’Uncle Frank’

A quiet, restrained narrative where secrets are exposed in the 1970s-set family drama. 18 year-old Beth escapes her redneck South Carolina home life to study at the New York college where her uncle Frank teaches.

Having been encouraged by her uncle to follow her dreams, Beth (Sophia Lillis) surprises him by arriving in New York. The closeted Frank (Paul Bettany) is forced into honesty with his niece on her meeting his lover, Wally (Peter Macdissi). News of the death of Frank Senior (Stephen Root) sees a road trip like no other as the three head south and the bigotry of small-town homesville.

Cute with the occasional barb and a few tragic secrets, Uncle Frank is a wry, nuanced, unchallenging feature that, if nothing else, is hard to dislike.

Rating: 62%

Director: Alan Ball ((Towelhead, TV’s Six Feet Under)

Writer: Alan Ball (American Beauty, TV’s True Blood)

Main cast: Paul Bettany (The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Margin Call), Sophia Lillis (It, Asteroid City), Peter Macdissi (Towelhead, The Losers)

‘Grandma’

Entertaining diversion as grandma (a splendidly splenetic Lily Tomlin) finds herself the financial target for $630 from granddaughter, college student Sage (Julia Garner). Seems Sage is pregnant and is too afraid to ask her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) for money for an abortion.

Having recently cut up her credit cards, the money is not so easy to find and the appointment is only a few hours away. As they traverse the city looking to call in favours, the journey becomes one of self discovery and understanding.

Lots of strong cameos add to a sharply scripted, character-driven narrative dominated by Tomlin. She’s pensive, acerbic, witty, canny, vulnerable – and lonely. The result is a readily enjoyable feature written and directed by Paul Weitz.

Rating: 64%

Director: Paul Weitz (Bel Canto, Admission)

Writer: Paul Weitz (Bel Canto, Being Flynn)

Main cast: Lily Tomlin (9 to 5, TV’s Grace and Frankie), Julia Garner (The Assistant, TV’s Ozark), Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River, TV’s The Morning Show)

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ (Marvel #19)

A sardonic Paul Rudd continues to charm, even if he is the bad books of Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), having ‘borrowed’ the Ant-Man suit to head off to Germany to help the Avengers.

Continuing a plotline from the first installment of Ant-Man, the father-daughter team are now fugitives themselves. They need the help of Scott to travel in the quantum world to find Pym’s missing wife (Michelle Pfeiffer). But they need to get Rudd out of his house – and avoid Ava (Hannah John-Kamen), the somewhat physically unstable woman who needs Pym’s technology to stabilise.

Lots of shrinking and enlarging of people, vehicles and buildings (!) abound with that technology in high demand, mixed with Hope in a suit of her own, Scott avoiding being caught out of home and the wonderfully funny Luis (Michael Peña) returning to continue where he and his team left off in the first film.

Rating: 62%

Director: Peyton Reed (Ant-Man, Down With Love)

Writer: Chris McKenna (The Lego Batman Movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming), Erik Sommers (The Lego Batman Movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man, Role Models), Andrew Barrer (Haunt, No Exit), Gabriel Ferrari (No Exit, Die in a Gunfight)

Main cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly (The Hobbit, Real Steel), Michael Douglas (Fatal Attraction, Behind the Candelabra)

‘Ant-Man’ (Marvel #13)

A charm-laden, winning Paul Rudd is the highlight in a superheo feature that’s not without merit – even if the premise is somewhat off-kilter (but then what superhero isn’t?).

Burglar and petty thief Scott Lang finds himself without a place to live or a job on release from his latest heist. And he needs both to get visiting rights to his daughter, Cassie. So when a surefire housebreak comes his way, Scott takes the opportunity. Only nothing is what it seems, with the house belonging to scientist Michael Douglas and the ruse a trap. Lang find himself in the centre of not only a father-daughter conflict (Evangeline Lilly) but also a power play between Douglas and successor, Corey Stoll. The formula to shrink a man the prize.

It’s an enjoyable superhero ride with an emphasis on the humour in director Peyton Reed’s genial genesis tale.

Rating: 64%

Director: Peyton Reed’s (Yes Man, The Break-Up)

Writer: Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, The Adventures of Tintin), Joe Cornish (The Adventures of Tintin, Attack the Block), Adam KcKay (The Big Short, Vice)

Main cast: Paul Rudd (My Idiot Brother, The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Michael Douglas (Wall St, Traffic), (Evangeline Lilly – The Hobbit, TV’s Lost)

‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette?’

A modest, wry little tale – but Maria Semple’s novel is not obvious material for director Richard Linklater.

Reclusive and eccentric, award-winning architect Cate Blanchett has been AWOL from her profession for almost 20 years to focus on family life. But she’s had enough of Seattle and suburban neighbours. With daughter Bee (newcomer Emma Nelson) applying for college, it’s time for change. Antarctica, however, was not on the agenda.

It’s gentle, it’s occasionally funny with Blanchett hardly challenged as she and succesful hi-tec executive Billy Crudup as her husband need to do little more than go through the motions (good as they are). Nice mother/ daughter chemistry, though.

Rating: 58%

Director: Richard Linklater (Last Flag Flying, Boyhood)

Writer: Richard Linklater (Last Flag Flying, Boyhood), Holly Gent (Me & Orson Welles), Vincent Palmo Jnr (Me & Orson Welles) - based on the book by Maria Semple

Main cast: Cate Blanchett (Carol, Blue Jasmine), Billy Crudup (Watchmen, Spotlight), Emma Nelson

‘Jurassic World’

Jurassic World is exactly what you would expect – a templated script, an obvious storyline and some darn fine special effects. And there’s plenty of references to the previous films from a decade ago to create links rather than try to ignore the fate of the previous theme park (although it’s not crucial to have seen these earlier films).

Enjoyable within its own set limits, Jurassic World is already one of the most successful films of all time and will undoubtedly launch the careers of stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard somewhere into the stratosphere.

As the two play against each other with their will they/won’t they? love afafir (of course they will…), Howard, as the CEO of the Jurassic World theme park, must deal with the latest attraction going rogue – at the same time her long-time-no-see nephews arrive for the week.

Rating: 53%

Director: Colin Trevorrow (Safety Guaranteed, Reality Show)

Writer: Rick Jaffa (Eye For an Eye, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Amanda Silver (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Colin Trevorrow (Reality Show, Making Revolution), Derek Connolly (Safety Guaranteed)

Main cast: Chris Pratt (The Guardians of the Galaxy 1-3, What’s Your Number? ), Bryce Dallas Howard (The Help, Hereafter), Ty Simpkins (Revolutionary Road, The Next Three Days), Nick Robinson (The Kings of Summer)

‘Men, Women & Children’

The critics slaughtered this on release – somewhat unfairly in my opinion.

Admittedly, it’s flawed, a little over-reaching in it’s commentary/moral with too many stories to give justice to them, but Men, Women & Children is an enjoyable small film with numerous inter-related stories and strong if quiet and nuanced performances (Adam Sandler is actually good in this and the storyline between him and his wife, played by Rosemarie DeWitt, is one of the most interesting of them all in the film!).

Rating: 57%

Director: Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air)

Writer: Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking, Up in the Air), Erin Cressida Wilson (Secretary, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus) based on novel by Chad Kultgen

Main cast: Adam Sandler (Grown Ups, Click), Rosemarie DeWitt (Promised Land, Margaret), Jennifer Garner (Dallas Buyers Club, Butter), Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks, An Education)