THE SEA BEAST ★★★★☆
Directed by Chris Williams. Voices of Karl Urban, Zaris-Angel Hator, Jared Harris, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Dan Stevens, Kathy Burke, Doon Mackichan, Jim Carter. Netflix, 115 min
Lavish maritime animation from Netflix concerning the hunt for an apparently savage sea monster and the hunters’ eventual accommodation with their own delusions. The film is a straight-up visual dazzler. At the helm alone for the first time, Chris Williams, co-director of Big Hero 6 and Moana, supervises the creation of busy cities, rich natural environments and — remember when water proved such an issue for digital animators? — convincingly damp walls of angry ocean. The jokes are good, the voice work is strong and the film’s lessons about historical delusions are surprisingly nuanced. DC
THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER ★★★☆☆
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Directed by Taika Waititi. Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander, Taika Waititi, Russell Crowe, Chris Pratt. 12A, gen release, 119 min
Thor (Hemsworth) emerges from hippie retreat to reunite with old flame Jane Foster (Portman) in the struggle against a deranged “god butcher” (Bale). Taika Waititi, returning after the excellent Thor: Ragnarok, has abandoned any effort to take the great American institution that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe even halfway seriously. It’s chaotic, garish and, for the most part, entertaining, but the Carry On Thor aesthetic goes against the efforts to work in a cancer subplot. That just belongs in another film. A strange, strange film. Often in a good way. Sometimes not. Full review DC
BRIAN AND CHARLES ★★★★☆
Directed by Jim Archer. Starring David Earl, Chris Hayward, Louise Brealey, Jaime Michie. PG cert, gen release, 91 min
After happening upon a mannequin head, eccentric Welsh inventor Brian (Earl) gets to work on his greatest invention: a robot named Charles (played by Hayward, the film’s co-writer). The cumbersome creation is fashioned from various bits and bobs, including a washing machine body. Even Brian concedes that what should be a “Victoria sponge cake” is more of “a blancmange”. The two beings make for an irresistible two-step in a delightful tale of friendship and loneliness, dramatised and written in beats that make one think of Wallace & Gromit without the clay. TB
FUTURA ★★★★☆
Directed by Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, Alice Rohrwacher. Limited release, 105 min
In 2020, three of Italy’s best contemporary directors set out to repeat Pier Paolo Pasolini’s efforts to document the contemporaneous nation in his 1964 film Love Meetings. Their subjects are young people, aged 15-20. Their inquiries vary but boil down to a central conceit: How do the interviewees imagine their future? There are delightful characters, including the adopted duck who won’t swim without his young human companion watching over him. There is, however, an alarming sense of uncertainty among the collective. Have common resources lost their power? TB
