Atomic Blonde (R21)

the big sick
image: Cathay-Keris films

120 minutes, 4 stars

Stuntman-turned-director David Leitch proved in John Wick (2014) that there was plenty of life left in the old-fashioned art of giving and taking punches. Under his hand, Charlize Theron, as British spy Lorraine Broughton, is fury unleashed. Searching for a file of great importance in East Berlin just before the fall of the Wall, she leaves in her wake a small army of henchmen writhing in agony. British agent and old Berlin hand Percival (an impressively sinister James McAvoy) is her ally – or is he?

The Big Sick (NC16)

the big sick
image: Shaw Organisation

120 minutes, 3.5 stars

Kumail (comedian Kumail Nanjiani playing himself) is a struggling stand-up comic who meets Emily (Zoe Kazan, far left, playing Nanjiani’s real wife, Emily V. Gordon). His Pakistani-Muslim immigrant family keeps setting him up with girls from his culture. After he and Emily break up, she falls into a coma. Because of the illness, the moments that form the background in rom-coms are thrust into the foreground, giving viewers plenty of finely observed takes about the thing that gets omitted most often in the genre – families.

Dunkirk (PG13)

the big sick
image: Warner Bros

107 minutes, 4 stars

The 1940 Dunkirk evacuation of more than 300,000 British, French and other Allied troops is today encrusted in decades of mythologising.

British film-maker Christopher Nolan cuts to the core by celebrating British traits such as the stiff upper lip, the proper way to queue and the restorative powers of tea (magnified if accompanied by bread and jam). His hard-luck troopers (nameless and played by Fionn Whitehead, One Direction singer Harry Styles and Damien Bonnard) are stung by shame, while others, such as civilian “little boat” volunteer Dawson (Mark Rylance, above) and fighter pilot Farrier (Tom Hardy) provide the heroics. But the real hero, Nolan wants to say, is the British spirit of quiet self-sacrifice.

Minds Film Festival

the big sick
image: Minds Film Festival

The closing film Redha (PG, 115 minutes) comes from Malaysia and is based on stories of real families collected by director Tunku Mona Riza. When couple Alina and Razlan discover that their son Danial (the younger Danial is played by Harith Haziq) is autistic, their relationship is put under stress. Alina also has to raise a son with problems that few in their social circles know about.

Where: Golden Village Vivocity, 1 Harbourfront Walk When:Tomorrow to Aug 5. Redha screens on Aug 5 at 7pm. Director Mona and executive producer Ku Mohamad Haris will be present for a question-and-answer session. Admission: $6 Info: For bookings and schedule, go to gv.com.sg

This story first appeared on www.straitstimes.com

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