Flaming June is here, and there are some cracking new releases coming to the big screen in the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to A Quiet Place : Day One, which is directed by Michael Sarnoski, previously responsible for the excellent Nicolas Cage film Pig.
The prequel is set in New York City, and sees a bunch of strangers thrown together in the most trying of circumstances. I loved the nerve-shredding tension of the first two Quiet Place films, and can't wait to see this one. Not one to crunch nachos noisily whilst watching, as there will no doubt be lots of silences to build the tension!
Inside Out 2 is being heavily advertised at the moment, and although it doesn't feel like it, almost a decade has passed since the first film. Four new emotions are introduced by Pixar for this sequel, including anxiety, envy and embarrassment. The awkwardness and struggles of growing up are addressed in a colourful, clever way, and production designer Jason Deamer says: "We're still keeping with the original feeling of the characters...but it's even better, more visually interesting".
Other highlights this month include Bad Boys : Ride Or Die, which has just been released. It's Will Smith's first film since that Chris Rock incident at the Oscars in 2022, and sees him retreat to the safe zone of action/comedy as he joins forces once again with Martin Lawrence. The i newspaper writes "there's so little here that's new. You can see the absence of ambition behind everything the film does". I'll have my verdict next week.
Also coming up in June, The Watched is a spooky chiller from M Night Shyamalan, starring Dakota Fanning as a young woman who finds herself stranded in a forest, being pursued by unseen but deadly monsters. The 1960s-set The Bikeriders is bound to ride to box office success, boasting the talents of Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer and Elvis star Austin Butler. Plus Kinds of Kindness sees the excellent Emma Stone once again teaming up with director Yorgos Lanthimos for another surreal adventure. If you haven't watched Poor Things, it's one of my highlights of the last year, and is now streaming on Disney Plus.
Deadpool & Wolverine is guaranteed to be a huge summer smash when it hits the big screen in July, a date delayed by the Hollywood writers' strike. Cineworld is also making us feel long in the tooth with a series of 1999 movies, including The Matrix (which has aged really well, along with its two main stars), The Mummy, Tarzan, South Park - Bigger, Longer and Uncut, The Sixth Sense, A Bug's Life and a staple of ITV2's schedule, American Pie. This one time, at band camp...
August and September also see all of the Spider-man films back at the cinema, so if you've lost track of them, you can enjoy them all again in chronological order! Plenty of reasons then to grab the salted popcorn.
Alex Cann Film Column - 17th April 2025
