Out this week: Marvel Avengers Assemble, African Cats, The Monk, Damsels In Distress, Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey, Albert Nobbs

Marvel Avengers Assemble

Four prequels in the making, the utterly glorious Marvel Avengers We Love Messy Titles Assemble is finally here. Pitting the happy family that is Iron Man, Captain America, Bruce Banner (and his Hulky tantrums), Nick Fury and the Black Widow against Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, there’s never really going to be much doubt as to who will emerge victorious but AS IF that’s the point…

African Cats

Apparently there are people out there who have tired of watching The Lion King on repeat. And we’ll try not to hold that against them. African Cats is apparently the fourth feature to be released by Disneynature (I know, what?) and is about loads of lions and cheetahs getting pissed off about some rain. BUT, it is narrated by Samuel L Jackson. So it’s almost guareented to contain the line “get those MOTHERF*CKIN CHEETAHS off the MOTHER*CKIN plain”, which is something.

The Monk

Ah Vincent Cassell. If anyone was primed and ready to play a sinful, morally tortured and seriously pointy monk, it was you. The Monk is an adaptation of the classic Matthew Lewis novel of the same name, but transplated to the blistering Spanish desert. Sweat, sins, cross-dressing and loads of ominious crow – it’s your alternative gothic romp for the eponymous Cassel-mongerer.

Damsels In Distress

The lovely Greta Gerwig stars in this mumblecore comedy drama about a group of sorority girls who split their time between coaching the suicidal, grooming potential husbands and tap-dancing their troubles away. At times it might be a little too smug for its own good, but it’s refreshing, alternative fun all the same – headed up by a stella cast.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey

Who’d have thought that the story of the man who rose to puppeteer Elmo would be as adoreable as the cuddly muppet himself? Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey documents the heartwarming history of Kevin Clash, a young baltimore scamp who rose from poverty to work alongside the brightest lights in the entertainment world – Jim Henson and Frank Oz.

Albert Nobbs

In Albert Nobbs Glenn Close goes down the cross-dressing route left blazing by such megastars as Hilary Swank in Boys Down Cry and not by Amanda Bynes in She’s The Man. As the – outwardly male – head of staff at an illustrious Irish household, it’s impertive to her future that no-one discover her secret. But when a new member of the team is told to room with Albert, it may be that she is forced to reconsider the steadfastness of her hidden identity. Mixed reviews mean that it’s difficult to say which way this will go, but Aaron Johnson is basically naked for most of it. Is that enough?