Movie of the Week

Mary Poppins Returns

Set a few years after the original movie, Jane (Emily Mortimer) and Michael (Ben Whishaw) are all grown up. Michael’s kids are in desperate need of a nanny following a personal loss and, magically, Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) arrives to help the children rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives.

Filling the shoes of Julie Andrews in the original Mary Poppins could not have been easy for Emily Blunt, due to the adoring audience of the original. Her portrayal is mostly great, but she is held back by the character’s excessive vanity. The special effects are superb and will captivate children and adults. Some scenes include hand drawn animations – the first time a studio has used the technique since Winnie the Pooh in 2011. However, fans of the original will be left wishing for more authenticity. – Bryan Turner

Movie of the Week

Men in Black: International

The Men in Black have to protect the universe from intergalactic villains, but their biggest worry is not what’s on Earth, but who’s operating within the organisation.

Click here to watch the trailer and read more about the film.

The Men in Black have always protected the Earth from the scum of the universe. In this new adventure, they tackle their biggest, most global threat to date: a mole inside the Men in Black organisation.

It might take one a while to get used to the way Columbia Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, and Tencent Pictures handle the portrayal of the Men In Black but, after a while, it’s very apparent that this film is more of a spin-off than a continuation of the iconic Men in Black trilogy. The film takes a step in the right direction, by being inclusive of women, starring several strong female roles within the agency. The plot line is very standard, and the Men In Black facade of men dressed in black falls apart towards the end. This highlights a disconnect between the comic books, the previous trilogy, and this film, and it feels as if this edition took a very hard fork in the representation of Men in Black.

Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson make a great team in the film as Men in Black partners, and the dynamic between them and their loyal alien team sidekick, voiced by Kumail Nanjiani, is one of the best aspects of the film.

Men in Black comic book fans, don’t get your hopes up by the look of the poster. Some cameos were promised in the poster of the film, but aren’t delivered for long enough (or at all) in the film. In particular, Frank the Pug barely has a walk-on role or, rather, a brief sit-down role.

Bottom line: The film is family friendly and will make its money with younger audiences, but it’s not necessarily for hardcore Men in Black fans. The cool aliens going about ultra-normal daily activities remains a highlight. – Bryan Turner

Movie of the Week

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

The latest X-Men instalment, Dark Phoenix, is the story of one of the X-Men’s most beloved characters, Jean Grey, as she evolves into the iconic Dark Phoenix.

Click below to watch the trailer and read more about it.

During a life-threatening rescue mission in space, Jean is hit by a cosmic force that transforms her into one of the most powerful mutants of all. Wrestling with an increasingly unstable power as well as her own personal demons, Jean spirals out of control, tearing the X-Men family apart and threatening to destroy the very fabric of our planet. The film is the most intense and emotional X-Men movie ever made. It is the culmination of 20 years of X-Men movies, as the family of mutants that we’ve come to know must face their most devastating enemy yet – one of their own.

The film stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Evan Peters, and Jessica Chastain.

The film will be in cinemas from Friday, 7 June 2019.