What would your Inside Out-style control room look like?
It’s a question that many viewers pondered as the credits ran on Pixar’s much-loved depiction of the inner workings of a young girl’s mind, in which five key emotions jostled for the hot seat in her psychological HQ.
As a chronic nostalgic and compulsive overthinker, I’m pretty sure mine consists of Fear and Anxiety chasing each other round the room while tape one of Now 34 plays on a loop on the office stereo.
Teenage angst prompts a major refurb in this week’s sequel – while Jessie Eisenberg grunts his way through Sasquatch Sunset, and there’s a theological smackdown in Freud’s Last Session…
New releases
Inside Out 2
When Pixar released Inside Out in 2015, it quickly took its place in the pantheon of the studio’s all-time greats with its brilliantly inventive look at just what’s going on inside our heads.
As hinted at in the film’s ending, this sequel sees a new set of challenges for the now teenage Riley, as a freshly spawned batch of emotions start clamouring to have their say alongside old hands Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith) and the rest of the gang.
Given the volatile state of the average adolescent psyche, it’s perhaps inevitable that Anxiety has a core part to play in this new adventure – and perhaps even more inevitable that she’s voiced by Maya Hawke – while Envy, Embarrassment and Ennui are also along for the ride.
| Cert U, 96 mins | |
| Cineworld, City Screen, Everyman, Vue | |
| From Fri Jun 14 | |
| More details |
Sasquatch Sunset
If you’ve ever watched, say, Planet Earth, and thought, “Yes, David, nature truly is a thing of mystery and wonder, but would it kill you to chuck in a couple of A-listers in Bigfoot suits?” then this could be the film you’ve been waiting for.
Surely a cult favourite in the making, this surreal comic fantasy follows the exploits of a family of the eponymous fabled beasties – played by heavily made-up actors including Jessie Eisenberg and Riley Keough – as they amble through the misty forests of North America.
Grunts aside, it’s entirely dialogue-free, without even a soothing Attenborough-esque narration over the top – but with plenty of gross-out gags to keep things ticking along – and the result, according to Empire, is ‘bizarre and oddly beautiful’.
| Cert 15, 88 mins | |
| City Screen | |
| From Fri Jun 14 | |
| More details |
Freud’s Last Session
As dramatic interpretations of Sigmund Freud go, few can hope to top the episode of Friends where Joey plays the famed neurologist in a musical called, simply, Freud! – I still think it’s a crying shame we never got to see the whole thing – but Anthony Hopkins has a good go at it in this drama, which imagines a battle of wits between the good doctor and the celebrated Narnia author C.S. Lewis.
Based on the stage play of the same name, the plot sees Freud (Hopkins) invite Lewis (Goode) to his London home to debate the existence of God.
Yes, it’s Tekken for brainiacs, and as each man struggles to bind the other in an intellectual headlock, flashbacks dig into two of the defining relationships of their lives – Freud with his lesbian daughter Anna, and Lewis with his best friend’s mother.
| Cert 12A, 109 mins | |
| City Screen, Everyman, Vue | |
| From Fri Jun 14 | |
| More details |
Other screenings
Family-friendly films
Po faces off against a new foe – and Jack Black takes on a 90s pop classic – in Kung Fu Panda 4, which is this week’s budget viewing choice at both Cineworld (£2.50) and Vue (£2.49), screening on Sat 15th and Sun 16th.
Over at City Screen, the fairytale saga concludes with Shrek Forever After on Sat 15th, while on Sun 16th there’s an Autism-Friendly screening of this year’s hugely acclaimed Robot Dreams, a bittersweet tale of friendship hailed by the Observer as ‘one of the best animations in recent years’ (be warned, they also advise a good stock of tissues is required) – tickets are £3.30 for both.
As ever, Julia Donaldson has younger viewers covered with double bills of Superworm & Pip and Posy in Everyman’s Toddler Club (Fri 14th, Sat 15th, £6.25 for children, £8.75 for adult plus toddler) and The Gruffalo’s Child & Zog and the Flying Doctors in Vue’s Big Shorts strand (daily, £3.99).
Ol’ Pointy Ears is lost in space and it’s party time for Leatherface: old favourites back on the big screen
Well, they couldn’t leave us hanging, could they? Following the traumatic events of The Wrath of Khan last week, Trekkies will be pleased to hear that Captain Kirk and the crew are boldly going to look for their fallen comrade in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, back in cinemas for its 40th anniversary – set coordinates for Cineworld (Fri 14th, Sun 16th), City Screen (Sat 15th, Sun 16th) and Vue (Sat 15th, Sun 16th, Tues 18th).
There’s more exploration of the cosmos over at City Screen as their Stanley Kubrick season concludes with 2001: A Space Odyssey on Sat 15th – it’s also showing at Everyman on Fri 14th, while they have another classic on offer in their Throwback strand in the form of The Godfather on Sun 16th and Tues 18th.
And talking of offers you can’t refuse, Tolkien heads won’t want to pass up the opportunity to see The Lord of the Rings trilogy in the most epic form possible, as the extended editions of all three films screen at Cineworld from Sat 15th to Mon 17th.
You can join a very different sort of odyssey in 90s cult favourite Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, back on the road at Cineworld on Weds 19th, while further Pride Month screenings are on offer at Vue in the form of Yorkshire-set gay romance God’s Own Country (Weds 19th) and crowd-pleasing rabble-rouser Pride (Thurs 20th).
And what better month could there be in which to launch a season in celebration of two of Hollywood’s most enduring queer icons? City Screen’s Bette vs. Joan season sees them paying tribute to the famously feuding leading ladies with five of their finest, starting on Mon 17th with All About Eve.
Meanwhile, cinemas are continuing to party like it’s 1999 with two more screenings of The Matrix at Vue on Fri 14th and Sun 16th, and a welcome return for metaphysical marvel Being John Malkovich at City Screen on Sat 15th.
And finally, many happy returns to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which celebrates 50 years of good old family values at Everyman on Fri 14th and City Screen on Sat 15th. Candles at the ready, maybe don’t ask what’s in the cake…