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THE MONKEY  
I'M STILL HERE (Br)
BARRIO BOY
INVASION (Ned)
I AM MARTIN PARR
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK - 50th Anniversary28 Feb: 
THE END
MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE*
THE LAST SHOWGIRL
A SLOTH STORY
THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN (Gr)
SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON (Ind)7 Mar:
DAY OF THE FIGHT14 Mar
THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP21 Mar:
FLOW (Lat)
SANTOSH* (Ind)
WHEN AUTUMN FALLS* (Fr)28 Mar:
THE END
HOLY COW* (Fr)
TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS4 Apr:
FOUR MOTHERS*
SEBASTIAN
WILLIAM TELL11 Apr:
HOLY COW* (Fr)RELEASE DATE TBC . . .
C O M I N G U P . . .
UNRELEASED FESTIVAL FILMS . . . 
• FrightFest:
THE DAEMON. DERELICT.
FRIGHT. LADYBUG.
SCARLET BLUE. TRAUMATIKA.• Annecy: ROCK BOTTOM. THE BIRTH OF KITARO: THE MYSTERY OF GEGEGE. • Flare: ALIGNED. BALDIGA: UNLOCKED HEART. CALLS FROM MOSCOW. COMMITMENT TO LIFE. DON'T EVER STOP. PINE CONE. UNSPOKEN. WE FORGOT TO BREAK UP. WHAT A FEELING. SHADOWS FILM FEST |
CLEANER
dir Martin Campbell; with Daisy Ridley, Clive Owen, Taz Skylar, Flavia Watson, Ray Fearon, Rufus Jones, Lee Boardman, Richard Hope 24/UKrelease US 21.Feb.25, UK tbc This looks like a potential guilty pleasure, a throw-back thriller about a company gala in Europe's tallest skyscraper, The Shard in London, that is attacked by extremists who are fighting violently amongst themselves. Expect the topical issues to be fairly generic as the focus will be on Die Hard-style action anchored by Daisy Ridley's window cleaner, who of course has a military past and comes to the rescue. And without the article "the", that title has a witty twist. Oddly, it has vanished from UK distribution lists. BLACK BAG
dir Steven Soderbergh; scr David Koepp; with Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Tom Burke, Pierce Brosnan, Naomie Harris, Rege-Jean Page, Marisa Abela, Orli Shuka
25/UKrelease US 14.Mar.25, UK 21.Mar.25 Pretty much everything about this thriler screams "must see!" The cast is heavily stacked, and Soderbergh always has fun playing in genres like this, keeping things funny, sexy and tense. The plot sounds a bit high-concept, with married spies who find themselves on opposite sides of some sort of international incident, or something. But that won't matter as long as Blanchett and Fassbender are enjoying themselves. And Burke, Brosnan, Harris, Page and Abela are icing on the cake. Fingers strongly crossed. THE ALTO KNIGHTS
dir Barry Levinson; scr Nicholas Pileggi; with Robert De Niro, Cosmo Jarvis, Debra Messing, Kathrine Narducci, Michael Rispoli, Wallace Langham, Matt Servitto Matt Servitto, Carrie Lazar 25/USrelease US/UK 21.Mar.25 The central gimmick here is that Robert DeNiro is playing two rival mob bosses who go to war against each other. But since it's directed by Barry Levinson from a script by Nicholas Pileggi, this is bound to be far more interesting than that. Based on a true story, it's about the mafia war that essentially brought down the largest mob families in America. The only worry perhaps is that the filmmakers take it all far too seriously. DEATH OF A UNICORN
dir Alex Scharfman; with Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Richard E Grant, Tea Leoni, Will Poulter, Anthony Carrigan, Jessica Hynes, Sunita Mani 25/USrelease US 28.Mar.25, UK 4.Apr.25 A terrific premise makes comedy fantasy this instantly intriguing: a father and daughter (Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega) hit a unicorn with their car, then find themselves entangled with a Big Pharma executive (Richard E Grant). Superb casting makes it even more enticing. The one question mark is first-time writer-director Alex Scharfman, who has produced some offbeat movies but remains unproven as a storyteller. Fingers crossed that it's audacious, funny and a bit freaky too. MICKEY 17
dir Bong Joon Ho; with Robert Pattinson, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Thomas Turgoose, Angus Imrie, Patsy Ferran 25/UKrelease US 7.Mar.25, UK 18.Apr.25 It's been five years since Bong Joon Ho took the world by storm, and won every award going, for Parasite. And now he has teamed up with Warner Bros for this big-scale action comedy about an expendable worker who is sent to colonise a distant planet. The cast is terrific, and it's bound to look amazing through Bong's distinctly inventive eyes. The only concern is whether the studio lets his imagination run with it. Because they seem to be worried, as evidenced by the fact that the release date was pushed back to January, bypassing awards contention, then into April. THUNDERBOLTS*
dir Jake Schreier; with Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Olga Kurylenko, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Geraldine Viswanathan, Lewis Pullman 25/USrelease US/UK 2.May.25 While this looks worryingly similar to Suicide Squad, with its misfit team of anti-superheroes, the trailer has a sparkier attitude to it that looks both funnier and warmer. And also of course packed with insane action nuttiness. Jake Schreier is a promising choice as director, as his career has featured a number of top-notch offbeat projects. And the cast is superb, a collection of proper actors who know how to time a perfect punchline. *Avengers unavailable, indeed. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING
dir Christopher McQuarrie; with Tom Cruise, Vanessa Kirby, Hayley Atwell, Hannah Waddingham, Angela Bassett, Janet McTeer, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Nick Offerman 25/USrelease US/UK 23.May.25 Shot over what seemed like an impossibly long production schedule, this so-called "final" episode in the Tom Cruise movie series is gleefully fuelling the rumour mill that something conclusive is going to happen to Ethan Hunt during this particular impossible mission. These films are so slickly put together that no one is worrying about whether it's good, or whether the audience will have an appetite for more heart-stopping stunt-based action. It will be massive. And thankfully, they've tidied up that messy title too. HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA - CHAPTER II
dir Kevin Costner; with Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Abbey Lee, Luke Wilson, Dale Dickey, Georgia MacPhail 24/USrelease US/UK tbc After his enjoyable three-hour prologue ended on an extended montage of scenes to come, we're hoping for dramatic resolution to the various plot strands Kevin Costner left dangling. Chapter 2 looks just as spectacular visually, with its expansive settings and colourful ensemble, including a promising glimpse of a sneering Giovanni Ribisi. Word out of Venice was that it's more of the same, and Costner has planned on two further chapters. There's no US or UK release date yet, but Germany and Russia are getting it on 3rd April. Also on my want-to-see list... 
Winter: LOVE ME
THE GORGE
Spring: THE ELECTRIC STATE
NOVOCAINE
SNOW WHITE
THE WOMAN IN THE YARD
THE ACCOUNTANT 2
FREAKY TALES
THE FRIEND
G20
FRIENDSHIP
KARATE KID: LEGENDS
SINNERS
Summer: BALLERINA
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
F1
28 YEARS LATER
THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS
JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH
SUPERMAN
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Release dates: British film release schedules are much more fluid than American ones, so please be patient as I try to keep up with UK distributors. I'm working to keep this list up-to-date as they keep trying to outfox me. I'm sure it's personal. Embargoes: Britain's Film Distributors Association asks us to hold reviews until the week of release, and some distributors are even more restrictive. Normally, once the film is shown to a paying audience, either on release or at a festival, the full review can appear on the site. © 2025 by Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall HOME | REVIEWS | NEWS | FESTIVAL | AWARDS | Q&A | ABOUT | TALKBACK | ||
