Doctor Sleep (15)
Directed by Mike Flanagan
★★★★

FORTY years after suffering a torrent of childhood horrors at the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, and still psychologically scarred by the satanic experiences he endured, Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) faces further supernatural terrors when he joins courageous teenage girl Abra (Kyliegh Curran) to battle merciless Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) and her evil cohorts, who feed off innocents in their quest for immortality.

Director Mike Flanagan delivers an effective shock film narrative as Torrance and his ward face their life-or-death battle against Rose the Hat and her satanic acolytes, culminating in Torrance’s unforgettable return to the Overlook Hotel.

It's a scarifying sequence that alone is worth the price of admission.

Flanagan — previously best known for creating shockers like Absentia, Oculus and Hush and Before I Wake — rises to the occasion by delivering a coldly gripping film that remains faithful to the source material while providing an intense new adaptation.

Alan Frank

The Aeronauts (15)
Directed by Tom Harper
★★★

FELICITY JONES and Eddie Redmayne reunite as pioneering aerial explorers in this visually thrilling adventure of scientific discovery, set in 1862 Britain.

But it is their innate chemistry together that keeps you invested and lifts this action period drama by co-writer and director Tom Harper.

Jones plays daredevil balloon pilot Amelia Wren, who teams up with pioneering meteorologist James Glaisher (Redmayne) to advance human knowledge of the weather and break the altitude record set by the French.

The film only truly takes off when the balloon is finally in the air, with stunning vistas of 19th- century London and beyond, while Jones and Redmayne transform a somewhat dull subject into something far better with their captivating performances and repartee.

Harper delivers a surprisingly tense and nail-biting drama which only deflates once it reaches the ground.

It's a a film that definitely needs to be seen on the largest screen possible.

Maria Duarte

After the Wedding (12A)
Directed by Bart Freundlich
★★★

Sometimes actors are rather more impressive than their films and, unfortunately, that seems the case here.

In remaking Danish film-maker Susanne Bier's 2006 Oscar-nominated After the Wedding, writer-director Bart Freundlich, changing the genders of three leading characters from male to female, delivers an over-ripe 1950s-style melodrama.
 
When Isabel (Michelle Williams), who runs an orphanage in Calcutta, travels to New York to accept a generous grant from media head Theresa (Julianne Moore), she discovers Isabel’s husband Oscar (Billy Crudup) is someone she's had a relationship with.

None too convincing emotional storytelling follows.

Williams makes more of her by-numbers role than it deserves and Crudup is commendably straight-faced throughout. Moore, however, gives her over-ripe role far more than it deserves and delivers a “give-me-an-Oscar” performance that makes Bette Davis at her most melodramatic seem shy.

As it happens, director Freundlich is Moore's husband. As the song has it, there's no business like show business

AF

Brittany Runs a Marathon (15)
Directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo
★★★

A TWENTY-SOMETHING hot mess of a woman, the life and soul of every party, goes to the doctor to score the performance-enhancing drug Adderall, only to be told she needs to lose weight and get healthy instead.

What transpires is wonderfully funny and whip-smart debut comedy feature by Paul Downs Colaizzo, based on the personal experiences of a friend. It places Hollywood's cliched “fat sidekick” firmly centre stage and for once she isn't played for laughs or by Rebel Wilson, who seems to have cornered the market.

Brittany is portrayed by the brilliant Jillian Bell, who makes her character truly relatable in her struggles to slowly take up running to turn her life around with the help of her perfectionist neighbour Catherine, aka “moneybags Martha” (Michaela Watkins) and newbie runner Seth (Micah Stock).

It isn't an easy journey for Brittany but it is a hilarious and irreverent one for the viewer. Anyone who is battling to lose some weight will empathise, although aiming to run the New York marathon, while admirable, is perhaps a step too far.

MD

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (12)
Directed by Midge Costin
★★★★★

MANY more people than just the director are responsible for crafting a film, which is what makes Costin’s riveting documentary about the coming of sound in the cinema, and its subsequent compelling history, all the more fascinating.

Costin features contributions about the evolution and use of sound in film from such Hollywood legends as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Barbra Streisand, David Lynch, Sofia Coppola, Ang Lee, Christopher Nolan, Robert Redford, Peter Weir and Hans Zimmer.

But much more importantly, she celebrates the vital behind-the-scenes artists whose seminal contributions to sound helped make such Hollywood legends legendary.

And that had me gripped rather more than the collage of working-really-hard-to-appear-modest famous names.

AF