Play Hard

What’s on at the cinema in July

It’s officially Barbie season – but keep your eyes peeled for the big Oppenheimer biopic, a new haunting horror with familiar faces, and the latest (but never last) instalment in the Mission: Impossible series, too.

Written by Chris Kingston

Published 08.07.2023

Insidious: The Red Door

Out now

Another month begins and it seems we’re kicking things off with yet another horror movie in cinemas.

The fifth and final chapter in the popular series concludes the Lambert family’s terrifying saga, which began with Insidious back in 2010 – and the original cast (including Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Ty Simpkins) are back for one final outing, a decade after the last instalment.

This time, Dalton starts college – but his dreams soon turn into nightmares when the demons of his past return to haunt him and his family.

While The Red Door marks Wilson’s debut as director, what hasn’t changed is how this latest Insidious instalment delivers all the jumps and scares we love.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One

10^th July

Ethan Hunt is back!

Tom Cruise returns to what we know him best for: jumping off buildings, fighting on top of trains and climbing into planes mid-take off.

As we all know, no one does spectacle quite like Cruise, so we’d highly recommend you watch Dead Reckoning on the biggest IMAX screen you can.

After the runaway success of Top Gun: Maverick last year, Tom’s seventh entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise is set for similar heights – especially since the team seem to have really upped the ante after the jaw-dropping Fallout.

Expect everything we love all over again: breath-stopping action sequences, jaw-dropping stunts (by Cruise himself) and plenty of plot twists and turns.

Your mission – if you choose to accept it – is to give the next in this excellent action movie series a go.

Barbie

21^st July

This is the one we’ve all been waiting for.

The cinematic event of the year so far, Margot Robbie dons the iconic pink everything and takes on the legend that is Barbie. Along with Ryan Gosling as Ken, the diverse cast includes America Ferrera, Ncuti Gatwa, Emma Mackey and Will Ferrell.

Greta Gerwig (Little Women) is on directing duties for this one, which is a more adult spin on a childhood classic. The flick sees our hero blonde bombshell expelled from Barbieland because of her imperfections. When her home world is in peril, Barbie returns with the knowledge that what makes her different also makes her stronger.

Keep your eyes peeled for an epic cameo from Dua Lipa, who sings one of the hit songs on the film’s epic soundtrack too (give it a listen already). Barbie is the film to watch this summer.

Oppenheimer

21^st July

The memes around the double-header release date of Barbie and Oppenheimer have been giving us life these last few weeks. What a time to be alive.

The latest film from director Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer promises to hit cinemas like an atom bomb (pardon the pun). As usual, we expect audiences to be blown away by this operatic spectacle – so, again, make sure you watch it on an IMAX screen.

In this moving biopic, Cillian Murphy stars as US scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer: the man who invented the atom bomb during the Second World War and, in his own words, ‘became death, the destroyer of worlds’.

Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett and Kenneth Branagh are also part of this massive ensemble cast.

This certainly looks to be Nolan’s most passionate project yet – we won’t be surprised if this is the one to finally get him that Oscar.