This Week's Film Guide

Megan Suri stars in It Lives Inside, which is screening at the Odeon Multiplex. Neon image via AP

Dome Cinema

■ The Innocent

Comedy crime  film in which a prison theatre teacher marries an inmate in a union that is not well received by the teacher’s adult son, who is suspicious of his stepfather’s  intentions. In French, with subtitles.

■ Bank of Dave

Based on the real-life experiences of Dave Fishwick, Bank of Dave tells the story of how a working-class Burnley man and self-made millionaire fought to set up a community bank.

■ King of Kong

A middle-school science teacher and a hot-sauce mogul vie for the Guinness world record on the arcade classic, Donkey Kong.

Odeon Multiplex

■ PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie

A meteor strikes Adventure City, and the PAW Patrol pups gain superpowers. But things take a turn for the worse when Humdinger and a mad scientist steal their powers and become supervillains.

■ River of Freedom

Documentary on the protests against vaccine mandates,  the convoy to Wellington and the 23-day occupation of Parliament grounds.

■ It Lives Inside

An Indian-American teenager struggling with her cultural identity falls out with her best friend and, in the process, unwittingly releases a demonic entity that grows stronger by feeding on her loneliness.

■ Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

Computer-animated comedy action film in which shy Ruby disobeys her mother and enters the ocean, discovering she is descended from battle-hardened krakens who have protected land and sea from evil mermaids for generations.

■ Venice: Infinitely Avant-garde

A documentary showcasing Venice’s art, museums, canals and streets.

■ Coco Reo Maori

Disney movie reimagined in te reo Māori. Written in the dialect of Te Tairāwhiti to honour the Spanish lineage of Jose Manuel on the East Coast. Te Matatini chairman Selwyn Parata and his son Ngarimu tackled translations for the film.

■ A Haunting in Venice

Hercule Poirot, now retired, must solve the murder of a guest at a seance he attended. Based on the 1969 Agatha Christie novel Hallowe’en Party. Co-produced and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who plays Poirot.

■ Blue Beetle

Jaime Reyes finds himself in possession of a relic of alien biotechnology called the Scarab. When the Scarab chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he’s bestowed with an incredible suit of armour that’s capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the superhero Blue Beetle.

■ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

After years of being sheltered, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers.

■ My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3

Nia Vardalos, writer and star of 2002 hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding is writer, director and co-star of this year’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. The film is the first in the franchise not to feature Michael Constantine, who played Gus, the father of Toula Portokalos (Vardalos), and who died in 2021 at the age of 94. The film follows the Portokalos family on a trip to Greece for a family reunion after the death of Gus.

■ The Nun II

American gothic supernatural horror film that is a sequel to the 2018 film The Nun. Set four years after the ending of the first film, the story follows Sister Irene as she once again comes face to face with the demonic force Valak, The Nun, at a boarding school in France.

■ The Equalizer 3

Since giving up life as a government assassin, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) finds solace in serving justice on behalf of the oppressed. Now living in southern Italy, McCall discovers his new friends are under the control of local crime bosses, so he becomes his friends’ protector.

■ Barbie

Barbie and Ken live in the seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. But when they get a chance to go to the real world, they discover the joys and perils of living among humans.