In the Heights

This all-singing, all-dancing summertime scorcher takes the hit Broadway musical from Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes and turns it into something exuberantly cinematic. Set in New York City's predominantly Latino neighbourhood of Washington Heights, it tells the story of bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), who dreams of a better life back in the Dominican Republic, pining all the while for aspiring fashion designer Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), who's stuck working in a salon. Leslie Grace plays Stanford student Nina, who feels alienated from her peers and whose father (Jimmy Smits) is struggling to pay her fees. They are joined by taxi-dispatch operator Benny (Corey Hawkins) and local matriarch Claudia (Olga Merediz). The cast make Miranda's masterful rhymes crackle and pop, and the dance routines and eye-popping fashions are to die for. Dialling the sincerity right up to 11, director Jon M Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) delivers a sure-fire spirit-lifter.