Alex B Cann film column - 21/05/26 - Bob Odenkirk impresses in Normal

The UK box office chart is still dominated by Michael, which has taken over £40 million and shows no signs of slowing down. Despite some accusations of story sanitisation, audiences haven't been put off. It's even given Human Nature its first appearance in the UK Singles Chart, as it wasn't released as a single in the UK in the 1980s. Billie Jean and Beat It are also in the upper echelons of the hit parade as I write. Due to the so-called “Ed Sheeran rule”, introduced after Ed occupied 16 of the Top 20 chart positions in 2017 following the release of his album, there can only be three songs by

Also in the box office Top 3, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a far more stylish sequel than I bargained for, whilst The Sheep Detectives is a wholesome delight, seeing Hugh Jackman on fine form as kind-hearted, crime novel-reading shepherd George Hardy, whose sheep are left to solve his murder using skills acquired from the books he read to them each night before he was bumped off.

New releases are a little thin on the ground, but I've seen a couple this week. The Christophers sees Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel working well together on screen as a dying artist and a woman recruited by his family to finish some lucrative paintings he refuses to complete. The unwelcome presence of James Corden was the first thing to leave a bitter taste, and I'm afraid that, although the two lead actors gel really well, this just didn't do much for me. The filming felt wobbly, the script wordy and pretentious, and I knew before Googling it that highbrow critics would love it. Personally, I found it a trifle dull, although it wasn't without its poignant moments.

Normal was much more my cup of tea, with the gruff, moustachioed Bob Odenkirk playing Sheriff Ulysses, who heads to a sleepy town with a population of fewer than 2,000 people in search of a quiet life following a case that's left him traumatised. All appears calm on the surface, but things soon kick off after a botched bank robbery — the bank only has a couple of grand in cash, as nobody uses cash any more — and things only get worse from that point onwards for the would-be thieves. If flower-arranging grannies swapping secateurs for huge guns is your sort of thing, you'll really enjoy this. There are some decent fight sequences and elements that reminded me of Hot Fuzz, John Wick and Odenkirk's previous vehicle Nobody, and it's all far too far-fetched to take too seriously. It's nowt you haven't seen before, and it won't break any moulds, but it should keep you entertained for its lean running time.

Next week: Obsession, Passenger and Finding Emily. Happy film watching!