Films: August 2 - 8

Please Stand By (2017) 

Angel Of Mine (2018) 

Girl Most Likely (2012) 

Here Today (2021)

The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (1984)

Nope (2022) 

Skyscraper (2018) // 

Please Stand By (2017) Consumed fan of Star Trek, autistic Dakota Fanning leaves group home to deliver her script to Paramount Pictures, sparking uneasy sister Alice Eve and generous carer Toni Collette on urgent search. Tenderly played, unsurprisingly structured, movingly concluded.

Angel Of Mine (2018) Less obsessive thriller than study in consuming grief, unstable Noomi Rapace's inability to deal with baby daughter's death years previously, become paranoid instinct that Yvonne Strahovski's child is hers. Widescreen style diffuses intentions, ferocious leads squeeze raw emotion.

Girl Most Likely (2012) Maintaining interest through sheer personality of leads, self-consciously quirky portrait of family dysfunction and personal fulfilment sees flailing Kristen Wiig forced back home with fantasist mother Annette Bening. Fleeting moments of observed humanity amid forced character arcs.

Here Today (2021) Bridging acerbic insider humor with humanely sentimental drama, friendship between Billy Crystal's veteran gag writer and aspiring singer Tiffany Haddish develops with appealing affection as reality of ongoing dementia is faced. Staging and pacing more unsure.

The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (1984) Hit and miss combination of whiplash comedy and sci-fi action features sure sense of off-kilter design and confounding mythology which sees spirited cast thrown into confounding alien attack narrative. Inelegantly assembled, curiously engaging.

Nope (2022) Slickly designed visuals and intriguingly constructed atmosphere of wonder and dread, with easygoing Keke Palmer and sincere Daniel Kaluuya setting out to prove UFO over California farm. Yet disparate story strands fail to coalesce, remaining thematically and dramatically unfulfilled.

Skyscraper (2018) Chiseled security consultant Dwayne Johnson leaps into burning tower to save wife Neve Campbell and children as well as defeat snarling criminal Roland Møller and brutal gang. Robustly produced, defiantly unsurprising, elaborate action simmers at enjoyably diverting pace.