The Cineworlds

A lot of very familiar stuff at the Cineworlds this week: The House of Gucci, Encanto, King Richard, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Eternals, etc, etc. There are a couple of ‘Unlimited’ exclusive screenings of Boxing Day, which is a post-Christmas mid-Atlantic romcom with a largely black cast, directed by Ami Ameen, whose trans-Atlantic acting and writing career it reflects. It includes the Hollywood debut of Leigh-Anne Pinnock, who I believe is a member of Little Mix, whose name sounds like a cut-price offer at Woolworths.

There is also a live relay (if it happens) of Anything Goes, a sold-out Broadway musical currently to be seen at The Barbican in London. It’s a revival of a revival of a revival of the 1934 show written by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse with songs by Cole Porter. It’s a frothy confection about romance on a liner called the S.S. America and in this version stars a Broadway star called Sutton Foster, plus Robert Lindsay, Felicity Kendal and Gary Wilmot. Highly acclaimed by the London critics.

At Gloucester, there is a film called Pirates. This is the directorial debut of the TV and radio personality Reggie Yates: a comedy about young pirate radio enthusiasts desperate to attend a Millennium Night party at the start of 2000, which, as every pub bore knows, was the wrong year. It is intended to present a cheerful vision of young black male friendship, based on his own recollections: he was 17 at the time. ‘Not everybody was running from a gang. Some people were running to the party.’ But that was then. So far this year, 21 teenage boys have been murdered on the streets of London.

The Tivoli

Nothing new to report, except that they have installed a simple screen at the front which actually tells you, in clear black-on-white writing, what films are currently showing and at what time. An outbreak of common sense. The films are House of Gucci, Encanto, No Time to Die, Spencer, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Eternals, King David, and one showing for The French Dispatch (Monday 12:30). Let’s hope they’ve worked out how to switch the heating on.

The Sherborne

The Sherborne has Spencer, plus Eternals on Friday. I don’t fancy Spencer, but Stephen Ilott gave it top marks.

The Guildhall

The Guildhall, which is a rather better place to watch films than The Tivoli, offers more opportunities to see The French Dispatch, The Last Duel, Last Night in Soho, Cry Macho and Dear Evan Hansen. Stephen Ilott gave The French Dispatch top marks and says it looks fabulous on the Guildhall’s screen. On Friday at 14:00, though, there is an interesting new film. Petite Maman is the latest by Céline Sciamma, who made Portrait of a Lady on Fire. It’s a contemporary story this time. According to the Guildhall’s website, ‘Nelly has just lost her grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods. One day she meets a girl her same age building a treehouse.’ Hmm, no prizes for the blurb-writer, who seems not to have noticed that the other girl is spookily identical to Nelly, but the film has had some rave reviews as a sensitive, beautiful vision of childhood. ‘Spellbinding’, said Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian. ‘Fundamentally phoney,’ said Kevin Maher in The Times.

The Roses

The Roses has Last Night in Soho and, like everybody else, Spencer.