ISLE OF DOGS ★★★★★
Directed by Wes Anderson. Voices of Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Ken Watanabe, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, F Murray Abraham, Yoko Ono. PG cert, general release, 101 min
In a futuristic Japan, a thuggish, totalitarian Mayor Kobayashi – the descendant of a long line of cat fanciers – uses an outbreak of snout fever to justify the banishment of all canines. The puppers and doggos of Megasaki City are accordingly rounded up and dumped on Trash Island. Here, the mutts scrap in marvellous cottonwood dust-ups and struggle to survive on maggoty morsels. Wes Anderson's second stop-motion film (after Fantastic Mr Fox) doesn't put a paw wrong. Full review/Trailer TB
BLOCKERS ★★★★
Directed by Kay Cannon. Starring Kathryn Newton, John Cena, Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, Gideon Adlon, Geraldine Viswanathan, Graham Phillips. 16 cert, general release, 102 min
Three girls plan to lose their virginity. Their parents plan to stop them. The film sets itself apart from most high-school shag comedies by focusing uncritically on female sexuality even as it relishes the dads' discomfort with that topic. "Why is sex even bad?" someone says, casually encapsulating the dilemma at the heart of so much American comedy. The routines are hit and miss but when they work they properly tear the roof off. DC
READY PLAYER ONE ★★★
Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance, Susan Lynch. 12A cert, general release, 140 min
A young gamer competes for dominance in a virtual universe. Ready Player One is a grand act of stage management, but it lacks the clean narrative punch of Spielberg's early masterpieces. In those films, every scene led inexorably to a late moment of awe-inspiring revelation. By the close of this undeniably entertaining, madly overlong film, we're too battered to appreciate our reward. Good young cast. Many great action sequences. But exhausting. Full review/Trailer DC
JOURNEYMAN ★★★
Directed by Paddy Considine. Starring Paddy Considine, Jodie Whittaker, Paul Popplewell, Anthony Welsh. 15A cert, limited release, 92 min
Matty (Considine), a boxer at the end of his career, takes on the brash young opponent in a final title fight. This is going to be a life-changing bout, promises the trash-talking newcomer. He's correct, but not in the way Matty thinks: A head injury leaves him entirely dependent on his wife (Whittaker) – and entirely changed. Thoughtful, tender-hearted drama pivots around the actor/director's central performance, but that turn is never allowed to overshadow terrific work by Whittaker and Welsh. TB
A WRINKLE IN TIME ★★★
Directed by Ava DuVernay. Starring Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Peña, Storm Reid, Zach Galifianakis, Chris Pine. PG cert, general release, 109 min
A young girl (Reid, very good) searches mysterious dimensions for her missing father (Pine) in a messy, wild but very enjoyable sci-fi epic. A Wrinkle in Time's colouring-outside-the-lines is matched by an alarming sincerity. No wonder Oprah literally towers over the picture and the excellent young cast. An empowering motion picture for 10-year-old girls, this is the movieverse's answer to broccoli: a film for smart, earnest little girls like Lisa Simpson to enjoy between recycling projects. Full review TB
I GOT LIFE/AURORE ★★★★
Directed by Blandine Lenoir. Starring Agnès Jaoui, Thibault de Montalembert, Pascale Arbillot. Club, IFI, Dublin, 90 min
Unusual, very welcome cinematic investigation of the menopause. As middle age properly sets in, Aurore (Jaoui) is cast adrift on a mini-odyssey. She reassesses age, race, social status and the importance of sex. At times, the film comes across like a less cerebral version of Mia Hansen-Løve's Things to Come – Jaoui doesn't strive for Huppert's intellectual heft – but it never loses its easy, digestible, amusing tone. An unheralded gem. Review DC
