The Cineworlds

The Cineworlds have Jurassic World: Dominion all week. It’s a franchise, so you know what you are getting, although why you’d want it remains a mystery. Newsflash: increasingly, you don’t. Our picture shows actress Bryce Dallas Howard up to her neck in slime and at the mercy of brutal and atavistic monsters who see her only as raw meat. Later she appears in a film.

There’s also Top Gun: Maverick, which is a franchise. This one features an old guy called Tom Cruise, who takes off his shirt at one point and sits behind the yoke of a flight-simulator. Oh yes, there’s also Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is a franchise. I can remember when franchises were a simple Ponzi scheme for people who had successful businesses and who wanted to make money without doing anything.

Alex Garland’s new horror, Men, set in the English countryside, gets one outing late tonight and then is on in the afternoons, which is odd for a horror. Not sure what he’s done to deserve being consigned to oblivion. His films are often rather good and have a lot of fans.

The Roses

Top Gun: Maverick takes over at The Roses all week. It’s a franchise.

The Guildhall

The Quiet Girl continues and Scottish indie The Road Dance returns for two more screenings. They are joined by the ubiquitous Top Gun: Maverick and The Outfit starts on Friday June 17th. That’s the one with Mark Rylance as the tailor mingling with gangsters.

The Tivoli

The Tivoli has Top Gun: Maverick, Jurassic World: Dominion, Dr Strange, Downton, Men and lots of empty seats.

The Sherborne

Dr Strange, Bob’s Burgers, Downton… Sometimes I feel strangely privileged to be present at the death of an industry and an artform. I imagine the people who cleaned up behind the horse-drawn omnibuses felt the same way.