The Screen Critic: A fond farewell from Bridget Jones, a fine serving of Marvel mulch, a great ghost story and Amy Schumer has a baby

Whatever worries fans might have had over the prospect of revisiting everybody’s favourite romantic tragic after a decade away are mercifully laid to rest in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. And to be honest, that’s quite a relief.

In her fourth – and, we are assured, her final rom-com outing, we find Bridget (Renee Zellweger, of course) as a frumpy middle-aged woman struggling to raise two kids while mourning the loss of her husband (Colin Firth), who appears here and there as though he were alive.

Still pining for love Bridget resorts to the internet where, as luck would have it, she finds Roxster (Leo Woodall), a very attractive science student approximately a third her age.

Bridget also feels some frisson with Mr Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the sports teacher at her kids’ school.

With Zellweger putting in another winning performance – and with Hugh Grant popping in regularly to steal scenes – the whole shebang is beautifully done, thanks to a full-bodied story that toggles seamlessly between funny and sad.

It’s a fond and fitting farewell, perfectly timed for Valentine’s Day date nights.

Also designed for the season of love is Heart Eyes, a tongue-in-cheek slasher movie in which Ally (Olivia Holt), a failing designer at a jewelry company, accidentally hooks up with colleague Jay (Mason Gooding) on a night when the titular serial killer goes on the rampage.

There are lashings of cartoon violence from the get-go and the final stretch delivers the standard horror movie excesses.

The film’s real delight, however, comes with just how funny it is as Ally struggles to save her career while hoping for love amidst all the bedlam. What fun.

In the perfectly fine superhero franchise extender Captain America: Brave New World, Anthony Mackie takes over the reins as the Avengers team leader to battle a super-brained super-villain (Tim Blake Nelson) who wants the new US president (Harrison Ford) to go to war with Japan.

There are some sizable servings of top-shelf action – including an extended aerial battle and a lovely fight with a beast called Red Hulk that demolishes half the White House – along with a nifty plot line about mind control via mobile phones (something we’ve all suspected, surely).

This VFX-driven soiree is the 35th Marvel movie, and while it’s mid-range stuff it’s certainly much better than some of the barely watchable slop the studio has churned out of late.

For those in a more serious frame of mind, the excellent historical drama September 5 offers a tense recreation of the terrorist hostage crisis at the 1972 Munich Olympics in which 12 Israeli athletes were murdered.

The event is seen entirely from the perspective of the ABC Sports broadcast team members who found themselves caught up in an event they were supposed to be unqualified to report about.

Directed like a thriller, this vivid recreation depicts in absorbing detail the first time terrorism was broadcast on live television, with particular emphasis on the ethics of airing a story as it unfolded without knowing what was really going on.

It’s also fascinating to see all that pre-digital technology with audio recorders as big as suitcases and cameras the size of washing machines.

Looking for a ghost story with a difference? Then check out Presence, a most unusual and captivating spookfest from veteran director Steven Soderbergh.

A trauma-ridden family moves into a new home that is inhabited by a spirit, which silently watches them, often from very close up.

Thing is, you realise early on that the film is shot entirely from the ghost’s point of view, its presence sensed only by the family’s troubled daughter.

Lovers of the supernatural will get a major kick out of this gem – just be warned, it’s a haunted house tale strictly for adults, with a truly frightening final reel.

Though critics have been ragging on it, the new Amy Schumer comedy Kinda Pregnant is kinda funny, with a higher-than-average laugh ratio as a hapless New York teacher (Schumer) finds how life is much nicer once she fakes being pregnant.

Liberally sprinkled with salty humour, the film has fun with the travails of mothers-to-be, building nicely to the point where the ruse is inevitably exposed.

The top ensemble cast includes Jillian Bell (Workaholics), Will Forte as the romantic interest and Kiwi comedian Urzila Carlson, who lets rip as a foul-mouthed school counsellor.

Kinda Pregnant is big on Netflix right now and should ring a bell with anyone up for an enjoyably thorny comedy about motherhood.

For more visit jimschembri.com with updates on X at @jimschembri