At The Movies

Mr Burton is the story of a directionless schoolboy in wartime Wales called Richie Jenkins. He is taken under the wing of his teacher, borrows his name and becomes Wales’s greatest theatrical star. Starring Toby Jones, Lesley Manville and in a star-making role – literally – Harry Lawtey as Richard Burton.

The Friend sees a grieving New York writer find herself the unwilling recipient of her dead friend’s pet – a gigantic Great Dane called Apollo. Starring Naomi Watts, Bill Murray and a gigantic dog called Bing. And the city of New York.

Freakier Friday sees Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in the sequel to 2003’s body-swap comedy Freaky Friday. Now they find themselves in the bodies of two new teenagers, on the eve of another wedding and another rock concert. Look out for plenty of Freaky cameos!

Simon Morris looks at three films starring strong contenders to follow Dame Maggie, Dame Judi and Dame Helen. Lesley Manville features in Mr Burton, Naomi Watts shines in The Friend and Jamie Lee Curtis (Lady Haden-Guest in real life) is in Freakier Friday.

Riviera Revenge is another popular comedy from French comedy master Ivan Calbérac (The Tasting). A long-married couple’s lives are upended when some 40-year-old letters prove the wife had a brief affair on the Côte d’Azur. The husband plans belated vengeance!

Together features real-life husband and wife Dave Franco and Allison Brie as a couple who find themselves getting closer than they intended, with horrific consequences. Co starring Damon Herriman (Charles Manson in Once upon a time in Hollywood).

When Fall Is Coming is a Hitchcock-style thriller about a woman who finds herself accused of planning to murder her own daughter to get custody of her grandson. She enlists an unlikely ally to clear her name. Directed by the versatile François Ozon (Potiche) it features French theatre star Hélène Vincent.

Simon Morris looks at three films that aim at very specific audiences – horror film Together, and from France, an elegant mystery thriller called When Fall Is Coming, and a traditional French sex farce, Riviera Revenge.

Dan Slevin reviews four new films in cinemas: In Friendship, cringe comedian Tim Robinson plays a middle-aged man who thinks he’s found a lifelong pal; The Divine Sarah Bernhardt is a biopic about the world’s first global superstar; I Know What You Did Last Summer reboots the 90s slasher franchise; and in Four Letters of Love, the west of Ireland is the setting for a romantic miracle.