After the $700m monster hit of 2017’s It, the clown was never going to go quietly. Bigger, badder and baggier, It Chapter Two fast-forwards 27 years to find the evil-battling kids of small-town Maine grown up into an adult ensemble that includes James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain and Bill Hader. Age has not brought equanimity. Now they are haunted not just by Pennywise, the malign shape-shifting clown, but also by the past itself. Cue a series of psychodramas in which childhood traumas are revisited in a new gory glory, like regression therapy overseen by a sadistic psychoanalyst. At first the scares are slick and inventive but after almost three hours of murderous clowning they begin to lose their impact and you long to hear the words: our time is up.
★★★☆☆
It was never going to be easy to finish Game of Thrones. George RR Martin’s cult fantasy series became a cultural behemoth, and sitting at that height proved as uncomfortable as occupying the Iron Throne. In Season 8 (now on DVD/Blu-ray) Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister et al face off against the White Walkers and each other as the final battle for Westeros begins, and all those dragons, battles and will-they-won’t-they love affairs are crammed into a mere six episodes. The result is a hugely enjoyable, silly mess. Gloriously cinematic moments clash with clunky denouement, but love them or hate them, showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss achieved one thing Martin so far hasn’t: they finished it.
★★★★☆
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