Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)

“Return to the Magic”

Directed by David Yates (The Legend of Tarzan)
Starring Eddie Redmayne (Jupiter Ascending), Jude Law (Captain Marvel), Ezra Miller (Zack Snyder’s Justice League), Dan Fogler (Free Birds), Alison Sudol (Other People’s Children), William Nadylam (Stillwater), Callum Turner (Emma), Jessica Williams (The Incredible Jessica James), Victoria Yeates (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald), Maria Fernanda Cândido (The Traitor), Richard Coyle (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), Oliver Masucci (When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit) and Mads Mikkelsen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)

Newt Scamander (Redmayne) finds and assists a pregnant Qilin, but they are attacked by followers of Gellert Grindlewald (Mikkelsen) led by Credence Barebones/Aurelius Dumbledore (Miller), who kill the mother and snatch the infant. Grindlewald kills the infant, but Newt returns to the dying mother in time to witness the birth of a second infant Qilin.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)

“Welcome to the Next Level”

Directed by Jeff Fowler (Sonic the Hedgehog)
Starring James Marsden (X-Men: The Last Stand), Ben Schwartz (Flora and Ulysses), Tika Sumpter (Nobody’s Fool), Natasha Rothwell (SOnic the Hedgehog), Shemar Moore (The Bounce Back), Colleen O’Shaughnessey (Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie), Lee Majdoub (Dead Rising: Endgame), Idris Elba (Hobbs & Shaw) and Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)

Dr Robotnik (Carrey) is able to escape the mushroom planet by sending a signal and making a deal with the one who comes looking for him, Knuckles the Echidna (Elba). Meanwhile, after the events of the first film, Sonic (Schwartz) is living in Green Hills with Tom (Marsden) and Maddie (Sumpter), and attempting to become a superhero – Blue Justice, trademark pending – in Seattle with… mixed results.

Morbius (2022)

“The Line Between Hero and Villain Will Be Broken”

Directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House)
Starring Jared Leto (Suicide Squad), Matt Smith (Terminator: Genisys), Adria Arjona (Pacific Rim: Uprising), Jared Harris (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones), Al Madrigal (The Map of Tiny Perfect Things) and Tyrese Gibson (Transformers)

Michael Morbius (Charlie Shotwell, All the Money in the World) is a brilliant boy, afflicted with a blood disorder so rare that he has a regular rotation of roommates, all of whom he calls Milo, in a hospice full of fellow sufferers. When his doctor/father figure Dr Emil Nicholas (Harris) arranges for Michael to attend medical school, he leaves behind the latest Milo (Joseph Esson, screen debut) in the dickhead bullying capital of… I want to say Italy. Years later, Michael (Leto) is a brilliant young researcher, seeking a cure for his condition with the help of Dr Martine Bancroft (Arjona), funded by Milo (Smith), and rejecting a Nobel prize because he dismisses a world-changing medical discovery as an accidental side-effect of his failed work.

Death on the Nile (2022)

“Murder Was Only the Beginning”

Directed by Kenneth Branagh (Artemis Fowl)
Starring Kenneth Branagh (Tenet), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman 1984), Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Armie Hammer (The Man from UNCLE), Annette Bening (Captain Marvel), Ali Fazal (Victoria and Abdul), Sophie Okonedo (Hellboy), Tom Bateman (Murder on the Orient Express), Emma Mackey (Eiffel), Dawn French (Coraline), Rose Leslie (The Last Witch Hunter), Jennifer Saunders (Sing 2) and Russell Brand (St Trinian’s)

During the Great War, Belgian infantryman Hercule Poirot (Branagh) provides his platoon with a winning strategy through his superb observational skills, but his face is scarred by a booby trap, leading his fiancee to suggest he grow a moustache.

Two decades later, Poirot is at a London club, watching blues singer Salome Otterborn (Okonedo). Here, he witnesses Otterborn’s niece and manager Rosalie (Wright) ensuring her aunt gets her due, and a fateful meeting between Jaqueline de Belfort (Mackey), her hunky fiance Simon Doyle (Hammer) and her old schoolfriend Linnet Ridgeway (Gadot). Another six weeks pass, and Poirot meets his old friend Bouc (Bateman) and his mother, Euphemia (Bening) in Egypt and finds himself invited to the wedding of Simon and Linnet, with Salome providing the entertainment – arranged by Rosalie, who was at school with Linnet and Jaqueline – and attended by Linnet’s accountant Andrew Katchadourian (Fazal), her ex-fiance Dr Windlesham (Brand), her socialist godmother Marie Van Schuyler (Saunders) and her nurse-companion Miss Bowers (French), and Linnet’s put upon maid Louise Bourget (Leslie).

I Wrote A Book

It’s a little outside the usual wheelhouse of this blog, but your humble correspondent has published a collection of short stories on Kindle.

Borderlands contains fifteen short stories set in the inbetween places: from the lost history of the moon to the place where worlds collide; from the guardians of time’s proper course to the gap between a mirror and reality; from the desperate distance between a group of mercenaries and a place of safety, to the forlorn places where faith hides from the light of reason.

You can pick up a Kindle copy of Borderlands from your Amazon region of choice today.

Turning Red (2022)

“Growing Up is a Beast”

Directed by Domee Shi (feature debut)
Starring Rosalie Chiang (feature debut), Sandra Oh (Over the Moon), Ava Morse (Ron’s Gone Wrong), Hyein Park (feature debut), Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (feature debut), Orion Lee (Zack Snyder’s Justice League), Wai Ching Ho (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice), Tristan Allerick Chen (Ron’s Gone Wrong) and James Hong (Kung Fu Panda)

Meilin Lee (Chiang) is an extroverted, independent 13 year old, determinedly forging her own path alongside her bestie squad – Miriam (Morse), Priya (Ramakrishnan) and Abby (Park) – while also devoting time to tending a family-run shrine to her ancestress Sun Yee with her mother, Ming (Oh). In school, she’s a firecracker math geek and devoted ‘4*Townie’, while at home she’s a diligent and respectful daughter. When her mother discovers a book of fevered pubescent sketches, however, the resulting scene and ensuing humiliation awaken something in Meilin; something… furry.