Savage House ★★⯪☆☆
Directed by Peter Glanz. Starring Richard E Grant, Claire Foy, Sebastian Armesto, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Dominic Charman, Michael Culkin. 15A cert, gen release, 114 min
Grant and Foy are poshies adrift in the 18th century. More than anything else, this odd film feels like an elaborate, if mid-priced, tribute to Stanley Kubrick’s immortal film Barry Lyndon. All the elements are in place. A sardonic faux-literary voiceover from Robert Bathurst. Rakes abroad in the Georgian era. Pounding classical music (including at least one shared piece). But the comparison ultimately proves unflattering, as the film takes too long to get to a destination – a festering hive of human corruption – inevitable from the first 20 minutes of boozing and double dealing. DC Full review
Masters of the Universe ★★★★☆
Directed by Travis Knight. Starring Nicholas Galitzine, Alison Brie, Idris Elba, Jared Leto, James Purefoy, Charlotte Riley, Kristen Wiig, Morena Baccarin, Camila Mendes. 12A cert, gen release, 141 min
Hugely entertaining adaptation of the 1980s cartoon starring an ingenuously charming Galitzine as the chap who would be He-Man. Against the odds, Knight, director of the excellent Transformers spin-off Bumblebee, has pulled it off again. Combining the small-screen cartoon’s brash aesthetics – the neon whoosh is sickeningly retro – with sharp, self-conscious wit, this Masters of the Universe dances gaily on, to quote This Is Spinal Tap, the “fine line between stupid and clever”. There are reminders of Mike Hodges’s Flash Gordon, from 1980, but Knight has a much surer sense of purpose. Everything here is intentionally funny. DC Full review
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Afternoons of Solitude ★★★★☆
Directed by Albert Serra. Featuring Andrés Roca Rey. No cert, Mubi, 125 min
Serra’s documentary about bullfighting may be the most unsettling horror film of the year. There is undeniable visual splendour here. Artur Tort’s camera captures the ornate costumes and ceremonial choreography with disturbing precision. Paradoxically, Serra repeatedly strips away the distractions that aestheticise bullfighting. The arena becomes a claustrophobic chamber in which animal abuse cannot be outsourced to collective merriment. Strip away the bells, whistles and cheering crowds and what remains is impossible to romanticise: an exhausted, tortured animal, a man performing hypermasculinity to the point of self-annihilation, and inexcusable barbarism. TB Full review
Erupcja ★★★⯪☆
Directed by Pete Ohs. Starring Charli XCX, Lena Góra, Will Madden. 12A cert, limited release, 72 min
Set over a long weekend in Warsaw, this slight, appealing romantic drama follows three people caught between the lives they have fashioned and the ones they imagine they might still reclaim. Charli XCX plays Bethany, a Londoner visiting Poland with her boyfriend, Rob (Madden). Following on from impressive turns in 100 Nights of Hero and Sacrifice, Charli continues to demonstrate real screen clout, perfectly capturing Bethany’s uncertainty. At just 72 minutes, Erupcja is more sketch than statement. But its potent snapshot of roads not taken stays long after the credits have rolled. TB Full review
