Furiosa, Kinds of Kindness, Kneecap... 15 films to catch this summer
Clockwise from top left: Furiosa, A Mad Max Saga; Kinds of Kindness; Kneecap
Anya Taylor-Joy is front and centre in the latest Mad Max saga from edgy filmmaker George Miller. The action-heavy plot centres on how the young Furiosa battles to make her way home amid a fight for dominance between two fierce tyrants. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke bring the fisticuffs.
In 1926, a young woman named Trudy Ederle made history by becoming the first woman ever to swim across the English Channel. Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley swaps her lightsaber for her swimsuits in playing the real-life character who broke down barriers for women in sport.
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence join forces for their fourth outing in the action series. This time around, they’re taking on corruption in the Miami PD, where a top-ranking officer has been accused of working with drug cartels. Expect badass swaggers, explosions and car crashes a-plenty.
Richard Linklater, the director who brought us such powerful dramas as Boyhood and Before Sunrise, is out to bring audiences some dark humour in this thriller. Described as a sunlit neo noir, it stars Glen Powell as a strait-laced lecturer with a secret - he moonlights as a fake hit man. Working undercover for police, he aims to expose those planning to bump off their rivals - until a steamy romance threatens to get in the way.
One of the most-beloved movies in animation giant Pixar’s back catalogue is getting a sequel. We are back inside the mind of Riley, now in her teens, as her regular emotions are upended even further by the arrival of some unfamiliar ones. Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust have been running a smoothish operation, until Anxiety shows up - and they’re not alone.
Jodie Comer, Austin Butler and Tom Hardy star in this drama set around a renegade motorcycle gang in 1960s Chicago. Amid a backdrop of enormous political and social change in America, Hardy plays the charismatic leader of The Vandals as the club threatens to evolve into a much darker place. The movie is the latest from Jeff Nichols, the filmmaker who previously brought us Mud and Take Shelter.
Maverick filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos is reunited with his Poor Things star Emma Stone for his latest, which had its world premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The story, told in three parts, revolves around a man trying to control his life, a policeman whose wife seems different, and a woman searching for someone with special abilities.
Ireland’s Element Pictures are again producing Lanthimos’s feature, which has drawn a starry cast including Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn.
Following the success of the first two films, writer John Krasinski is bringing audiences a spin-off prequel. As the title suggests, the film is expected to tell of the initial events that made humans go quiet in a bid for survival. Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou and Lupita Nyong’o bring the scares.
Horror movies are always a draw in the summer months, and British actress Mia Goth takes the lead here, heading a cast that includes Lily Collins and Elizabeth Debicki. Set in 1980s Hollywood, Goth plays a wannabe adult film star who lands her high-profile break. Unfortunately for her, fame comes at the precise time that an anonymous killer is stalking the starlets of Hollywood. Director Ti West has told how the film draws inspiration from Terminator.
Steve Carell’s Gru returns for the latest movie in the hugely successful series, which has also spawned spin-offs for their true stars, the Minions. This time out, Gru and his clan welcome a new member - Gru Jr - to their family. He’s fully committed to tormenting his dad, who faces a bigger challenge from the dastardly Maxime Le Mal and his girlfriend, Valentina. Carell, Will Ferrell and Sofia Vergara bring their most colourful voices.
The disaster movie - long a staple of the cinematic summer but less prevalent in recent years - makes a comeback in this movie from Lee Isaac Chung (Minari). Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell are among the cast in this tale, which sets its stars against nature’s most-powerful elements. The filmmakers have described the movie as a standalone rather than a reboot of the 1990s hit, Twister.
Two of cinema’s most boisterous comic-book characters cross paths in the upcoming superhero movie based on the popular Marvel characters. The duo join forces to take on a common enemy. Director Shawn Levy (Free Guy) will seek to milk movie magic from a cast that includes Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and The Crown’s Emma Corrin.
Best known for his horror films, director Eli Roth turns to a blend of sci-fi, action and comedy with his latest tale. It revolves around Lilith (a flame-haired Cate Blanchett), an infamous bounty hunter who returns to her home planet to crack a prolific missing-persons case. To do so she assembles a team of misfits including a seasoned mercenary (Kevin Hart) and an oddball scientist (Jamie Lee Curtis).
Mystery maestro M Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) brings his latest to the big screen. Though plot details are being kept under wraps, the story centres on a father and his teenage daughter, who attend a pop concert and discover they have been unwittingly drawn into a sinister and dangerous event. Josh Hartnett and Ariel Donoghue star.
Northern Ireland’s most-talked about rappers have already brought their movie debut to the world’s festival circuit. Now Irish audiences will get to see what the buzz is about as the film sees out the summer. Based around the origin story of the riotous Irish-language rap trio Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí, the movie also stars a cast that includes Michael Fassbender and Simone Kirby. Set in west Belfast in 2019, it chronicles how fate brings the trio together.
