Films in English from Friday 4 March

To check for further information click on the locations here. Ocimax, Rivoli, and CineCiutat. Also showing in Minorca.

The Batman (2022)

Showing daily at Augusta (Monday and Tuesday closed) ...16.15... 17.45... 19.45h

Showing at Ocimax Mahon...Thursday...19.30

THE BATMAN

Plot summary: Director and co-writer Matt Reeves has created a new Batman film phase, in which Robert Pattinson reinvents billionaire Bruce Wayne as an elegantly wasted rock star recluse, willowy and dandyish in his black suit with tendrils of dark hair falling over his face. However, Wayne magically trebles in bulk when he reappears in costume and mask as the Dark Knight, with his whole body transformed into a slab-like impassivity. And this of course is happening in the dark vastness of Gotham City, the brutal and murky world which Christopher Nolan originally pioneered with his Dark Knight trilogy. Intriguingly at first, The Batman feels like a serial killer, chiller, movie. For a time it promises a mystery plot relating to the theme of municipal corruption which is so important to the Batman franchise, and holds out hope of an unmasking with a satisfying narrative resolution. It is tremendously well designed, visually spectacular with great set pieces and juddering, body-shattering impacts coming at you in all directions out of the darkness. There are really good performances from Jeffrey Wright and John Turturro, and Zoë Kravitz is charisma personified. Nevertheless, to non Batman fans, this latest attempt could be described as a tad overlong - but, it probably delivers in spades what Batman fans want from their ever evolving cult hero.

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright

Director: Matt Reeves
Duration: 2 hours and 55 minutes
Rated: 12

See above trailer

Death on the Nile (2022)

Showing daily at Rivoli ...16.00 ... 18.30 ... 21.15h

Plot summary: Long ‘coronavirally’ delayed, Kenneth Branagh’s latest Agatha Christie movie puffs effortfully into harbour. It’s the classic (and often filmed) whodunnit about a murder on a steamer making its way down the river in Egypt with an Anglo-American boatful of waxy-faced cameos aboard. The horrible homicide means that one of the passengers will have to spring into action, and this is of course the amply moustached Hercule Poirot, played by Branagh himself. It is Poirot who interviews suspects, supervises corpse-storage in the ship’s galley freezer cabinet and delivers the final unmasking – and all without the captain insisting that the Egyptian police should possibly get involved. Among the stars on the passenger list - Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders play lady’s-companion Mrs Bowers and her wealthy socialite-turned-socialist employer Marie Van Schuyler, and the presence of this venerable comedy duo makes the movie look weirdly like a version of the spoof they might have created for their erstwhile TV show. Russell Brand keeps his comedy stylings under wraps as the deadpan Dr Linus Windlesham. A good time could be had naming all those famous actors in minor walk on parts. Suffice it to say, you will what you’re getting if you choose to visit this movie!

Starring: Tom Bateman, Annette Bening and Kenneth Branagh
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Duration: 2 hours and 7 minutes
Rated: 12

Uncharted (2022)

Showing daily at Ocimax ...15.30...18.00
Showing on Saturday and Sunday at Ocimax ...12.10

Plot summary: Street-smart thief Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) is recruited by seasoned treasure hunter Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) to recover a fortune lost by Ferdinand Magellan 500 years ago. What starts as a heist job for the duo becomes a globe-trotting, white-knuckle race to reach the prize before the ruthless Moncada (Antonio Banderas), who believes he and his family are the rightful heirs. If Nate and Sully can decipher the clues and solve one of the world’s oldest mysteries, they stand to find $5 billion in treasure and perhaps even Nate’s long-lost brother...but only if they can learn to work together. Some have compared the plot of this movie to the hugely popular ‘Indiana Jones’ franchise, which is some compliment if true! An impressive cast list might also persuade a person to see the movie, as all the lead males i.e. Holland, Wahlberg and Banderas are top box office at the moment.

Starring: Tom Holland, Sophia Ali and Mark Wahlberg
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Duration: 1 hour and 56 minutes
Rated: PG-13

Belfast (2021)

Showing daily at Rivoli ...15.30

Plot summary: A wondrously nostalgic look at his childhood, Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast is a heartfelt and emotionally powerful piece of cinema. Branagh has crafted a film where whimsy and realism sit side-by-side so the viewer can visit a Belfast which is as much a figment of the filmmaker’s 50 year-old memory as it is a document charting the start of Northern Ireland’s violence and civil unrest in the late 1960s. As a writer and director, Branagh wants to show his childhood from the perspective of his ten year-old self. The filmmaker’s on-screen proxy, Buddy (Jude Hill) shows us the story with wide-eyed wonder. Be that the moments of flash mob violence, to the joys of afternoon’s watching movies, there’s an exuberance to how young Buddy sees the world. Yes, there is danger, but Buddy never fully realises its true extent. With financial troubles and local violence on the rise, Buddy’s Ma and Pa (Caitríona Balfe and Jamie Dornan) begin to believe that life might be better for their young family if they leave Belfast and start new lives elsewhere.This seems like a lot of upheaval for young Buddy who doesn’t want to leave his home or his grandparents (Ciarán Hinds and Judi Dench). This imagery is perfectly accompanied by the choice selection of Van Morrison’s music which punctuates the onscreen action – the city’s most successful musical son and its most famous filmmaker working together. The film is never cloying and young Jude Hill manages to perfectly capture a wide-eyed sense of wonder. The adults in the cast also impress, all matching the tone that Branagh sets as director. A wonderful film.

Starring: Jude Hill, Lewis McAskie and Caitriona Balfe
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Duration: 1 hour and 38 minutes
Rated: 12

Mothering Sunday (2021)

Showing on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday at CineCiutat ...21:35

Showing on Tuesday at CineCiutat ...17:20

Showing on Thursday at CineCiutat ...21:00

Showing on Friday at CineCiutat...21:40

Showing on Sunday at CineCiutat ...16:55

Plot summary: There is nothing in life if there is no grief, Mothering Sunday seems to say. The period drama’s heroine, Jane Fairchild (Odessa Young), is an orphan – now a maid employed in the Berkshire household of Mr and Mrs Niven (Colin Firth and Olivia Colman). Most of its action takes place on a single day – March 20 1924, the Mothering Sunday of the title, when maids would typically be given the day off to visit home. All are living in the ashes of the First World War, grieving dead sons, fathers, and brothers. Jane alone seems to have been spared the pain. She spends the day visiting her secret lover, Paul Sheringham (Josh O’Connor), the only surviving son of a neighbouring family. Mothering Sunday marks the English-language debut of French director Eva Husson, working off an adaptation of Graham Swift’s 2016 novel by playwright Alice Birch, and there’s certainly a healthy dollop of Gallic sensuality here – first teased when Jane extends a delicate forefinger, swipes up a dollop of apricot jam from a kitchen jar, and places it teasingly in her mouth. Another maid has just asked her where she’s headed for the day. She’ll never tell!

Starring: Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor and Colin Firth
Director: Eva Husson
Duration: 1 hour and 44 minutes
Rated: 12

The Beatles: Get Back - The Rooftop Concert (2022)

Showing on Tuesday and Friday at CineCiutat ...19.30
Showing on Sunday at CineCiutat ...18.05

Plot summary: The Beatles' unforgettable concert on the rooftop of Apple Corps' Savile Row headquarters on January 30, 1969, as a 60-minute feature at an Exclusive IMAX® Event Screening and Filmmaker Q&A on January 30, 2022. To celebrate the anniversary of the landmark performance, select IMAX® theaters host the screenings with a filmmaker Q&A, broadcast via satellite simultaneously to all connected IMAX locations. The concert, which features in its entirety in Peter Jackson's original docuseries The Beatles: Get Back (2021), is presented optimized for IMAX screens, digitally remastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Remastering) technology.

Starring: The Beatles, George Harrison, John Lennon

Director: Peter Jackson

Duration: 1 hour and 5 minutes
Rated: 12

CODA (2021)

Showing on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at CineCiutat ...16:55
Showing on Tuesday and Sunday at CineCiutat ...21:40

Plot summary: A coming-of-age comedy drama that’s crafted with sincerity & brims with authenticity, CODA covers the journey of the only hearing person in a culturally deaf family who finds herself torn between following her dreams & fear of abandoning her parents in pursuit of her passion. It is a simple, heartfelt & crowd-pleasing delight that’s further bolstered by its welcome inclusivity & emotional purity. Written & directed by Sian Heder, the premise is nothing new and the route it takes is also a familiar one but the emotional beats do strike the right chord with the heart and make it an endearing, arresting & heartwarming roller-coaster. Its portrait of deaf community in typical, day-to-day settings is carried out with care & understanding and the family dynamic is both relatable & thoroughly captivating. The small-town setting, radiant camerawork, intelligent wit, breezy pace & silent interplays add more exuberance to the experience but it’s the performances from its entire cast & the spot-on chemistry they share with one another that strengthens the picture from inside out.

Starring: Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur
Director: Sian Heder
Duration: 1 hour and 51 minutes
Rated: 12

Curvy Crew (2021)

Showing on Tuesday at CineCiutat ...19.30

Plot summary: They call themselves the Curvy Kili Crew, 20 plus-sized women determined to conquer the roof of African and, in doing so, make way for others who, like them, have been told their body types do not belong on a mountain. This 90 minute documentary follows the group from training through the climb, all the while delving into the themes of fatness, representation, self-acceptance and everyday acts of courage, through intimate interviews with the women on the mountain.

Director: Ida Joglar
Duration: 2 hours and 1 minute
Rated: 12