Leslie Felperin

Alice Eve stars in and produces Chum, a deliberately ridiculous thriller about wealthy wedding guests attacked by a great white shark during a cruise. The film reveals that the real antagonist is Roy, who seeks revenge on the shark for killing his wife. The review criticizes the simplistic script, disposable characters, implausible plot and visibly plastic-looking severed limbs, but notes that the cast and filmmakers appear to understand the film’s comic absurdity and may be sharing the joke with the audience.

Jazz Bhalla’s debut crime drama follows Ravi and Jay, two young men in London’s Hounslow Punjabi community whose lives unravel through drug dealing, cocaine use, gambling addiction and family tensions. The review praises the film’s realistic British Asian setting, persuasive performances and vivid depiction of male social life, while criticising its melodramatic plotting and convergence of too many destructive storylines.

A new live-action adaptation of Michael Ende’s 1973 fantasy novel updates its time-stealing grey figures with vape-like devices and smartwatch-style bracelets, creating an allegory for capitalism, digital distraction and children’s social-media use. Alexa Goodall’s Momo is praised, and Claes Bang is more entertaining than Martin Freeman, but the film is weakened by thin jokes, excessive visual effects, a monotone pace and an overly convenient deus ex machina ending.

Andrew Neel’s documentary examines chefs who prepared lavish meals for dictators including Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Augusto Pinochet and Kim Jong-il. Through interviews with the largely unrepentant cooks, the film contrasts rulers’ extravagant appetites with the starvation and suffering imposed on their populations. The review praises the film’s editing and its sharp analysis by Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Riccardo Orizio, while emphasizing the chefs’ varying degrees of denial and complicity.

Lucky Strike follows US Army captain John Castle, played by Scott Eastwood, as he struggles to return home after being wounded and stranded behind German lines in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge. The thriller is praised for its tense, well-staged action sequences and its willingness to explore wartime morality, but criticized for clunky passages between set pieces. Eastwood is considered likable and distinctive from his father Clint, though the performance shows limited range.

Tzeli Hadjidimitriou’s documentary Lesvia traces the lesbian community that developed in Eressos on the Greek island of Lesbos, the birthplace of Sappho. Beginning with the women’s nudist beach community that emerged in the 1970s, the film explores homophobia, conflicts with local residents, the eventual growth of women-run bars and hotels, and the community’s decline following Greece’s economic crisis after 2009. Through interviews, archival photographs and evocative sea-focused sound design, it presents both the area’s faded golden age and the continued presence of younger lesbian visitors.

Robbie Banfitch’s low-budget found-footage horror follows filmmaker Robbie Lyle as he returns to rural New Jersey and investigates the unexplained disappearance of his sister Noelle. The film builds unease through footsteps, sound design, music-box music, cassette recordings and his mother’s belief that Noelle haunts the family home. The review praises the atmospheric soundscape and Leslie Ann Banfitch’s moving performance, but finds that repetitive passages weaken the film’s impact.

The film follows volcanologist Anna as she warns that Iceland’s increasingly frequent earthquakes and eruptions may be connected to a vast underground magma system threatening Reykjavik. While authorities initially dismiss her concerns to protect tourism, the danger becomes impossible to ignore. Alongside the disaster plot, Anna begins an affair with Danish photographer Thomas, straining her marriage and giving opponents ammunition against her. The review finds the romance and catastrophe elements clichéd and lurid but ultimately highly watchable, largely because of the lead actors’ chemistry, an eerie score by Herdís Stefánsdóttir and Ugla Hauksdóttir’s impressive direction.

The animated sequel follows the half-chicken, half-hare Chickenhare, skunk Meg and tortoise Abe as they search for a mythical 3,000-year-old groundhog capable of reversing time. The film features a complex adventure plot, hybrid animal characters, time travel, old grudges and a message about accepting one’s nature. Though its pastel visuals, simple designs and gentle humor suggest a young audience, the review finds the energetic journey and character reunions more rewarding than its conventional moral.

A disaster film directed by Renny Harlin follows plane‑crash survivors facing sharks, blending suspense, action and dark humor as characters meet unpredictable fates. Harlin’s direction and action sequences are praised, while the dialogue is criticized for clichés. Performances by a mixed ensemble, including Aaron Eckhart, Ben Kingsley and standout Angus Sampson, contribute to a chaotic survival narrative featuring effectively restrained shark visuals.

A Nigerian romantic comedy follows Soluchi, a skilled call‑centre worker recovering from a breakup with a dismissive boyfriend and forming a connection with a Ghanaian news anchor who first contacts her as a customer. The film balances familiar romcom tropes with west African cultural nuances, supported by strong performances, lively humour and thoughtful writing that elevates its otherwise conventional storyline.

Black Box: Flight 298 is an uneven low-budget horror science-fiction thriller set largely aboard a flight from New Orleans to Seattle. Director Steven Quale and writer Stephen Susco build suspense through anxieties about air travel, alleged government secrecy and bizarre atmospheric phenomena before revealing a monstrous threat. The film’s ensemble of passengers and crew, including Jeremy, flight attendant Emma, air marshal Lauren and child passenger Chloe, shelter in the hold among distressed dogs. Its effective moments of suspense and dark comedy are offset by conspicuous green-screen effects, uneven performances and heavy reliance on tinfoil-hat paranoia.

A documentary follows British surgeon Mohammad Tahir as he works in Gaza’s devastated hospitals during the 2024–25 war, treating severe injuries with minimal resources amid bombings and power outages. The film combines harrowing medical scenes with brief moments of relief, highlighting both the brutality of the conflict and the endurance of civilians and medical staff. Its closing images of refugees returning home after a ceasefire underscore the scale of human suffering and resilience.

A generations-spanning Chinese romantic drama follows an octogenarian’s grandson to Bangkok as he searches for the truth about her long‑missing husband. The story reveals misunderstandings, a hidden history involving literacy and migrant remittance letters, and a relationship that was not what family members assumed. Strong naturalistic performances, lively side characters and vivid period detail contribute to the film’s appeal.

A low-budget First World War drama set almost entirely inside a tank follows Captain Richardson and his crew as their mission falters after becoming stuck in the mud. Heavy gloom and confined staging make characters hard to distinguish, though tensions rise as days pass and supplies dwindle. Director Callum Burn delivers steady performances and sustained tension in a retro-feeling war story released in UK cinemas from 26 June.

Alan Berliner reconstructs and completes Benita Raphan’s unfinished work to form a documentary blending her imagery with his own reflections, creating an intimate portrait of her originality, struggles and influence. The film explores her creative life, academic work, artistic community, and personal battles with mental health, highlighting the impact of isolation during Covid‑19 while preserving the ambiguities surrounding her death.

A small-team British animated feature blends steampunk, sci-fi and anime influences into an ambitious but chaotic story following soldier Tommy Hargreaves as he searches for his missing toymaker father across fantastical realms. Despite derivative writing, odd animation and overwrought dialogue, its originality and independent spirit suggest possibilities for future creators working outside major studios.

An elderly woman named Ruth navigates life in a retirement community while experiencing significant short‑term memory loss, portrayed with subtlety and tenderness. The film blends themes of sensory experience, bodily presence and dementia, reflecting director Sarah Friedland’s personal and professional insights. Kathleen Chalfant delivers a nuanced lead performance, supported by understated storytelling that avoids sentimentality while highlighting interpersonal tensions and quiet moments of care.

A campy, low-quality murder mystery is critiqued for its weak script, clumsy direction and disregard for genre conventions, yet gains charm from Joan Collins’s glamorous performance. Set around a group of friends entangled in a murder during a holiday, the plot ultimately hinges on hidden cameras rather than detective work, undermining the whodunnit structure while embracing high‑camp entertainment.

The documentary traces artificial intelligence’s historical roots in eugenics and right‑wing ideology while presenting a sceptical view of its modern utility, featuring commentary from academics, historians and industry observers. It highlights influential and controversial figures in AI’s development and uses humorous visual cues to distinguish between real and AI‑generated material, though some sections feel dense and lack depth in areas such as worker impacts in Nairobi.

A tender adaptation of Alysia Abbott’s memoir portrays a gay father raising his daughter in 1970s and 80s San Francisco, blending period nostalgia with a heartfelt exploration of unconventional family life. As the story moves into the AIDS crisis, the film balances its inevitable tragedies with restraint and emotional clarity. Strong performances, especially from Scoot McNairy and Emilia Jones, highlight themes of resilience, love, and personal growth within a changing cultural landscape.

Lucrecia Martel’s documentary Landmarks examines the killing of Indigenous community member Javier Chocobar during a confrontation over land rights in Tucumán, Argentina. Combining courtroom observation with poetic drone imagery, the film highlights tensions between Indigenous communities, descendants of colonists, and powerful institutions. Martel focuses on the Chuchagasta people’s struggle against attempts to erase their identity while portraying the events with restraint and visual elegance.

A Hungarian director’s film follows a hen navigating dangers from farms to human conflict, blending survival, dark humor and commentary on human cruelty. Real animals and precise editing create an impressively empathetic portrayal that contrasts animal instinct with human brutality. While the human characters meet grim outcomes, the story closes with a small sense of resilience as life continues for the hen.

A brightly rendered Chinese-produced animated feature transports Tom and Jerry to a mythological version of medieval China, but its mix of mythologies and didactic themes is criticised as incoherent and lacking the inventive spirit of the original Hanna-Barbera cartoons. The film’s reliance on frenetic action, candy-coloured visuals and generic character types draws unfavourable comparisons to contemporary orientalist animated franchises, resulting in a spectacle-heavy but creatively shallow adaptation.

A documentary revisits the 1969 Sir George Williams University protest, tracing how black students in Quebec confronted systemic racism that culminated in Canada’s largest campus uprising. Archival footage and interviews, all in black and white, highlight the historical roots of the conflict, including colonialism, slavery, and the destruction of Africville. The film underscores the cultural influences of US civil rights movements and follows how several protesters later became political and community leaders, complemented by a striking jazz‑ and gospel‑infused soundtrack.

A Hong Kong drama follows four children bonded by a 1985 UFO sighting, tracing their divergent adult lives against the backdrop of the city’s social and economic shifts after the 1997 handover. Despite its sci-fi premise, the film is framed as a realist, multi-timeline melodrama centered on character growth and a changing Hong Kong. Initially completed in 2019, it receives an international release marked by timely relevance amid renewed stock‑market volatility.

A 1990s‑style thriller follows detective Shaw’s pursuit of a giggling killer who leaves clues leading to his kidnapped son, echoing elements of David Fincher’s Seven and Fight Club. Performances and atmosphere evoke B‑movie nostalgia, but the film lacks the sophistication and twists of its inspirations while touching lightly on themes of guilt and damaged youth.

A documentary about former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno portrays his talent and historical significance while emphasizing his difficult personality and declining health. Director Wes Orshoski follows him through medical struggles, crowdfunding efforts by Croatian fan Stjepan Juras, and an attempted career revival in Zagreb. Despite support from others, Di’Anno’s temper, self‑pity and resistance to rehabilitation overshadow the narrative, leaving supporting figures more sympathetic than the film’s central subject.

A Nigerian noir-style thriller directed by Iyabo Ojo follows feuding families across Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania, highlighting strong female characters and political intrigue while noting uneven acting and editing. Stylish cinematography and vibrant social context contribute to an entertaining though imperfect Nollywood production.