Wendy Ide’s pick of other films: Is This Thing On?, Kangaroo, Shelter and more

Is This Thing On?

(121 mins, 15) Directed by Bradley Cooper; starring Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Bradley Cooper

The third directorial outing from Bradley Cooper, Is This Thing On? is a departure for the actor-turned-director: it’s leaner, rawer, more open, more vulnerable. All three of his feature films deal with performance, but in contrast to the showy pizzazz and ostentatious directorial flourishes of A Star Is Born and Maestro, this story of a depressed dad drifting into divorce who finds new meaning in standup comedy – loosely based on the life of the British comedian John Bishop – is refreshingly informal and intimate. It’s also very funny. It might not have the awards-bait immediacy of the first two pictures, but for me this is the work of a director growing in confidence, who no longer feels the need to flex his film-making muscles in every frame.

Will Arnett is terrific as Alex, a slightly crumpled middle-aged man whose marriage to Tess (Laura Dern, excellent) has run out of steam. Arnett’s gravelly growl is evocative – it’s a voice that speaks of two-day stubble, cigarettes and disappointment. Alex’s first brush with standup comes when he stumbles into a West Village bar and, unwilling to pay the cover charge, signs up for an open mic night. After a couple of rocky minutes, he gets a few laughs. It’s not much, but it’s enough to spark a sense of purpose. Alex’s comedy is not conventionally based on jokes; it is rambling, dislocated and droll. And the film’s screenplay, by Cooper (who also appears in a scene-stealing supporting role), Arnett and the British writer Mark Chappell, takes the same approach. This is unassuming, amiable storytelling that sneaks up on you.

Kangaroo

(107 mins, PG) Directed by Kate Woods; starring Ryan Corr, Lily Whiteley, Deborah Mailman

Permatanned, with a plastic personality, the Australian network TV weatherman Chris Masterman (Ryan Corr) has ambitions that lie beyond pointing at a map and reminding the viewers to slather on the sunblock. In a bid to catch the eyes of channel executives, he suggests a wet T-shirt element to his broadcast. When that fails, he stages an impulsive baby dolphin rescue on Bondi Beach. Unfortunately, the creature dies as a result of his intervention and Chris, now a social media pariah, is sacked. Driving south in the hope of work, he hits and kills an adult kangaroo with his car.

For a feel-good family flick, this Aussie production has an unusually high animal death rate. But this is a turning point. Chris realises the dead kangaroo had a baby in its pouch. Gently blackmailed by local teenager and animal lover Charlie (Lily Whiteley), Chris stays with the small, largely Indigenous community to care for the joey.

It’s generic stuff – the adorable redemption arc is as predictable as the boxing kangaroo comedy interlude. But it’s a wholesome, likeable option for younger audiences, and a refreshingly human alternative to machine-tooled studio offerings.

Shelter

(107 mins, 15) Directed by Ric Roman Waugh; starring Jason Statham, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Bill Nighy

A retired assassin is drawn back into the murder business to protect an innocent caught in the crossfire: this plot setup has become a recurring theme in the career of Jason Statham (see also The Beekeeper and A Working Man). But Shelter, in which he plays Mason, a hermit on an island in the Outer Hebrides, is one of the meatiest and most enjoyable of his films in a long time.

A storm and a shipwreck disrupts Mason’s solitude; he finds himself caring for a child, Jesse (Bodhi Rae Breathnach). Forced to head to the mainland for medicine, he is caught on camera, triggering panic on the MI5 covert surveillance system. A former spy-chief (Bill Nighy, surely the most stylish villain Statham has ever had to vanquish) has a personal grudge and access to his own army of highly trained killers. The plot is thin, the dialogue rudimentary. But the action is glorious. Statham’s deadly grace as a fighter has rarely been better showcased.

Primate

(89 mins, 18) Directed by Johannes Roberts; starring Troy Kotsur, Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander

A rabid pet chimp wreaks havoc during a teen sleepover in this exceptionally gnarly horror picture. Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) returns from university to spend the summer at a clifftop house in Hawaii with her widowed father Adam (Troy Kotsur), her sister Erin (Gia Hunter) and Ben, the chimpanzee her late mother trained to communicate through sign language and a keypad-activated voice module (a device used to chilling effect). What Lucy and her college friends don’t realise, as they lounge in the pool, is that Ben has been bitten by an infected mongoose.

The practical special effects (the film favours gory prosthetics over CGI where possible) are phenomenal: eye-wateringly grisly highlights include faces ripped from skulls, jaws wrenched off and heads caved in by boulders. Unfortunately, the ape itself is rather less convincing. Still, this animal rampage delivers plenty of scares.

The Wrecking Crew

(122 mins, 15) Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto; starring Dave Bautista, Jason Momoa, Claes Bang

Imagine a monster truck rally featuring humans rather than vehicles, and you have the gist of The Wrecking Crew. Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa play estranged half-brothers James and Jonny, reunited in Hawaii following the mysterious death of their absent father. Revved up on sibling rivalry, the pair bash the tattoos off each other before reaching an uneasy accord and directing their roid-rage towards a shady property developer (Claes Bang, with excellent supporting work from Claes Bang’s preposterous man-bun) and, rather randomly, a bunch of Yakuza thugs.

Initially sloppy fight sequences grow nastier and more graphic as the story unfolds. The final act is a slaughterfest. Fans of impaled heads and disembodied limbs, knock yourself out.

Photographs by Searchlight Pictures/AP