
With holiday festivities gone for another year, you might not want to do much else this weekend but watch a good movie.
If you’re stuck for ideas, we’ve got you covered with reviews and an early peek at a new batch of films that will be released by Friday.
Till is based on genuine events that occurred in the Deep South in the 1950s. It depicts the lynching of Emmett Till, a teenage teenager. It’s a difficult story to see, but the production is excellent.
In addition, Nicolas Cage takes a risk by playing killer-turned-family man Colton Briggs in The Old Way, his first part in a Western film.
Till

This is Mamie Till-actual Mobley’s story. Mamie (Danielle Deadwyler) reluctantly sent Emmett (Jalyn Hall) from Chicago to Alabama to visit her mother’s relatives in 1955.
‘Down there you have to be extra careful with white people. You can’t risk looking at them the wrong way,’ she warns her innocent 14-year-old, a sunny and extrovert ‘city boy’ who had not been brought up in fear. Mamie was right to worry. Emmett was brutally lynched in Mississippi and the crime shook America.
Chinonye Chukwu’s pulverising melodrama is a difficult watch – and rightly so. While pushing you to experience the stark dread of racial hatred, Chukwu’s action focuses on the political and emotional ramifications of the murder.
It’s also a fantastic acting showcase for Deadwyler, who plays Mamie, who transitions from grieving mother to reluctant activist.
12A. Out now in cinemas
Enys Men

Mark Jenkin, a visionary Cornish auteur, created quite an impression with his Bafta-winning debut Bait. Enys Men (Cornish for Stone Island), his creepy, slow-burn follow-up, suffers from difficult second album syndrome, but is nevertheless outstanding in its own right.
This story, shot on crackly, hand-processed 16mm celluloid and featuring Bait’s peculiarly post-synched sound, is literally more insular in scope.
In 1973, the setting is an uninhabited island. The Volunteer (Mary Woodvine), a woman in a red coat, is tasked with conducting scientific observations on a patch of flowers. Her daily routine is monotonous, but the island’s tragic secrets emerge as time unnervingly folds in on itself, sending her sense of reality crazy.
A unique, though unnerving, folk horror, it’s an intriguing addition to the ‘person going insane on island’ genre.
15. Out Friday in cinemas
The Estate

Another comedy about a coffin from the creator of Death At A Funeral. Toni Collette and Anna Faris play cash-strapped sisters attempting to scam an inheritance from their wealthy aunt (Kathleen Turner), but they face unexpected opposition from the rest of the family (including David Duchovny).
15. Out Friday on
M3GAN

With this latest Blumhouse thriller, Annabelle gets an AI upgrade. A robotics genius (Allison Williams – Get Out, Girls) constructs M3GAN, a robot doll, to protect her orphaned niece, only to discover that M3GAN takes her care duties far too seriously.
15. Out Friday in cinemas
The Old Way

Nicolas Cage starred in his debut Western film. He’s a’stone cold killer’ turned family father who is forced to teach his 12-year-old daughter (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) his talents when they are pursued by outlaws. Like True Grit but with crazier moustaches.
15. Out Friday in cinemas