Damon Smith's film view

The latest chapter in The Conjuring franchise is a spooky supernatural horror, which draws on Mexican folklore for scares.

In 1973 Los Angeles, social worker Anna Tate-Garcia (Linda Cardellini) is called to the home of a client, Patricia Alvarez (Patricia Velasquez), whose two children have gone missing.

Flanked by police, Anna enters the home where she is attacked by Patricia, who has apparently locked her boys Carlos (Oliver Alexander) and Tomas (Aiden Lewandowski) in a room for protection.

The children beg Anna to leave them in the room, where they will be safe from an unseen malevolent force.

Alas, the social worker dismisses their warnings and ushers the boys to come with her.

Soon after, Anna discovers that Carlos and Tomas have been condemned to a grim fate and a distraught Patricia blames the social worker for their deaths.

The grief-stricken mother tells Anna that her reckless actions have unleashed a ghostly figure called La Llorona (Marisol Ramirez).

This diabolical spectre will not rest until she has claimed Anna's children Chris (Roman Christou) and Sam (Jaynee-Lynn Kinchen).

TOLKIEN (12A, 112 mins)

Written by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford, Tolkien charts formative years in the life of the celebrated fantasy writer before he penned The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings.

Dome Karukoski's film made headlines in recent weeks when the writer's estate issued a statement clarifying that they were not involved in the making of Tolkien, nor did they approve of or authorise the dramatisation.

At the turn of the 20th century, Tolkien (Nicholas Hoult) is a teenage orphan living in the care of Catholic priest Father Francis Morgan (Colm Meaney).

He falls for Edith Bratt (Lily Collins) but the holy man drives a wedge between the teenage love birds.

During this period of courtship, Tolkien is surrounded by a close-knit band of friends including Geoffrey Bache Smith (Anthony Boyle), Robert Q. Gilson (Patrick Gibson) and Christopher Wiseman (Tom Glynn-Carney), who inspire him to write.

The magical splendour of Middle Earth takes shape in Tolkien's mind and Edith becomes the inspiration for elf princess Arwen Evenstar.

However, the spectre of the First World War tears the lovers apart and Tolkien serves in the Lancashire Fusiliers.

The horrors of the conflict test the bonds between Tolkien's fellowship of friends.

LONG SHOT (15, 125 mins)

A childhood crush blossoms into an impossible romance in director Jonathan Levine's comedy, which is penned by Dan Sterling and Liz Hannah.

When he was young, journalist Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) fell hopelessly in love with his babysitter but never plucked up the courage to act on his emotions.

Many years later, the girl of his feverish dreams, Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), is the Secretary of State for the United States who has just been endorsed by President Chambers (Bob Odenkirk) to succeed him.

If Charlotte wasn't unattainable before, she certainly is now, embroiled in a gruelling campaign with two key members of staff, Maggie (June Diane Raphael) and Tom (Ravi Patel), that will test her strength and resilience to breaking point.

While Charlotte juggles diplomatic hot potatoes with effortless grace, Fred churns out articles for media mogul Parker Wembley (Andy Serkis) and trades barbs with his best friend Lance (O'Shea Jackson Jr).

Charlotte needs an idealist to add verbal firepower to her speeches and she asks Fred to help her inspire the masses.

Granted exclusive access to the object of his desire, Fred resolves to make Charlotte fall in love with him.

A DOG'S JOURNEY (PG, 108 mins)

In 2017, there was barely a dry eye when Lasse Hallstrom's emotionally manipulative family drama A Dog's Purpose bounded into multiplexes.

Based on the novel by W Bruce Cameron, the film followed the multiple lives of a dog called Bailey (voiced by Josh Gad), who is reincarnated as different breeds and finds his way back to his owner Ethan Montgomery (Dennis Quaid).

The story and the deluges of saltwater continue in the sequel A Dog's Journey, which begins with Bailey happily settled with Ethan and his wife Hannah (Marg Helgenberger) on their farm.

The couple help their daughter-in-law Gloria (Betty Gilpin) to raise a young daughter CJ (Abby Ryder Fortson) after their son is killed.

Gloria is a neglectful mother, who is more interested in furthering her music career than raising a child.

When Hannah and Ethan attempt to intervene, Gloria leaves in a rage with CJ in tow.

A short while after, Bailey comes to the end of his journey and before he leaves the mortal realm, Ethan asks his four-legged companion to return as another breed and to always protect little CJ.

Consequently, Bailey returns in the guise of different dogs called Molly, Max and Toby, whose paths intersect with CJ (now played by Kathryn Prescott) as she searches for her place in the world.

VOX LUX (15, 115 mins)

Actor Brady Corbet follows up his award-winning directorial debut The Childhood Of A Leader with a provocative musical drama about the heavy price of fame.

In 1999, Celeste Montgomery (Raffey Cassidy) is an unremarkable teenager, gliding largely unnoticed through high school, until one of her classmates brings a gun into class and kills several students before turning the weapon on himself.

Celeste survives the incident but is permanently scarred.

During her recovery, she works with her musically gifted older sister Ellie (Stacy Martin) to write a song for the memorial service.

A video of Celeste's moving performance goes viral and catapults her to stardom.

A shrewd manager (Jude Law) snaps up Celeste and grooms her for a long career in pop, with Ellie as her chaperone.

Years pass and Celeste (now played by Natalie Portman) rises to the dizzy heights of chart supremacy.

However, her position is threatened when terrorists commit an outrage wearing masks that are strikingly similar to headgear in one of her music videos.

Celeste finds herself in the eye of a media storm as she prepares for a massive concert and fights fires closer to home with her teenage daughter (Cassidy).

EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE (15, 110 mins)

Zac Efron turns to the dark side, away from his squeaky-clean High School Musical screen persona, in a biopic about a convicted serial killer, which draws inspiration from Elizabeth Kloepfer's memoir The Phantom Prince: My Life With Ted Bundy.

Director Joe Berlinger's film unfolds from the perspective of single mother Liz Kendall (Lily Collins), who is surprised when handsome beau Ted Bundy (Zac Efron) chooses to woo her.

She has a young daughter Molly at home and most guys aren't interested in Liz given her family ties.

Ted charms Liz and her daughter and quickly moves in with them.

Soon after, he is arrested by police but Liz stands beside her man as the charges accumulate leading to a murder trial in front of Judge Edward Court (John Malkovich).

As television cameras flock to the case, Ted accumulates crowds of adoring female fans including Carole Ann Boone (Kaya Scodelario), who is convinced of his innocence.

Berlinger's film streams simultaneously on Sky Cinema.

Film Charts

1. Avengers: Endgame

2. Dumbo

3. Wonder Park

4. Red Joan

5. Shazam!

6. Captain Marvel

7. Wild Rose

8. Missing Link

9. Greta

10. Little

(Chart courtesy of Cineworld)