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This weekend there are six new films out for you to choose from: British comedy in Black Mountain Poets, a Spanish thriller in Victoria, a double bill of horror in Martyrs and Anguish, action prequel in The Huntsman: Winter’s War, and alleged humour in Natural Born Pranksters.
Black Mountain Poets is a new British comedy centering on Claire and Lisa Walker (Dolly Wells – Some Girls, 45 Years, and Alice Lowe – Sightseers), neurotic sisters on the run who assume the identities of Internationally renowned poets The Wilding Sisters to take refuge at a Poetry Retreat for the weekend; spending time in the black mountains of Wales amongst poets and the inspiration of nature leads to a new beginning for our heroines.
Also starring Tom Cullen, Rosa Robson, Richard Elis and Laura Patch, and written and directed by Jamie Adams, this looks like a very funny comedy and one of the best things released this weekend.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Victoria stars Laia Costa in the lead role as a young Spanish woman who has newly moved to Berlin, and finds her flirtation with a local guy turn potentially deadly as their night out with his friends reveals a dangerous secret. Taking in a bank robbery and, in the near two-and-a-half-hour movie, it’s apparently all done in one take. I’d have to see that to believe it, especially since it references Birdman in that aspect, which was made to LOOK like it was done in one take, yet you could clearly spot the joins… some of the time.
Also starring Frederick Lau, Franz Rogowski and Burak Yigit, this does look superb so I definitely want to see this.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Martyrs stars Troian Bellisario as Lucie, a woman who, together with her childhood friend, seek out revenge on those who victimised and abused them many years ago. Also starring Bailey Noble, Kate Burton and Caitlin Carmichael, this looks to be the third film of the week that could well be a hidden gem.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Anguish
Tess (Ryan Simpkins) is a teenage girl diagnosed with identity disorder, however that may not be the problem after all. Lucy (Amberley Gridley), a teenage girl who’s in the same town, and around the same age. The unlikely pair meet in a way that so few people actually understand, and usually misinterpret.
Also starring Annika Marks, Karina Logue and Cliff Chamberlain, this is one of those horror films where a lot of weird shit starts happening and it looks better than most in that genre.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
The Huntsman: Winter’s War is a spin-off-cum-prequel to 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsman, this time without Kristen Stewart’s Snow White, but instead with Emily Blunt‘s Ice Queen.
As two evil sisters prepare to conquer the land; two renegades – Eric the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) – who previously aided Snow White in defeating Ravenna (Charlize Theron), and his forbidden lover, Sara (Jessica Chastain) set out to stop them.
The film is written by Frank Darabont, David Koepp, Craig Mazin and Evan Spiliotopoulos, and the cast includes Sam Claflin, Sophie Cookson, Colin Morgan, Nick Frost, Rob Brydon and British National Treasure, Sheridan Smith.
I never saw the first film as it wasn’t my bag, but if this is yours, then The Huntsman: Winter’s War is actually out on Monday, no doubt so that it gets a full seven days of takings to contribute to its chart position, although rules state that it could’ve been released on Saturday and then get nine days. Either way, it’s its only chance of beating Batman V Superman in the charts. But it won’t.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Natural Born Pranksters – unfunny Youtube morons pretend to do pranks, yet you see loads of them in the trailer, which saves you wasting 90 minutes of your life.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.