Ewan McGregor

It sounds clichéd and trite, but T2 Trainspotting is a sequel that shows an unforced, natural progression of the characters from its predecessor. All good sequels should do that, but few actually achieve it with the grace, ease, wit, and poignancy that director Danny Boyle does here in this follow-up to his beloved 1996 adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s countercultural bestselling novel.

Capsule reviews from the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival: Denial starring Rachel Weisz and Timothy Spall; American Honey with Sasha Lane and Shia LaBeouf; Below Her Mouth featuring Natalie Krill and Erika Linder; and Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut, American Pastoral.

Former mixed martial arts star Gina Carano is Mallory Kane, a freelance hired gun who works for governments to deal with tough situations, like hostage situations where normal covert tactics are not possible. As we first see her, waiting for someone at a small diner in the middle of nowhere, Mallory ends up getting the crap beaten out of her as an ex-coworker shows up to drag her back to her boss.

Opening at a theatre near you: Ryan Reynolds stars as the one-and-only Hal Jordan in Green Lantern; Jim Carrey is playing with animals again in Mr. Popper’s Penguins; plus a look at Mike Mills’ new dramedy, Beginners.

New this week on DVD and Blu-ray: Aaron Johnson stars as the self-styled superhero, Kick-Ass; infamous director Roman Polanski debuts his stylish thriller, The Ghost Writer; plus a look at the tween-friendly Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

This week on DVD and Blu-ray: a review of Sandra Bullock‘s Oscar-winning performance in The Blind Side; Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal star in the drama, Brothers; George Clooney plays a psychically gifted solider in the offbeat farce, Men Who Stare At Goats; plus a look at the much-praised animated film, Fantastic Mr. Fox.

New arrivals on DVD and Blu-ray for February 2 include the horror comedy Zombieland, starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg; the drama, Amelia, with Hilary Swank and Richard Gere; plus the romantic drama Love Happens.

Coming out this week, Dan Brown‘s Angels & Demons has Tom Hanks solving riddles, all in the name of saving the Vatican from the Illuminati; Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn co-star in the holiday comedy, Four Christmases; plus a look at Shorts, and Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Although everyone kept their cool, it was easy to imagine that a few hearts were aflutter on Friday, September 11 when George Clooney and Ewan McGregor arrived at the Toronto International Film Festival press conference for their new film, The Men Who Stare at Goats.

The theatres are quiet this weekend, aside from the release of one big film that has every other studio steering clear. That film is of course Warner Bros’ long-awaited adaptation of the Dan Brown novel, Angels & Demons, starring Tom Hanks once more as professor Robert Langdon.