Queer (18)
Directed by Luca Guadagnino
★★★

AFTER previous attempts to distance himself from his most iconic role as James Bond, Daniel Craig has finally put him to rest with a career-defining performance as the queer lead in Luca Guadagnino’s surreal new film. 

Guadagnino reunited with Challengers writer Justin Kuritzkes for the big screen adaptation of William S Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical and unfinished novella Queer, that was only published almost 40 years after it was written. 

Set in 1950 Mexico City, Craig is mesmerising as US expat, drug addict and loner William Lee who spends his days drinking at a local bar frequented by gay men. There he meets the younger Eugene Allerton (an impressive Drew Starkey), an expat former soldier newly arrived to the city, with whom he becomes infatuated.

It also stars an almost unrecognisable Jason Schwartzman and Lesley Manville, who pops up as a doctor in the middle of the South American jungle. 

The 1950s look and style of the drama is exquisite and the film doesn’t shy away from showing full-frontal male nudity, which is refreshing. 

The first half of Queer, which concentrates on Lee and Allerton’s blossoming love affair, is totally compelling. However it all falls apart in the second half as it takes a psychedelic and bizarre turn, but not in a good way. It loses the plot and comes across as simply pretentious. 

Kuritzkes wrote his own ending to Burroughs’ unfinished work, which may explain the issue as well as the bizarre decision to propel Lee into outer space. 

In cinemas, December 13. 
 
 

The Universal Theory (15)
Directed by Timm Kroger
★★★

SET in 1962 at a physics congress in the Swiss Alps, this Hitchcockian-style quantum mechanical thriller is a surreal head-spinner. 

Co-writer/director Timm Kroger’s black-and-white film takes you on a complex and carefully structured mystery ride full of skiing physicists, bizarre cloud formations, underground mountain tunnels, dead bodies and the exploration of the multiverse. 

The film follows student Johannes Leinert (Jan Bulow) who, with his doctoral adviser (Hanns Zischler), travels to a conference where he decides to work on his thesis but is soon distracted by a young jazz pianist, Karin (Olivia Ross). She seems to know things about him that only he knows. 

Stunningly shot, the film looks and feels like it was made in the 1960s and is packed full with inscrutable yet colourful characters. This is one hell of a mind-bending trip. Think Hitchcock meets David Lynch. 

In cinemas, December 13.

Carry-On
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
★★★

NO, this isn’t a remake of the Carry On films, but an old-fashioned uber-tense action thriller set in an airport at Christmas which aspires to be the next Die Hard. 

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by TJ Fixman, it stars Taron Egerton as a Transportation Security Administration agent who is blackmailed by a mysterious traveller (Jason Bateman) into allowing a carry-on bag, containing a dangerous substance, to slip by security and onto a Christmas Eve flight. 

Via an earpiece he is told to do nothing or else his pregnant girlfriend (Sofia Carson) will die. 

Shot in a decommissioned airport terminal, this proves to be a nail-biting cat-and mouse game with a devious political twist. 

Egerton plays the ordinary guy who is required to step up to the plate to perfection, while Bateman is chilling as the villain.  

Surprisingly grounded and absolutely riveting, it is worth a view. 

On Netflix, December 13. 

Lord of the Rings: The War of The Rohirrim (12A)
Directed by Kenji Kamiyama
★★★

SET 183 years before the Lord of the Rings trilogy, this spin-off animated feature recounts the origin story of Helms Deep and the fate of Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), the King of Rohan. This will mean more to Tolkien fans than it did to me. 

With Peter Jackson as executive producer, director Kenji Kamiyama delivers a haunting anime-style feature which is female-driven (for once) and complements Jackson’s critically acclaimed franchise. 

It follows Helm’s daughter Hera (Gaia Wise) as she is forced to take charge to defend and save her people from a deadly attack from her former childhood friend Wulf (Luca Pasqualino) seeking vengeance for his father who was killed by Helm.   

She is a strong and compelling heroine who is no damsel in distress and can hold her own. It is a riveting story which will appeal to fans and non-fans alike. It is peppered with nods and references to the Lord of the Rings folklore which will keep supporters intrigued and excited.

In cinemas, December 13.