We’re currently living through a golden age of animation, but sometimes we might need to be reminded of the power of the old master. Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron – the most expensive Japanese film ever made, hand-drawn by a team of 60 animators over seven years – is a masterpiece. Darker than a lot of Studio Ghibli’s output, it is a mind-bending exploration of a young boy’s grief, complete with wizards, giant fish, man-eating parrots and, yes, a talking heron (voiced in the English dub by Robert Pattinson).
It might be a tall order for a family movie night, but this is the sort of film in which you can luxuriate. Monday 7 October, Netflix During a talkshow appearance to promote the Beetlejuice sequel, Michael Keaton mentioned the film he directed last year. The host reeled off the film’s premise – “ageing hitman with dementia” – and Keaton sat stricken as the audience reacted with titters.
In truth this film is far from a comedy. Keaton plays a contract killer with Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, on a race against time to redeem himself before his mind vanishes entirely. It’s a hardboiled thriller, and Keaton gives one of his best ever performances.
Wednesday 9 October, Prime Video Just when you thought the Predator franchise had run out of steam, hobbled by bad sequels and the witless “Alien v ...
” movies, here comes Dan Trachtenberg to fix everything. Prey is a Predator movie with an ingenious twist: the interterrestrial hunter visits Ame.