Thursday 6 June Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker
Friday 7 June The Dante Project – Royal Ballet
Thursday 13 June Headhunters
Friday 14 June Sir Andrew Davis: A Hidden Portrait
Thursday 20 June Their Finest
Friday 21 June Gilbert and Sullivan: The Mikado
Thursday 27 June Noah
Friday 28 June The King and I

THURSDAY 6 JUNE AT 6.30 P.M. STAR WARS IX: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

While the First Order continues to ravage the galaxy, Rey finalises her training as a Jedi. But danger suddenly rises from the ashes as the evil Emperor Palpatine mysteriously returns from the dead. While working with Finn and Poe Dameron to fulfil a new mission, Rey will not only face Kylo Ren once more, but she will also finally discover the truth about her parents as well as a deadly secret that could determine her future and the fate of the ultimate final showdown that is to come.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker does the most important thing, the one thing it absolutely had to do. It ends well. [San Francisco Chronicle]
An accomplished end to a culturally significant saga. [Guardian]
It’s such fun: full of the rackety exuberance of the now forgotten Saturday morning movie serials that were an influence on George Lucas. [Guardian]
The storytelling is solid, and at a time when the CGI in some films is downright embarrassing, the special effects are superb. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Admission: US$2.50 [free to Film Members]

FRIDAY 7 JUNE AT 6.30 P.M. THE DANTE PROJECT – ROYAL BALLET

Carriages: 8.45 p.m.

Originally presented as part of the 700th anniversary celebrations of the poet’s death, Dante’s epic journey through the afterlife in The Divine Comedy, is realised in a major artistic collaboration between trailblazing forces of the contemporary arts scene. Wayne McGregor’s ground-breaking choreography comes together with a virtuosic new score by one of the most influential musicians of the 21st century, composer-conductor Thomas Adès, and designs by the renowned artist Tacita Dean, celebrated for her pioneering and poetic work across film and other mediums. Together they illuminate the extraordinary vision of Dante in this three-part work for the full Company. This world premiere recording also marks the final production starring acclaimed dancer Edward Watson as Royal Ballet Principal, after 27 years with the Company.

· The Dante Project is utterly thrilling, it’s bold, beautiful, emotional and utterly engaging. The dancers perform as if liberated by the sheer excitement of it all. By the time Dante reaches Paradiso, the music is as radiant as the dancers, flitting and flying around the stage, all in white, like so many shiny celestial orbs. The mood is one of abstracted joy, deep but dazzling…

[The Guardian ★★★★★]

· With an astonishing score and gleaming dancers, McGregor’s latest marshals spectacular forces. [Evening Standard]

· Wayne McGregor’s adaptation of The Divine Comedy has a tremendous score by Thomas Adès and fine dancing. At curtain down, the house reacted as if we’d all just witnessed the parting of the Red Sea [The Telegraph]

The Royal Ballet’s Divine Comedy-inspired show comprises three acts that brim with style and drama, Heaven, hell, and everything in between: Wayne McGregor’s new work for The Royal Ballet has huge scale and ambition and, with a rich new score by Thomas Adès, it bubbles over with ideas. [The Independent]

· It’s an epic spectacle with much to admire [Bachtrack]

· It’s bold, beautiful, emotional and utterly engaging, we were totally mesmerised by it. This is, in our view, one of the best modern ballets we’ve yet seen; it’s highly imaginative, spectacular, and has a brilliant musical score. The cast, as ever, were magnificent with many of our favourite dancers playing prominent roles. [Amazon]

Admission: US$2.50 [free to Red Carpet Members]

THURSDAY 13 JUNE AT 6.30 P.M. HEADHUNTERS

Carriages: 8.25 p.m.

Headhunters is a Norwegian action thriller [dubbed in English!] based on the novel by Jo Nesbø that was a major box office success, the highest-grossing Norwegian film in history.

Save for a somewhat diminutive stature, Roger Brown is a man who apparently has it all; he’s Norway’s most successful headhunter, he’s married to the exceedingly beautiful gallery owner Diana, has a far too expensive villa – and must, to keep his head above water financially, steal a little too much art. Clas Greve is the perfect candidate for Roger’s new recruitment assignment, being a former elite soldier and chief executive in the electronics business who’s also in possession of a very valuable painting, so Roger eyes a chance to permanently get rid of his financial worries and begins planning his final, greatest score. But it turns out that Greve is playing games as well and, when Roger breaks into Greve’s house, he finds something that changes his life completely and soon forces him to run for his life…

Grisly, twisty, and darkly comic, Headhunters is an exhilaratingly oddball take on familiar thriller elements. [Rotten Tomatoes]
This is one funny, gory, high-class crime thriller. [Boston Herald]
I knew I was being manipulated and didn’t care. It was a pleasure to see how well it was being done. [Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times]
I can’t remember the last time a movie surprised me as much as Headhunters: not just its story twists and turns, which are considerable, but its continual stripping of character veneer and overall audaciousness left me breathless. [Maltin’s Movie Guide]

Admission: US$2.50 [free to Film Members]

FRIDAY 14 JUNE AT 6.30 P.M. SIR ANDREW DAVIS: A HIDDEN PORTRAIT

Carriages: 8.30 p.m.

The distinguished British conductor Sir Andrew Davis, who died on 20 April 2024 aged 80, conducts Elgar’s Enigma Variations in Worcester Cathedral where Elgar said everyone should hear his music. The performance is preceded by A Hidden Portrait, an acclaimed BBC drama-documentary filmed in the rolling Malvern Hills in which Sir Andrew discusses the ‘friends pictured within’ and unravels the mystery of the famous musical puzzle contained in Elgar’s famous work. The film also includes archive footage of Elgar himself (and his dogs!) as well as Sir Andrew at the Last Night of the Proms.

· Sir Andrew Davis’s fine performance of the Enigma Variations, with Nimrod hushed, slow and steady, was recorded in the atmospheric surroundings of Worcester Cathedral. Davis introduces a highly enjoyable documentary about the work and ‘the friends pictured within’. [The Penguin Guide]

· Andrew Davis presents the documentary in an engaging style, giving an overview of the variations, as well as homing in on several of them. There’s a lot of information presented in an unassuming way, and, for anyone coming to this masterpiece for the first time, it’s a very good way. [BBC Music Magazine]

· Sir Andrew Davis’s warmly committed performance of the Enigma Variations, atmospherically recorded in Worcester Cathedral, is introduced by a highly enjoyable documentary about the work and the ‘friends pictured within’. [Gramophone]

· Sir Andrew Davis conducts the BBC Symphony, not only a fine performance of the work, but also a documentary about the piece itself featuring Davis who tells us much about each of the people who inspired the individual variations while wandering about the beautiful Malvern Hills, Elgar’s home, the Worcester Cathedral and environs. [Amazon]