Up for a good weepie? Then grab your handkerchiefs and brace yourself for Reminders of Him, a very ably directed romantic drama that aims straight for your heart strings.
Fresh from prison, small-town girl Kenna Rowan (Maika Monroe) returns home to try and bond with her seven year-old daughter, who she’s never met.
There’s a huge tragedy standing in the way, though, and big objections from the little girl’s loving grandparents (nicely played by Bradley Whitford and Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls).
Look, melodramas such as this aren’t exactly full of surprises, so you pretty much know where it’s going, especially when Kenna meets very handsome bar owner Ledger Ward (Tyriq Withers).
A film that’ll get the waterworks going, it was co-written and produced by author Colleen Hoover, upon whose novel it is based. She also produced the hit film adaptation of her book It Ends With Us, which took a paltry $350m at the box office, way beyond what weepies usually take in.
For some devilish fun, How to Make a Killing is a diverting black comedy in which a young businessman (Glen Powell) tries dealing his way back into an inheritance by knocking off all the relatives who are in the way. A nicely fashioned modern remake of Kind Hearts and Coronets.
Lovers of Gothic horror are sure to get their fill with The Bride!, a stylishly wild tale in which Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) gets the companion he longs for when dead gangsters moll Ida (Jessie Buckley in a terrific turn) is revived.
An accomplished, visually arresting piece, the film tanked at the box office so it’s likely to hit the stream sooner rather than later. So, good as it is, you might want to wait.
For kids and kidults (usually their parents) GOAT is the go-to family film of the moment as an ambitious goat who wants to be a champion basketball player gets the chance to prove himself against all his naysayers when he lucks into a spot on a major team suffering from a losing streak.
Set in a beautifully designed urbanised jungle, the snappy story is crammed with pop culture references and moves at bullet-train speed, so there’s no danger of drifting off.
Packed into the story is a raft of positive messages about self-respect, teamwork and honesty, which is always good to see so long as it doesn’t get in the way of the fun.
Denizens of the arthouse circuit have two major treats awaiting them.
After a screen absence of eight years, supreme method actor Daniel Day-Lewis returns in Anemone, a hard-edged psychological drama about a recluse (Day-Lewis) whose brother (played by Sean Bean) tries getting him to return to his family to help his troubled son.
Not for the faint-of-heart, the dialogue heavy film explores themes of child abuse, combat and mental illness, with the two leads putting in outstanding, gritty performances.
Day-Lewis, who supposedly “retired” in 2017 after Phantom Thread, co-wrote the screenplay with his son Ronan, whose directorial debut this is.
Make no mistake, the film is tough going but definitely worth the sit for those who like their drama served raw.
For something a tad lighter, Arco offers animation fans a lovely, non-digital feature about a boy from the far future who accidentally travels back in time where he meets a girl who helps him try to get back home.
It’s a delightful piece that again proves the charm and warmth of traditionally rendered animation.
It’s zombie time again – yay! – as the tireless Liam Neeson leads the charge in Cold Storage, a zippy horror-comedy about a long-buried fungal infection that escapes and begins doing all manner of nasty things to human bodies.
There’s humourous gore galore as heads and chests explode in an unquestionably silly frolic with the Undead. This year is turning out to be a big year for zombie yarns.
Veteran documentary presenter and occasional trouble maker Louis Theroux tries getting into the heads of macho influencers in Inside the Manosphere, an enjoyable, often funny deep dive into the ego-driven self-improvement industry.
Theroux spends time with a handful of big names, confronting them about their wealth, popularity, behaviour and attitudes towards women, society, money and sex.
Entertaining and revealing, it’s a fascinating look into the online world responsible for promoting a form of masculinity often referred to as toxic.
Check it out on Netflix.
For more visit jimschembri.com with updates on X at @jimschembri