Aubrey Malone
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Written by Jennifer Saunders and directed by Mandie Fletcher, this highly-awaited film version of the hit TV sitcom that ran intermittently from 1992 to 2012 features Saunders and Joanne Lumley as two good-time girls living the high life in London when they run into trouble at a launch party and have to flee, penniless, to the French Riviera.
Here they hatch a plan to make their residence permanent but things come unstuck when Saunders accidentally kills Kate Moss, whom she’s seeking to represent. Throughout the good-natured romp, both she and Lumley engage in the kinds of ditsy antics that made the TV series so popular. The cast is butteressed with more celebrities than you could shake a stick at: Lulu, Jane Horrocks, Kim Kardashian, Joan Collins, Dawn French, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Graham Norton, Sadie Frost, Dame Edna Everage, etc. The film will probably be one of the big hits of the summer. Expect lots of pseudo-sophistication and whip-smart dialogue.
Independence Day: Resurgence
Once again Earth is on the brink of collapse. Twenty years after the original Independence Day thrilled us with its dynamic power, the planet faces an even greater threat from aliens. Fasten your seatbelts for some terrific action sequences, some high-grade special effects – and Jeff Goldblum.
Fire At Sea
This searing documentary deals with the devastating number of refugees – over 1,000 a year – that have perished crossing the Mediterranean Sea over the past 17 years. Viewed from the perspective of a local boy on Lampedusa, an island 200km off the Italian coast, hopefully it will awaken the powers-that-be to an ongoing crisis bedevilling this corner of the globe at the present time.
Gods of Egypt
Sackcloth-and-ashes offering featuring a God of Darkness whose merciless rule of Egypt is challenged by a young warrior called Bek (Brenton Thwaites) who’s anxious to dethrone him and rescue his lady love in the process. This he does with the aid of another God, Horus, played by Gerard Butler. More hysterical than historical in its style but still hot in the CGI stakes.
Now You See Me 2
In 2013 we witnessed the first manifestation of a quartet of illusionists known as The Four Horsemen who pulled off imaginative heists in front of audiences and then rewarded them by giving them their booty. This time they’re back for more high jinks, their new target a high-tech mastermind (Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame) and the escapades even more daring, if that’s possible.
The Legend of Tarzan
Though living a genteel life in London with his wife Jane (Margot Robbie) as Lord Greystoke, Tarzan is called back to the Congo to investigate suspicious goings-on at a mining encampment, unaware the invitation is a trap laid by the Belgian villain Captain Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) who wants to trade him to a tribal chief in exchange for diamonds. Alexander Skarsgård steps into the role made famous by Johnny Weissmuller all those years ago for a revisionist take on the king of the jungle.
The present model sips tea and has a social conscience…but that still doesn’t stop him swinging from tree to tree when the occasion demands. Plus ça change…