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This weekend there are seven new films out for you to choose from: wild west action in Bone Tomahawk, a heist in Triple 9, an intriguing drama with a wonderful cast in Orthodox, possible comedy in How To Be Single, end-of-life drama in Chronic, Disney drama in The Finest Hours, and ‘TV movie of the week’-style terminal disease drama in Freeheld.
Bone Tomahawk is the weirdest name for a film I’ve come across in a long time, but it’s about four men, who set out in the Wild West to rescue a group of captives from cannibalistic cave dwellers.
From first-time director, S Craig Zahler, the cast is a lot more well-known and is comprised of Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Sean Young, Lili Simmons, Matthew Fox, David Arquette, Kathryn Morris, Michael Paré and Richard Jenkins.
I definitely want to check this out and the great news is that it’s been given an uncut 18-certificate!
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Triple 9 is set around a gang of criminals and a group of corrupt cops, who plan the murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet across town.
The film stars Norman Reedus, Kate Winslet, Teresa Palmer, Aaron Paul, Gal Gadot, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Michelle Ang and Avengers: Age Of Ultron‘s Anthony Mackie and looks a like cracking thriller, and while the US was originally due to see this released this week, they now have to wait until next Friday for it. Blimey! We got a film earlier than the US!
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Orthodox: Benjamin (Oliver Woollford), a boy bullied for his Jewish faith, takes up boxing as a means of self-defense, alienating himself from his religious community. As an adult caught between two worlds, his desperation to provide for his family becomes the catalyst for a devastating series of events that ensures he may never find the acceptance he has always craved.
I really want to see this as it has a dream cast of Stephen Graham as the adult Benjamin, plus Michael Smiley (The Lobster), Christopher Fairbank and Rebecca Callard (Ordinary Lies), although given the way multiplexes work, it will get edged out by the bigger films and so I’ll have to wait for the Blu-ray release.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
How To Be Single sees Rebel Wilson, as Robin, continuing her forever-unfunny schtick of “Hey, isn’t being fat a source for comedy gold?” No, it isn’t. Oh, Rebel, your Virgin Media adverts are about as funny as diarrhoea followed by constipation!
She teams up with Dakota Johnson, who plays Alice, a young woman who can’t get a boyfriend for the life of her – a total contrast from when she played Christian Grey’s plaything in Fifty Shades Of Grey.
The film takes place in New York, a cityful of lonely hearts seeking the right match. What Alice, Robin, Lucy, Meg, Tom and David all have in common is the need to learn how to be single in a world filled with ever-evolving definitions of love.
Also starring Alison Brie, Leslie Mann, Jake Lacy, Anders Holm and Let’s Be Cops‘ Damon Wayans Jr, this one could go either way.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
Chronic stars Tim Roth as David, a home care nurse works with terminally ill patients. The trailer doesn’t really give a huge insight into much else about the film, and I can’t say I’m wholly sold on it, even though Roth is usually worth a watch.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
The Finest Hours is a new Disney drama set in February 1952, when one of the worst storms to ever hit the East Coast struck New England, damaging an oil tanker off the coast of Cape Cod and literally ripping it in half.
On a small lifeboat faced with frigid temperatures and 70-foot high waves, four members of the Coast Guard set out to rescue the more than 30 stranded sailors trapped aboard the rapidly-sinking vessel.
This new film is led by Chris Pine, one of the most wooden actors ever to grace the big screen and a terrible Captain Kirk, plus Ben Foster, who was great in Six Feet Under, and Eric Bana, Holliday Grainger, Graham McTavish, Rachel Brosnahan, Kyle Gallner and Casey Affleck.
The poster has the ‘against all odds’-style tagline “32 Survivors. Room for 12!” Oh dear…
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Freeheld stars Still Alice‘s Julianne Moore as New Jersey police lieutenant, Laurel Hester, who, with her registered domestic partner, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page), both battle to secure Hester’s pension benefits when she is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Based on a true story, there’s certainly important tale to be told here, but I’m not wholly sold as to whether this film is the way to go about it, as the trailer makes it look less like a Hollywood movie and more like a Channel 5 ‘TV movie of the week’, clogging up the afternoon schedules.
It has a good cast, though, as it also stars Steve Carell, Michael Shannon, Josh Charles and Luke Grimes.
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.