York film preview: The Accountant 2, Until Dawn and The Friend

He’s come to balance the books…

No really, it’s literally his job: Ben Affleck returns as the numbers whizz with a lethal side hustle in The Accountant 2 this week.

Really feels like it needs a subtitle, doesn’t it? It’s harder than you think, though: best I’ve got so far is The Accountant 2: Licence to Bill or The Accountant 2: IR Stress.

While we’re pondering on that, let’s see what else the big screen has to offer – including another bunch of dumb kids heading out to the woods in Until Dawn, and a great dane stealing scenes and hearts (and anything else his human co-stars are foolish enough to leave at table height) in The Friend…

New releases

The Accountant 2

Ben Affleck suits up for a second outing as Christian Wolff, the badass bean counter who crunches numbers and skulls in equal measure.

The story this time round sees Wolff called upon to solve the murder of an old acquaintance, a task for which he’ll need the help of his estranged brother Brax (Jon Bernthal) – himself no slouch in the ruthless killing machine department.

Expect punch-ups, shoot-outs, and at least one scene in which numbers are scrawled over a pane of glass – plus it’s almost certainly the only film you’ll see this year in which JK Simmons’ left thigh acts as a key driver of the plot…

Until Dawn

Putting the ‘aargh’ into déjà vu, this survival horror sees a group of friends heading out into the woods and meeting a sticky end – only to wake up the next day and go through the whole thing again, each time stalked by an even more terrifying foe.

Given that set-up, it’s no surprise that the film is adapted from a hit 2015 video game of the same name, which was itself influenced by the iconic movie slashers of yore – and with the method of murder changing up with every reboot, gore-hounds can surely expect more than a few nods to the classics along the way.

Ella Rubin (Anora) leads the cast as a young woman trying to find answers to her sister’s mysterious disappearance, while director David F. Sandberg is a graduate of the Conjuring universe and delights in the online pseudonym ‘ponysmasher’ – sounds just the man for the job.

The Friend

Naomi Watts stars alongside Bill Murray and a massive great dane in this drama about a woman who inherits her old friend’s dog upon his death.

New York novelist and teacher Iris (Watts) is grieving the suicide of fellow writer Walter (Murray) when she discovers to her shock that he has left his four-legged soulmate Apollo in her care – a situation that takes some adapting to for both parties.

Reviews suggest that this is the sensitive, indie version of the ‘canine carnage’ movie so beloved of 80s and 90s audiences, with the focus as much on dealing with loss as the difficulties of keeping a 180lb pooch in a tiny Manhattan apartment.

Q&A screening

Treading Water

Fresh from premiering at the London Film Festival last October, there’s a chance to see the debut feature from a new voice in Northern filmmaking at City Screen this week – followed by a live Q&A with the director and star.

This hard-hitting Manchester-set tale follows Danny (Emmerdale’s Joe Gill) as he attempts to carve a new life for himself after leaving prison, while struggling to cope with his mental health issues.

When he crosses paths with old flame Laura (Becky Bowe), a glimmer of hope seems to beckon – but their reunion also threatens to set him on a darker path.

Writer-director Gino Evans and Joe Gill will be at City Screen for a Q&A session after the film.

Family-friendly films

A beastly bunny causes problems for our heroes in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, continuing its 20th anniversary celebrations in Everyman’s Toddler Club (tickets £7.30 child/£11.20 adult plus toddler), as well as showing in an Autism-Friendly Screening at Vue (Sun 27th).

City Screen’s Kids’ Club is showing last year’s Pixar smash Inside Out 2 on Sat 26th (subtitled, £4.00), while Mufasa: The Lion King reveals how Simba’s dad became the mane man at both Vue (Sat 26th/Sun 27th, £2.49) and Cineworld, the latter of which is also showcasing the blurry blue exploits of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (both films screening on Sat 26th and Sun 27th, £3.99).

And proving that they cater for all creatures great and small, Vue also have a couple more outings for Sylvanian Families: The Movie (Sat 26th/Sun 27th, £3.99), plus a new animation called Goldbeak (Sat 26th/Sun 27th, £6.99 – £9.99) about an eagle raised by chickens after his parents die in a…plane crash? “This is not a story,” the Guardian’s obligatory two-star review cautions, “that really bears much close analysis.”

Lizzie meets Darcy and Anakin gets Darthy: old favourites back on the big screen

It’s corsets vs lightsabers in the re-releases schedule this week, with two very different blockbusters celebrating their 20th anniversary.

First up, Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen exchange brittle barbs and smouldering stares in Pride and Prejudice, which I’ve never seen but I’m sure is fine if you haven’t got six hours to watch the classic BBC version (only one of them got a surprise shout-out in Barbie, that’s all I’m saying).

Bonnets on and head to City Screen (Fri 25th, Sat 26th, Tues 29th, Thurs 1st), Everyman (Sun 27th, Tues 29th, plus Mon 28th Silver Screen and Weds 30th Baby Club), Cineworld (Sun 27th, Tues 29th) and Vue (daily).

Alternatively, you can join Hayden Christensen on the final leg of his journey to the Dark Side in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the concluding chapter of George Lucas’ little-loved-at-the-time prequel trilogy, now weirdly in the midst of a full-blown revival – pretend you loved it all along at City Screen (Fri 25th, Sat 26th, Sun 27th, Tues 29th, Weds 30th), Cineworld, Everyman and Vue (all screening daily to Weds 30th).

Intriguingly, George Lucas apparently once invited David Lynch to helm his original trilogy-closer, Return of the Jedi – and while it’s a shame we never got to see what he would have done with the Ewoks, we can take solace in City Screen’s year-long tribute to the great man, following his sad passing earlier this year.

Each month they’re showing one of his films and pairing it with a ‘Lynchspiration’ – a film which in some way complements the legendary director’s bizarre and beautiful visions.

This week it’s the turn of one of Lynch’s more mainstream-leaning works, 1980’s The Elephant Man, starring John Hurt in one of his most celebrated roles as the severely deformed John Merrick, which is being screened alongside Tod Browning’s 1932 cult classic Freaks – catch them both at City Screen on Mon 28th, and here’s hoping the ushers have been primed to chant “One of us! One of us!” as you walk in.

There’s another cinematic masterwork at City Screen on Sun 27th, as their reDiscover strand hosts Akira Kurosawa’s action epic Seven Samurai, famously remade as The Magnificent Seven – and if you’re in the mood for a western, then the same day sees their New Hollywood season screening McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Robert Altman’s 1971 revisionist take on the genre, starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie.

You can hit the town with Brando and Sinatra in classic musical Guys and Dolls, showing in a Relaxed Screening at City Screen on Fri 25th, while on Weds 30th they’re helping us count down the days to Wes Banderson’s gig at the Crescent with a welcome screening of Rushmore.

And finally, Sandra Bullock sashays down the catwalk at Everyman on Fri 25th as Miss Congeniality returns to the big screen for its 25th anniversary – and that’s reason enough to close proceedings this week with the ‘clean’ version of The Beautiful South’s evergreen earworm Don’t Marry Her, which made inspired use of the romcom queen’s name in the service of not frightening the drivetime radio horses. Who needs parental advisory stickers when you’ve got movie stars?