A clutch of cinematic treats, or what Keiron Self hopes are going to be cinematic treats, which are coming to theatres this April. Sometimes his expectations are higher than other times. Previews of all these new films – from Fantastic Beasts to The Northman – can also be found in the April issue of Buzz, available to read now!

THE OUTFIT

Aclaustrophobic thriller mostly set in one 1950s-era Chicago location over one night, showcasing another great performance from Mark Rylance as an English tailor caught up in the workings of the Mob. Rylance plays Leonard, a master tailor, who left England penniless and was given a shop by the head of a local mob family, played by Simon Russell Beale. His shop has since become a dropoff point for ill-gotten cash and nefarious information, and when his boss’ son – played by Dylan O’Brien – turns up shot with loose cannon mobster Johnny Flynn, he has to use his stitching ability to tend to wounds. There’s also the matter of a tape, which has the identity of a snitch in the family. A tense, thoroughly enjoyable puzzle looks set to unfold in this handsome-looking drama from director Moore, who also wrote The Imitation Game. Snitches get stitches.

Dir: Graham Moore (15, 104 mins)

The Outfit opens Fri 8 Apr

FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE

More wizarding world shenanigans in this third film in JK Rowling’s rather lacklustre and, frankly, dull prequels to the Harry Potter franchise. Eddie Redmayne’s pouty Newt Scamander returns – the Magizoologist with creatures in his suitcase, who at the bidding of Jude Law’s Dumbledore sets out to foil the plans of Wizardy Baddie Grindelwald, Mads Mikkelsen. The latter stepped in after Johnny Depp exited the series, and with JK Rowling causing Twitter waves this feels like a compromised franchise. All of the other elements are present and correct under the direction of Potter veteran David Yates: CGI monsters, wand waggling, snitches, original cast members Katherine Waterson and Dan Fogler and the real-world parallels. Grindelwald wants to destroy the Muggles, establish a magic dictatorship and has to be stopped; Jude Law’s beardy Dumbledore will have to up his game and get his hands dirty. With another two films supposedly planned, it’s questionable whether there’s any more enthusiasm for these tales, but the Potter juggernaut cannot be underestimated. Expelliarmus!

Dir: David Yates (12A, 130 mins)

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore opens Fri 15 Apr

THE LOST CITY

Owing a very heavy debt to the likes of 80s action film comedies like Romancing The Stone and Raiders Of The Lost Ark, The Lost City looks set to be a brisk bit of popcorn fun. Sandra Bullock plays reclusive romance novelist Loretta Sage who goes on a book tour with the cover model of her books, Alan, a game Channing Tatum. Tatum has spent his career embodying her romantic hero, but when Sage is kidnapped by eccentric billionaire Daniel Radcliffe he is forced to be a real hero… of sorts. Radcliffe believes he can use Bullock to find a lost city’s treasure from one of her books, much to her bemusement. So, it’s up to Tatum to ineffectually try and save her in the middle of the jungle and find the treasure while escaping the bad guys. A fun, action-packed Brad Pitt cameo adds to the silly tone, and the comedic chemistry between Bullock and Tatum looks set to provide some welcome escapist silliness.

Dir: Aaron & Adam Nee (12A, 92 mins)

The Lost City opens Fri 15 Apr

THE NORTHMAN

Director Robert Eggers takes a step up into the bigger budget league in this Viking epic – based on the Icelandic saga of Amleth, which Shakespeare turned into the moody ponderings of Hamlet. After Eggers’ previous films The Witch and The Lighthouse, both idiosyncratically excellent, this is his chance to do brutal battle scenes and paint on a broader canvas than a house in the woods or a weather-beaten lighthouse. Alexander Skarsgard is more muscle than man as the wronged son of a slain father (Ethan Hawke) out for vengeance after witnessing his killing as a boy. Nicole Kidman is his mother, Claes Bang the usurping uncle. On his brutal quest, Skarsgard picks up Anya Taylor-Joy’s gifted maybe-sorceress and encounters Willem Defoe’s fool and Björk’s seeress, before a naked swordfight on a volcano. Brutal and bloody, with prolonged single-take bouts of swordwielding and an arthouse vibe, this should be another dynamic watch from director Eggers.

Dir: Robert Eggers (15, 120 mins)

The Northman opens Fri 15 Apr

OPERATION MINCEMEAT

A bizarre, true-life tale of espionage in World War II, with a talented cast of thespians adding weight to an incredibly devious plan. It’s 1943 and British Intelligence, in a bid to outwit the Nazis, utilize the corpse of a homeless man and some false papers to send their foes looking in the wrong direction. About to relaunch an assault in Europe and invade Sicily, the Allies need to wrongfoot the enemy or thousands of lives and the future of the war could be lost. Colin Firth plays Ewen Montagu, the man tasked with making this work with painstaking attention to detail; the excellent Mathew MacFayden is Charles Cholmondley, his second in command. Kelly MacDonald, sent to help the war effort after losing her husband in the conflict, aids and abets the espionage. Unfortunately, as recent events have shown, disinformation about warfare is easy to create now; years ago, it was a different, more ingenious prospect, to which this film pays tribute.

Dir: John Madden (12A, 128 mins)

Operation Mincemeat opens Fri 15 Apr

HAPPENING

An intimate abortion drama set in France in 1963, when the procedure was illegal, Happening is a gruelling tale of a student trying to find her way through her early life facing prejudice all around. Adapted from Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical novel, Anna Maria Vartolomei is Anne, a literature student who becomes pregnant as exams loom and her future becomes foggy and unclear. It’s a claustrophobic time. As the 60s progress, freewheeling free love may be just around the corner, but not in Anne’s community. To get an abortion is punishable with prison time and also holds serious personal risk – even death – but Anne is determined to go ahead, with the father unwilling to be involved. A harrowing, award-winning drama that looks set to unsettle with its intimate, unflinching and personal take of a young woman’s plight in a prudish, hypocritical society.

Dir: Audrey Diwan (15, 100 mins)

Happening opens Fri 22 Apr

THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT

Nicolas Cage stars as Nicolas Cage in this meta-action comedy that will please fans of the histrionic actor’s excesses. Cage is a performer who can do subtle, as his award-winning turn in Leaving Las Vegas or the more recent Pig proves, but he’s also the guy who shouts bees, takes his face… off, and gurns with abandon in supremely variable nonsense. He still remains good value, however, and this escapade looks to be on a different level to his more recent and prolific VOD stodge. He’s a broke Nicolas Cage, facing divorce from wife Sharon Horgan and estrangement from his daughter. When his agent, played by Neil Patrick Harris, organizes him a gig at a billionaire fan’s birthday (Pedro Pascal), it’s an easy million-dollar payday it seems. Turns out the fan is an international drug lord and would-be screenwriter, desperate to create a film for his hero. Cage then finds himself embroiled with CIA agents Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz as they attempt to take his superfan down. High-octane nonsense that should be fun and have weird Cageian dialogue… pauses.

Dir: Tom Gormican (15, 100 mins)

The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent opens Fri 22 Apr

DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA

Aristocracy assemble! The bizarrely popular upstairs/downstairs soap opera continues on the big screen with a sequel to the bland television series, once again selling nonsense about the upper classes to a captive audience. This time out, the cast of British character actors have to deal with some movie makers coming to Downton to use it as a location, with Dominic West cameoing as a moustachioed troublemaker. There’s also a trip abroad as Dame Maggie Smith’s Aunt Agatha discovers she has inherited a villa in the south of France. So, in true British TV hits turned into movies style – see On The Buses/The Inbetweeners etc – the Grantham toffs decamp to France for some pleasant vistas and low-stakes badinage from the forever scribbling pen of Julian Fellowes. French star of Call My Agent! Nathalie Baye pops in, joining the bloated cast all scrabbling to get a few lines of dialogue as the ‘plot’ unravels. In other words, business as usual for those who like this sort of thing. I’m going upstairs to take off my hat.

Dir: Simon Curtis (PG, 120 mins)

Downton Abbey: A New Era opens Fri 29 Apr

THE FEAST

A Welsh-language folk horror with plenty of subtext and gore, The Feast has been wowing festival audiences with its slow burn dread. Set in rural Wales, in a sleek modern home where once a family farm stood, it stars Annes Elwy as Cadi, a young woman employed to serve at a dinner party for the owners, Nia Roberts’ wealthy Glenda and Julian Lewis Jones’ politician Gwyn. They also have two children – creepy triathlete Gweirydd (Sion Alun Jones) and drug addict Guto (Steffan Cennydd) – and the visiting Euros, played by former My Family star Rhodri Meilir. What was farmland is now rented out to energy companies for profit and there is to be a price. The dinner table is set for gathering tension and suspense as Cadi’s motives for being there grow gradually clearer. Directed by TV veteran Lee Haven Jones and written by Roger Williams (TV’s Bang), this will provide plenty to mull over amidst the disquiet.

Dir: Lee Haven Jones (15, 93 mins)

The Feast opens Fri 29 Apr

words KEIRON SELF