York film preview: The Penguin Lessons, Sinners and Warfare

The dastardly Feathers McGraw aside, when a penguin waddles into view on the big screen it’s a sure sign that you’re about to have your heart melted and your cockles warmed.

That’s certainly the case for Steve Coogan’s tetchy teacher in The Penguin Lessons, which looks to be just the thing if you’re in need of a p-p-p-pick-me-up (sorry, had to be done) this Easter weekend.

Plus, Black Panther director Ryan Coogler brings Southern Gothic scares in Sinners, and Ex Machina’s Alex Garland returns with a devastating depiction of Warfare.

New releases

The Penguin Lessons

When I saw that Steve Coogan was starring in a film about a man with a pet penguin, I immediately assumed that a) the penguin would be fake and b) so would the story.

Well, it’s always nice to be surprised – not only is Coogan’s adorable accomplice a CGI-free creation (played by a pair of real penguins and an animatronic puppet), but the film itself is based on the 2015 memoir by Tom Michell, who found himself reluctantly saddled with a flightless friend while teaching at a boys’ boarding school in 1970s Argentina.

Directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty, Military Wives), the film follows the jaded Michell as he begins to re-engage with the world thanks to his pint-sized pal – while some political grit is provided by the backdrop of the country’s 1976 military coup.

Sinners

Having revitalised Rocky and crafted one of the jewels in the MCU’s crown with Black Panther, director Ryan Coogler blasts back onto the big screen with this supernatural horror starring not one but two Michael B. Jordans.

Set in 1930s Mississippi, the film sees Jordan play twin brothers Smoke and Stack, returning to their hometown with a plan to open up their own bar using the money they’ve made in Prohibition-era Chicago – and hoping to shake off their troubled past into the bargain.

The brooding, Southern Gothic feel to the trailer gives some indication as to how well that goes – and for those wishing to know no more, I’ll simply link to this refreshingly spoiler-free review on the excellent Film Stories website which hails it as ‘the best studio genre movie of the year to date’.

Warfare

There have been rave reviews for this rigorously realistic recreation of an ill-fated US special forces mission during the Iraq War, co-directed and co-written by Alex Garland (Civil War) with former US Navy Seal Ray Mendoza.

The pair took what Mendoza describes as a ‘forensic’ approach to their account of a 2006 mission in the Ramadi province, Iraq, in which he and his comrades were attacked by al-Qaeda insurgents, with everything on screen derived from the memories of the soldiers who were there.

Starring Will Poulter as the officer in charge and D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs) as Mendoza, it’s been praised by Empire for its ‘respectfully gruelling’ depiction of war: ‘It’s not going to encourage anyone to sign up to the military in a hurry, but it is absolutely a tribute to those who do.’

Easter holidays round-up

After their triumphant Christmas comeback in Vengeance Most Fowl, Wallace and Gromit make a big screen return this Easter in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, back in cinemas for its 20th anniversary.

City Screen have a Kids’ Club screening on Sat 19th and a Relaxed Screening on Sun 20th (tickets £4.00 for both), and you can also catch it at Vue from Fri 18th to Mon 21st (standard price, £6.99 – £9.99) – while there’s a more benevolent bunny on offer at Everyman in the form of Peter Rabbit, showing in their Toddler Club on Fri 18th and Sat 19th (£7.30 child/£11.20 adult plus toddler).

Baa Ram Ewe! The evergreen – well, everpink – Babe continues its 30th anniversary celebrations with screenings at Cineworld from Fri 18th to Mon 21st (£5.99), while the spiky speedster runs rings round the competition in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in Vue’s Mighty Mornings slot (Fri 18th to Mon 21st, £2.49).

Cineworld have an Autism-Friendly Screening of A Minecraft Movie on Sun 20th (standard price, £8.49 child, £9.99 adult), plus there’s a couple more screenings of Sylvanian Families: The Movie at Vue on Fri 18th and Sat 19th (£3.99).

Head down to Vue on Sat 19th to witness a cinematic first: Kartoon Channel Gaming Challenge UK (£6.99 – £9.99) is the world’s first feature-length game movie, starring British children aged 9 to 11 competing on special, custom-built levels of Roblox to win the title of ‘ultimate UK gamer’ – none of this makes any sense to me but I hope it does to you if you are, or look after, a British child between 9 and 11.

And Vue are also showing Boonie Bears: Future Twist (Fri 18th to Mon 21st, £6.99 – £9.99), the latest instalment in the hit Chinese animated series which sees its ursine heroes flung forward 100 years in time, where Earth is in the middle of an environmental catastrophe – and even more alarmingly, they’re still making Christmas specials of Mrs Brown’s Boys. The humanity!

From Mrs Robinson to Mr Morrison: old favourites back on the big screen

City Screen continue to celebrate the easy riders and raging bulls of the 60s and 70s this weekend with two more classics from the New Hollywood era – Dustin Hoffman gets some lessons in love from Anne Bancroft in The Graduate on Sat 19th, while Jack Nicholson’s drifter hits the road for a reluctant family reunion in Five Easy Pieces on Sun 20th.

Then on Mon 21st, you can catch a biopic of the group who provided the soundtrack to that revolutionary time, as City Screen honour the late Val Kilmer with a screening of The Doors, Oliver Stone’s 1991 homage to the iconic rockers starring Kilmer as Jim Morrison.

There’s more youthful rebellion on offer in La Haine, the classic French social realist thriller set in the rundown banlieus of Paris which made a star of its firebrand lead Vincent Cassell on its release in 1995 – catch it at City Screen on Fri 18th, Sat 19th and Weds 23rd.

Appropriately enough, a character beloved by Cassell’s vengeful Vinz in that film is appearing at Everyman’s Late Nights strand on Fri 18th, as Travis Bickle gets back behind the wheel in Taxi Driver.

And as a contrast to Martin Scorsese’s nightmarish vision of New York, you can immerse yourself in Wes Anderson’s immaculately attired, lovingly retro-styled version of the city in The Royal Tenenbaums at Everyman on Sun 20th and Tues 22nd, powered by an all-timer of a performance from the late Gene Hackman as the roguish patriarch of a family of tortured high achievers, trying to make belated amends in his own incorrigible style.

On which note, I’ll finish with a quick heads-up to Wes fans that you can catch the pun-tastically named group Wes Banderson at the Crescent on Weds 7th May, playing a selection of choice cuts from the dapper director’s much-loved films – fingers crossed they’ll find room for this Paul Simon classic, which soundtracks Royal Tenenbaum’s day of mischief with his grandsons on the streets of NYC.