Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait review – the radiant, uncontainable star she always wanted to be

The actor’s life in pictures, from mousey-haired teen to American icon to her shocking death at 36, beams with the charm that defined a century. But why aren’t we shown more of what lay behind the smile?

Being Towards Death review – Chinese hospital comedy drama uses plucky patients to ask big questions

A debt-laden caregiver attempting suicide is the catalyst for him finding new meaning to life from a ward of terminally ill patients in touching ensemble drama

Taylor Swift: I Knew It, I Knew You review – giddy up! Song for Toy Story cowgirl Jessie is Swift’s best in years

Full of handcrafted care and the rootsy soul of her country origins, this gently elated song is a reminder of what fans love about Swift … and the film series

Office Romance review – Jennifer Lopez’s romcom return is too much like hard work

Star makes for reliably charming lead in Netflix’s basic throwback, but co-star Brett Goldstein, and his co-written script, lack in fizz

Scary Movie review – spoof comedy returns but maybe it should have stayed in the 2000s

Successful jokes are thin on the ground in the musty sixth installment of the once-popular parody franchise, taking aim at everything from Scream to Sinners

Savage House review – Claire Foy and Richard E Grant sell it hard in bewigged 18th-century caper

The leads are the most watchable thing in this raucous period yarn about a grimy pair of status-obsessed nobles

The Misfits review – Marilyn Monroe is fascinatingly sad in John Huston’s desolate western

The bleak Arthur Miller-written 1961 American pastoral is rereleased to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Monroe, who plays a naive divorcee who meets three new suitors in her most serious and poignant role

Madfabulous review – Callum Scott Howells shines as flamboyant aristocrat in hedonistic period romp

Howells puts in a strong turn as Henry Paget, a Victorian marquess who blows his inheritance on hosting wild parties and staging gender-defying theatrical performances

Affection review – memory loss thriller that keeps you guessing benefits from winning performances

Terrific acting, especially an intriguingly ambiguous turn by child actor Julianna Layne, ground this twisty little horror debut

Masters of the Universe review – Amazon’s He-Man adventure is a weak big-budget misfire

A laboured attempt to resurrect toy IP very few people still care about is a $200m-budgeted waste of everyone’s time

Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day review – dreamy adaptation reaches for the stars

Woolf’s novel about a headstrong young Edwardian woman takes flight under Tina Gharavi’s direction, with Timothy Spall and Jennifer Saunders among the ensemble cast

Planet Israel review – valuable personal documentary about Israel/Palestine conflict

Gillian Mosely’s film argues that Israelis are asked to accept a ‘forever war’ in part motivated by Netanyahu’s desire to defer investigation into corruption allegations

Acting review – Cheek by Jowl masterclass in how to strut and fret upon the Shakespearean stage

Sophie Fiennes’s thoughtful documentary follows director Declan Donnellan as he helps actors find their way through Macbeth’s lines

Köln 75 review – how a legendary jazz-improv show was cajoled into being by a German teenager

Watchable biopic charts how an 18-year-old German booked the sickly American pianist Keith Jarrett for what became a landmark concert

Ghost in the Machine review – entertaining AI polemic dives into its dark history in race politics and eugenics

The roots of AI in rightwing ideology is examined in Valerie Veatch’s enjoyable doc, including an array of colourful, often crazed, figures