Ten Films To Watch This July.

The Look of Silence
Two years after his groundbreaking documentary The Act of Killing received a global release – eventually earning an Academy Award nomination – Joshua Oppenheimer returns to Indonesia with The Look of Silence. It’s much more than a follow-up: while the earlier film looked at the anti-communist massacres of the 1960s through the eyes of the
unrepentant perpetrators, who re-enacted their crimes, this offers an intimate portrait of the victims’ relatives. Adi, an opthamologist in his early 40s, seeks to confront those responsible for the gruesome murder of his older brother, some of whom live in the same village. The Act of Killing faced some criticism for sensationalising events; this has been praised for answering those critics. According to Sight and Sound: “One might say that The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, having developed on parallel tracks, are two halves of a diptych – or uneasy neighbours, like the former members of the Komando Aksi killing squads and their families, and the families of their victims.” Released 3 July in Spain, 4 July in Japan and 17 July in the US. (Credit: PR)

Trainwreck (Credit: Credit: PR)
TrainwreckFor his latest comedy, writer-director Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) has been gifted with a script by Amy Schumer. The comedian and actress stars as a screwed-up serial dater, making use of the full range of her comedic talents, alongside Bill Hader (The Skeleton Twins), WWE wrestler John Cena and basketball player LeBron James. The film drew rave reviews when it premiered at SXSW in March, with Indiewire saying it “allows a new development and angle to Apatow’s trademark anxieties through a unique point of view, and is one of his most hilarious and finely-tuned films to date”. Variety claimed that “beat for beat, this is one of Apatow’s most consistently funny and charming films”. Released 17 July in the US, 30 July in Australia and 31 July in Poland. (Credit: PR)

Mr Holmes (Credit: Credit: PR)
Mr HolmesIan McKellen stars as a 93-year-old Sherlock, revisiting an unsolved case in retirement. The actor reteams with director Bill Condon (Dreamgirls), after 1998’s Gods and Monsters, and critics have drawn comparisons between the two films. McKellen puts in “another awards-worthy performance… although, in representing a frail and fragile human character, he isn’t really playing Sherlock Holmes except when he puts it on”. Mystery-solving is not what the film is about: instead, argues Sight and Sound, “the thrust of the story is to question the point of solutions that don’t help anyone”. Released 16 July in Greece, 17 July in the US and 23 July in Australia. (Credit: PR)

Minions (Credit: Credit: PR)
MinionsPraised as a “berserk slice of slapstick silliness” and “gleefully silly fun”, this spin-off sees the small yellow sidekicks break free from Despicable Me. It looks set to please fans of the Steve Carell-starring animated films, offering a backstory as the creatures search for the cruellest masters in history: they end up in 1968, with the world’s first female supervillain (voiced by Sandra Bullock). There’s not much in the way of character arcs, but there is plenty of anarchic tomfoolery. According to Time Out: “Cut loose from the family-values slushiness of their parent franchise, the Minions are free to indulge their basest, weirdest, most randomly hilarious instincts.” Released 2 July in Austria, 9 July in Colombia and 10 July in the US. (Credit: PR)

Amy (Credit: Credit: PR)
AmyBafta-winning film-maker Asif Kapadia follows up his 2010 feature Senna with another documentary about an iconic figure who suffered a tragically early death, the British singer Amy Winehouse. Mixing archive footage with interviews, it’s a portrait of the troubled musician that examines her “need for love – from her friends, family, colleagues, husband and public – and the ways in which that need went unmet”. Kapadia has run into trouble with Winehouse’s father Mitch, who felt that it painted him as the villain. Yet Kapadia has denied setting out any agenda: “Once you read the lyrics, you understand that all the answers are there. There is nothing in the film that isn’t already in the lyrics.” Released 3 July in the US and Ireland, 9 July in Hungary and 10 July in Finland. (Credit: PR)

Magic Mike XXL (Credit: Credit: PR)
Magic Mike XXLThe sequel to Steven Soderbergh’s romp about male strippers picks up three years after Mike (Channing Tatum) bowed out of the profession, as his fellow Kings of Tampa decide to throw in the towel with one final performance. Gregory Jacobs, assistant director on Magic Mike, takes the reins from Soderbergh; there are questions over whether it can match his blend of fun-time torso-fest with “bleak drama about a man struggling to escape his own destiny”. Yet judging by the trailer, it looks set to continue Magic Mike’s celebration of “the beauty of bodies in motion and the deep cinematic joys of watching good-looking people perform extraordinary physical feats”. Released 1 July in the US, 2 July in Russia and 3 July in India. (Credit: PR)

Court (Credit: Credit: PR)
CourtThe directorial debut from 28-year-old Chaitanya Tamhane won Best Feature Film at India’s National Film Awards earlier this year. Following the trial of an ageing folk singer charged with inciting a sewage worker to kill himself, it “flays alive India’s justice system while commenting on class, education and access to power… thanks to an intelligent, superbly understated script and a feel for naturalism that extends beyond mere performance”, according to Variety. Tamhane has until now been known as a playwright, but the “quietly steely” Court establishes him “as one of the world's most accomplished and promising film-makers under 30”. Released 28 June in Germany, 6 July in the Czech Republic and 15 July in the US. (Credit: PR)

Ant-Man (Credit: Credit: PR)
Ant-ManAnt-Man is one of Marvel’s longest-gestating projects – predating the first Iron Man – and it represents a different approach from the comic book icons. As Marvel Studio’s president Kevin Feige has explained, the film features a relationship not there in the other films: that between a mentor (the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas) and a mentee (new boy Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd). “None of them have the passing of the mantle, which is much of what this movie is about,” says Feige. The 12th Marvel Cinematic Universe film keeps things deliberately small – director Peyton Reed has likened the movie to “a palate cleanser”. Original director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) – who wrote the initial screenplay with Joe Cornish – left the project in 2014, sparking fears that the duo’s quirky sensibility might be ironed out. Yet in featuring a superhero who can shrink himself down to microscopic size, Ant-Man should provide action of a more off-kilter kind no matter what. Released 16 July in Brazil, 17 July in Canada and 22 July in Sweden. (Credit: PR)

Southpaw (Credit: Credit: PR)
SouthpawIt might be treading well-worn territory with its tale of a boxing champ who fights his way back after losing everything, but Southpaw is still a compelling addition to the prize-fighting screen yarn. That’s in large part due to its star, Jake Gyllenhaal, who stepped in after Eminem dropped out (the rapper has produced the soundtrack). The Brokeback Mountain star has transformed himself to take on his role as light heavyweight champion Billy Hope, with scars, tattoos, muscles and a blood-soaked face. Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) steers clear of Rocky or Raging Bull in the fight scenes, and the central performances (from a cast including Rachel McAdams and Forest Whitaker) keep it from peddling cliché. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “an edgy cast — led by formidable leading man Jake Gyllenhaal — keeps the story in sharp focus”. Released 22 July in France, 24 July in the US and 31 July in Argentina. (Credit: PR)

Terminator: Genisys (Credit: Credit: PR)
Terminator: GenisysThe bodybuilder-turned-Californian-governor returns to the sci-fi franchise that made his name: Arnie’s back, and he’s playing an ageing android. The plot messes with events in the previous four films, with the leader of the resistance, John Connor (Jason Clarke), sending Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back 45 years to 1984 to protect his mother Sarah (played by Game of Thrones’s Emilia Clarke). The older Terminator fights it out with a naked 1984 version of himself, resetting the future in an attempt to reboot a series that flagged with its last two instalments. Genisys has had the seal of approval from original director James Cameron, who has claimed that it's the true sequel to 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. On general release from 1 July. (Credit: PR)