At The Movies

F1 – Formula One racing, and movie star’s movie star, Brad Pitt... What more could anyone want? Producer Jerry Bruckheimer returns to the scene of his Nineties Tom Cruise hit Days Of Thunder with more of the same. Featuring Javier Bardem (Dune), Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin) and newcomer Damson Idris (TV’s Snowfall).

The Great Lillian Hall sees multi award winning Jessica Lange play a legendary Broadway star suddenly confronted with a possible life and career-changing disability. Features Kathy Bates and Pierce Brosnan, it's directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Michael Cristofer.

The Count Of Monte Cristo tells the story of a man wrongfully convicted, determined to take revenge on those who wronged him. The first French film version of Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale for 50 years, it’s produced by the same team who made the recent Three Musketeers films.

28 Years Later sees the return of director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland to the zombie apocalypse they created 23 years ago. Now survivors settle on a small island, leaving the mainland to the rapidly mutating infected. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and newcomer Alfie Williams as the 12-year-old hero Spike.

Elio is the latest from Pixar Films – the story of a lonely, space-obsessed boy who dreams of being abducted by aliens. With an original story by Adrian Molina (Coco), Elio features the voices of Zoe Saldaña (Avatar), Brad Garrett (Ratatouille) and Shirley Henderson (Bridget Jones).

Merchant Ivory tells the story of one of the longest ever movie-making partnerships, between Indian producer Ismail Merchant, American director James Ivory – and German-Jewish born writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Featuring interviews with Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham-Carter, Vanessa Redgrave and many others.

Simon Morris takes a look at an unusually blokey collection of movies this week, including the return of the “infected” in Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, a documentary about the films of long-time partners, producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, and Pixar’s Elio, about a boy who gets his wish – to be abducted by aliens!

How To Train Your Dragon is a remake of the popular animated feature with a difference. The live-action version is written and directed by the maker of the original Dean DeBlois (Lilo and Stitch). Once again starring Gerard Butler as Viking chief Stoick.

K O is a French Netflix thriller, that sees an MMA fighter accidentally kill an opponent in the ring, then feels obliged to protect his family from dangerous gangsters. Starring actual former MMA star Ciryl Gane.

Materialists sees a successful matchmaker (Dakota Johnson) find herself torn between her heart and her head – between Mr Perfect and the far-from-perfect One That Got Away. Also starring Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, it’s written and directed by Celine Song, who made the Oscar nominated Past Lives.

Simon Morris looks enviously at the French Film Festival highlights that he can’t see until their general release. While he waits he checks out the “re-imagining” of the recent How To Train Your Dragon, the French John Wick, K O on Netflix, and a superior romance from the director of Past Lives. It’s called Materialists.

Chuck Chuck Baby sees a woman in the production line of a chicken farm of the same name, suddenly confronted by her school crush. A winner at last year’s Welsh Baftas, it features a string of director Janis Pugh’s favourite songs.

The Assessment finds a couple in a dystopian future trying to get permission to have a baby. But first they need to pass an assessment. Stars Elizabeth Olsen (WandaVision), Himesh Patel (Yesterday) and Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina). Streaming on Prime Video.