each of them genuinely fear that their surname came with a curse. Named for a head-gripping palm move that patriarch Fritz (Holt McCallany) made his signature during his time in the ring, The Iron Claw is upfront from the start about wrestling's choreographed fakery. Yet it also gives its practitioners their…

OUT 16 FEBRUARY CINEMAS The complicated origins of the Israel-Palestine conflict are effectively if stodgily recounted in Michael Winterbottom's (This England, A Mighty Heart) 30s-based thriller. Set in Tel Aviv at a time when the area was under British colonial rule, it's a modestly involving tale of two officials (Douglas Booth, Harry Melling) whose attempts to root out terrorists only exacerbate tensions. Caught in the middle is Booth's Jewish girlfriend, Shoshana (Irina Starshenbaum), a peculiarly marginal presence in a film that steadily distils political complexities into a violent series of Godfather style, tit-for-tat killings.…

OUT NOW CINEMAS When Iris (Freya Allan) inherits a broken-down pub from her estranged father (Peter Mullan), she finds it comes with a basement tenant – a shapeshifting creature with burlap on its bonce. Through said creature, punters can commune with the dead… but at what cost? Alberto Corredor's feature debut expands on his same-titled 2017 short, but lessens the original's mystery and menace with its additional characters, backstories and creature mythology. It also, unfortunately, arrives not long after breakout hit Talk to Me, which explores similar territory with greater bite.…

SCREEN 1973 OUT NOW BD, 4K UHD, DUAL FORMAT EXTRAS Commentaries, Documentary, Featurettes, Book, Art cards What's a ‘mook’? All you'll ever need to know about Scorsese's breakthrough movie, inspired by the Little Italy of his youth, is on this extras-laden disc, with producer Jonathan T. Taplin's new interview particularly strong on Mean Streets’ making, distribution and reaction. The film itself is as vivid as ever, thanks to electric performances from De Niro and Keitel, the groundbreaking soundtrack, and a 4K restoration overseen by Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker. Dual-format limited edition includes 178-page book and eight art cards.…

1965-68 OUT NOW BD EXTRAS Commentaries, Intros, Shorts, Booklets Though Polish auteur Jerzy Skolimowski (the recent EO) has spent the bulk of his six-decade career working outside of his homeland, this welcome box set includes two monochrome mid-60s films (Walkover and Barrier) made in Poland before he went into exile, and portmanteau feature Dialogue 20-40-60, where he's one of three Eastern European helmers. The standout is the surreal, jazz-scored Barrier, in which a disillusioned medical student wanders Warsaw and falls for a tram driver. Extras include early shorts and a booklet for each feature.…

SCREEN CLASSIC TV 1999-2007 AVAILABLE ON DVD, BD, DIGITAL, SKY, NOW Tony Soprano has it all: a loving family, a luxurious mansion and a lucrative career in (ahem) waste management. Yet there's a festering hole inside of Tony Soprano… and within the American dream itself, too. ‘I'm a miserable prick,’ Tony tells long-suffering therapist Doctor Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), speaking to a profound emptiness that cannot be filled, no matter how powerful he grows; an insatiable, self-destructive hunger that will ultimately be his downfall. For six seasons (and one prequel movie, 2021's The Many Saints of Newark), The Sopranos explored this dissatisfaction, pinpointing it to Tony's upbringing under his malignant mother (Nancy Marchand). Creator and showrunner David Chase reportedly based the core idea on elements of his own life – the complicated…

GAMES OUT NOW PS5 The recent cancellation of Naughty Dog's long-awaited The Last of Us multiplayer game – after several years in development – highlights the difficulties of developing blockbuster video games for modern consoles. So, too, does the release of this new version of a game that only recently celebrated its third anniversary. The cutting-edge late-PS4-era title receives a number of visual enhancements on PS5, but it says much about the narrowing leaps between hardware generations that most who played the 2020 sequel will barely notice. It's best considered as the interactive equivalent of a Criterion Collection release: an acclaimed work presented with superior image quality alongside a host of bonus features. Three playable deleted sequences have been included, in their unfinished ‘pre-alpha’ form with commentary explaining their origins…

REEL SPOTS BEHIND THE CAMERA WHAT? In Battleship Potemkin, citizens cheering on rebels are driven down the steps of Odessa by a line of firing Cossacks. A baby carriage rolls down the stairs… WHERE? The Potemkin Stairs, Odessa, Ukraine. GO? In more peaceful times, this flight of 192 steps, officially known as the Primorsky Stairs, is a major tourist attraction for reenactments of the famous scene. No prams, mind… Want us to investigate if a movie scenario is bollocks or snapped yourself at a film location? Contact us at totalfilm@futurenet.com…

Anyone who has woken, sweating, from a nightmare where something sinister is chasing you knows the fear of the emotionless, ruthless killer that just keeps going, like an evil Energizer Bunny. It doesn't matter where or how fast you run; it will find you. A distinct character type from the serial killer or slasher, these aren't your standard horror fare. They'll have a reason, a mission, maybe even their own code of ethics. But it's useless trying to appeal to their better nature for mercy. These antagonists are incapable of sympathy and will singlemindedly see their plans through to the bitter end, while remaining coldly indifferent. Whether artificial, supernatural or just plain human with a big old dollop of psychopathy, Buff celebrates the movie menaces who can't be bargained with,…

It's one of cinema's most iconic kisses, but the making of Spider-man's snog was far from romantic. Spidey (Tobey Maguire) and M.J. (Kirsten Dunst) lock lips during a deluge, him hanging from a fire escape above, her with feet planted firmly on the floor. As the heavens open, M.J. peels back the mask of the mystery man she doesn't realise is her school friend Peter Parker and exposes his mouth in order to seal their affection. The press of her lips to his may have inflamed audiences watching Sam Raimi's 2002 hit Spider-Man but for Maguire it was akin to ‘practically suffocating’. Harnessed upside down with the blood rushing to his head, his passionate scene was further complicated by overhead sprinklers sending driving rain down onto the sound stage and…

KEY MOVIES…

The killer-doll subgenre is one of grand horror tradition, extending back to 1945's Dead of Night, and taking in subsequent icons Chucky, Annabelle and M3gan. The killer teddy bear, however, has yet to break out of the toybox in the same way. Enter Chauncey – the cuddly monster of Blumhouse's Imaginary. The childhood chum of Jessica (DeWanda Wise, also executive producer), Chauncey isn't too happy at being abandoned when she leaves her family home. And he's still there when she returns, years later, with her own family, including stepdaughter Alice (Pyper Braun), who he quickly latches onto. This is director Jeff Wadlow's third Blumhouse collaboration. Where previous films Truth or Dare and Fantasy Island broke the mold somewhat, Imaginary finds the studio in more familiar territory. ‘This is my attempt…

As if it isn't hard enough making a 10-hour epic with sieges, swordfights and shipwrecks, the makers of Shōgun also had to deal with bears trying to eat their sandwiches. ‘One day a black bear got into the craft service line,’ laughs writer/creator Justin Marks. ‘We had a 3,000-strong cast and crew. We were at war with the elements. But every day it was “Bear, bear, bear!” over the radio.’ Rebuilding an entire feudal Japanese fishing village on a remote coast of Vancouver, Marks – alongside co-writer and creator (and wife), Rachel Kondo – took on one of the most ambitious adaptations in historical fiction bringing James Clavell's 1975 hefty bestseller to the screen. ‘I think we're both of the generation where Shōgun was a book on everyone's parents’ nightstand,’…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE Japanese maestro Hirokazu Kore-eda is an expert at portraying childhood, whether it's the siblings who fend for themselves in Nobody Knows or the young girl taken in from the streets by a makeshift family in Shoplifters. His latest film, Monster, takes place in a small school in rural Japan, offering shifting perspectives on a story that keeps its secrets hidden until the final act. The focus is the young pupil Minato (Soya Kurokawa), whose single mother Saori (Sakura Ando) is soon storming off down to the school under the impression that her son's teacher, Mr. Hori (Eita Nagayama), has hit her boy. But that's just the start of an increasingly complex tale – it won Best Screenplay for writer Yûji Sakamoto in Cannes last year – that replays events…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE When Noora Niasari was five, she was living in a women's shelter in Australia with her Iranian mother, a traumatic experience that she's now turned into her powerful debut feature, Shayda. ‘It was just one of those experiences that really shaped me,’ she says. ‘And I knew that I wanted to see this story come to life, from an authentic, truthful place. I felt that I was the only person to do that, given my lived experience.’ Niasari gained help from her mother, who spent six months writing a memoir of their time in the shelter. ‘I mean, it was incredibly cathartic for both of us, that six-month journalling process. I discovered so much about her and our story that I didn't know.’ Over three years, she then wrote…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE One of the most remarkable aspects of the 2022 Oscars was the success of Drive My Car. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's three-hour opus was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, and won the Best International Feature award. So how's it been since then? ‘To be honest, my life hasn't changed that much,’ says Hamaguchi. ‘In fact, if young Japanese directors today came over to see where I live, I think they'll be disappointed in what they find.’ If this suggests a modesty to the 45-year-old writer/director, it also comes with a fierce ambition. His latest film, Evil Does Not Exist, was spawned from his composer Eiko Ishibashi, who also scored Drive My Car. She proposed to Hamaguchi that he shoot some images to accompany a live performance of her music…

1 THERE'S A CREATIVE DREAM TEAM Three-part drama The Way unites idiosyncratic documentarian Adam Curtis (The Power of Nightmares), prolific playwright/screenwriter James Graham (Sherwood) and actor Michael Sheen, here making his directorial debut. ‘The idea came before the pandemic and was very simple,’ says Sheen. ‘What if a British family were doing what a Syrian family were doing at the time, suddenly having to leave their home and go on this dangerous journey? Adam is very good about layers of power and would challenge us to keep things believable at all times. Once we started talking about the scope, we needed a writer and James seemed the perfect fit.’ 2 FAMILY IS AT ITS HEART The Driscolls are riven by unresolved resentments. Geoff (Steffan Rhodri) is a shop steward at…

DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS MAKING OF DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS Ethan Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke are talking about having sex while other people are in the room. Not now, in their marriage, you understand – Total Film is not in the habit of prying into the intimate details of its interviewees’ relationships. But back in the day, in their youth. ‘Yes, I've certainly lived through something like that,’ says Cooke with an expression that falls somewhere between a grin and a grimace. ‘I had a roommate in college who liked to bring men home. We shared a room. You have to zone out and find a different place to be, intellectually.’ Coen is smirking. ‘I'm not gonna make it personal and tell you about… But yes, it's everyone's nightmare,’ he nods. ‘You don't want…

OUT 9 FEBRUARY CINEMAS As swaggering and revved-up as its swooping moped gang, this self-consciously ‘street’ crime drama skids into a predictable cautionary tale. George Amponsah's feature centres on London teenager Ash (Stephen Odubola), whose phone-swiping skills embed him in a ruthless Albanian crime family. Amponsah makes nimble use of GoPro cameras, dropping you into the whizzy, adrenalin-pumping bike raids. But a clunking script and one-note characters keeps it far short of the bleak brilliance of, say, Top Boy. Odubola, who gives Ash a nicely bewildered decency, is frankly wasted here.…

SCREEN OUT 9 FEBRUARY CINEMAS Framed as an arthouse western, writer/director Felipe Gálvez Haberle's debut follows a three-man expedition ordered by landowner José Menéndez (Alfredo Castro) to clear a trail for livestock. Tensions simmer between the trio – a British army captain (Mark Stanley), a Texan mercenary (Benjamin Westfall) and a Chilean native of mixed heritage (Camilo Arancibia) – and atrocities are committed. Set in 1901, this opaque exploration of the genocide of the Indigenous Selk'nam people, and Chile's subsequent forging of a national identity, is slow-moving but punctuated by heart-stopping scenes.…

OUT 27 FEBRUARY CINEMAS Sean Mathias abridges his own age- and gender-blind stage production into a two-hour thriller, set in and around Windsor's Theatre Royal. Coming across like an experimental dress rehearsal, this gimmicky version of the Bard's revenge tragedy isn't quite madness, but there's precious little method in it. Ian McKellen's droll Dane sporadically proves that brevity is the soul of wit, but here it's mostly the enemy of nuance. With bizarre staging choices and outsized turns from at least two seasoned thesps, only its magnetic lead spares it from one-star ignominy.…

SCREEN OUT NOW CINEMAS Director David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury, Suicide Squad) here tries his hand at an 80s-throwback action thriller. The requisite hard-nut star is Jason Statham, whose tranquil beekeeper, Adam Clay, of course has a shadowy past and a particular set of skills that are once more called into action. It's routine stuff, though what starts off as a roaring rampage of personal revenge grows in scope to assume national stakes. Meanwhile, the climactic fight dishes real pain – an analogue treat after The Stath's cartoonish smackdowns in the Fast & Furious franchise. Josh Hutcherson, Bobby Naderi, Jeremy Irons and Minnie Driver also star.…

OUT 16 FEBRUARY CINEMAS Exploring homelessness in the UK, this documentary by Lorna Tucker (2018's Westwood) is part autobiography, part call for social action. Tucker herself was on the streets as a teenager, and her story – as well as many others here – paints an empathetic picture of the human cost of falling through the cracks. There are contributions from those working in the sector – including John Bird, co-founder of The Big Issue – and though it's not always clear what the solution is, the appeal to our shared humanity is deeply moving.…

OUT NOW CINEMAS Despite credible backing from horror kings Jason Blum and James Wan, this feature-length take on director Bryce McGuire's own 2014 short sinks like a stone. A family moves into a new home with an outdoor pool harbouring a malevolent force in its depths… Is the water possessed? Does it heal? Why is sacrifice so important? All questions that are answered unsatisfactorily by the increasingly nonsensical script. Even worse, the film just isn't scary. Stars Kerry Condon and Wyatt Russell are game for the ride, but are left with precious little to work with by this muddled, zero-thrills mess.…

SCREEN 1999 OUT NOW DUAL FORMAT EXTRAS Commentary, Making of, Deleted scenes, Alt ending, Booklet This stylised shocker from Rupert Wainwright (2005's The Fog remake) wants to be Se7en, but feels more like a forgotten grunge video. Patricia Arquette is Frankie, a hairdresser who starts having religious visions and, apparently, self-wounding. Trying to save her is sexy priest Father Andrew (Gabriel Byrne, who received a joint Razzie nod for this and End of Days). It's badly written and choppily edited, and the fact that it's been re-released in a gorgeous collector's edition with plentiful extras is a greater mystery than anything happening on screen.…

1981 OUT 16 FEBRUARY CINEMAS A musical fantasy about romantic fantasy, Francis Ford Coppola's infamous flop (returning in a 4K restoration) stands as a flawed but fitfully captivating dream story. Two lovers (Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr) fight; splintered, they embark on a neon-drunk 4 July night of infidelity. While their Vegas odysseys trace rote arcs, the songs (by Tom Waits, with singer Crystal Gayle – see p90) stun, the surreal set-pieces sing and the production designs pop. Like Nastassja Kinski's tightrope interlude, the result is a high-wire act: sometimes risky and precarious, sometimes nimble and entrancing.…

1934 OUT 9 FEBRUARY CINEMAS Back in cinemas for its 90th anniversary, Frank Capra's opposites-attract road-trip romcom was the first movie to take home the five big Oscars (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Adapted Screenplay). Its wit, charm and delicious dialogue (by regular Capra collaborator Robert Riskin) hold up beautifully in this 4K restoration. Claudette Colbert is the runaway heiress who hitches a ride and trades barbs with Clark Gable's roguish reporter amid a media frenzy. The result is a screwball delight whose success nudged Columbia Pictures into the Hollywood big leagues.…

BOOKS ZACH SCHONFELD oxford university Press How do you sum up an actor like Nicolas Cage? Wisely, journalist Zach Schonfeld doesn't try to capture the whole kaleidoscope in one volume, instead zeroing in on the early years. Working up to perhaps the peak of Cage's career to date, 1995's Leaving Las Vegas – the film that won him an Oscar – this study of the movies that shaped the star ends before he morphed into an action hero in The Rock. Smartly, this avoids the need to plough through Cage's later CV, which may be peppered with occasional brilliance (Adaptation, Mandy and the recent Dream Scenario) but is also filled with a lot of dross. Instead, Schonfeld rewinds to Cage's childhood as part of the Coppola clan, tracing the influence…

THE SHINING Even for a haunted hotel packed to the rafters with blood-filled elevators, monstrous old ladies and a scenery-chewing Jack Nicholson, nothing is as creepy as Delbert Grady's dead daughters, come to enlist little Danny Torrance as their eternal playmate. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen) ran rings around the Avengers in their first appearance, before ultimately (and temporarily, for Pietro) joining the team. Wanda's more recent behaviour proved that she was always the scary one. TWINS Action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger broke out of the mould with his first major comedy, starring opposite Danny DeVito, who played his chaotic test-tube twin, Vincent (all the remaining ‘genetic garbage’). Their electric chemistry proved Arnie was no one-trick pony. THE PRESTIGE Magician Alfred Borden (Christian…

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION Why it was a good idea (on paper) Stephen King flexed his writerly powers with his largely non-horror novellas collection Different Seasons. With Morgan Freeman and a post-Player Tim Robbins leading, could tyro writer/director Frank Darabont's adaptation of prison story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption do King proud? What went wrong? Freeman and Robbins loved the script. The title? Not so much. Even with ‘Rita Hayworth’ dropped to dodge expectations of a biopic, both claimed viewers were confused by the moniker. True or not, perhaps the decision to downplay King's name in promo materials didn't help – King's brand name might have ignited curiosity even on a non-horror tip. Another King (Lion variety) was 1994's big box-office winner, though Forrest Gump was Shawshank's closer competitor and outright…

FILM BUFF TOTAL FILM RETROSPECTIVE In the late-70s, when Lewis Teague was shooting creature feature Alligator, its writer, John Sayles, took a day trip to the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. Outside the Alamo Church, picketers urged visitors (over 1.6m a year) to not so readily accept the American version of events being preached. This version – a celebration of how former Tennessee congressman Davy Crockett and a small band of men heroically held out, and ultimately sacrificed themselves, against an army of evil Mexicans – is a proud moment in Texan and American history. It's taught in schools and can be seen in the John Wayne western The Alamo. ‘Print the legend’ goes the line in John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. But Sayles got to wondering…

EASY 1 The Tall Guy marked the feature debut of which big-name British screenwriter? 2 What is the unappetising colour of Bridget Jones’ potato leek soup? 3 Cher won the Best Actress Oscar for which movie? 4 Where is Crazy Rich Asians primarily set? 5 Comic Relief 2019 saw the cast of which film reunite for a 25th-anniversary short? MEDIUM 1 Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan co-starred in three 90s romcoms… name them. 2 Who directed and co-wrote 2022's Bros? 3 Candy Cane Lane's Reginald Hudlin previously directed Eddie Murphy in which romcom? 4 Think Like a Man is based on a book by which US TV star? 5 How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey reteamed for which 2008 movie? HARD 1 In Rye Lane, which 90s hip-hop album is Yas looking to reclaim? 2 Name…

DeWanda Wise How did playing Jessica differ from your experience in Jurassic World Dominion? I met with Jeff and he said, ‘My only concern is that you can come across as really capable. And Jessica is not, necessarily. She's not Kayla.’ I told him, ‘Oh, Jeff, I'm tired! I don't need to be the hero. I want to be dainty and saved!’ Imaginary is your horror debut. What made this project stand out? Mostly the psychological element – this notion that the most terrifying things are those things in our life we don't face. If you don't deal with it, it might deal with you. Chauncey is a stand-in for those things we refuse to confront. Did you have any childhood experiences that you drew on in your performance? I…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE Few prospects are as exciting as a new dramatic turn from Adam Sandler, but Spaceman director Johan Renck is even more besotted by the star than most, telling Teasers, ‘I love him as an actor, and I've grown to have a very deep, profound love for him as a human being.’ But despite his admiration, his goal was to ‘make a character that is zero Adam Sandler. Even in Punch-Drunk Love or Uncut Gems, there's always an aspect of Adam, which is great, but I really wanted to diminish that. I told Adam, “I want to turn you into me.”’ Hot off the success of the TV series Chernobyl, Renck ‘received one billion scripts about industrial accidents’, but he explains that ‘whenever I'm done with something, I've consumed all…

‘I THINK I DID SOME OF THE BEST WORK I WILL EVER DO, BUT IT WENT A LITTLE BIT UNNOTICED BECAUSE OF THE GENRE.’ ROBERT DOWNEY JR. RATES HIS WORK IN THE MCU. 10,227 THE NUMBER OF IN-UNIVERSE DAYS BETWEEN 28 DAYS LATER AND 28 YEARS LATER, WHICH DANNY BOYLE AND ALEX GARLAND RECENTLY ANNOUNCED. ‘EVERY JUNE I TAKE THE QUIZ. GUESS WHAT, I HAVEN'T GOTTEN ON THE SHOW.’ EMMA STONE WANTS TO BE A REGULAR CONTESTANT ON QUIZ SHOW JEOPARDY. GOOD THING SPEED FREAKS TOM CRUISE AND THE TOP GUN: MAVERICK TEAM – INCLUDING STARS MILES TELLER AND GLEN POWELL – ARE REUNITING FOR A HIGH-FLYING THREEQUEL. BAD THING TOMWILKINSON RIP BEST KNOWN FOR MEMORABLE SUPPORTING TURNS IN MICHAEL CLAYTON, ETERNAL SUNSHINE…, THE FULL MONTY AND MORE, ACTOR TOM…

Q&A In what ways did you relate to Shayda? We share some little things, me and Shayda. I sometimes really miss her. I'm not a mother, though. So that was my first challenge. And I really concentrated to find this feeling, having to protect this child from this violence, from this life with a father. Apart from talking to Noora, how did you research the role? Her mum started to write stuff for Noora. So they shared this with me. Many pages, voices and photos. Many, many documents to just study and then I met her mother. And it's funny because her mother is a very different person, [from] this Shayda I created. She's so strong. And sometimes she just says, ‘Zar, you brought too much emotion to this character.…

TEASERS EXCLUSIVE From Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans to Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, autofiction films have been popular of late with both veteran and newer directors. The long-awaited follow-up to his award-winning AIDS epidemic drama 120 BPM, Red Island sees French filmmaker Robin Campillo mine ostensibly similar semi-autobiographical details, here delicately exploring specific social and political issues. Without spoiling anything, however, Red Island's structure and concluding POV prove decidedly more slippery than those other recent coming-of-age gems. Campillo's film is set in Madagascar in 1971, during a curious transitional period for the country. Located off the southeastern coast of Africa, the island nation formally became a republic independent of France in 1960, but various ties to their former colonisers remained in place, including the continued presence of French soldiers. It's during this time…

COVER FEATURE DUNE: PART TWO The word Muad'Dib has several meanings in the world of Dune. It is both a small, saucer-eared mouse that scurries across the desolate surface of Arrakis, and the chosen Fremen name of Paul Atreides, symbolising his destiny as one wise in the ways of the desert. For Dune director Denis Villeneuve and his star Timothée Chalamet, the word has added significance – ‘Muad'Dib time’ was the message Villeneuve sent Chalamet when Dune: Part Two got the greenlight in October 2021. ‘There were moments over the course of shooting the first film where I was yearning for Paul, after he left Caladan, to not still be in the process of formation,’ Chalamet explains, speaking to Total Film in early January, tousled hair screen-perfect even for a Zoom…

‘The first Zoom call on Dune: Part Two was: “How the heck are we going to do the sandworms?” Denis came up with this amazing idea. They call a worm when they're on a big dune. The worm comes, and it goes for the thumper. It goes through the dune, and then the character falls from the dune onto the worm. There were multiple conversations as to how we were going to pull this off. It was a whole combination of different techniques. ‘We got a tonne of sand in the desert and, in a controlled area, we were able to build the peak of a dune. And then we had three tubes which were being pulled by these crazy, industrial tractors. And as the stunt person is running it's…

Kiss Me Deadly (1955) Robert Aldrich's brutal, cynical noir features a lead box, its glowing contents kept a secret until the cataclysmic final scene. The box is a pivotal part of a mystery that's investigated by thuggish PI Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker), with the resolution proving a real downer for everyone involved. Oof. Repo Man (1984) The glowing trunk of the Chevy Malibu in Alex Cox's satire of America in the Reagan years is a nod to the ‘great whatsit’ in Kiss Me Deadly. ‘What you got in the trunk?’ asks a state trooper. He's vaporised when he takes a peek, only his boots left behind as the Chevy pulls away. Pulp Fiction (1994) The cinematic magpie that is Quentin Tarantino also gave us a container housing a mysterious glow.…

SCREEN OUT 2 FEBRUARY CINEMAS TV writer Cord Jefferson (HBO's Watchmen) makes an auspicious filmmaking debut with this wincingly acute comedy drama. Jeffrey Wright, in a rare but highly satisfying lead, plays Thelonius ‘Monk’ Ellison, an embittered literature academic whose lofty new book (a reworking of Aeschylus’ The Persians) has left publishers cold. Instead, he has to stand by and watch fellow Black novelist Sintara Golden (Issa Rae) scoop up the plaudits for her debut novel, We's Lives in Da Ghetto. ‘Books like this are not real. They flatten our lives,’ he bemoans, believing that novels focused on Black poverty and crime do nobody any favours – especially when an author like Golden is middle class. In a fit of pique, Monk writes a stereotype-laden rejoinder in the form of…

OUT 9 FEBRUARY CINEMAS Formerly known as The Origin, first-timer Andrew Cummings’ spare chiller follows a group of early human settlers as they try to make a new home in desolate territory, only to find themselves being picked off from the shadows. A Stone Age Scream? It's more a Paleolithic Prey, as resourceful ‘stray’ Beyah (Safia Oakley-Green, one to watch) steps up to take on the unseen predator. A third-act pivot disappoints, but Cummings (aided by Saint Maud DoP Ben Fordesman) deftly taps into a vein of primal horror during the suspenseful low-lit encounters.…

OUT 16 FEBRUARY CINEMAS 26 FEBRUARY BD, BFI PLAYER Forged in 70s South London against a backdrop of rising racism, funk pioneers Cymande made otherworldly, melting-pot music that hit big in America, but was almost completely ignored back home. Catching up with the still-together group, Tim Mackenzie-Smith's joyous doc offers some Searching for Sugar Man-style reappraisal. Talking heads, including producer Mark Ronson and DJs Norman Jay and Cut Chemist, explain how extraordinary songs such as The Message helped inspire hip-hop, disco and house. The Cym aissance starts here……

OUT 9 FEBRUARY CINEMAS Sifting delicately through US fat-acceptance activist Aubrey Gordon's awkward family life, this doco traces her six-year rise from anonymous blogger to bestselling author. Director Jeanie Finlay's gentle style nimbly captures Gordon's growing confidence, but also the terrifying torrent of online threats menacing her. Sparky and wry about the stigmatisation of certain body types, Gordon makes eloquent and thought-provoking pleas for an end to fat-phobic culture. It feels like a missed opportunity not to engage more with health issues related to the subject matter, but this remains a sympathetic, if slow-moving, portrait.…

SCREEN OUT NOW sky CINEMA, NOW The single-take gimmick that steered 1917 to Oscar glory lends a sleek kineticism to this sequel to 2021's One Shot, again directed by James Nunn. This time, tireless SEAL Jake Harris (Scott Adkins) finds an airport full of mercenaries waiting when he returns to the US with the terror suspect (Waleed Elgadi) he spent the first film protecting. Slickly choreographed carnage only goes so far, alas, in what ultimately resembles an overextended episode of 24, complete with bonkers conspiracy plot and the use of sadistic torture as an interrogation technique.…

OUT NOW CINEMAS, DIGITAL Rocking an aggressively indie vibe, this shoestring comedy captures every introvert's nightmare: hanging out with a friend who refuses to accept when it's time to go. A chance encounter with an old acquaintance (co-writer Whitmer Thomas) takes a surreal twist when LA photographer Clay (writer/director Clay Tatum) learns that he's spent the day bonding with a ghost – which links the pair more inexorably than he would prefer… The absurdist humour and nasally performances may grate, but this misanthropic take on The Sixth Sense manages not to overstay its welcome.…

2007 OUT 5 FEBRUARY BD EXTRAS Commentaries, Featurettes, Book, Art cards Directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury left an indelible mark on noughties horror with this grisly home-invasion film; alongside the likes of Haute Tension and Martyrs, Inside was hailed as a key work of extreme French cinema. It still makes for distressing viewing, thanks to its visceral violence and taboo-smashing premise, in which a heavily pregnant woman (Alysson Paradis) is beset on Christmas Eve by an interloper (Béatrice Dalle) hell-bent on getting her hands on the unborn child. Second Sight's quality package includes new commentaries, interviews and a 70-page essay book.…

1987 OUT NOW BD EXTRAS Commentaries, Making of, Featurettes, Audition footage, Essay Boosting the careers of lead Lou Diamond Phillips and band Los Lobos, this biopic of Chicano star Ritchie Valens is a slight yet sensitive rock ‘n’ roll fable. Director Luis Valdez frames it as a tale of innocence/experience, highlighting the contrasts between Phillips’ charismatic Ritchie and drunken sibling Bob (Esai Morales). Hints of sexism and sentimentality rankle, but the songs and snapshots of community provide strong anchorage before Valens’ too-soon death. Exemplary extras include a Valdez interview reflecting on the much-debated casting of Phillips.…

2022 OUT NOW DVD, BD, 4K UHD EXTRAS Documentary, Featurettes, Essays A handcrafted, heartfelt wonder, GdT's stop-motion feature gets the Criterion treatment here. Extras include lead doc Handcarved Cinema, where del Toro hymns the ‘sacred’ elements of the stop-mo art. Details abound, like the number of ‘masks’ (870) Pinocchio had for each emotion. Q&As with Neil Gaiman/Jim Cameron illuminate, while the ‘eight rules of animation’ featurette honours the animators who doubled as actors, performing through their puppets. One guy falls down the stairs for his art: now that's commitment.…

COLLECTIBLES POP! VALENTINE CHOCOLATE OUT NOW As a responsible organ (most of the time), it behoves TF to tell you not to shove the Dark (chocolate) Knight in your gob, as he's not actually edible. Modelled to look like the sweet stuff (foil wrappings and all), these vinyl bobbleheads stand approximately 10.4cm tall and make a deliciously geeky gifting option for Valentine's Day – even if you're just giving them to your own living room, where they can live safely without turning the mantelpiece into a lake of brown bubbles. Have a taste at funkoeurope.com. COLLECTIBLE LEGO T. REX SKULL OUT NOW Though it's the first Lego Jurassic World set made for display rather than play, the centrepiece skull features an opening jaw, so there's fun to be had for…

CLASSIC SOUNDTRACK TOM WAITS SONY Tom Waits was caught between stations in the early 80s. After his early beatnik balladeering, he was searching for new sounds, not yet in his junkyard-jazz phase. He veered between LA and New York, unsettled. So it fits that he would gravitate towards a Vegas of the mind, poised between reality and fantasy, as he worked on the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's between-states – in/out of love – musical. The 1982 film flopped, infamously, but Waits’ music is a twinkling diamond in the wreckage. With country singer Crystal Gayle's limpid voice a perfect counterpoint to Waits’ full-grain rasp'n'croon, One from the Heart is a liminal beauty, one part steam-off-the-sidewalk longing to two parts timeless showtunes. Hired after Coppola heard his Bette Midler duet I…

This Jan, the annual Las Vegasbased Consumer Electronics Show (CES) returned to being a fully fledged in-person event. And there was plenty of home-cinema kit filling Sin City's convention-centre halls. Here's our pick of the tech coming your way in ‘24… LG SIGNATURE OLED T OUT TBC ETBC LG wowed the CES crowds with the world's first wireless transparent OLED TV. Sporting a genuinely futuristic look, the see-through 4K panel works as a transparent display for photos or artwork, and can turn opaque when you actually want to watch something. And since it blends into its environment when turned off, there's no need to stick it in the corner. What's more, the clever wireless Zero Connect Box sits next to the plug socket, so you don't have to position the…

THIS MONTH PLANET OF THE APES Q Could apes ever really learn to talk as they do in the Planet of the Apes movies? Philip Lieberman, a cognitive scientist at Brown University, used models of the vocal tracts of primates to explore whether speech was physiologically possible for monkeys and apes. He determined that they would be unable to talk because their vocal tracts are shorter than those of humans, which evolved over time due to upright walking. But evolutionary biologist and cognitive scientist William Tecumseh Sherman Fitch III, from the University of Vienna, ascertained in his research that apes could speak but just not in the way that humans do, because they would be unable to create vowel sounds. More recently, Dieter Steklis, a professor at the University of…

1966 Ford Thunderbird with turquoise paint job and white interior, previously owned by two wilfully careless female drivers. V8 cylinders to overtake any trucker and an expansive backseat for hot hitchhikers. A perfect vehicle for those seeking desert vistas, Mexican jaunts and road trips from Arkansas. A ride so thrilling you'll feel like you're flying… Some restoration after canyon crash but good to go for friends on a journey. Contact FBI agent Hal Slocumb for details.…

IS IT JUST ME? Summer 2008 saw two tentpole adaptations go head to head: Iron Man and Speed Racer, both of which unexpectedly shaped today's cinematic landscape. Releasing a week after the MCU's debut certainly didn't do Speed Racer any favours; nevertheless, it's the latter film that has arguably prevailed as the more prescient of the two. Speed Racer wastes little time in plunging audiences into its deathdefying neon circuits and rapid-fire storytelling. Indeed, the Wachowskis barely wait for the chequered flag of the opening credits to settle before making their bold statement of intent. The opening race encapsulates the film's resonant qualities: scintillating colours, dynamic compositions and unabashed melodrama (Speed Racer's desire to live up to his late brother's legacy provides the emotional heft). As modern blockbusting awkwardly expands…