Friday 12th September - at 7:30pm
Mr Burton (12A) - 124 mins Drama/Biography
It's 1942 and Richard Jenkins (Harry Lawtey) is at school in Port Talbot, caught between the pressures of an alcoholic father, a devastating war, and his own ambitions. A new opportunity beckons when Richard's natural talent for drama catches the attention of his teacher, Philip Burton (Toby Jones). The young man thrives under Philip's strict tutelage and the guidance of a kindly landlady, Ma Smith (Lesley Manville). But as the acting world comes within Richard's reach, the burden of his past risks holding him back forever.
"Lawtey effortlessly captures Burton's silky diction, his swagger, his easy confidence as a performer, but also the bottled-up trauma of his childhood which he attempts to medicate with liquor and which threatens to undo him. While it's questionable as to whether Richie ever managed to exorcise his demons, that he owes his remarkable career to Philip Burton has never been in doubt — something to which this film pays diligent tribute." Screen Daily
Friday 10th October - at 7:30pm
BLACK BAG(15) - 93mins Thriller
National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) agent George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) faces a challenging assignment. There's a mole in the agency with plans to activate a destructive cyber worm called Severus. George is tasked with identifying the mole. His list of five suspects includes four of his agency friends and colleagues at the NCSC, with the fifth being his beloved wife Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett).
"There is very little in the way of action, if you were expecting that, and while it occasionally genuflects towards genre . . . its pleasures lie in the dialogue, the twists, the reveals. It all leads to a delightful Agatha Christie-style drawing room denouement, in which the rat is exposed, their best-laid plans laid to waste. Like the film as a whole, it's deliciously, lip-smackingly satisfying." Empire
"Deft editing, a typically smooth score from regular collaborator David Holmes and cracking cast chemistry guarantees a fun and absorbing ride, and all delivered in a taut and tidy 90 minutes." Radio Times
"Sleek, witty, and lean to the bone." New York Times
Friday 13th November - at 7.30pm
THEPENGUIN LESSONS (12A) - 111 mins Drama
Disillusioned teacher Tom Michell (Steve Coogan) gets a job teaching English and Rugby in a school for rich kids in Buenos Aires. It's 1976 and Argentina is controlled by a military dictatorship, but Tom is more interested in spending time on the beach than in either his pupils or the political situation. During a weekend trip to Uruguay he rescues an orphaned penguin and smuggles it back into the school, little suspecting that this is the beginning of a personal and political awakening.
"Coogan spikes proceedings with his familiar air of deadpan irony, while Cattaneo (in one of his better outings since landing an Oscar nomination for The Full Monty nearly 27 years ago) mixes broad comic beats with a mollifying dose of yellow-filtered pathos." Variety
"Cattaneo and Pope manage to balance the tone of a dramatic historical depiction of fascism with a charming animal story and their secret weapon is Coogan. His bone-dry delivery makes it so that the sour is never too sharp and the sentimental is never too syrupy." Los Angeles Times "Adapted from Tom Michell's autobiographical book, The Penguin Lessons counters the inspirational teacher cliches with a bumbling charm that's boosted considerably by a first-rate performance from the scene-stealing penguin. Peter Cattaneo directs, just about striking a balance between the fluffy sentimentality of the story and its hard-edged political backdrop." The Guardian
Friday 5th December - at 7.30pm
THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND (12A) - 99 mins Comedy/Music
Charles (Tim Key), an eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island, dreams of getting his favourite musical duo, Mortimer-McGwyer (Carey Mulligan and Tom Basden), back together. His fantasy quickly turns into reality when the bandmates and former lovers accept his invitation to play a private show at his home on Wallis Island. Old tensions resurface as Charles tries desperately to salvage his dream gig.
"Prepare for a shock in The Ballad of Wallis Island. The film is a British comedy low in budget and high in whimsy, a combination I for one have learned to dread. And yet the movie is a delight — just the right side of zany, perfectly askew." Financial Times
"It dodges rom-com formula at every turn in favour of affable comfy-jumper characters, sprightly one-liners and soothing tunes." The Times
"I loved pretty much every minute of this enormously engaging picture, which reminded me in some ways of Bill Forsyth's 1983 charmer Local Hero." Daily Mail
"Warm, perceptive and quietly life-affirming." Empire