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Parents, Romeo and Magda (Adrain Titieni, Lia Bugnar), find themselves caught in a web of disappointment and frustration with their own lives as their daughter Eliza (Maria-Victoria Dragus) nears her graduation from the Romanian equivalent of High School. Will any of the family manage to pull themselves from their destined tailspin? Written and Directed by Cristian Mungiu, this slow burn into midlife crisis and family drama is portrayed not in broad brushes, but with subtle and small strokes to create a detailed sense of despair. Sparse in score, and underplayed in the audio department, yet, one viewing and the sound of a ringing phone is destined to conjure a Pavlovian response of panic to any witness. Mungiu makes his point at a lugubrious pace and offers plenty of conversation/discussion fodder just the same, this will not be everyone’s cup of tea. Perhaps a matinee for the foreign cinephiles, Graduation is rated R.

Whilst on his honeymoon, walking meatbag and auto wizard Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is brought to the dark side by cyber terrorist and hacker extraordinaire, Cipher (Charlize Theron), who’s in possession of the ultimate McGuffin. Turned against his family and crew, it’s Dom against the world. Will Deckard, Hobbs, Letty, Roman, Tej, and Ramsey (Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez,Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Nathalie Emmanuel) be able to stop the powers in play, or will it all be too fast and too furious….8?Directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Chris Morgan and Gary Scott Thompson, this humanized action cartoon of biblical proportions falls in perfect lockstep with its predecessors. Horrible dialogue, impossible setups and solutions, fancy fast cars, really big explosions, and of course….family; check the box it’s all here, just as big and ridiculous as ever. Sure, one could fault this film and its entire franchise with taunts and claims that “this isn’t high cinema” or “this perpetuates horrible standards and stereotypes,” etc., this would all be missing the point, and while both of the above statements are true, at its core, this film is action/escapism at its most basic; it’s a Summertime popcorn chomping action flick that delivers the goods in Spring to clear the way for all of the explosions that have yet to come. Try not to read too far into this one and you’ll be a lot more satisfied. And, pro-tip, every time someone in the film says a line of dialogue that contains the word “family,” take a drink, your bar tab for drinks after the show will be exceedingly low courtesy of the in theatre pre-funk action at its finest, you’re welcome. Really a matinee but deservedly begging to be seen on the big screen, The Fate of the Furious is rated PG-13.

Three retired steel workers discover their pension is about to be dissolved with no sane recourse. So, naturally what are the disgruntled to do, rob a bank of course. But for Willie, Joe, and Albert (Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Alan Arkin) this will take special training, how will they ever pull off a heist of this proportion and at their age, and what about this sexy minx, Annie (Ann-Margret), who keeps hanging around? Written by Theodore Melfi and Directed by Zach Braff, this light hearted romp is completely harmless in its breezy fox trot through the retirement home. Without really stretching any of the ensemble to any degree, Braff creates a simple charmer that pokes fun in all the expected geriatric ways making for easy escapism allowing us to see some of Hollywood’s senior champs still having fun. Really more of a rental later, Going in Style is rated PG-13.