TimeOut Abu Dhabi – July 24, 2019

timeoutabudhabi.com July 24 – August 6 2019 59

LAST CHANCE TO SEE

IT’S TOUGH BEING an Uber driver given

Hollywood has decided it’s a job ripe with

comedic potential. The mostly awful Stuber

takes the idea that mild-mannered driver

Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) will do anything to get

a five-star rating, including driving around

a loose-cannon cop (Dave Bautista) on the

trail of a violent criminal. Except it’s about as

funny as a traffic jam. Like a kind of comedy

Collateral, Stuber (‘Stu’ plus ‘Uber’, see?)

has the couple driving around LA because

Bautista’s cop, Vic, is recovering from eye

surgery and can’t take the wheel. Cue

bickering, witless banter and unexpectedly

lurid violence. It reaches for the R-rated edge

of ’80s buddy cop comedies but falls short

on every count. Phil De Semlyen

Stuber



UNUSUALLY FOR A horror director, Ari Aster

knows the real world is awful enough.

Horror is what happens to people who are

already emptied out and vulnerable. It’s

an insight that has already yielded Aster

two world-class performances, first from

Hereditary’s Toni Collette as a ragged,

raging mother at sanity’s end, and now from

Midsommar’s Florence Pugh as Dani, an

anxious grad student trembling with concern

for her torubled sister. Pugh is exquisitely

neurotic and Jack Reynor as Christian pulls

off a tricky role. When Dani invites herself

along on Christian’s Swedish escape, the

landscape and near-constant sun lets you

know not everything is right. We’d be spoiling

it if we told you any more. Joshua Rothkopf

Midsommar



HAVE WE NOT seen enough bald

muscle men driving around in

cars and shooting stuff? If you

went back to 2001 and told

film critics that The Fast and

The Furious would be the first

of eight movies, they’d eat their

hats. In fact, the franchise is the

most lucrative in the history of

Universal Pictures (the company

that brought us Jurassic Park and,

erm, American Pie). In the ninth

film it’s over to Dwayne Johnson

and Jason Statham. The pair, who

dislike each other, team up to

save the world from a supervirus

that’s about to be released by a

bad guy. We’re not kidding. Colin Armstrong

Fast and Furious:

Hobbs and Shaw

PRE VIEW

ALADDIN



It doesn’t really have the charm of

the original animated version, and

likeable Will Smith just can’t fill

the curly shoes of Robin Williams’

genie, but there’s plenty to like

in this live-action remake of the

Disney classic.

MEN IN BLACK:

INTERNATIONAL



Did anyone expect a London-

based spin-off of the franchise?

Proably not, and we can’t see

many people enjoying it, either.

Chris Hemsworth’s Thor routine

gets another tiresome outing.

SPIDER-MAN:

FAR FROM HOME



Not quite as good as the first

installment in this recent MCU-

affiliated reboot of the Spidey

story, but Tom Holland is still

utterly ace as the webslinger. Jake

Gyllenhaal adds some class, too.

TOY STORY 4



Woody and co. are back for an

unexpected fourth movie. While

it’s nice to have the gang back on

the big screen it doesn’t quite live

up to the others. Still, a neurotic

fork is a good addition and keeps

things interesting.

WHAT IS IT...

An unfunny tale of an

Uber ride gone wrong

WHY GO...

To make yourself feel

better about your last

trip to the mall

DIRECTOR

Michael Dowse

(Rating TBC)

RELEASE DATE

Out now

WHAT IS IT...

Another wild

horror from the man

behind Hereditary

WHY GO...

There’s not another

filmmaker working that

does this kind of thing

DIRECTOR

Ari Aster (18TC)

RELEASE DATE

Out now

WHAT IS IT...

A ninth film about

fast, furious cars

WHY GO...

The Rock is pretty

good isn’t he?

DIRECTOR

David Leitch

RELEASE DATE

August 1 (18TC)

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