Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2024 i Total Film

The interstellar terror of Alien is something that has haunted film fans for decades now. If, like me, you weren't even alive when it first debuted, you still keenly felt its threat. VHS box art, those whispered playground rumours about something bursting out of someone's chest, snatched glimpses of telly reruns and that all-timer tagline. Has any line more ominously set out its film's stall than 'In space no one can hear you scream'? Well, 'This time it's war' arguably comes close, with James Cameron's sequel beefing up the action. So we're immensely excited for Alien: Romulus, director Fede Alvarez's new attempt to bring the franchise back to its dread-soaked roots. His new instalment is set between Alien and Aliens, and features a new cast and fresh dangers as well as…

TEASERS While Rian Johnson's star-studded Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery has hogged much of the casting news these last few months, it's now the turn of a new murder-mystery movie, The Wives, to be the talk of Hollywood, with Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence signing on the dotted. A co-production between Apple Original Films and A24, The Wives has been scribbled by the sharp quills of Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley (Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical) and is reportedly inspired by reality TV franchise The Real Housewives, which follows the eventful lives of fabulously wealthy women across America. No news yet if Lawrence will be playing the detective intent on solving murder most foul, or one of the glamorous social butterflies who so often sting like wasps. What is certain is…

ARROW VIDEO 'We're well-regarded for the care and quality we bring to each of our releases,' says Arrow's James White. 'Arrow's primary focus has been horror, cult and genre, but we release a wide range of classic and foreign titles as well.' KEY RELEASES Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest 4K UHD; RoboCop 4K UHD; Cinema Paradiso 4K UHD EUREKA ENTERTAINMENT Eureka's collection is divided into two strands: the Masters of Cinema series showcases historically important, groundbreaking films spanning from silent cinema to contemporary works; Eureka Classics delves into cult and martial arts movies, from vintage Jackie Chan to 80s teen romance Valley Girl. KEY RELEASES Metropolis; Mothra; The Police Story Trilogy 4K UHD INDICATOR 'We publish a diverse range of types, styles and genres of film,' says Sam Dunn of…

OUT NOW CINEMAS SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED CAPRICORN ONE 1978 A faked Mars mission is at the centre of Peter Hyams' pacy, chase-crammed thriller. THE DISH 2000 A wobbly satellite dish threatens a global TV blackout during the moon landing in this charming Aussie comedy. HIDDEN FIGURES 2016 Real-life NASA maths whizzes battle racism, sexism and gravity in Theodore Melfi's Oscar-nommed drama. For more reviews visit gamesradar.com/totalfilm Two of the biggest stars in cinema's firmament shoot for the moon in this jaunty if somewhat overstuffed space-race romcom. A sparky Scarlett Johansson plays rule-bending advertising maven Kelly Jones, who's hired to 'market the moon' to an uninterested America, putting her on a collision course with NASA's workaholic launch director Cole Davis (a straight-shooting Channing Tatum). Properly paired for the first…

OUT 25 JULY PRIME VIDEO After the sober-ish combat story of The Covenant, Guy Ritchie reassumes caper positions for this WW2 thriller. Far from playing to his strengths, the result is a blasé relapse for a director prone to glib stylings and posh-bloke mannerisms when on familiar turf. Lacking the irreverence that lifted his early work, Ministry isn't even throwaway fun: it's slickly diverting at best, DOA at worst. Loosely grounded in 'Operation Postmaster' reality, the story involves a ragtag gaggle of well-spoken renegades doing off-book missions for the Brits. Tasked to prevent supplies from reaching enemy U-boats, Henry Cavill's Gus March-Phillipps gathers his gang to biff the Germans; meanwhile, Eiza González's Marjorie keeps creepy Nazis distracted. Channelling Kingsman vibes via Inglourious Basterds, Ministry offers flashes of style but precious…

SCREEN OUT 2 AUGUST CINEMAS When incorporating social media in their stories, modern teen flicks tend to focus on the gossipy, going-viral aspects of influencer culture. But for lots of young people, some online spaces can be appealing meeting grounds for expressing your personality in theoretically low-stakes situations (which can still feel huge to introverts). These elements of the digital age were particularly well-rendered in Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade (2018). Writer/director Sean Wang's similarly tender and charged debut feature works as a period-piece companion to that film, albeit with a few key differences in milieu. Set in 2008, this semi-autobiographical comedy drama tracks a Taiwanese-American's awkward coming-of-age in Fremont, California, at a time when digital media is holding increasing sway over kids. Navigating cultural shame, eroding friendships and online chats…

SCREEN OUT 19 JULY CINEMAS Ayear on from their triumphant shows at Wembley Stadium comes Blur: To the End, a documentary capturing the band's 2023 reunion. Once it was all about Britpop, Parklife and the Oasis rivalry; now there's middle age and dodgy knees to contend with. And, as lead singer Damon Albarn puts it, the very real fear they are a band 'trying to relive their past'. Toby L.'s fly-on-the-wall documentary takes us from the recording of the band's mournful recent album The Ballad of Darren to a series of warm-up gigs (including a homecoming at Colchester Arts Centre) and then those two nights at Wembley, the biggest venue the band has ever played. Albarn, together with guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree, are genial…

1991 OUT 5 AUGUST DVD, BD, 4K UHD, DIGITAL EXTRAS Featurettes, Additional scenes, Stills gallery (4K/BD only) It just jumps off the screen. I live for that,' beams Patrick Swayze in Make or Break, a featurette that accounts for half of the 45 minutes' worth of bonus material that was filmed in 2006 and has been now ported onto this new UHD and Blu-ray release. Well, Patrick, we live for it, too – which makes it worthwhile seeing Point Break in 4K, even if the support package is so much flotsam and jetsam. Originally, Ridley Scott was set to direct, with Charlie Sheen readying his wetsuit to play greenhorn FBI agent Johnny Utah, who infiltrates a gang of Californian surf dudes knocking off banks. Today, it's impossible to imagine anyone…

VARIOUS MIDSOMMAR COLLECTION OUT NOW July 2024 marks five years since the release of Ari Aster's cult-in-every-sense horror; celebrate not with an ill-advised rural getaway but by checking out A24's varied collection, which includes T-shirts, patches, an incense holder based on the film's Hårga temple and a 'Flo scream' pin. There's even a cute kids' tee (a thankfully more innocuous spin on Midsommar's own bear 'outfit'). Take paws at shop.a24films.com. COLLECTIBLE JOHN WICK TUBBZ OUT NOW People keep asking if he's quack… But now yeah, we're thinking he's quack. Yep, it's bloodbath time with this cosplaying duck based on Keanu Reeves' un-retired hitman. Standing roughly 9cm tall when outside of his tub display stand (black, of course), Baba Ducka is splattered with detail: pistol, wedding ring, silk tie. Frankly, he's…

THE BOOK OF ELSEWHERE Deathless zen warriors, deer-pig cults, big words… This paired novel by Keanu Reeves and 'new weird' author China Miéville (Kraken) is a mutually on-brand haul of mixed intrigues. Immortal killer B could be Reeves' Wick/Neo combined; as B experiments on the 75,000-year-old babirusa to understand its secrets, Miéville's touch shows. Part gory, part cerebral, the results wobble between studiedly opaque, mildly 'whoa' and fitfully fun. Come for the teasing team-up, stay for the flights of fierce fancy and deadpan wit. KEVIN HARLEY A GUIDE TO MOVIE BASED VIDEO GAMES, 2001 ONWARDS Following up his book tackling 1982-2000, writer Christopher Carton sets his sights on the world of film tie-ins from the past two decades. From PS1 to current consoles, it's a snapshot of how gaming has…

FAITH ROSWELL WHITE OWL 'There will always be monster movies starring creatures from the deep,' says the author of this entertaining chronicle of a subaquatic subgenre whose memorable highs (Jaws, The Shape of Water) have been swamped by a shoal of lows (Sharknado, Jaws: The Revenge). Nessie and Godzilla are among the beasties that surface in a light-hearted yet well-researched tome that offers engaging answers to questions (eg, are mermaids monsters?) that have long tickled genre fans' minds.…

How his life is measured in movies When it comes to reflecting on any significant events in my life, they're all marked by movie release dates. If I'm trying to recall my age at a certain pivotal moment, I'll always work backwards to get the year by thinking about the films I was seeing at the cinema at that time. Forget Proust's madeleine – a cinema ticket stub from 1999 is my preferred form of time travel. I don't know exactly how this gift/affliction began. I recall seeing Beauty and the Beast – or, rather, not seeing it as we queued round the block and got turned away on our first attempt – as a seven-year-old in 1991. Similarly, my most vivid cinema memory is watching Jurassic Park when I'd…

FILM BUFF 1935–2024 When it was announced, in September 2017, that Donald Sutherland was to be awarded an honorary Oscar, he said, 'I don't deserve this. But I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either.' Sutherland, who died on 20 June, aged 88, most certainly did deserve his golden statue, and it was to the Academy's shame that he was never otherwise so much as nominated despite lighting up such classic films as M*A*S*H (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), Ordinary People (1980) and JFK (1991). Instead he had to content himself with winning an Emmy for TV movie Citizen X (1995), concerning the hunt for Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, and two Golden Globes, again for Citizen X and for Lyndon B. Johnson-era political drama Path to War…

Curious what Fede Alvarez has been up to since his last film in 2018? For one thing, he built a 1:1 replica of Bilbo's Bag End house in his back garden for his kids, and TF has seen the pics. The Crow director Rupert Sanders and I lamented that when we were younger and saw things from the 70s and 80s, we thought they were really cool, while nowadays Gen Z seem to think our millennial stuff is lame. Interviewing Viggo Mortensen in person about The Dead Don't Hurt for the Total Film podcast was the highlight of my career so far. I was very restrained and asked no Lord of the Rings questions! During my Rings of Power S2 set visit, I accidentally bumped into Morfydd Clark in her…

TEASERS She may only be 16, but Ariana Greenblatt has already had the kind of career most veteran actors would envy. The go-to for younger versions of iconic characters (Ahsoka Tano, Avengers: Infinity War's young Gamora), Greenblatt also memorably schooled Barbie in Greta Gerwig's box-office titan. Next up: she'll appear as fan-favourite, bunny-eared, pre-teen munitions expert Tiny Tina in Borderlands. How does Tiny Tina fit into the Borderlands crew? She is the boss, and everyone is scared of her! Whatever Tina says, they get it done. But because she is so young and is dealing with all this stuff, a lot of the gang see her and want to protect her. And even though Tina hates that, she appreciates having that core family, which is really sweet. Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn…

'I THINK THE X-MEN FILM I'M IN IS THE GAYEST FILM THAT I'VE EVER DONE, AND THAT'S ME SAYING THAT!' ALAN CUMMING REFLECTS ON PLAYING NIGHTCRAWLER IN 2003'S X-MEN 2. 'Different people are being ferried in. You have to give each one of them attention, focus and an articulate answer that you just gave to the person before. That's irritating.' LUPITA NYONG'O DESCRIBES PRESS JUNKETS AS A 'TORTURE TECHNIQUE'. 2025 THE YEAR THAT HORROR MASTER JOHN CARPENTER IS FINALLY GETTING A STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME. 'I HOPE THIS DOESN'T EMBARRASS HIM TOO MUCH, BUT I'M SORRY, MAN, I GOTTA DO THIS. THE GOAT CAME TO SEE ME – THE ONE AND ONLY MARTIN SCORSESE.' JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE SALUTES A LEGEND WHILE PLAYING MADISON SQUARE GARDEN. GOOD THING GAME CHANGER PRODUCTION COMPANY…

'Cameron loved Don't Breathe. I think Stephen Lang showed it to him while shooting Avatar. So Cameron invited me to the set of Avatar 2 just to show me all the technology. Four years later I was having a discussion with my co-writer Rodo [Sayagues] about what does Hudson mean by a “bug hunt” [in Aliens]? Does he mean that the Colonial Marines met some sort of alien life before? So I was like, “Well, I'll just ask the writer.” I sent Jim an email, and he was thrilled to know that I was doing Alien. He was like, “Let's talk all about it.” 'We had a long chat. At first, he was telling me a lot of what I wanted to hear. I had a lot of questions about…

How different was playing Halbrand/Sauron this season? I had an absolute blast. It was me and Charlie [Edwards] working in a room, doing everything in sequence. But man, after a whole year of hiding secrets, and then a whole press tour of hiding secrets, I just enjoyed being Sauron and not having to hide stuff. This season, we get to be with Sauron; you're seeing him being Sauron. In Season 1, where Halbrand would have turned away and had some Sauron moments privately, now the camera stays with him. How was playing the elf Annatar compared to Halbrand? It's such a process, developing a whole new look, a new voice, a new way of moving. The most important thing was finding a throughline that connects the two characters because they're…

When Total Film sits down with M. Night Shyamalan in a London hotel in late May 2024, the 53-year-old writer/director is in a thoroughly reflective mood. Though he's here to talk to TF about Trap, his latest mystery-box experience about a serial killer (played by Josh Hartnett) being pursued by the authorities at a pop concert, across the corridor his middle daughter Ishana is speaking to press about her feature directorial debut The Watched, on which M. Night is a producer. It's a full-circle moment for Shyamalan who, like 20-something Ishana, started directing young. He turned 29, in fact, on the same day his third feature, The Sixth Sense, released in American cinemas on 6 August 1999. The film's extraordinary success – second only to The Phantom Menace at the…

OUT NOW CINEMAS A little Nicolas Cage goes a terrifyingly long way in Osgood Perkins' movie, a serial-killer-procedural-slash-occult-delving creepfest that confidently echoes The Silence of the Lambs and Zodiac before spinning off wildly on its own diabolical axis. Maika Monroe assumes the Jodie Foster role as Lee Harker, an introverted FBI newbie whose near-psychic intuition could be the key to ending a barbaric string of whole-family slaughters in 90s Oregon. Cage, meanwhile, is the film's titular Lecter: an unctuous predator with a frizzy mop, sing-song cadence and prosthetics that make him weirdly resemble Celia Weston in Shyamalan's The Village. Kicking off in the same rounded-square ratio used in David Lowery's A Ghost Story, Longlegs unnerves from the get-go by having a little girl face a wintry encounter with a wheedling,…

SCREEN OUT NOW CINEMAS Buster Keaton, Tex Avery, Caddyshack, Evil Dead II, George Miller, arcade games, crazed TikTok videos with animal filters… blend all of those influences together and you might begin to explain the inspired absurdity of Hundreds of Beavers, a DIY, black-and-white slapstick comedy that outstrips Sasquatch Sunset to claim the title of 2024's most WTF movie. Presented as a silent-era photoplay, but utilising animation techniques and more than 1,500 effects shots, Mike Cheslik's relentlessly funny lo-fi offering tracks 19th-century applejack salesman Jean (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, who co-wrote with Cheslik) as he battles the titular critters (humans in mascot costumes) and attempts to woo the daughter (Olivia Graves) of a protective, gun-toting furrier (Doug Mancheski). With the action taking place in wintry snowscapes, the non-stop gags range…

OUT 19 JULY CINEMAS A pistol-packing first-time leading lady in her 90s, June Squibb (Nebraska, Inside Out 2) is the motor driving this wildly charming revenge-com. Her Thelma is a sweet but stubborn LA oldster scammed out of $10,000 by a fake caller requesting bail for her grandson Danny. Suddenly, she's on a runaway vengeance spree, with pensioner pal Ben (a deadpan Richard Roundtree in a worthy last role) reluctantly riding shotgun when she hijacks his two-seater disability scooter. First-time writer/director Josh Margolin sharpens the film into a smart senior thriller, giving us tense geriatric POVs of the challenges that ensue. Thus, a careering care-home scooter chase, a nail-biting furniture climb to swipe a weapon, and a thudding face-plant fall all have the feel of high-stakes Mission: Impossible action sequences…

Foley artistry… OUT NOW NETFLIX It's been 30 years since we last saw Eddie Murphy's motormouthed Detroit cop Axel Foley tearing up LA in Beverly Hills Cop III. But now he's back, still silver of tongue as he brashly disobeys orders, but also following Mav's lead in Top Gun: Maverick by being a little less cocky, a little more wise. 'They love me in Beverly Hills,' grins Foley, this time drawn to the city to protect his estranged lawyer daughter, Jane (Taylour Paige), whose life is threatened when she defends a young man framed for murder. The real culprits, she believes, are LA cops operating under the jurisdiction of the Rolex-wearing Captain Grant (Kevin Bacon). Mark Malloy's feature debut is a pleasing return to the action thrillers of the 80s,…

1984 OUT NOW 4K UHD, BD EXTRAS Commentaries, Featurettes, Booklet Inspired as much by T.H. White's Arthurian saga The Once and Future King as Star Wars, this sci-fi adventure centres on Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a teenager whose sole escape from his workaday trailer-park life is trying to nab the high score on the Starfighter arcade machine. After doing just that, Alex is approached by the cabinet's creator, Centauri (Robert Preston), who reveals the game was designed to find pilots for a real-life interstellar conflict… One of the mini-boom of movies that saw Hollywood trying to cash in on the early days of the video-game craze, The Last Starfighter has somehow not felt the love of 80s nostalgists as much as the likes of Tron (1982) or WarGames (1983). Rather…

INSIDE OUT 2 Andrea Datzman (Dug Days) steps into long-time collaborator Michael Giacchino's shoes for the life of Riley. She's a fine fit, threading her predecessor's Riley themes through gusty guitars with teen vim. A new friendship theme twists malleably from joy to sorrow; a high-strung anxiety theme channels Bernard Herrmann smartly. And while Giacchino's wonkier abstractions are lost, the sense of maturing continuation on Every Messy, Beautiful Part of Her delivers a thoroughly winning trade off. THE BIKERIDERS Jeff Nichols stacks up an on-point, Scorsese-grade jukebox mix for his biker drama. Most of the cuts channel the years between The Wild One/Easy Rider, with The Stooges barrelling raucously into the 70s. The rock'n'rollicking soul of Gary U.S. Bonds' I Wanna Holler (but the Town's Too Small) thrills, and Muddy…

EDITED BY JONATHAN WILKINS TITAN Series mastermind Gene Roddenberry leads the charge in a comprehensive look back at the original 60s series. Comprising archive interviews with the extended cast and crew, this glossy volume also takes in the animated spin-off show and six movies. It's not exactly undiscovered territory for Trekkies, but with sumptuous stills and concept art it adds up to a big, bold celebration of the franchise's first iteration.…

1 FRIDAY THE 13TH: PART III It wasn't until 1983's threequel that Jason Voorhees settled on his signature hockey mask. In the original, the killer was his mom. In Part II, he wore a sack on his bonce. Part VII introduced the boiler suit to complete the famous outfit. 2 STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPE Darth Vader's mask features tech to keep him breathing (heavily). But as Darth Sidious says in Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith, 'Few realised its true function as they were too fearful to see beyond its grim visage.' 3 BLACK SUNDAY Mario Bava's gothic masterpiece is one of Tim Burton's favourite horror movies. It features witches, vampires and a horrific mask with spikes on the inside that's used as a gruesome implement of torture.…

MODEL BEHAVIOUR Born in Ukraine and raised in Los Angeles, Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich rose to fame as a model, taking on assignments from the age of 12. Her first major acting credit was as co-lead of Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991), a film notorious for its teenage nudity (and 0% Rotten Tomatoes rating). Disappointed at much of her work being cut from Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused (1993), she took a hiatus from acting and moved to Europe. BESSON EFFORTS Jovovich returned to acting with a star-making turn in Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (1997), earning a number of awards nominations (including, unjustly, a Razzie nod). She reunited with Besson (to whom she was briefly married) for biopic Joan of Arc (1999). As her action-hero credentials began to stack…

THIS MONTH Phase IV What do The Man with the Golden Arm, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, Spartacus, West Side Story, Broadcast News, Big, Goodfellas and Casino all have in common? Their title sequences are the work of graphic designer Saul Bass, whose legendary career in movies ran from 1954 to 1996. But Bass only ever directed one feature, Phase IV (1974). A failure at the box office that was largely dismissed by critics ('interminable,' sniffed Variety), it's a strange hybrid of two genres that were prevalent as the time: intelligent, ideas-driven science-fiction (The Andromeda Strain, Silent Running, Soylent Green), the like of which held sway before Star Wars insisted on spectacle; and the revenge-of-nature B-movies (Frogs, Night of the Lepus, Killer Bees) that tapped into growing ecological fears. Also…

HAVE YOUR SAY TOTALFILM.COM VIDEOS • REVIEWS • TRAILERS • NEWS totalfilm.com twitter.com/totalfilm facebook.com/totalfilm totalfilm@futurenet.com STAR LETTER I just rewatched the original Jurassic Park for the first time in two decades. I was blown away by how much tension I felt, due to the characters being so well-drawn, which made me care about them. On the other hand, watching the recent Jurassic World films, I felt none of that. There's not an ounce of bloat in the entire first Park. I believe it needed to be a one-and-done production. I feel the same about The Matrix, Joker and Squid Game. Any others that you guys think should also stand proudly alone? MICHAEL DEMETRIOU, CRAWLEY Another Spielberg movie starting with J springs to mind: 1975's Jaws. Mind you, Jaws: The Revenge…

Winning $3.6 billion on the lottery is most people's idea of a dream come true. But what about a lottery where people can legally kill you to steal your prize money? That's the premise of breathless new action-comedy Jackpot from director Paul Feig. 'I got about 40 pages into reading this and I was like “I have to make this movie!”' Feig remembers of Rob Yescombe's script, which was initially titled Grand Death Lotto. 'I kept putting off reading it initially,' he laughs, saying he thought it sounded 'dumb' and 'really silly'. Yet once he read it properly, he couldn't put it down. 'It was exactly what I'd always wanted to do.' Like Feig's other fan-favourite, Spy, starring Melissa McCarthy, at the heart of Jackpot are human characters who chime with…

PROMETHEUS (2012) Other than a puzzling appearance on a mural, the traditional xeno doesn't appear in Ridley Scott's first prequel. Instead, we get the Aethon/Deacon, born from the union of a tentacled Trilobite and an Engineer. Key features include a fully organic appearance, a goblin shark-style protrusible jaw and the fact it bursts out, almost fully grown, using the back of its pointed head. ALIEN: COVENANT (2017) As well as the backbursting, throat-erupting Neomorph – a translucent-skinned, more humanoid beast with fangs but no second jaw – Covenant introduces the Praetomorph, a creature engineered by David. Missing most biomechanical features, and born in miniature (adorable), it's otherwise a close cousin of the xeno we know and, er, love. ALIEN (1979) 'Kane's son', as Ash puts it (Daddy must be so…

OUT 26 JULY CINEMAS Evading easy categorisation, Jane Schoenbrun's vivid follow-up to We're All Going to the World's Fair can be read as a transgender allegory, one that compellingly explores the idea of being born into one existence, feeling you should be living a different one, but not knowing how to cross over to this other life where it seems you would be happier. In 1996, sheltered teen Owen (Ian Foreman) is intrigued by commercials for The Pink Opaque, a young-adult fantasy show that's on too late for him to watch. But with the help of the older Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), Owen gets a taste of the show, which then becomes an obsession. Two years later, Owen (now Justice Smith) and Maddy have continued to bond over the series, but…

OUT NOW CINEMAS The past ain't finished with you, Maxine,' yells Kevin Bacon's odious private dick in writer/director Ti West's trilogy-closing slasher tale. Following prequel Pearl, this sees Mia Goth reprising her wannabe porn-star character from franchise starter X. Now a success in adult entertainment circa 1985, Maxine is chasing a legit LA acting career. West's fictional story rubs shoulders with 80s history: real-life serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the Night Stalker, is on the loose. Sex workers that Maxine knows become victims; detectives Williams (Michelle Monaghan) and Torres (Bobby Cannavale) aim to take down the killer. Things take a twist when Bacon's sleazy PI tracks her down for his wealthy client, who has an unusual interest in Maxine. Who is he? Well, that's one of the questions hanging over…

OUT NOW CINEMAS 19 JULY NETFLIX Ahead for heights is a strict requirement for this pulsepounding documentary, in which two Moscovian daredevils set out to scale the world's second-tallest skyscraper without ending up in handcuffs or falling to their deaths. 'We are not vandals,' insists Angela Nikolau, a circus performer's daughter whose sky-high acrobatics lend a gymnastic grace to the illegal pastime of rooftopping. 'But we are technically criminals,' admits her partner Ivan Beerkus. The latter's plan to mount Kuala Lumpur's Merdeka 118 edifice and perform a Dirty Dancing-like lift on its cloud-grazing spire propels this giddily captivating nerve-shredder. It's a mission that proves as gripping as Philippe Petit's quest to tightrope-walk between the Twin Towers in the stylistically analogous Man on Wire (2008). Culled from over 200 hours of…

SCREEN 1992 OUT 29 JULY BD, 4K UHD, DIGITAL EXTRAS Poster/Art cards (4K only), Deleted scenes Often faint-praised as his most 'conventional' film, Spike Lee's Malcolm X biopic is bolder – and more contentious – than its rep suggests. From initial conception, the muchdebated script took 25 years to reach screens. When Lee became director, he tussled with the studio to craft an epic and intimately detailed portrait of a conflicted leader, galvanised by a dynamic lead. With Denzel Washington upfront, Lee anatomises Malcolm's growth across four miniseries-friendly periods. We meet him as a petty thief and hustler, then a prisoner converted to the Nation of Islam. Malcolm's time as an orator follows, before a break from the NoI leads to tragedy. Lee and DoP Ernest Dickerson used David Lean's…

SCREEN 1999 OUT 29 JULY 4K UHD EXTRAS Commentary, Featurettes A history teacher on the ropes, a divisive student, an eyeball problem, a lie, a resignation… On the surface, Alexander Payne's second feature pre-empts his recent The Holdovers. But you'd need to add vats of acid to properly characterise Election, a film whose brittle satire of high-school politics and flawed masculinity still stings, 25 years on. In pitch-perfect casting, Reese Witherspoon plays laser-targeted school-presidential hopeful Tracy Flick opposite Matthew Broderick as flagging teacher Mr. McAllister. While he preaches (then forgets…) history's morals, she sets her claim on the future. But will McAllister's misogyny, marital infidelity and electoral tampering prove his undoing? Bolstered by on-point support from Chris Klein and Jessica Campbell as competing candidates, Election is often seen as a…

THE MEASURE OF A MAN S2, 1989 The show's watershed moment involves a heady test of the main characters' mettle. Deeming android Data to be Starfleet property, Picard's bosses decide they need to take the tin man apart to see what makes him tick. And so The Next Generation becomes a courtroom drama, with Picard arguing for Data's autonomy, while a reluctant Riker is forced to speak against his friend's sentience. The ethically complex story, submitted on spec by Melinda M. Snodgrass at the encouragement of pal George R.R Martin, is peak Trek.…

BRIDGET BAISS APPLAUSE Well-timed ahead of the upcoming Bill Skarsgård reboot, this revised and updated edition of Baiss' book explores the genesis of the 1994 cult actioner. Tragedy is a key theme, from James O'Barr's comic book (rooted in personal loss) to the on-set incident that claimed Brandon Lee's life. While much here is concerned with the star's death, every facet of the film and its legacy is rigorously explored, with vivid commentary from those involved.…

FOR SALE This remote Alpine chalet near Grenoble would be ideally suited to a professional writer who spends long periods working from home. Close to hiking trails, this duplex has been undergoing renovations that are not yet complete, but there's plenty of living space for a couple, one child and a dog. Adapted from an old Mauritian farmhouse, the property boasts splendid snowy views from its 1,400m elevation. Be aware, the attic is not completely soundproof, so is not the ideal spot from which to blast out steel-drum renditions of controversial rap songs. The attic window also requires some safety proofing: a fall from that height would be unambiguously fatal.…

THE FIFTH ELEMENT 1997 Speaking a made-up language, Jovovich thoroughly convinces as Leeloo, and later described the runaway alien as her favourite role. JOAN OF ARC 1999 Besson's uneven biopic is elevated by a suitably intense Jovovich as the iron-clad, bowl-cut-sporting Maid of Orleans. RESIDENT EVIL 2002-16 Six entries in the zombie-fighting series may have been overkill, but Jovovich's grit and charisma kept audiences invested. STONE 2010 Jovovich gives her dramatic skills a rigorous workout in this psychological crime thriller led by Robert De Niro and Edward Norton.…

TOTAL FILM SPOILER ALERT! FADE IN: EXT. FOREST Many generations after CAESAR's death in the last film, apes are still the dominant species on the planet thanks to their superior intellect. And yet, NOA is part of a clan that collects eggs. NOA Father, Master of Birds, we have collected our eggs for the ritual, but we saw a human! NOA'S FATHER We must tell the Elders right away for some reason! NOA discovers the human hiding on site. She accidentally crushes the eggs. Suddenly, a group of apes led by a gorilla named SYLVA attacks everyone. SYLVA I don't really understand this whole bird-egg thing, so I'm just going to burn the whole place to the ground. NOA'S FATHER No! I must save the birds! And probably some of…