<img src='' title='Archives: What's On Events' alt='' id='templ_icon_' width='' height='' /> Archives: What's On Events

Mike Leigh / UK 2025 / 97 min / Cert 12A

This expansive film from a master dramatist and legendary filmmaker Mike Leigh returns to familiar ground with a fierce, compassionate, and often darkly humorous study of family and the thorny ties that bind us.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets and Lies) gives an exceptional performance as Pansy, a woman wracked by fear, tormented by afflictions, and prone to raging tirades against her husband, son, and anyone who looks her way.

The contrast between Pansy and her easy-going younger sister Chantal, who brims with communal warmth, provides a backdrop to the way that we still find ways to love those we call family.

Clint Eastwood / USA 2024 / 114 min / Cert 12A

An excitingly tense drama, in which recovering alcoholic and father-to-be Justin (Nicholas Hoult) is a reluctant murder trial juror.

It soon becomes clear he’s more involved in the case than expected.  Both he and the prosecuting attorney (Toni Collette) gradually realise they face moral dilemmas in balancing their own fates and interests – family or career – against the defendant’s.

The stellar supporting cast includes Zoey Deutch, Kiefer Sutherland and JK Simmons.

“If this is to be Eastwood’s swansong, it’s a fitting one: a thrillingly watchable legal thriller about truth, justice and (for better and for worse) the American way, as told by an all-American icon” Empire

Ellen Kuras / UK 2024 / 117 min / Cert 15

Kate Winslet gives a powerhouse performance as the iconic Lee Miller, in a film that will stay with you long afterwards. Lee takes a captivating look at Miller’s incredible life, the fashion model, artists’ muse and socialite, turned ground-breaking photographer and war correspondent.

The film captures the extraordinary, sometimes devastating events that she witnessed and the emotional toll they took on her.

The storytelling is gripping and moving, offering a deep look into resilience, art, and humanity in the face of turmoil and atrocities.

“Lee is beautiful, daring and elusive, as all great art should be”, Andy Howell, Film Threat.

Maryam Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha / Iran 2024 / 97 min / Cert 12A / Subtitles

This sweet and funny film looks at love, loss, loneliness and old age. Mahin is a widow whose daughter and grandchildren live abroad and her lonely life is shown in beautifully compressed tableaux.

One day she meets her friends for tea and meets someone who makes her feel alive again. Faramarz is a personable, single man and emotional connection manifests itself when she offers to bake him her favourite cake.

“Plans have a way of going awry in this lovely, intimate, tragicomic tale of late-blooming love in the shadow of Iran’s repressive regime. In its gentle way, this is a subversive piece of film-making” Observer

Tim Mielants / Ireland 2024 / 97 min / Cert 12A

Based on Claire Keegan’s Booker nominated novel of the same name, Cillian Murphy plays a coal merchant living in 1980s Ireland, who discovers a Magdalene laundry operating in his town.

Directed by Tim Mielants and starring Emily Watson the film shines a light on both our human ability to look the other way but also on the moral courage needed to act when confronted by evil.

“With Cillian Murphy’s quiet, almost small and yet grand performance carrying the story every step of the way, “Small Things Like These” is quite possibly the best movie I’ve seen so far this year.” Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times.

Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthew Delaporte / France 2024 / 178 min /Cert 12 / Subtitles

In this latest adaptation of the epic tale, Pierre Niney (Yves St Laurent, 2014) plays the role of Edmond Dantes who becomes the target of a sinister plot.

He is arrested on his wedding day for a crime he did not commit. After 14 years in the island prison of Château d’If, he manages a daring escape.

Now rich beyond his dreams, he assumes the identity of the Count of Monte-Cristo and exacts his revenge on the three men who betrayed him.

This visually stunning and fast-moving period drama, with its energetic script and action sequences keeps the audience engaged throughout its length.

Pedro Almodóvar / Spain, USA 2024 / 107 min / Cert 12A

Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter.

After years of being out of touch, Ingrid learns that Martha has been diagnosed with a rare cancer. Having been unexpectedly reunited under difficult circumstances they become almost inseparable.

“In his English-language feature debut, director Almodóvar returns to the theme of aging with the sensitivity and psychological depth that has defined his finest films.” Alan Zilberman, Washington City Paper

John Crowley / UK 2024 / 109 min / Cert 15

A time-hopping romantic comedy drama in which chef, Almut (Florence Pugh), and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) are brought together in a surprise encounter that changes their lives.

Through snapshots of their life together — falling for each other, building a home, becoming a family – a difficult truth is revealed that rocks its foundation.

As they embark on a path challenged by the limits of time, they learn to cherish each moment of the unconventional route their love story has taken, in filmmaker John Crowley’s decade-spanning, deeply moving romance.

The excellent performances and palpable chemistry of the two leads, together with the non-linear narrative and a willingness to tackle complex issues beyond joy and tragedy, raise this film above the expectations of the genre, making it a smart and mature crowd-pleaser.