Four new films to see this week

Thunderbolts* ★★★☆☆

Directed by Jake Schreier. Starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan.12A cert, gen release, 127 min

Tolerable Marvel team-up that, in the style of Suicide Squad, brings together a ragbag of antiheroes to save the world from evil Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her custom-built supervillain. Thunderbolts* works best as a jokey romp at home to tolerable quips among mounting chaos. Harbour, returning as the current Black Widow’s father figure, continues an agreeably diverting double act with Pugh. Both do more than merely drop the definite article in their comic exaggeration of Russian diffidence. Louis-Dreyfus has proper fun aping Hackman-era Lex Luthor as she taunts the team with her messianic ambitions. Full review DC

Amongst the Wolves ★★★☆☆

Directed by Mark O’Connor. Starring Luke McQuillan, Aidan Gillan, Daniel Fee, Helen Behan, Louise Bourke, Jade Jordan. 16 cert, limited release, 102 min

O’Connor, director of Cardboard Gangsters, is back with another raw portrait of Ireland’s underbelly. McQuillan, who cowrote the screenplay, plays Danny, a veteran of the Afghan wars living uncomfortably in a tent by the canal. Estranged from his wife, and struggling for access to his son, he is just about getting by when he encounters a rootless teenager dangerously in hock to the sort of villain only Aidan Gillan can play. The social commentary is sound, but Amongst the Wolves feels most comfortable when in touch with the spit, blood and viscera that characterised O’Connor’s earlier joints. Full review DC

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Parthenope ★★★☆☆

Directed by Paolo Sorrentino. Starring Celeste Dalla Porta, Stefania Sandrelli, Gary Oldman, Silvio Orlando, Luisa Ranieri, Peppe Lanzetta, Isabella Ferrari.16 cert, limited release, 137 min

For much of the run time, Sorrentino’s 11th feature is an ode to Naples too many. He casts his native city – we think – as a beautiful, capricious woman in a bikini. And sometimes not even that. The enigmatic title character is at the centre of every plodding scene, but Dalla Porta is given scandalously little to do in that role. The picaresque and picturesque adventures fail to coalesce into a movie. But it’s impossible to argue with Daria D’Antonio’s ravishing cinematography and unexpectedly moving coda. Oldman takes on the unexpected role of the American author John Cheever. Full review TB

Screamboat ★★★☆☆

Directed by Steven LaMorte. Starring David Howard Thornton, Allison Pittel, Amy Schumacher, Jesse Posey, Kailey Hyman, Jesse Kove, Jarlath Conroy. 18 cert, digital platforms, 102 min

The first generation of films to capitalise on the end of Disney’s copyright on a host of familiar children’s characters forms an entirely disposable, unimaginative canon of Z-grade slashers. Screamboat, a bid to monetise the newly public-domain Steamboat Willie – Mickey Mouse’s 1928 introduction to the world – predictably transforms the iconic rodent into a slasher murderer. It’s no classic, but the director makes some effort to engage with the source material in humorous, gory ways. The makers of the upcoming and similarly themed Pinocchio: Unstrung should pay attention. Full review TB