What films are out in UK cinemas this week? Reviews from Hamnet to Giant

Awards season is upon us – with the BAFTA longlists having just been announced today – and one film that we're going to be hearing a lot about in the coming weeks and months is Chloé Zhao's Hamnet.

The adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's novel has won rave reviews from critics ever since it debuted at last year's Telluride Film Festival and is expected to pick up a raft of awards in the near future, with Jessie Buckley in particular emerging as a strong favourite in the acting categories.

Now the film has finally arrived in UK cinemas as one of two major releases this weekend, with the other new arrival being boxing drama Giant – a biopic about Prince Naseem Hamed, starring Amir El-Masry and Pierce Brosnan.

You can find our positive reviews of both films below, while you can also discover our lowdown on the other major movies released in UK cinemas in recent weeks, including Song Sung Blue, Marty Supreme and Sentimental Value.

Read on for your weekly round-up of all the films currently showing in UK cinemas.

What films are released in UK cinemas this week? 9th - 15th January

Hamnet

The film's the thing, as family tragedy shapes this wrenching but wonderful fictionalised portrait of William Shakespeare through his domestic life. Paul Mescal plays Will, the sensitive playwright who meets and falls for Agnes (Jesse Buckley), an earthy free spirit. Together, they forge a family of three children – including a delightful boy, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe).

But as Will's career takes off in London, causing him to be increasingly absent from their rural Stratford-upon-Avon home, illness strikes – bringing with it unimaginable pain. Adapted from the novel by Maggie O'Farrell, who co-wrote the script with director Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), this is a sensuous, serious work, in tune with the heartbeat of nature and the rhythms of life, as it explores the raw emotions of loss.

Mescal and Buckley are sensational, creating a relationship that feels honest and real. Zhao's transcendent work is extraordinary too, especially in the final act, as Mescal's playwright – who is only ever once acknowledged as being the Bard – finds creativity and catharsis in the bleakest of hours. – James Mottram

• Read our full Hamnet review

Giant

"Prince" Naseem Hamed, the gifted British world champion boxer, and his relationship with trainer Brendan Ingle form the core of this spirited, enticing biopic. The plot starts as Ingle (Pierce Brosnan), a former fighter who now runs his own boxing club in Sheffield, meets the cocksure seven-year-old Naz, whose trademark nifty footwork is already in place.

Nurturing the lad in and out of the ring, telling him to use his experiences with Islamophobia as fighting fuel, Ingle turns Naz into a world-beater. As a young adult, Naz is played by Egyptian-British actor Amir El-Masry (The Crown), who perfectly replicates the boxer's fighting style, confidently goading his opponents.

The scenes in the ring are vividly realised by writer/director Rowan Athale, but the real grist comes between El-Masry and an excellent Brosnan, as their bonhomie sours when the money starts rolling in, thanks to glitzy bouts in Las Vegas. Despite being executive-produced by Sylvester Stallone, this is more melancholy than Rocky-like, and all the better for it. – James Mottram

• Read our exclusive interview with Pierce Brosnan and Amir El-Masry

Best of the rest still showing in UK cinemas

Song Sung Blue

The highs and lows of a husband-and-wife Neil Diamond tribute act were eventful enough to warrant an award-winning documentary, so it’s perhaps surprising to have taken a further decade-and-a-half for someone to turn their tale into a drama.

For while both share a familiar, million-selling Diamond favourite as their title, and barely 10 minutes ever pass before another banger graces the soundtrack of writer-director Craig Brewer’s film, the music is largely a backdrop to a beautiful, big-hearted, blue-collar love story – with a shocking fork in the road along the way.

Hugh Jackman is Mike Sardina, a Vietnam vet and recovering alcoholic celebrating 20 years sober when he meets a fellow traveller on Milwaukee’s low-rent "Legends" circuit of fairgrounds and old folks’ community centre casinos; Kate Hudson’s Claire, a lively, divorced mother of two struggling to pay the bills.

"Good times never seemed so good," Neil Diamond sang on the evergreen Sweet Caroline, and this is a film where even the bad ones can be overcome on the path to something brighter. – Terry Staunton

• Read our full Song Sung Blue review

Peter Hujar's Day

New York photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) recounts his day to writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall) in this casual but compelling two-hander. The conceit comes from a real-life taped conversation, held back in 1974 for an ultimately unrealised book Rosenkrantz was working on.

As they move around Rosenkrantz’s apartment, even onto the rooftop, Hujar describes his previous day’s activities, a mix of the mundane (eating, napping) and the extraordinary (photographing poet Allen Ginsberg at his house). Rarely without a cigarette in his hand, Whishaw dovetails superbly with Hall, with neither actor trying to ramp up the text into anything overly dramatic.

Rather this conversational piece is gently acted, as both let the words flow. Akin to My Dinner with Andre, what emerges is an engaging portrait of the mid-1970s New York arts scene, a world where William S Burroughs and Susan Sontag might appear. Director Ira Sachs, who previously made Passages with Whishaw, has conjured another indie gem in his idiosyncratic career. – James Mottram

• Read our interview with Ben Whishaw

Marty Supreme

A ferociously good Timothée Chalamet pursues sporting greatness in this electric screwball comedy drama from Josh Safdie, who goes solo after co-directing Uncut Gems with his brother Benny. Set in 1952 in New York and very loosely based on the life of a real ping-pong hustler, this shaggy story follows 23-year-old Marty Mauser, a shoe salesman with the gift of the gab and an extraordinary talent with a table tennis bat.

As he represents his country with obnoxious showmanship in international tournaments, Marty's sweaty and scheming chase of the American Dream is exasperating for those in his orbit – including his long-suffering girlfriend (Odessa A’zion), a Japanese ping-pong prodigy (Koto Kawaguchi), a retired movie star (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her millionaire husband (Kevin O’Leary).

No matter how deplorable Marty seems in the absurd and exhilarating chaos entirely of his own making, you will laugh as much as you condemn – and never look away. In a feat of sheer intensity, Chalamet channels Tom Cruise in The Color of Money or even Robert De Niro in Mean Streets, and the result is a breathless and brilliant all-American character study for our times. – Max Copeman

• Read our full Marty Supreme review

The Housemaid

A live-in maid finds herself in hot water with a well-to-do family’s mood-swinging matriarch in this frequently shocking psychological thriller, based on the novel by Freida McFadden. Recently paroled from prison, Millie (Sydney Sweeney) is desperate to keep the job in order to avoid being sent back behind bars. However, she endures all manner of poor treatment and violent outbursts from her unhinged employer (Amanda Seyfried) before more sinister problems come to the fore.

Director Paul Feig has form walking the darker corridors of domesticity, but whereas 2018’s A Simple Favour revels in blackly comedic upheavals to happy homes, The Housemaid is a genuinely unsettling depiction of dysfunctional families and breathtaking cruelty. Seyfriend excels in a role that calls for her to flit from pantomime-like to pure evil, and Sweeney is impressive, too, blooming convincingly from put-upon maid to plucky heroine. – Terry Staunton

• Read our full The Housemaid review

Sentimental Value

An ageing film-maker re-assesses his life and his loved ones in this quietly moving English-Norwegian drama. Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård) is a director looking to revive his waning career with a film about his late mother. Planning to shoot it in the family home, he comes into conflict with his grown-up daughters – theatre actress Nora (Renate Reinsve) and married mother Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas). Things further sour when he brings in Hollywood star Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) to play the lead.

Winner of Cannes’ Grand Jury Prize, the film is co-written and directed by Joachim Trier (The Worst Person in the World), who crafts a meandering mood piece that will grip those willing to go with its flow.

Skarsgård’s turn, lamenting the loss of things past, is terrific, especially in his tender scenes with a bright and watchable Fanning. For all its melancholy, there’s much-needed dark humour, too, especially when Gustav gifts his 10-year-old grandson some highly inappropriate DVDs, such as The Piano Teacher and Irreversible. Priceless. – James Mottram

• Read our interview with Joachim Trier and the Sentimental Value cast

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Returning us to the alien planet of Pandora, James Cameron’s third Avatar epic comes in all guns blazing, heating up the battle between the humans and the Na’vi. Though much of the focus is still on former Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his Na'vi family, the threat from the colonising military group RDA grows worse when Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) forms an uneasy alliance with Varange (Oona Chaplin), leader of the fire-friendly Mangkwan clan, also known as the Ash People.

At over three hours long, the film's narrative never quite justifies its length, as Cameron lurches through multiple frenetic and overwhelming battles. But with a sincere if simple message baked in about the destructive qualities of humanity, several scenes – such as one where the planet's whale-like population is attacked – do hit home.

This is not least because of the spectacular world-building characteristic of this series; the sheer effort put into creating the bio-luminescent forests, turquoise oceans and, now, fiery volcanos is worth the ticket price alone. Released once again in state-of-the-art 3D, it's a marvel of CG craftsmanship and of Cameron's pursuit of technical perfection. – James Mottram

• Read our full Avatar: Fire and Ash review
• Read our interview with Sigourney Weaver
• Read our interview with James Cameron
• Read our interview with Oona Chaplin

Lurker

Like its hanger-on protagonist, this psychological thriller seems unassuming to begin with, but gradually gets creepier and creepier. The plot brings LA shop-worker Matthew (Théodore Pellerin) into the orbit of up-and-coming British popstar Oliver (Archie Madekwe). Charismatic but thoughtlessly cruel, Oliver treats his entourage like playthings to be picked up and discarded at will. Once Matthew insinuates his way into a job shooting behind-the-scenes footage, he refuses to be so easily dismissed, no matter how many indignities are piled on him.

First-time writer/director Alex Russell worked on TV’s The Bear, so he knows how to turn up the tension to almost unbearable levels. Madekwe is excellent as the impulsive star-in-ascendence, but this is Pellerin’s time to shine.

"I’m just happy to be here," Matthew claims, a dopey smile frozen on his face while his eyes tell a different, far darker story. With its shades of The Servant and Nightcrawler, the film excels at daring us to keep watching, even as Matthew’s actions become more and more repellent. – Matt Glasby

Eternity

Lovers of golden age Hollywood supernatural comedies will love this third feature by self-described 'little Irish indie filmmaker' David Freyne (Dating Amber), who seems right at home in the big league. Elizabeth Olsen plays the woman who dies and arrives in limbo, where she is met by the spirits of her husband and the love of her young life. Which of these two contenders is she going to sail into eternity alongside?

Callum Turner and Miles Teller play the men – one died heroically in the Korean War, the other choked to death on a pretzel – and take turns aiming for Cary Grant screwball suavité. If they’re a touch interchangeable, that’s partly the point and it barely matters because Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early, as celestial Afterlife Co-ordinators, provide solid comedy back-up.

The production design is another standout and provides a running gag that keeps on giving, as this limbo is a teeming marketplace of competing versions of the afterlife (such as Beach World, Capitalism World, and Man-Free World). – Steve Morrissey

• Read our interview with the Eternity cast

It Was Just an Accident

A chance encounter in modern-day Tehran sparks a cycle of violence in this cast-iron morality tale. Warehouse worker Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) spies family man Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi) and kidnaps him, fully intent on burying him alive. He’s convinced his captive is a state interrogator who tortured him in prison, but blindfolded during his ordeal, doubts creep in. Was this the man he heard? And so he gathers others – including photographer Shiva (Maryam Afshari) – who might be able to verify the prisoner’s identity.

Winner of the Cannes festival's prestigious Palme d’Or, this tense, taut thriller comes from acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi (No Bears). Like his characters, he’s been imprisoned by the Iranian authorities, as well as banned from filmmaking, and there’s no escaping the film's in-baked sense of righteous anger.

But Panahi wisely seasons the film with black comedy: witness two security guards who take a bribe (with a handheld credit card terminal!) to look the other way when they hear a ruckus in Vahid’s van. A powerful, poignant meditation on the futility of vengeance. – James Mottram

Zootropolis 2

Brimming with rapid-fire sight gags and movie in-jokes, the sequel to Disney’s hit 2016 animation is a fast and funny combination of buddy cop comedy and conspiracy romp. It picks up where the original left off, with perky bunny Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) on police duty with her wily fox partner Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman).

Despite their clashing methods, the duo stumble on a mystery involving Zootropolis’s 100-year anniversary and Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan), a rogue viper slithering amok in the supposedly reptile-free city. Predictable plot twists aside, the duo’s investigation nimbly spans genres and Disney tropes, with animal jokes, crime film influences and lightly handled messages about prejudice deftly interwoven.

Old and fresh characters are breezily balanced, with series newcomers Quan, Fortune Feimster and Andy Samberg playfully nailing their voice roles. Featuring a winning lead pairing, pacey chase sequences and a richly realised world, the film builds on its predecessor’s appeal with charm, energy and the wittiest nod to The Shining in a kids’ movie yet. – Kevin Harley

Pillion

A nerdy young man finds his mojo in this racy, charming and hilariously funny British gem. Colin Smith (Harry Melling) is a parking attendant locked in a humdrum life until, one day, he’s picked up in a pub by enigmatic biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgård). After an unusual first date on Christmas Day, Colin is bewitched by this leather jacket-wearing hunk, and soon finds himself in an S&M relationship with the dominant, mysterious Ray.

With its titular double meaning – slang in the niche world of BDSM-practising bikers, meaning those who take the submissive role – the film may prove a little too outré for certain viewers. However, British writer/director Harry Lighton finds humour and sweetness in the premise, leaning into the sexual dynamics on show without ever kink-shaming its participants.

Melling and Skarsgård are wonderfully cast, especially Melling, who convincingly goes from dowdy and downtrodden to confident and cool. Seasoned with a dash of Mike Leigh-style suburban angst, Pillion will truly tickle your fancy. – James Mottram

Wicked: For Good

After last year’s Wicked: Part One, we’re back for some more Ozploitation. Jon M Chu’s two-part adaptation has already been a wild ride, tapping into the perennial enthusiasm for the long-running stage show by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, which itself came inspired both by Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel and, of course, Hollywood Golden Age musical The Wizard of Oz. Part One conjured a healthy $756 million global box office, followed by 10 Oscar nominations and two wins.

There’s no reason to think Wicked: For Good won’t perform the same trick, or better it, with Chu bringing events to a rousing close. While he infuses enthusiasm into every frame, the same can be said for his leading ladies. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are back in top, lung-busting form as, respectively, the pink-hued Glinda the Good and Elphaba, the green-skinned witch who has been cast out of Oz, thanks to the machinations of the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum, wickedly charming as ever), the ultimately carney-man.

Now in exile, the demonised Elphaba’s name has been stained by the Wizard, in league with her one-time tutor, the former Dean of Sorcery at Shiz University, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh, still wearing that delicious Mr Whippy ice-cream hair-do). The slightly vapid Glinda, meanwhile, thinks they need to be trademarking the word "good", while she’s also caught up in preparations for her impending wedding to Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), who has been charged with capturing Elphaba. – James Mottram

• Read our full Wicked: For Good review
• Read our interview with Wicked production designer Nathan Crowley

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