The Bad Guys 2 review – gang of cuddly animal criminals get pulled back in for one last heist

Snappier, funnier and more relaxed than the first film, this caper sees the crew dragged back to villainy by a ‘MacGuffinite’ plot Here’s one of the few animated kids’ sequels you can approach without strapping into a hazmat suit for protection. DreamWorks’s franchise hits its stride with this minor upgrade – a snappier, funnier and more relaxed movie than the original. It begins like a Bond or Bourne with a death-defying car chase around Cairo after the gang of criminal predators pull off yet another a splashy heist. Behind the wheel of the getaway car is ringleader Mr Wolf (voiced by Sam Rockwell, and doing such a decent Clooney impersonation that George should shake him down for royalties). Actually, the chase is a flashback to five years ago. Right now, in the present, Mr Wolf, Mr Snake, Mr Shark and the gang have gone straight. But their fresh start as good guys is scuppered by a snow leopard and a frame-up for a series of daring heists involving a precious metal called MacGuffi...

The Future Tense review – film-makers’ complex reverie of English and Irish identities

Semi-dramatised essay film by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy explores complicated national loyalties alongside those of an extraordinary rebel

The intriguing, complex movies of the married writer-directors Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy have always been about imposture, concealment, double lives and alternative existences – particularly in what I think may be their masterpiece, the drama-thriller Rose Plays Julie. Now they have composed this fiercely personal essay movie about themselves and their family histories, loosely structured around the idea of a plane journey between London and Dublin. Lawlor and Molloy are shown separately narrating into microphones, and “interviewing” people filmed in separate locations, a conceit apparently imposed during lockdown.

It is a semi-dramatised reverie and revelation which exposes a painful new insight into their experiences as Irish expatriate artists in the UK; they are considering a return to Ireland now that post-Brexit England seems increasingly reactionary and xenophobic, while also being aware of the reactionary forces at work in Irish politics. They are also aware that their daughter, having been brought up in England, may not wish to join them. Have they also been concealing double lives as Irish people in England?

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