The halftime scores are in. As summer blockbuster season heats up, here’s NME‘s guide to the most unmissable movies of the year so far. You’ll be glad to know it’s not too late to catch some of them in the cinema…
Words: Nick Levine
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Director: Nia DaCosta
A burnt orange Ralph Fiennes dancing maniacally to Iron Maiden‘s ‘The Number Of The Beast?’ It’s just one highlight in this scintillating sequel to last year’s 28 Days Later. Succeeding Danny Boyle in the director’s chair, Nia DaCosta (Candyman, The Marvels) keeps things surreal and stomach-churning as Jack O’Connell’s Jimmy Savile-aping gang leader rampages across a zombie-infested Britain. The result? Gruesome proof that some franchises get better with age.
For fans of: The Wicker Man (1973), Threads (1984)
Apex
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Survival film maestro Baltasar Kormákur (Everest, Beast) barely wastes a beat in this lean, mean cat-and-mouse thriller. Charlize Theron shows off her action chops as a rock climber fighting for her life in the outback; Taron Egerton isn’t just seriously creepy as the local weirdo hunting her down, but also played a blinder by suggesting The Chemical Brothers‘ ‘Go’ for an especially tense scene. Powered by the film’s popularity, it’s enjoyed a huge streaming boost and returned to the charts.
For fans of: Eden Lake (2008), The Ledge (2022)
Backrooms
Director: Kane Parsons
Another member of the YouTube film academy currently storming Hollywood, 20-year-old Kane Parsons’ clever, creepy psych-horror Backrooms combines Lynchian surrealism with the kind of chaotic found footage first popularised by early aughts phenomenon The Blair Witch Project. Adapted from Parsons’ cult web anthology, itself based on a viral meme, this is Gen-Z filmmaking at its freshest and finest.
For fans of: Twin Peaks: The Return (2017), Midsommar (2019)
Broken English
Directors: Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard
This feature-length documentary about Marianne Faithfull uses a playful framing device – the fictional The Ministry of Not Forgetting, led by Tilda Swinton – to explore a fitful but fascinating career. Though Faithfull is frequently seen using an oxygen tube in her interviews, she’s still a regal presence who knows exactly how to burnish her legacy. If the results sometimes feel a little pretentious, well, that’s probably what the great lady would have wanted.
For fans of: 20,000 Days on Earth (2014), Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché (2021)
Erupcja
Director: Pete Ohs
A suitably detached Charli XCX goes AWOL in Warsaw in this semi-improvised indie gem. At 71 minutes, it’s a slight but beguiling anti-romcom that follows XCX’s Bethany as she uses her cosmic connection to melancholy Nel (Lena Góra) to extricate herself from an impending engagement to boring boyfriend Rob (Will Madden). Not so much a ‘Brat Summer’ as a brief escape from the responsibilities of everyday life, but Erupcja still leaves a lasting impression.
For fans of: Before Sunrise (1995), Blue Valentine (2010)
Finding Emily
Director: Alicia MacDonald
Imagine a Richard Curtis romcom, but with Gen Z protagonists who orbit the Manchester music scene. Alicia MacDonald’s feature debut is a warmhearted romp about an aspiring indie musician (Spike Fearn) who embarks on a campus-wide quest to find a charismatic undergrad (Angourie Rice) who gave him the wrong digits. Even when you can guess what’s coming next, it’s fun watching it all unfold to a banging soundtrack of Black Grape, Billie Eilish and hometown heroes Blossoms.
For fans of: When Harry Met Sally (1989), Rye Lane (2023)
Hamnet
Director: Chloé Zhao
Jessie Buckley won an Oscar for her fierce, grief-stricken performance in this superior period weepie, which also features a typically charming turn from Paul Mescal. Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s blockbuster novel, Hamnet convincingly imagines a profound psychological link between the death of Shakespeare’s only son and the creation of his monumental play Hamlet. Ian McKellen said he “doesn’t quite get it”, but you’ll probably end up a blubbering wreck. Several times over.
For fans of: Manchester by the Sea (2016), All Is True (2018)
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy
Director: Lee Cronin
No, this addition to the multi-generation, multi-studio The Mummy franchise doesn’t have Brendan Fraser – that film is supposedly coming next year. What it does have is a missing daughter (Natalie Grace) who reunites with her parents (Jack Reynor and Laia Costa) after eight years spent in, um, a sarcophagus. This horror romp is hardly unpredictable, but director Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground, Evil Dead Rise) justifies his titular billing by keeping things fun, frenzied and very freaky.
For fans of: The Exorcist (1973), Evil Dead (2013)
McCartney: Man On The Run
Director: Morgan Neville
Exec produced by Paul McCartney himself, this documentary offers a nostalgic and gently revisionist look-back at Macca’s early solo career. You might not come away agreeing with Alan Partridge, who famously claimed that Wings were “the band The Beatles could have been”, but it’s a welcome reminder of his songwriting skills and unique career trajectory. Where Lennon was political and iconoclastic, McCartney pinged appealingly between idiosyncratic homemade pop and stadium-filling soft rock.
For fans of: Keith Richards: Under the Influence (2015), The Beatles: Get Back (2021)
Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie
Director: Matt Johnson
If you only watch one gonzo mockumentary this year, make it this one. Reprising their roles from the TV and web series Nirvanna The Band The Show, director Matt Johnson and co-writer Jay McCarrol play heavily fictionalised versions of themselves: an improvising and possibly inept musical duo determined to headline a famous Toronto venue. The laughs keep on coming as they riff on Back To The Future and baffle unsuspecting members of the public like peak Sacha Baron Cohen.
For fans of: Borat (2006), Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
Nouvelle Vague
Director: Richard Linklater
This love letter to French New Wave cinema doubles as an entertaining exploration of the ambition and insecurity fuelling many great directors. Filming in elegantly grainy black and white, indie auteur Richard Linklater tastefully dramatises the making of 1960’s Breathless, the movie-making breakthrough of Jean-Luc Godard (Guillaume Marbeck). Linklater so nails the prevailing air of chic chaos that he won a Best Director prize at France’s César Awards: virtually unprecedented for an American.
For fans of: Jules et Jim (1962), Frances Ha (2012)
Obsession
Director: Curry Barker
Inspired by a ‘Treehouse Of Horror’ episode from The Simpsons – yes, really – Obsession is this year’s freshest horror flick. Desperate to woo his cool co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette), nerdy shop clerk Bear (Michael Johnston) buys a novelty toy purporting to hold magical powers. Sadly, he comes to regret wishing for Nikki to love him “more than anyone in the world” when she morphs into a possessive psycho. The premise may not be original, but the witty execution really is.
For fans of: Fatal Attraction (1987), Misery (1990)
Project Hail Mary
Directors: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Sci-fi doesn’t come more satisfying than this blockbuster based on a novel by The Martian‘s Chris Weir. Ryan Gosling brings lashings of charisma as an intrepid ex-teacher who wakes up on an interstellar spacecraft with no crewmates and no memory of how he got there. The Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller nimbly mix heart, laughs and hardcore(ish) science as Gosling teams with a friendly extraterrestrial to save the world. Well, hopefully.
For fans of: Gravity (2013), The Martian (2015)
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Director: David Frankel
Twenty years after surviving Meryl Streep’s withering editrice Miranda Priestly, Anne Hathaway‘s Andy Sachs returns to Runway magazine – only this time, she’s a venerated features editor, not a put-upon assistant. Accessorised with a Lady Gaga cameo and a brilliantly brittle turn from Emily Blunt, this sequel manages to feel comfortingly nostalgic and surprisingly pertinent. In between power struggles and fashion shows, Aline Brosh McKenna’s sharp screenplay makes some salient points about the future of print media.
For fans of: Working Girl (1988), The September Issue (2009)
They Will Kill You
Director: Kirill Sokolov
In this demented gorefest, virtually no body part is left attached to its socket. Zazie Beetz shines as the enterprising final girl who answers a ‘help wanted’ ad at a New York high-rise, only to find it houses a bloodthirsty Satanic cult. Don’t expect much in the way of social commentary; do expect an ultraviolent and very funny race to the finish. This film gives the phrase “torn limb from limb” a whole new meaning.
For fans of: Kill Bill (2003), Ready or Not (2019)