Check out what's showing at cinemas across the region...

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 CERT 12a (120 mins)
Released Fri 1 May
Starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Simone Ashley, Justin Theroux 
Directed by David Frankel

Twenty years after the first film, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci return to the fashionable streets of New York City and the sleek offices of Runway Magazine for this eagerly awaited sequel movie. 

The film’s storyline finds Streep’s character, Miranda Priestly, confronting the challenge of navigating a new media landscape and Runway's position within it.

“Come to it looking for fun," says Streep, in talking about the long-awaited sequel. “You can look for the underpinnings of some very serious issues that we are confronting today, of course, but you can also just take from it what you want. Everybody in the family will have a different idea about it.”
The returning cast are joined by, among other familiar faces, Kenneth Branagh, Justin Theroux and Lucy Liu.  

IRON MAIDEN: BURNING AMBITION CERT 15 (106 mins)
Released Thurs 7 May
Starring Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson, Nicko McBrain, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, Janick Gers 
Directed by Malcolm Venville

As iconic journeys in music history go, Iron Maiden’s, as with many a heavy metal band, is strewn with drama and controversy. Spanning five decades-worth of ferocious musicmaking, and charting the group’s rise from the pubs of East London to the world’s biggest stadiums, Burning Ambition benefits from unprecedented access to the official archives and exclusive interviews with the band. The likes of actor Javier Bardem, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich and Public Enemy’s Chuck D also make contributions. 
And there’s even some all-new animated sequences of Iron Maiden's legendary mascot, Eddie, to further recommend the film. 

MORTAL KOMBAT II CERT tbc (116 mins)
Released Fri 8 May
Starring Karl Urban, Ludi Lin, Jessica McNamee, Joe Taslim, Hiroyuki Sanada, Adeline Rudolph 
Directed by Simon McQuoid

If the producers can get the Mortal Kombat films right, the ongoing box-office potential is huge. After all, the original action video game series on which the movies are based is the world’s bestselling fighting-game franchise, so there’s certainly no shortage of fans ready and eager to sample some serious cinematic action. This film’s 2021 predecessor did okay, but the sequel probably needs to up the ante if the franchise is ever going to appeal to cinemagoers who aren’t also devotees of the source material.  
The latest high-stakes installment finds the fan favourite champions - now joined by Johnny Cage - pitted against one another in what’s being publicised as ‘the ultimate, no-holds barred, gory battle’. 
Their challenge? To defeat Shao Kahn - the emperor of the lawless realm of Outworld - whose dark rule threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders...

THE SHEEP DETECTIVES CERT PG (109 mins)
Released Fri 8 May
Starring Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, Nicholas Galitzine and with the voices of Regina Hall, Bryan Cranstone, Brett Golstein  
Directed by Kyle Balda

The Sheep Detectives. The title says it all, leaving no room for doubt as to what you’ll get if you decide Kyle Balda’s family-friendly comedy is worth an evening of your time. 

George (Hugh Jackman) is a shepherd who reads detective novels to his beloved sheep every night, assuming they can’t possibly understand. But when George’s life is mysteriously brought to an end, the sheep realise it’s time to engage in some serious crime-solving... 

Jackman was drawn to the project by just how “nutty” he thought it was, describing it as “Knives Out meets Babe”. Dame Emma Thompson joins in the fun as George’s lawyer, Lydia Harbottle. 

STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU CERT tbc (140 mins)
Released Fri 22 May
Starring Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Blum, Hemky Madera and with the voices of Martin Scorsese and Jeremy Allen White 
Directed by Jon Favreau

Included among the creations spawned by George Lucas’ original Star Wars film is a television series called The Mandalorian, which has proved popular enough with the franchise’s fans to earn itself not only three seasons but also this first cinematic outing.  

The Mandalorian is a bounty hunter named Din Djarin, who is helped in his endeavours by a little green friend called Grogu. With the evil Empire having fallen, and Imperial warlords scattered throughout the galaxy, the fledgling New Republic is working to protect everything the Rebellion fought for - which is why they’ve enlisted the help of our two eponymous heroes...

The film is the first Star Wars movie to hit cinemas screens since 2019 and marks the start of a new era, with franchise owners Disney pivoting away from a focus on Star Wars television shows and back towards cinematic releases. 

FINDING EMILY CERT tbc 
Released Fri 22 May
Starring Angourie Rice, Spike Fearn, Julia Rogers, Toby Rothwell, Minnie Driver, Yali Topol Margalith  Scorsese and Jeremy Allen White 
Directed by Alicia MacDonald

When a hopelessly romantic musician is given the wrong number for a girl he believes could well be ‘the one’, he teams up with an ambitious psychology student to find her. Together, they spark no small amount of campus chaos, inadvertently testing their own hearts and aspirations along the way...

The fact that Finding Emily has been likened to Bridget Jones’s Diary and Notting Hill comes as no surprise. Not only does it sit in the same genre as those two classic movies - ‘British romantic comedy’ - it also comes from the very same stable; namely, Working Title Films. 

TUNER CERT 15 (109 mins)
Released Fri 29 May
Starring Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, Lior Raz, Tovah Feldshuh, Nissan Sakira 
Directed by Daniel Roher

Tuner is a rare beast - a crime thriller that doubles as a romantic comedy. Reviews of the film have been mixed, highlighting the possibility that successfully combining the two genres has maybe proved a gig too far for Academy Award-winning documentary film director Daniel Roher, for whom this is a first foray into the realm of narrative fiction. 

The story revolves around the character of Niki White (Leo Woodall), a young man apprenticed to veteran piano technician Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman). Together, the pair are the finest piano tuners in town. 
But when Niki stumbles across an attempted robbery, he accidentally discovers that his incredible piano-tuning skills also happen to make him remarkably adept at cracking safes... 

POWER BALLAD CERT 15 (98 mins)
Released Fri 29 May
Starring Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Peter McDonald, Marcella Plunkett, Rory Keenan, Keith McErlean
Directed by John Carney

When past-his-prime wedding singer Rick (Paul Rudd) encounters fading boyband star Danny (Nick Jonas) during a gig, the two bond over music and a late-night jamming session. But when Danny turns one of Rick’s songs into the hit that reignites his career, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves - even if it means risking everything he cares about... 

A feelgood story about music, self-respect, friendship and the often heavy price of ambition, Power Ballad has been striking all the right chords with the critics since debuting at the Dublin International Film Festival a couple of months back. Paul Rudd in particular has been earning rave reviews.