Cinerama Capsule – quick read reviews and news from Cinerama Film

Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus.

When young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. Wicks’s modest-but-devoted flock includes devout church lady Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), tightly-wound lawyer Vera Draven, Esq. (Kerry Washington), aspiring politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), town doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), best-selling author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), and concert cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny).

After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic. Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Rian Johnson writes and directs Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, and assembles another all-star, award-winning cast.

Diddy. Puff Daddy. Love. The public knows the hip-hop icon by many names — but who is the real Sean Combs?

In a new four-part documentary by Emmy and Grammy Award–winning executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Emmy Award-winning director Alexandria Stapleton, Sean Combs: The Reckoning is a staggering examination of the media mogul, music legend, and convicted offender.

Born with an insatiable drive for stardom and a knack for spotting talent, Combs made a quick ascent through the ranks of the music industry with Bad Boy Entertainment and was crucial in bringing hip-hop to the pop masses and launching the careers of dozens of generation-defining artists like The Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, and Danity Kane. But along the way, and as detailed by his former associates, childhood friends, artists, and employees, something darker began to colour his ambitions.

Through explosive, never-before-seen materials, including exclusive interviews with those who were once in his orbit, this documentary tells the story of a powerful, enterprising man and the gilded empire he built — and the underworld that lay just beneath its surface.

The scars and trauma of domestic abuse run deep in Damian Harris’s (brother of Jared) Brave the Dark. Based on the true story of Nathan Cole (now Deen), played by Nicholas Hamilton, and his Pennsylvanian high school teacher, Stan Deen, played by Jared Harris, Brave the Dark is reminiscent of a slew of ’90s matinee flicks that explore the ‘Good Samaritan’ story in small-town America.

Hailing from Angel Studios, which brought the world the highly evangelical Sound of Freedom, Brave the Dark is a welcome shift in focus, as religious ideology takes a backseat to the power of the individual to create hope and change.

In recounting the story of Nate (Nathan), his troubled adolescence following years in care, his traumatic childhood and the loving teacher Stan Deen who takes him under his wing, Brave the Dark offers us all the ingredients found in the classic Hallmark movie. It’s predictable, comforting, simple, and built on emotion; were it not for Jared Harris and Nicholas Hamilton, it would be forgettable.

Due to their performances and a screenplay that isn’t afraid to explore, if gently, the deep scars domestic violence leaves on children who witness such hate and horror, Brave the Dark does precisely what it aims to do in celebrating a real-life good Samaritan and a young life transformed through hope, trust and healing.

As writer and director Doug Rao wraps up his puzzle box movie Dirty Boy, his main protagonist, twenty-year-old Isaac, says, “What’s the difference between a church and an insane asylum? A church is where you go to talk to God, and an insane asylum is where you go if he replies.”

For years, Isaac, played by the brilliant Stan Steinbichler, has struggled with his mental health and the divided personality that has led his ‘flock’ to lock him up and feed him drugs in their closed religious community deep in the Austrian Alps. All that time, he thought he was the problem. But, his closed and insular cult, where women are trafficked in for ‘breeding,’ and the outside world is kept firmly at a distance, holds far more horrors than Isaac can imagine, and he is about to blow the doors off their horrific commune in spectacular style!

Rao’s slow-burning horror may not appeal to everyone, as it gradually reveals the secrets of the ‘flock’ in a dystopian landscape where the modern technology of the outside world contrasts with the 1930s clothing of the ‘cult.’ But for those willing to stick by Isaac’s side, Rao’s movie offers a bold, intelligent, at times daring, and always intriguing dissection of the horrors that so often hide behind a prayer book and cross.

Iris (Sophie Thatcher) met the man of her dreams, Josh (Jack Quaid), in an empty supermarket, their eyes meeting over the baskets of peaches and oranges. Ever since that day, Iris has devoted herself and everything she is to Josh; he is her world, her everything. 

Companion opens with that meeting as Iris talks us through the event, explaining how her life found meaning and purpose that day. However, Iris then throws us a curveball, as she says she also felt that feeling of purpose the day she killed Josh! Is Iris a psychopath dressed in pink? Or is Josh a smiling devil whose gentle eyes hide a dark secret? Drew Hancock doesn’t keep you guessing for long as the couple head to a secluded house in the woods to meet Josh’s friends, Kat (Megan Suri), Eli (Harvey Guillén), his boyfriend Patrick (Lukas Gage) and the mysterious Sergey (Rupert Friend). Without giving away any spoilers, Companion is a story of love, lies, logins, liberation and lucidity that proves love sucks in our digital world.

“Be careful who you give your heart to” has never been more apt than in Basil Dearden’s 1950 tale of love, lies, secrets and blackmail, Cage of Gold. Hailing from the famous Ealing Studios in the final five years of Michael Balcon’s ownership, Dearden’s cautionary love triangle thriller carries all the hallmarks of classic crime noir in a knotty tale of deceit, love and tangled choices. Judith (Jean Simmons) is torn between her doctor boyfriend, Alan (James Donald), and a former boyfriend, Bill (David Farrar), who mistreated her in the past but whose unexpected reappearance rekindles unresolved feelings of attraction.

Also starring Herbert Lom, Madeleine Lebeau, Bernard Lee, and Harcourt Williams, Dearden’s atmospheric mix of the classic love triangle and crime noir has long been relegated to the sidelines of Ealing Studio’s history and Dearden’s catalogue of work, but if there’s one movie that proves love can suck based on the choices we make, it’s this one.

Let’s start with addressing the elephant in the room. The Fortune Hotel is a blatant rip-off of The Traitors. But as rip-offs go, ITV’s sun-drenched game show isn’t half bad, even if it lacks The Traitors‘ devilishly addictive psychological edge.

In a Caribbean hotel, where, let’s face it, anyone would be happy just to get a free holiday courtesy of ITV, couples swap briefcases, but only one holds £250,000. To add to the drama, another holds the early check-out card, with the power to end one couple’s stay in an instant. It’s all about who can keep, swap or build partnerships to keep that money in their possession, and while it’s not got the clout of its BBC rival, it’s damn good fun.

Marking the 200th anniversary of Lord Byron’s death, the BBC sent best mates and complete opposites Rob Rinder and Rylan Clark to retrace his Grand Tour of Venice, Florence, and Rome. The result is one of the most delightful TV travelogues of the year. Rob and Rylan’s journey may explore Renaissance art, culture, architecture, and history, but its roots are in both men’s far more personal journeys. One that explores how the past informs the present in our shared experiences of equality, diversity, love and individual expression. I, for one, hope we see this unlikely and beautiful travelling duo return to our screens soon.

Starring Hubert Milkowski, Karl Bekele Steinland, and Edyta Torhan, Norwegian Dream sees us travel to Norway, where we meet Robert, a young Polish immigrant who has just arrived to work for a fish factory in hopes of paying off his mother’s rising debts. Suppressing his true self to fit in with the other Poles at the factory, Robert develops feelings for Ivar, the out-and-proud son of the factory owner who also moonlights as a drag performer. As the two get to know each other, a worker’s strike breaks out, and Robert is forced to decide on his future: Will he choose financial stability or his community?

Bold, striking in its honesty and detailed in its exploration of class and culture, Hubert Milkowski’s central performance is one of power and control as this award-winning feature weaves its complex, delicate and enthralling tale.

Martin Decker cares deeply about his online audience, but he loves his wife and kids more as he longs for their return, with his recent family separation a raw and open wound. On first impressions, it would appear Cardiff’s latest YouTube phenomenon is happy as he shoots episodes of The Martin Decker Show in his bathroom, episodes ranging from cooking lessons to skits with his bearded dragon and discussions on long-lost Star Wars toys found in the attic of his mum’s home. But Martin isn’t happy; it’s all a facade.

The Martin Decker Show is a delightful, funny and emotional mockumentary about male mental health, online culture, escapism and uncertainty. It’s one man’s midlife crisis played out online for all to see through the beautiful performance of Keiron Self, the masterful direction of Bafta Cymru-winning film editor Kevin Jones, and the brilliant writing of this powerhouse Welsh partnership.

Ti West’s clever homage to the 60s and 70s origins of the slasher, X, paid tribute to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho, among others, as it explored the foundations and intersections of porn, horror and art. His prequel to X took a remarkably long time to reach British cinemas, mainly due to the pandemic, and sadly, this undoubtedly impacted its eventual release. But for those of us who patiently waited, Pearl is a blood-soaked, technicolour melodrama that has quickly earned a place in the Horror Hall of Fame.

Part homage to The Wizard of Oz and part love letter to melodramatic horror movies like Joan Crawford’s underrated Strait-Jacket, West’s clever dissection of Corn Belt American horror starring the indomitable Mia Goth and David Corenswet is just as intelligent in its narrative structure and artistic vision as his first outing, as he unpicks the relationship between melodrama, fantasy, rural America and horror.