Pick of the week
Jay Kelly<\/p>\n
Jay Kelly is Noah Baumbach<\/a>\u2019s meditation on the meaning of true celebrity, and he benefits greatly from casting George Clooney<\/a> \u2013 perhaps the last classic movie star \u2013 in the lead. Co-written with Emily Mortimer, it explores the personas A-listers tend to trade in, and what happens when that starts to fall away. It\u2019s a role right in the centre of Clooney\u2019s comfort zone, and he inhabits it perfectly; imagine the heightened knowingness of Hail, Caesar! twinned with the easy charm of his Nespresso adverts. Plus it helps that he\u2019s backed by a couple of Baumbach all-timers in Adam Sandler and Laura Dern. Catch it now, before all the Oscar buzz kicks in. Ruby Gillman, Teenage KrakenUnderwater \u2026 Ruby Gillman is voiced by Lana Condor in Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken. Photograph: Universal Pictures\/AP<\/p>\n An animated family film that didn\u2019t make the splash it deserved to upon release in 2023, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken<\/a> is a fun riff on every coming-of-age trope. Ruby is a teenage girl whose family bans her from going near the ocean. One day she rebels and immediately discovers why: she is secretly a giant kraken, as is her entire family. Eventually the film lapses into slightly generic action, but if you have kids who like The Little Mermaid (or even Teen Wolf) they\u2019ll have a lot of fun watching all their expectations be subverted. Troll 2The rock \u2026 Troll 2. Photograph: Oskar Dahlsbakken\/Netflix<\/p>\n The world cinema connoisseurs among you will no doubt remember Troll, the 2022 Norwegian kaiju movie about a giant ancient rock monster that goes on the rampage through Oslo. That film was so successful that a sequel was always bound to happen, and here we are. Troll 2<\/a> is the largest production of all time in the Nordic countries, and it shows. Epic troll-on-troll action, a troll named Megatroll and a higher focus on humour \u2013 witness the scene where influencers grab selfies with a troll before it attacks them \u2013 should ensure that the sequel is even more successful. ParadeGifted \u2026 Jacques Tati in Parade. Photograph: Album\/Alamy<\/p>\n While magnificent, Mubi\u2019s recent Jacques Tati<\/a> showcase did have one intriguing omission, and it\u2019s perhaps his most interesting film. After the vast expense of Playtime failed to recoup its budget, Tati was left so broke he had to sell his house. His final film was this curate\u2019s egg, shot on video and made for Swedish television of all places. There isn\u2019t much to it \u2013 it\u2019s ostensibly just a filmed circus performance \u2013 but Tati gets to showcase his unbelievable gift for physical comedy and manages to tinker with form just as his greatest films did. skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Get the best TV reviews, news and features in your inbox every Monday<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Oh. What. Fun.Family time \u2026 Michelle Pfeiffer in Oh. What. Fun. Photograph: Alisha Wetherill\/Amazon Content Services LLC<\/p>\n December means Christmas movies. And while the bulk of these will inevitably be about big city types who return home and fall in love with plaid-wearing tree surgeons, others will push the envelope a little. Oh. What. Fun. is one of them. Michelle Pfeiffer<\/a> (a boon in itself) leads a heaving cast in a relatable story about a family who doesn\u2019t realise how much work Christmas is until the matriarch goes missing. You could put money on this being the best festive film out this year. The RosesUnited \u2026 Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch in The Roses. 2025. Photograph: Jaap Buitendijk \/Everett Collection Inc\/Alamy<\/p>\n Another film that missed the mark theatrically, although you have to assume that a sparky mid-budget character piece like this would find its true home on streaming. Depending on which one you like more, The Roses<\/a> is either an adaptation of Warren Adler\u2019s 1981 novel or Danny DeVito\u2019s 1989 film. Either way, the story follows Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman as two spouses who become outrageously cruel to one another. The real draw might be the supporting cast, however, which includes Andy Samberg, Kate McKinnon, Ncuti Gatwa, Allison Janney and Jamie Demetriou. You Were Never Really HereSaves the day \u2026 Joaquin Phoenix in You Were Never Really Here. Photograph: Album\/Alamy<\/p>\n Lynne Ramsay might be best known for her films that push the struggles of parenthood to the extreme, like We Need to Talk About Kevin <\/a>and Die My Love<\/a>. But there\u2019s an argument to be made that 2017\u2019s You Were Never Really Here<\/a> represents her high watermark. A politician\u2019s daughter is kidnapped by human traffickers, and Joaquin Phoenix\u2019s ex-mercenary has to save the day. Though it may sound a bit Jason Stathammy, this is an extraordinarily violent and tender film that will never leave you. A huge accomplishment.
Friday 5 December, Netflix<\/p>\n
Sunday 30 November, 2.05pm, BBC One<\/p>\n
Monday 1 December, Netflix<\/p>\n
Monday 1 December, 1.20am, Talking Pictures TV<\/p>\n
Wednesday 3 December, Prime Video<\/p>\n
Wednesday 3 December, Disney+<\/p>\n
Friday 5 December, 1.50am, Film4<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pick of the weekJay Kelly Jay Kelly is Noah Baumbach\u2019s meditation on the meaning of true celebrity, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,134,344],"class_list":{"0":"post-314184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}