The Outrun

• Director: Nora Fingsheidt
• Writers: Nora Fingsheidt, Amy Liptrot
• Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedou, Stephen Dillane, Saskia Reeves

Grade: B

The Outrun is a story of addiction – alcohol addiction, specifically – but it’s a film that looks at the almost mythological origins of addiction. Are we born an addict, or is it borne from circumstance? It’s fitting for a film set on the Scottish coast, where its main character, played with devastating humanity by Saoirse Ronan, is a biologist who often waxes poetic about humanity’s origins. Character studies about addicts, or even unlikeable protagonists, are nearly as old as film itself, and while writer-director Nora Fingsheidt’s film isn’t an entirely fresh entry, it feels like it comes from a place of genuine sincerity.

Megalopolis

• Director: Francis Ford Coppola
• Writer: Francis Ford Coppola
• Starring: Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LeBouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Kathryn Hunter

Grade: D+

Make no doubt about it, Francis Ford Coppola is a director who has more than earned his reputation as a master of film. From The Godfather and Part 2 to Apocalypse Now, he has made some of the most widely celebrated and praised movies of all time. Although unlike some of his compatriots such as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, he has had his fair share of fumbles.