Vue Birmingham

• 2018
• US
• 2h 23min

• Directed by: James Wan
• Cast: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman

Jason Momoa stars as the heir to Atlantis in the latest DC superhero flick.

• 79%
• 53%

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• 2018
• India
• 2h 4min
• 12A

• Directed by: Amit Ravindernath Sharma
• Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Sanya Malhotra, Neena Gupta

A young man is embarrassed when his elderly mother falls pregnant.

• 82%

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• 2018
• UK/USA
• 1h 31min
• 12A

• Directed by: Bryan Singer
• Cast: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander, Allen Leech, Mike Myers

The Freddie Mercury story. Malek as Mercury does a great job, with a passionate and impressive performance, but despite the recreation of momentous performances it’s a disappointingly tame affair, with a by-the-numbers screenplay and a bland lack of insight into Mercury’s heritage or sexuality.

• 83%
• 49%

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• 2018
• US
• 1h 53min
• 12A

• Directed by: Travis Knight
• Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, Pamela Adlon

A teenager finds an Autobot hiding in a junkyard. The pair from a friendship but are soon hunted by a government agency.

• 73%
• 71%

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• 2018
• US
• 12A

• Directed by: Steven Caple Jr
• Cast: Tessa Thompson, Sylvester Stallone, Michael B Jordan

Adonis Creed (Jordan) must defend his world title against Viktor Drago (Munteanu), whose father killed Creed’s own father in Rocky IV. Flashy and entertaining sequel that hits all the right beats but doesn’t quite have the heart of its predecessor..

• 78%
• 67%

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• 2018
• UK/US
• 2h 14min
• 12A

• Directed by: David Yates
• Written by: J.K. Rowling
• Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Johnny Depp

Newt (Redmayne) is back in London in 1927, while defeated Dark Wizard Grindelwald (Depp) has escaped and is heading to Paris. Law steps up as young Albus Dumbeldore and the film really flies in the final act, deepening characters and relationships and expanding the universe. A beast of a movie.

• 69%
• 53%

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• 2018
• US
• 1h 40min
• 12A

• Directed by: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Documentary about free solo climber Alex Honnold and his ambition to ascend El Capitan in Yosemite national park. Insightful and exhilarating, showing how Honnold’s personal life and background have affected his climbing, and how the filmmakers themselves had to take special efforts not to distract him into making a disastrous error.

• 86%
• 83%

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• 2018
• US
• 1h 26min
• PG

• Directed by: Yarrow Cheney, Scott Mosier
• Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rashida Jones, Kenan Thompson, Cameron Seely, Angela Lansbury

The Grinch (Cumberbatch) is a grumpy, green creature who despises Christmas so much that he plots to steal it. The animation is gorgeous, the pace is breezy and Cumberbatch does a decent job with the voice, but the film is stolen by the Grinch’s adorable dog Max.

• 64%
• 51%

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• 2018
• US
• 1h 45min
• 18

• Directed by: David Gordon Green
• Written by: Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green
• Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Virginia Gardner, Nick Castle

A direct sequel to the 1978 original: Michael Myers has been locked in a prison for most of his life, and it falls to long-suffering Laurie (Curtis) to stop him. After a slow beginning it gets going, and Laurie, now a mother and grandmother, has to battle with trauma. A straightforward stalk-n-slash in the best tradition of the franchise.

• 70%
• 67%

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• 2018
• US
• 2h 12min
• 12A

• Directed by: George Tillman Jr.
• Cast: Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby

Starr (Stenberg) is an African-American high school girl who goes to a predominantly white private school, and who becomes the only witness to her childhood friend being shot by a trigger-happy cop. An unexpectedly rich and complex teen movie, a potent reminder of the complexities of a world full of racial and class divides. Stenberg is excellent.

• 69%
• 82%

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• 2018
• India

• Directed by: Abhisek Kapoor
• Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Sara Ali Khan, Nitish Bharadwaj

The tale of a wealthy Hindu girl who on a visit to the historic Kedarnath temple falls in love with her Muslim guide.

• 55%

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• 2018
• US
• 2h 10min
• PG

• Directed by: Rob Marshall
• Cast: Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep

Michael Banks (Whishaw) is facing ruin after the death of his wife, and his sister Jane (Mortimer) can’t help—but then Mary Poppins (Blunt) sails down from the sky. Blunt is suitably brusque and radiant and a fine songstress, and while it’s a sliver of a story it’s impressively imaginative and unashamedly, triumphantly nostalgic.

• 
• 67%

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• 2018
• New Zealand/US

• Directed by: Christian Rivers
• Cast: Hera Hilmar, Hugo Weaving, Robert Sheehan

In a post-apocalyptic future, entire cities have gone mobile and ingest smaller cities, stripping them of resources. Rivers nails the spectacle but flunks the human interest, squeezing too many effects and story into one movie and leaving no room for emotional engagement.

• 65%
• 45%

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• 2018
• UK
• 1h 40min
• U

• Directed by: Debbie Isitt
• Written by: Debbie Isitt
• Cast: Simon Lipkin, Craig Revel Horwood, Daniel Boys, Anna Chancellor, Helen George, Meera Syal, Hugh Dennis, Jessica Hynes, Vincent Franklin, Ruth Jones, Celia Imrie

A fourth film in the comedy series about school nativity plays.

• 44%

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• 2018
• US
• 1h 50min

• Directed by: Tyler Perry
• Cast: Tiffany Haddish, Tika Sumpter, Whoopi Goldberg

Comedy drama about two sisters, dating and catfish.

• 43%
• 39%

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• 2018
• US
• 1h 39min
• PG

• Directed by: Lasse Hallström, Joe Johnston
• Cast: Keira Knightley, Mackenzie Foy, Eugenio Derbez, Matthew Macfadyen, Richard E. Grant, Misty Copeland, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman

Clara (Foy) is a science-minded teenager whose late mother leaves her a jewellery egg which needs a key, the search for which involves journeying into magical realms. A random hodge-podge of underpowered set pieces loosely inspired by ETA Hoffmann, with the supporting cast chewing the scenery and a lot of grandiose settings but not much story.

• 56%
• 39%

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• 2018
• India
• 2h 47min
• 12A

• Directed by: V.A. Shrikumar Menon
• Cast: Mohanlal, Prakash Raj, Manju Warrier

The story of the most feared black magician to have existed, Odiyan.

• 64%

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• 2018
• US
• 1h 26min
• 15

• Directed by: Diederik van Rooijen
• Cast: Shay Mitchell, Kirby Johnson, Grey Damon

Megan Reed (Mitchell) is a cop on night duty in the mortuary, when dead Hannah Grace (Johnson) keeps wandering the corridors and murdering staff. Straightforward and rather stale genre piece with jump scares, dream sequences and logical gaps, elevated to watchability by Mitchell’s solid performance.

• 51%
• 37%

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• 2018
• US
• 1h 52min
• PG

• Directed by: Rich Moore, Phil Johnston
• Cast: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Taraji P. Henson

Ralph (Reilly) and Vanellope (Silverman) have to go to the internet when her game, Sugar Rush, needs a new part. What could have been yet another film about how amazeballs the internet is, becomes a savvy and sweet tale of friendship, subtly weaving the in-jokes with the emotional stakes.

• 75%
• 71%

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• 2018
• US
• 1h 56min
• 12A

• Directed by: Otto Bathurst
• Cast: Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson, Tim Minchin, Jamie Dornan, Cornelius Booth

Robin of Loxley (Egerton) returns from the Crusades to find his possessions confiscated by the Sheriff of Nottingham (Mendelsohn) and his love Marian (Hewson) being courted by Will Scarlet (Dornan). The running time is a stretch but it doesn’t take itself too seriously, preferring to get in, get out and (mostly) get the job done.

• 54%
• 32%

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• 2018
• US
• 1h 36min
• U

• Directed by: Karey Kirkpatrick, Jason Reisig
• Cast: Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya, Common, LeBron James, Danny DeVito, Gina Rodriguez, Yara Shahidi, Ely Henry, Jimmy Tatro

Migo (Tatum) is a bigfoot who lives in an isolated community of his fellow creatures, who have heard rumours of the mythical ‘smallfoots’—humans. The songs are fun and drive the story forward, and child-pleasing slapstick is ably mixed with a thoughtful consideration of how a community can deal with challenges to its basic assumptions.

• 67%
• 60%

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• 2012
• UK/Ireland
• 24min
• U

• Directed by: Hilary Audus

A young boy finds a photograph of the snowman and decides to rebuild him, along with a little doggy. The trio then fly off for some Christmassy adventures.

• 71%

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• 2018
• US
• 1h 51min
• 15

• Directed by: Boots Riley
• Cast: Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler

Cassius (Stanfield) is a downtrodden drudge who becomes a star at a call centre after fellow telemarketer Langston (Glover) tells him to ‘use your white voice’. Brash, unruly and frequently funny satire on race, power, corporate greed and work; it doesn’t really know how to end, but it’s full of attitude and anarchy.

• 70%
• 80%

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• 2018
• US

• Directed by: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
• Cast: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Nicolas Cage

Miles Morales (Moore) is an average kid living in a New York where Spider-Man exists, but he then gets bitten himself by a radioactive spider and starts developing familiar abilities. Hugely imaginative animated adventure which dispenses with the familiar origin story and looks like a comic come to life. Hilarious, original and exhilarating.

• 88%
• 87%

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• 2018
• US
• 2h 15min
• 15

• Directed by: Bradley Cooper
• Cast: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott

Jackson (Cooper) is a famous musician, his best years behind him, who discovers young singer Ally (Gaga) in a bar one night. What could have been yet another remake is a revelation: Gaga sings up a storm and is nuanced and convincing, but Cooper is extraordinary as co-writer, producer, director and star. Smart, funny and heartbreaking.

• 81%
• 88%

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• 2018
• India
• 2h 44min
• 12A

• Directed by: Vijay Krishna Acharya
• Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Lloyd Owen

Set during the days of British colonial rule in India, two rebels refuse to bow down to the power of the traders who run the East India Company.

• 36%

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• 2018
• UK / US
• 2h 9min
• 15

• Directed by: Steve McQueen
• Cast: Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez, Liam Neeson

Veronica (Davis) is the wife of career criminal Harry (Neeson), who talks the wives of her husband’s associates into pulling off a heist after their husbands are unable to (see the movie title.) Densely populated and richly realised crime drama, with three fine leads in Davis, Debicki and Rodriguez, and McQueen’s contemplative style is balanced with genre thrills and feminist fury.

• 74%
• 84%

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• 2018
• India
• 2h 44min
• 12A

• Directed by: Aanand L. Rai
• Cast: Katrina Kaif, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan

A man falls in love with a scientist who has cerebral palsy but then a famous superstar catches his eye. Who will he choose?

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