Belfast
• 98 minutes. Opens in selected cinemas February 3.
Pleasant if ultimately ineffectual comedy/drama that is based on writer/director Kenneth Branagh’s childhood.
Nicely crafted, but the drama is a little too much on the mild side (not to mention predictable), while the comedy and pop culture references feel somewhat forced.
Performances are fine, but no-one really stands out, as the script lacks bite.
Belfast is entertaining, but is inferior to John Boorman’s excellent, similarly themed autobiographical film, Hope & Glory (1987).
RATING – ***

Nightmare Alley
• (MA). 144 minutes. Now showing in selected cinemas.
A remake of the classic 1947 film, Guillermo del Toro’s more faithful adaptation of the acclaimed 1946 novel is gorgeously designed and dripping in atmosphere, but overlength somewhat dilutes the bleak story’s overall impact.
The amazing cast are a major asset. Like all of del Toro’s films, this is incredible to look at, and his love letter to 40’s film noir is completely enveloping.
But like the unfairly maligned Crimson Peak, the director’s genuine love for film-making, and for the material on hand, gets in the way of story efficiency, and this over-indulgence causes the film to wander and slow down at times.
RATING – ***

Licorice Pizza
• (M). 133 minutes. Now showing in selected cinemas.
Like Guillermo del Toro, P.T. Anderson is another director who doesn’t hide his love for film, and this ode to 70’s cinema is a considerable treat.
This could have easily become a lazy nostalgia piece filled with hit tunes and outrageous fashion, but Anderson concentrates on the people at the centre of this vividly realised world, and movie-goers should love every second of the time they spend with them. Superbly acted.
RATING – ****1/2

The Lost Daughter
• (MA). 122 minutes. Limited screenings at selected cinemas, and also streaming on Netflix.
Actor Maggie Gyllenhaal makes an impressive feature film directorial debut with this compelling drama, which effectively turns the screws on the viewer as the story unfolds.
Gyllenhaal favours extreme close-ups of her cast, which is a little disconcerting at first, but then works wonderfully as the psychological descent of holidaying professor Leda (Olivia Colman) begins to happen.
Fluidly moves from present day to flashbacks involving a much younger Leda (Jessie Buckley). The acting is outstanding.
RATING – ****

Ghostbusters: Afterlife
• (PG). 124 minutes. Now showing in cinemas.
A marked improvement over the 2016 misfire, this good-natured sequel may go on too long, and falls too much into repetition in its final act, but overall the result is entertaining enough.
Some references don’t work, and the re-appearance of the original gang is rather anti-climactic (however, it is nice how they integrate the late Harold Ramis into the story).
McKenna Grace is the best of the new bunch, and her performance cleverly plays on the personality of her famous grandfather.
RATING – ***

Scream
• (MA). 113 minutes. Now showing in cinemas.
After the disastrous Scream 4 in 2011, the series is resurrected as a reboot-sequel, but the end result is an inferior, overly meta retread of the terrific 1996 original, and the irony is long gone.
The new group of horror film nerds are an uninteresting bunch. There is a nice tribute to the late, legendary director Wes Craven.
RATING – **

• Aaron Rourke