Top Gun: Maverick ★★★★☆
Directed by Joseph Kosinski. Starring Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer. 12A cert, gen release, 130 min
Kosinski and his team have accomplished their odd, hybrid mission: revisit the 1980s; note that, alone among us, Tom Cruise has not changed — more impressively than should have been possible. Most importantly, they have, in an age of cartoon computer graphics, delivered action sequences that appear to be taking place in the real world. The landscapes surging past Maverick’s shoulder have a substantiveness that even the average street scene can’t manage in a green-screened superhero film. Cruise still sparkles like My Little Pony. The Venetian blinds are up. The synths are blaring. Engage. DC
The Bob’s Burgers Movie ★★★☆☆
Directed by Loren Bouchard and Bernard Derriman. Voices of H Jon Benjamin, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman, Larry Murphy, John Roberts, Kristen Schaal, Zach Galifianakis, Kevin Kline. PG cert, gen release, 147 min
The team from the beloved nicecore animation face bankruptcy at the same time as a giant hole opens up outside the restaurant. The amiable big-screen spin-off will satisfy fans, but — unlike, say, The Inbetweeners Movie — is unlikely to win over those unfamiliar with the show’s pianissimo pleasures. There is some widening of the frame, but The Bob’s Burger’s Movie plays very much like an episode from the series (there is certainly no attempt at cross-medium empire building in the style of the MCU). We get at least one unexpected origin story, but nothing dramatically alters our opinion of the characters. DC
Elizabeth: A Portrait in Part(s) ★★★☆☆
Directed by Roger Michell. Featuring Queen Elizabeth II. 12A cert, gen release, 89 min
Perfectly serviceable documentary on Queen Elizabeth that allows little sense of dissent or trace of republican sentiment. Amid the greatest hit compilations — frocks through the ages, decades of waving — there are some welcome odd selections, including Harry Hill singing as the queen’s head and cultural commentator Robert Hughes discussing the Mona Lisa. It’s left to her attendants and others to walk us through the protocol of palace visits. There’s little sense of Elizabeth as a person. Well, save for her delight in winning money at horse races; 16 pounds bearing her image. TB
Between Two Worlds/Ouistreham ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Emmanuel Carrère. Starring Juliette Binoche, Hélène Lambert, Léa Carne, Didier Pupin. Limited release, 106 min
Binoche’s Marianne is quizzed at a local job centre. Why, asks the agent, does someone of her means wish to enter the ranks of France’s zero-hour-contract, cleaners? Marianne argues that she wants to make these unseen workers visible to the public, a motivation that makes for a queasy premise. Watching Binoche as she scrubs lavatories, the audience simply cannot forget that they are watching a movie star scrubbing a lavatory. Marianne may learn to “pass” for a cleaner, but she can never experience the precariousness faced by her subjects. The heart is, however, in the right place. TB
