Sydney Sweeney plays Sister Cecilia, an American novice in a sinister Italian convent. How did she end up there? Well, her home parish closed for lack of attendance and, rather than simply go to the next church over, she felt the need to cross the Atlantic to find a new spiritual home.

Adapted by screenwriter Michael Brandt from Mikael Lindnord’s 2016 memoir “Arthur: The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home,” the film showcases adventure racing, a challenging multi-event team competition in which participants take on the rigors of the wilderness.

The military and the mystical continue to blend as the youthful protagonist (Timothée Chalamet) of the 2021 original, now an exile, fights for the desert dwellers (led by Javier Bardem) among whom he’s taken refuge on the titular planet while falling for one of their warriors (Zendaya). Although she advocates a purely secular role for her new love, the lad’s priestess mother (Rebecca Ferguson) continues to insist that he is the messiah figure foretold in various prophecies. As he extends his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s celebrated 1965 sci-fi novel, director and co-writer Denis Villeneuve enthralls with sweeping visuals, appealing central characters and an absorbing plot.

Francesca Cabrini was born 15 July 1850, in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, youngest of 13 children in a well-off farming family. A pious child – the “little saint,” neighbours called her – she longed to be a missionary and played at sailing paper boats filled with violets representing the sisters she meant to send all over the world.

Viewers out for sweeping spectacle will likely come away from director Ridley Scott’s latest historical epic – Napoleon – satisfied. But those seeking insight into the conquering French emperor’s personality will find there’s a hollow ring to star Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of him.

Having worked in TV and movies for 20 years, accomplished songwriter and music producer Adam Anders knows that entertainment needs a love story, some lightness, and good actors and singers.

Swedish producer Adam Anders script, which he co-wrote with Peter Barsocchini, chronicles Mary (Fiona Palomo) and Joseph’s (Milo Manheim) effort to add personal commitment to their arranged betrothal.

In adapting Mexican American astronaut José Hernández’s memoir “Reaching for the Stars”, Director Alejandra Abella traces the remarkable journey from child migrant farm worker to NASA engineer and candidate for a place on the space shuttle.

In 2013, Tim Ballard and a team of former agents left the US Department of Homeland Security to form Operation Underground Railroad, a private foundation that assists international governments and US law enforcement in dismantling criminal trafficking organisations that target children.

The Record has 5 free passes to Sound of Freedom to giveaway. Simply tell us the name of the producer of Sound of Freedom and your name and contact information, and you’ll go in the draw to win. Entries close Friday 1 September.

Unintended comedy paces the boredom-inducing banality of this follow-up to a 2018 feature about the accidental unleashing of an outsized prehistoric shark.