GOD'S OWN COUNTRY ★★★★★
Directed by Francis Lee. Starring Josh O'Connor, Alec Secareanu, Gemma Jones, Ian Hart, Patsy Ferren. 16 cert, general release, 105 min
Beautiful, rugged drama concerning the relationship between a young Yorkshire farmer and the Romanian shepherd who arrives to help an lambing time. O'Connor and Secareanu make eye-catching breakthrough turns within a very fine ensemble. Director of photography Joshua James Richards finds bright spots in the bleak midsummer. The interiors, some of which were shot at directgor Lee's own family farm, are authentically distressed and fondly framed. One of the best you'll see this year. Review TB
THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM ★★★
Directed by Juan Carlos Medina. Starring Bill Nighy, Olivia Cooke, Douglas Booth, Daniel Mays, Sam Reid, María Valverde, Henry Goodman, Morgan Watkins, Eddie Marsan. 16 cert 16, general release, 109 min
Oh, what fun. This grand old potboiler starts as it means to go on: by lining up some of the best-looking, most gifted British character actors – Olivia Cooke! Douglas Booth! – as murder suspects. The occasion is a gruesome series of killings, slayings that are not unlike those that will be perpetrated by Jack the Ripper a decade later. Medina's adaptation of a popular Peter Ackroyd novel enjoys its murky atmosphere greatly. Review TB
LOGAN LUCKY ★★★★
Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough, Daniel Craig, Hilary Swank, Katie Holmes, Seth MacFarlane. 12A cert, general release, 118 min
Soderbergh emerges from quasi-retirement with a successful heist flick set among blue-collar eccentrics in rural West Virginia. Our assembled oddballs target the cash drops at a racetrack during the biggest Nascar event of the season. Craig is the safecracker. Tatum is the (ahem) mastermind. None of it is very probable, but the stars work the switches and the director's characteristically sharp visual sense remains a delight. More fun than we deserve. Review DC
AMERICAN MADE ★★★
Directed by Doug Liman. Starring Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright Olsen, Alejandro Edda, Caleb Landry Jones. 15A cert, general release, 115 min
Amusing, break-neck true-life thriller concerning Barry Seal (oddly ageless Cruise), a TWA pilot who was recruited by the CIA for surveillance and ended up running drugs and supplying the contras. American Made flings itself off a ledge in the opening moments and then flails in panic for the succeeding two hours. But it's brash, funky, exciting and, crucially, allows Cruise to have some fun with who he used to be. Review DC
Sitings are sparse but worth hunting down:
TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY ★★★★
Directed by James Cameron. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong, Joe Morton. 15A cert, general release, 137 min
Buffed-up 3D reissue of Cameron's legendary 1991 sequel to his own cyborg-from-the-future breakthrough. Terminator 2 remains spiffing and still worth seeing on the big screen. Most will agree, however, that the retrospective 3D was not a particularly good idea. Sure, T2 looks pristine. But the 3D – disappointingly for those hoping to duck when a liquid metal arm-hook swipes into the auditorium – is the careful, immersive (and rather pointless) kind. And the brightness loss is unforgivable; LA is just too darn grey. Review/Trailer TB
Still haunting the cineplexes and well worth seeing:
A GHOST STORY ★★★★★
Directed by David Lowery. Starring Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara. 12A cert, IFI/Light House, Dublin, 92 min
Lowery follows up Pete's Dragon with an engrossing experimental piece starring Affleck as a spirit who – literally draped in a sheet -– lurks around his bereaved girlfriend (Rooney) as she recovers from his death in a car crash. The gimmicks do not distract from the film's sentimental energy. Shot in a narrow ratio with rounded corners that suggest old photographs from a lost album, A Ghost Story swells with meditations on the unkindness of time: how we remember and, worse, how we forget. Review/Trailer DC
