BOTTOMS
Warner Bros.
Released Friday 3 November
Synopsis: Unpopular best friends PJ and Josie start a high school fight club to meet girls and lose their virginity. They soon find themselves in over their heads when the most popular students start beating each other up in the name of self-defense.
Cast: Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Ruby Cruz, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber
Director: Emma Seligman
Cert: 15
DANCE FIRST
Studio Canal
Released Friday 3 November
Synopsis: Dance First is a 2023 biographical film about Irish playwright Samuel Beckett
Cast: Aidan Gillen, Gabriel Byrne, Bronagh Gallagher, Maxine Peake
Director: James Marsh
Cert: 12A
THE ROYAL HOTEL
Universal Pictures
Released Friday 3 November
Synopsis: Americans Hanna and Liv are backpacking in Australia and take a temporary live-in job in a remote Outback mining town. Soon, they find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.
Cast: Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Herbert Nordrum, Bree Bain, Ursula Yovich, Hugo Weaving
Director: Kitty Green
Cert: 18
Also released this week:
OUR KID
Release date: Friday 3 November
Director: Sean Cronin
Cast:
Daniel P Lewis, Poppie Jae Hughes, Leanne Best, Connor McIntyre, Ricky Tomlinson
Writer:
Daniel P Lewis
Producer:
Daniel P Lewis, Sean Cronin, Colin Cromby
Director of Photography:
Daniel Patrick Vaughan
Editor:
Will Simpson
Music:
Shaun Robinson
Twelve-year-old Laura Reilly only has one goal, and that is to play for Liverpool when she grows up but her older brother who has cerebral palsy is her biggest hero. Based on the multi-award-winning short film Thomas, when The Reilly family are struck with devastating news they have to adapt their lives.
This comedy drama follows the Reillys, a working-class family who learn to deal with adversity through humour. Mum, Tracey (Sharon Byatt – ‘Bread’) is the head of the family. Dad, John (Connor McIntyre – ‘Coronation Street’) is best described as a “cowboy builder”. Grandad, Allan (John McArdle – ‘Brookside’) is a cab driver who only communicates through ‘dad jokes’.
Twelve-year-old Laura’s goal in life is to one day play football professionally. Laura has many footballing heroes, but it’s her older brother Thomas who’s her biggest hero. His inspirational quest to raise money for charity through a sponsored bike ride, while overcoming the challenges he faces from his cerebral palsy, shows Laura and the rest of the community what determination and perseverance can achieve.
The all-star British cast work beautifully together. Look out for Ricky Tomlinson (‘The Royle Family’), Leanne Best (‘Tin Star’), Mark Moraghan (‘Holby City’), and Louis Emerick (‘Layer Cake’), bringing their years of experience and much-loved personalities to this powerful story. The debut performances from Poppie Jae-Hughes (Laura) and Daniel P Lewis (Thomas) are endearing, captivating and inspiring for the independent film industry as a whole.
AMAZON: www.amazon.co.uk/Our-kid-Poppie-Jae-Hughes
I AM URBAN
Release date: Friday 3 November
Starring Richard Armitage (Chop), Anna Friel (Greta), Neil Morrissey (Doc), Charlie Heaton (Frank), and introducing Fraser Kelly (Urban)
Director: Candida Brady
Eleven-year-old Urban Grimshaw doesn’t go to school, he can’t read or write, and he doesn’t follow rules. His mother is addicted to heroin and he’s always in trouble with the police, but neither they nor the local kids’ home can keep him down. He’s earned the title of Britain’s most runaway child, with an appearance on Crimewatch as proof.
Urban may not have parents to rely on, but he does have ‘the Shed Crew’. A gang of disaffected kids aged between ten and fourteen, the crew spend their days sitting around a campfire smoking weed, drinking, or stealing and setting fire to cars. This is all they have, and no one seems to care…
Chop is a straight-talking but disillusioned ex-social worker who, like many living on the margins of society, has lost hope of a better future and relies on cheap beer, drugs and an acerbic humour to get through the days. Another no-hoper, Chop is worn down and worn out by the constraints of a failed system.
Chop meets Urban after first meeting his mother, Greta. Although things don’t work out with Greta, Chop finds himself playing a pivotal role in Urban’s life.
Sometimes, you can’t just sit back and watch anymore. Sometimes, like it or not, and no matter the consequences, you have to do what you can to help. The question is: who is helping who?
HOW TO HAVE SEX
Mubi
Release date: Friday 3 November | Cert: 15
NOBODY HAS TO KNOW
Parkland Entertainment
Release date: Friday 3 November | Cert: 12A
ON THE ADAMANT
Curzon
Release date: Friday 3 November | Cert: PG
