Films: August 26 - September 1

Boyhood (2014)

Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) 

Celeste And Jesse Forever (2012)

La Vie d'Adèle (2013) 

Take Me Out To The Ball Game (1949) 

Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) 

The Magic Of Ordinary Days (2005) 

Innocent (2011) ///

Boyhood (2014) Beyond the process of creating narrative film over a 12 year period, a finely etched portrait of growing up and fragmented lives, built around a series of moments that create an immersive reflection of family. The open, natural style allows performances to shine.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) Wistful teen Sidney Flanigan is accompanied by tenacious cousin Talia Ryder to New York to find an abortion. Alternately quiet and deliberate, scorching and impassioned, a story of silences and looks, captivatingly framed and movingly told.

Celeste And Jesse Forever (2012) Ambitious Rashida Jones and undemanding Andy Samberg are drifting out of marriage, even as they cling to being friends. The appealing central couple and assorted friends are well drawn, styling a winning blend that successfully earns laughs and emotion.

La Vie d'Adèle (2013) Intimate, exhausting epic of youthful passion and vast amounts of food. Vulnerable Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux share an explicit, searing relationship that captures the rush of desire and crush of broken emotions. Soulful and enveloping performances.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game (1949) Colorful and energetic, if somewhat uneven in mood and storytelling as no-nonsense Esther Williams inherits the Wolves baseball team and needs to whip Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munchin into shape. Frothy song and dance remains enduring.

Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) Gorgeous Technicolor design and lush production values highlight the winning presence of a determined Esther Williams in her signature role as real life swimmer / swimwear pioneer / movie star Annette Kellerman. Wildly uneven, always watchable.

The Magic Of Ordinary Days (2005) Though narrative schematics are entirely predictable, finesse of production and aching emotion of cast is a potent combination. During World War II, shamed, expectant mother Keri Russell is ostracized to marry principled farmer Skeet Ulrich. Observant and textured.

Innocent (2011) A fine cast keeps legal wheels involving even if the sequel story feels underwhelming and dramatic undertow less gripping. Bill Pullman is the judge accused by nemesis Richard Schiff of murdering unstable wife Marcia Gay Harden. The past reverberates darkly.

Films: August 19 - 25

Infinitely Polar Bear (2014)

The Day Will Dawn (1942) 

The Years Between (1946)

Nightmare Alley (1947)

The Last Letter From Your Lover (2021)

Colossal (2017)

Attraction (2017)

Attraction 2: Invasion (2020) 

Shadow In The Cloud (2020)

The Boy (2016) ///

Infinitely Polar Bear (2014) Bipolar Mark Ruffalo is a striking and confounding presence as a father battling to care for two daughters while estranged wife Zoe Saldana studies to be a lawyer. Intensely personal, authentic and emotional, an acute mix of comedy and drama, affectingly performed.

The Day Will Dawn (1942) Initially reluctant reporter Hugh Williams is drawn into efforts to repel scheming Nazis from a remote Norwegian village. Finely produced piece of wartime flag-waving, with an expansive cast including heroic Deborah Kerr and imperious Ralph Richardson.

The Years Between (1946) Resilient Valerie Hobson takes on a political life when husband Michael Redgrave is reported dead during the war. When he is found alive, they must re-evaluate post-war values. Until Flora Robson's unity speech, a solid, involving drama of changing society.

Nightmare Alley (1947) Individual sequences retain a dark, cruel power even if the narrative flow feels fragmented. Tyrone Power is the carnival barker who achieves fame as a charlatan spiritualist before spiralling into physical and mental depths. Sadistically cynical, shadows of the soul.

The Last Letter From Your Lover (2021) Elegantly costumed and burnished with evocative, rich visuals, modern day, remote journalist Felicity Jones uncovers Shailene Woodley's illicit 60s romance and frustrated chance to escape. Always involving without piercing any emotional truths.

Colossal (2017) Awkwardly and deliberately self-aware in an effort to be idiosyncratic, as a lost Anne Hathaway finds memories and issues physically conjure up a Godzilla-like monster in Japan. Only fitfully entertaining despite committed performances that reach for insight never realized.

Attraction (2017) Technically polished with a visual swoon to storytelling, even if there's not much to say. After a spacecraft crashes in Moscow, rebellious Irina Starshenbaum falls for the alien visitor as authorities and society go to hell. Well choreographed, numbingly dumb.

Attraction 2: Invasion (2020) Apart from a few arresting visuals, a sequel that compensates for the original's relative simplicity with an impenetrable narrative of little logic and even less feeling. The alien returns, the heroine escapes, there's little menace to alleged threat.

Shadow In The Cloud (2020) A combative Chloë Grace Moretz is forced to battle sexism, Japanese fighters and gremlins on board a WW2 bomber above the Pacific. Building from intimate claustrophobia, a frenetic mashup that propels is heroine and audience on a cracking, bumpy ride.

The Boy (2016) Until it all unravels with a final act that jettisons the creepy setup and reveals a twist to make the threat too mundanely physical, a solidly intriguing tale of a china doll that might be inhabited by an evil force. Lauren Cohan grounds our reactions despite implausibilities.