Paul Rudd, Dustin Hoffman, Leo Woodall, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Emilia Jones and Scoot McNairy feature in a quartet of movies released in the week of May 29th, 2026Fairyland: Maria Bakalova, Cody Fern, Scoot McNairy, Nessa Dougherty and Ryan Thurston in Andrew Durham’s film. Photograph: Icon Sun May 31 2026 - 04:58 • 3 MIN READPower Ballad ★★★★☆Directed by John Carney. Starring Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Peter McDonald, Marcella Plunkett, Havana Rose Liu, Jack Reynor, Beth Fallon. 15A cert, gen release, 94 minThe latest reliably charming diegetic musical from Carney stars Rudd as an American in Dublin – now a wedding performer – who, some nights after a boozy evening with a pop star (Jonas), realises the more successful musician has stolen one of his songs. The performances are strong even if the narrative is a bit slight. What keeps Power Ballad flowing is the juice of the dialogue, the comic humanity of the plotting and, above anything else, that charmingly ingenuous belief in pop music as something that truly matters. Long may Carney plough this particular furrow. DC Full reviewTuner ★★★★☆Directed by Daniel Roher. Starring Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, Lior Raz, Tovah Feldshuh. 15A cert, limited release, 107 minWoodall plays Niki, the titular piano tuner, a man with perfect pitch and painful oversensitivity to everyday sound. Dustin Hoffman is Harry Horowitz, the young man’s mentor and a friend of every piano in New York City. All goes smoothly until Harry falls ill and Niki gets in with the Russian Mafia. For all the unfortunate messiness of the film’s later stages, Tuner, shot energetically by Lowell A Meyer, remains engaging throughout thanks to consistently original performances and notably witty dialogue. Hoffman, whose timing remains undimmed after 60 years in the business, is a quiet marvel. DC Full reviewIn cinemas in Derry and Belfast from Friday, May 29th. Across Ireland from Friday, June 5thBackrooms ★★★★⯪Directed by Kane Parsons. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, Avan Jogia. 15A cert, gen release, 111 minBackrooms follows damaged souls as they noclip into an infinite expanse of jumbled furniture. These corridors lead only to more corridors and degraded copies of copies. It’s Alice’s alienated Wonderland, unsettling from the opening gambit, but sit tight: like the space it depicts, there’s infinitely more to come. A24 has tasked Kane Parsons, a 20-year-old film-maker who since 2022 has garnered hundreds of millions of views for his short-film series The Backrooms (Found Footage), with bringing the web’s scariest concept to the big screen. Ejiofor cleverly manifests a character caught between psychic dislocation and male privilege. TB Full reviewFairyland ★★★★☆Directed by Andrew Durham. Starring Emilia Jones, Scoot McNairy, Cody Fern, Maria Bakalova, Nessa Dougherty, Adam Lambert, Geena Davis. No cert, limited release, 117 minTouching adaptation of Alysia Abbott’s memoir about growing up with a gay dad in San Francisco during the 1970s and 1980s. McNairy gives the dad a dog-eared charm that makes his irresponsibility inseparable from his warmth. He forgets pickups and insists he is teaching independence. Once Jones (incredibly charming) takes over as the teenage and adult Alysia, there’s an irresistible daddy-daughter dynamic – even when she snaps at him for eyeing up a man in leather. The film’s emotional force is found in the two-step between parent and child as the sweep of LGBTQ history catches up. TB Full reviewIN THIS SECTION