RICHARD JEWELL (Cert 15, 131 mins, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Thriller/Drama/Romance, available from April 13 on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from June 8 on DVD £19.99) Starring: Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, Olivia Wilde, Jon Hamm, Ian Gomez.
IN 1996, Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser) is proud to work as a security guard at the 26th Summer Olympics in his home city of Atlanta.
During a concert in Centennial Park on the middle weekend of the Games, Jewell spots an unattended bag and raises the alarm.
His swift and decisive action saves countless lives and he is anointed a hero.
FBI Agent Tom Shaw (Jon Hamm) and partner FBI Agent Dan Bennet (Ian Gomez) come under intense pressure to apprehend the bomber.
They incorrectly identify Jewell as a suspect because his profile "fits the hero-bomber to a T".
Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde), a hard-nosed journalist with the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, extracts confidential information from Shaw and splashes the FBI's suspicions about Jewell across the front page.
As a voracious media pack swarms around the home of Jewell's disbelieving mother (Kathy Bates), the grossly maligned loner hires lawyer Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell) to refute the bogus accusations.
Based on a Vanity Fair article, Richard Jewell is a quietly indignant drama that restores Clint Eastwood's lustre as a gifted humanist director.
Scriptwriter Billy Ray distils three months of trial by media and at least one potential violation of Jewell's civic rights into a compelling character study.
The film is anchored by a winning performance from Hauser as the do-gooder, who pursues public service with a tenacity that errs uncomfortably close to obsession.
Rockwell is terrific as a down-on-his-luck lawyer, who is hired to pick at the seams of the FBI's conduct, and Bates was deservedly Oscar-nominated for her heartrending portrayal of Jewell's besieged single parent.
Rating: 8/10
STAR WARS EPISODE IX: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (Cert 12, 141 mins, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Sci-Fi/Action/Adventure, available from April 13 on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from April 20 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99/3D Blu-ray £28.99/4K Ultra HD Blu-ray £36.99) Starring: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Joonas Suotamo, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid.
FOLLOWING the death of mentor Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Rey (Daisy Ridley) finds herself on a parallel journey of self-discovery to Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who has assumed the position of Supreme Leader of the First Order after the demise of Snoke.
Finn (John Boyega), Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) accompany Rey on her daredevil mission, while General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) presides over the entrenched Resistance.
Meanwhile, a shift in the Force propagates rumours about the return of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).
When Rey's faith wavers, Leia repairs frayed nerves.
"Never be afraid of who you are," she tenderly instructs.
Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker shoehorns every conceivable reason for viewers to whoop, cheer and surrender to steady trickles of saltwater into 141 minutes.
Director JJ Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio preside over a happy union of old and new with obvious reverence and affection.
They provide generations of expectant Padawans and Sith apprentices with a nostalgia-saturated swansong.
Loose plot threads are tied neatly and heartstrings plucked as friendships and gently simmering romances threaten to become collateral damage of a bloodthirsty war against the First Order.
It's not always the most elegant film-making and the opening 20 minutes are extremely clunky – plot gears grind furiously with a dewy-eyed denouement in mind.
However, when planets align, Abrams delivers rousing action sequences, including one of the series' most visually stunning lightsaber duels, and he engineers a fitting farewell to the late Fisher using unreleased footage.
Rating: 7/10
