Out July 2
Amy
(UK, documentary/biography/music)
Director: Asif Kapadia
Starring: Yasiin Bey, Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson
What's it about?From the team behind documentary Senna, comes this portrait of one of Britain’s great music icons, Amy Winehouse. While her music made her a star, her chaotic personal life stole headlines. With rare interviews and never-before-seen archival footage, Amy takes us behind the sensationalised headlines to reveal a prodigiously talented young woman whose life ended far too soon.
Awake: The Life of Yogananda
(USA, documentary)
Director: Paola di Florio, Lisa Leeman
Starring: George Harrison, Anupam Kher, Russell Simmons
What's it about?This is a biopic about Yogananda, author of The Autobiography of a Yogi (apparently the only book Steve Jobs had on his iPad) and, who in the 1920s, brought Hindu spirituality to the West. This tells the story of his life and influence on yoga, religion and science, combining re-enactment, interviews, and verité.
Out July 9
Madame Bovary
(Germany/Belgium/USA, drama)
Director: Sophie Barthes
Starring: Ezra Miller, Mia Wasikowska, Paul Giamatti
What's it about?Madame Bovary is the adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's novel about a beautiful young woman who married a small-town doctor so she could leave her father's pig farm behind. But after being introduced to the glamorous world of high society, she soon becomes bored with her stodgy husband and mundane life, and seeks prestige and excitement outside the bonds of marriage.
Read: SBS On Demand Bonnet Dramas
Magic Mike XXL
(USA, comedy/drama/music)
Director: Gregory Jacobs
Starring: Channing Tatum, Elizabeth Banks, Andie MacDowell
What's it about?Three years after Mike bowed out of the stripper life at the top of his game, he and the remaining Kings of Tampa hit the road to Myrtle Beach to put on one last blow-out performance. On the road to their final show, with whistle stops in Jacksonville and Savannah to renew old acquaintances and make new friends, Mike and the guys learn some new moves and shake off the past in surprising ways.
Out July 16
Ant-Man
(USA, biography/drama)
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Hayley Atwell
What's it about?Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, con-man Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.
Read article: Paul Rudd proves size doesn't matter in Ant-Man trailer
Women He's Undressed
(Australia, documentary/biography)
Director: Gillian Armstrong
Starring: Darren Gilshenan, Deborah Kennedy, Louis Alexander
What's it about?Gillian Armstrong's (Unfolding Florence) latest work is a celebration of an unsung Australian cinema hero, costume designer Orry-Kelly. The three-time Oscar winner worked on countless films during Hollywood's golden age, dressing stars like Marilyn Monroe, Shirley MacLaine and Natalie Wood. His costumes helped shape the characters on screen, empowering female performances. An outspoken figure, Orry-Kelly was uncompromising in his sexuality, at a time when the film business was deeply conservative.
Read: Women He's Undressed: Gillian Armstrong on her quest to take the dust covers off a legend
Ruben Guthrie
(Australia, drama/romance)
Director: Brendan Cowell
Starring: Patrick Brammall, Alex Dimitriades, Abbey Lee
What's it about?Life is good for ad man Ruben Guthrie - he leads a party boy lifestyle, has a model fiancée and lives in a house on the water. He's at the top of his game, until some drunken skylarking lands Ruben at the bottom of his infinity pool, lucky to be alive. His mum hits the panic button, and then his fiancée leaves him, but not before issuing him one final challenge: if Ruben can do one year without a drink, she'll give him another chance.
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
(Israel/France/Germany, drama)
Director: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz
Starring: Ronit Elkabetz, Simon Abkarian, Gabi Amrani
What's it about?In Israel, a divorce can be granted by rabbis only with the full consent from the husband, which gives him even more power than the judges. Viviane Amsalem has been applying for divorce for three years, but her manipulative husband Elisha won't hear of it and, instead of having her request granted, Viviane finds herself to be the one being put on trial.
Insidious: Chapter 3
(Canada/USA, drama/horror/thriller)
Director: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Dermot Mulroney, Stefanie Scott, Angus Sampson
What's it about?This new chapter in the Insidious horror franchise by Australian director Leigh Whannell (and Saw writer) is a prequel set before the haunting of the Lambert family, that reveals how gifted psychic Elise Rainier reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity.
Paper Towns
(USA, drama/mystery/romance)
Director: Jake Schreier
Starring: Cara Delevingne, Nat Wolff, Halston Sage
What's it about?Adapted from the bestselling novel by author John Green (The Fault in Our Stars), Paper Towns is a coming-of-age story about Quentin and his neighbour Margo. After taking him on an all-night adventure through their hometown, Margo suddenly disappears - leaving behind cryptic clues for Quentin to decipher. But as he progresses in his search and learns more about who Margo really is, he's less and less sure of what he's looking for.
Out July 23
Mr. Holmes
(UK/USA, crime/drama/mystery)
Director: Bill Condon
Starring: Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Hiroyuki Sanada
What's it about?In 1947, an aging Sherlock Holmes faces the end of his days in his remote seaside farmhouse tending to his bees, with only the company of his housekeeper and her young son, Roger. Grappling with the diminishing powers of his mind, Holmes comes to rely upon the boy as he revisits the circumstances of the unsolved case that forced him into retirement, and searches for answers to the mysteries of life and love - before it's too late.
13 Minutes
(Germany, biography/drama/history)
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Starring: Christian Friedel, Katharina Schüttler, Burghart Klaußner
What's it about?Director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) tells the incredible story of a man who nearly changed the world. In 1939, when Hitler tricked millions of people at the height of his power, one man, Georg Elser, decided to resist by planting a bomb in Munich where Hitler is due to give a speech. But Hitler leaves the building before the bomb detonates, 13 minutes too early.
Read: 10 Berlin Festival Films coming to Australia
Child 44
(Czech Republic/UK/Romania/USA, drama/thriller)
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Starring: Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace
What's it about?Set in 1953 Soviet Russia, Child 44 chronicles the crisis of conscience for secret police agent Leo Demidov, who loses status, power and home when he refuses to denounce his own wife, Raisa, as a traitor. Exiled from Moscow to a grim provincial outpost, Leo and Raisa join forces with General Mikhail Nesterov to track down a serial killer who preys on young boys. Their quest for justice threatens a system-wide cover-up enforced by Leo's psychopathic rival Vasili, who insists "There is no crime in Paradise."
Self/Less
(USA, sci-fi/thriller)
Director: Tarsem Singh
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Matthew Goode, Ben Kingsley
What's it about?An extremely wealthy man, dying from cancer, undergoes a radical medical procedure that transfers his consciousness into the body of a healthy young man. But all is not as it seems when he starts to uncover the mystery of the body's origin and the organization that will kill to protect its cause.
Man Up
(UK/France, comedy/romance)
Director: Ben Palmer
Starring: Simon Pegg, Lake Bell, Dean-Charles Chapman
What's it about?Nancy is a thirty-something single woman who's given up on dating. But when she is mistaken for a stranger's blind date, she just goes with it just for one night. Strangely, pretending to be someone else helps her being herself, and leads to her finding the perfect boyfriend. But will the latter get over her duplicity when he eventually uncovers the truth?
The Gallows
(USA, horror)
Directors: Travis Cluff, Chris Lofing
Starring: Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos
What's it about?Twenty years after a horrific accident during a small town school play, students at the school resurrect the failed show in a misguided attempt to honor the anniversary of the tragedy - but soon discover that some things are better left alone.
