Film contributor Adam Marshall guides us through another momentous month at the Ritzy Cinema.
Amy Winehouse gawd bless her. Whether you were more fascinated by her magnetic and prodigious talent or the lurid red top headlines of destructive debauchery, a new critically lauded documentary AMY (from July 3) is one not to be missed. As with director Asif Kapadia’s previous doc, Senna, the visuals consist solely of archive footage (press and personal) of the remarkable soul-starlet, scored by a soundtrack of interviews with friends and family.
It’s a bounteous month for legends of the music industry on the big screen, and there are none more suited to a summer release than the brilliant Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. LOVE & MERCY (from July 10) is the biopic of the troubled and enigmatic hit merchant. The splendid Paul Dano plays ‘60s Brian at the height of his powers, while reliable old John Cusack plays him in the ‘80s, broken and fallow. You’ll be sure to have fun, fun, fun and leave the cinema with good vibrations…or something.
I have a frank and brutal admission to make…I liked Ted. There, I said it. Don’t judge me. I guess comedies from the Family Guy guy about sentient CGI bears with potty mouths just happen to be my bag – and I’ve completely reconciled myself with that. So imagine the sheer glee that courses through my veins to discover that the little hairy scamp is back in the very cleverly named TED 2 (from July 10). Expect jokes about flatulence…and lots of them.
If the only c-word that you desire from your animations is ‘cute’, then Pixar’s latest – INSIDE OUT (from July 24) – may be a better option. Since Toy Story 3 in 2010, it’s been a foul five years for the Disney owned outfit – polluting our screens with the likes of Cars 2, Brave and Monsters University. Inside Out is a rollicking return to form of Up-like proportions. Primarily taking place inside an 11-year-old girl’s head, it focusses on how five anthropomorphised emotions – Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness – try to help her handle a life-changing relocation.
Ask any Tom, Dick or Harry on the streets of Brixton and the answer will always be the same – at one time or another don’t we all just want to see the gyrations of a well oiled six-pack? It’s a resounding ‘yes!’ of course. So expect baying queues for the Channing Tatum-led stripper sequel MAGIC MIKE XXL (from July 3), in which he and his crew get together for one last blow-out performance. If, like me, you genuinely can’t imagine quite what that means, then I guess you’ll simply have to go and see it.
And if none of those is enough to make you take shelter from the Windrush Square sun (pleeeeease let there be Windrush Square sun), then there’s also a life and times documentary of cinematic master Orson Welles in MAGICIAN: THE ASTONISHING LIFE AND WORK OF ORSON WELLES (from July 3), Oscar nominated family animation SONG OF THE SEA (from July 10) or hijinks from James Franco and Jonah Hill in TRUE STORY (July 17).
