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This time, over Christmas and New Year – with films being released at various times, there are SEVEN new films out for you to choose from: Will Smith and Joel Edgerton team up for a new sci-fi Netflix movie in Bright, Hugh Jackman takes on the role of PT Barnum in The Greatest Showman, Jessica Chastain plays her cards right in Molly’s Game, there’s Bollywood action in Tiger Zinda Hai, Jackie Chan kicks butt – again – in Bleeding Steel, Hollywood tramples all over a popular movie with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and then… there’s Pitch Perfect 3.
Bright is a new Netflix movie, and I wasn’t big on this when I saw the start of the trailer, until I saw it came from director David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury, Sabotage) and has huge stars including Will Smith (Suicide Squad), Joel Edgerton (Transformers: The Last Knight) and Noomi Rapace (Prometheus, Unlocked).
Set in a world where mystical creatures live side by side with humans. A human cop (Smith) is forced to work with an Orc (Edgerton) to find a weapon everyone is prepared to kill for…
Based on the trailer, I was certainly looking forward to this. How did it fare? Check out our review here!
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Read the review!
The Greatest Showman is inspired by the imagination of PT Barnum, and is an original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.
Hugh Jackman takes the lead in a role I first saw performed on stage in the ’80s by Michael Crawford. I really enjoyed that, but I can’t say I’m hugely wowed by this trailer. It could be okay, but I don’t think the film needs Zac Efron.
Director: Michael Gracey
Also stars: Michelle Williams, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Austyn Johnson
The Greatest Showman is released on Boxing Day.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
Molly’s Game stars Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) as Molly Bloom, a beautiful, young, Olympic-class skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons.
Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob. Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned that there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led us to believe.
I was unsure what to make of this at first, but I found myself becoming more entranced by the film the longer the trailer went on.
Molly’s Game is released in the UK on January 1st.
Director: Aaron Sorkin
Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin (based on the novel by Molly Bloom)
Also stars: Idris Elba, Natalie Krill, Michael Cera, Kevin Costner, Chris O’Dowd, Rachel Skarsten
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Tiger Zinda Hai is a sequel to the record-breaking blockbuster Ek Tha Tiger, which I hadn’t heard of until now, but continues the story of two super spies Tiger and Zoya eight years later. Shot across various international locations with sleek production values, this mega espionage drama promises thrills, romance and tons of entertainment.
It looks like an engaging actioner, but on the downside, it’s a Bollywood movie which means it runs for almost three hours… 2hrs 41 mins to be exact. Rarely do films need to last that long.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
Bleeding Steel stars Jackie Chan as a hardened special forces agent, who fights to protect a young woman from a sinister criminal gang. At the same time he with feels a special connection to the young woman, like they met in a different life.
The film looks like a reasonable actioner, but Chan films can be hit and miss. There’s a lot of hot women in it, though, so check out the trailer for that alone 😉
Director: Leo Zhang
Also stars: Callan Mulvey, Tess Haubrich, Kaitlyn Boyé, Kim Gyngell, Olga Miller, Show Lo, Isabelle Wojciechowska
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a remake of the 1995 Robin Williams movie (which I still haven’t seen) and looks beyond terrible.
Four high-school kids come across the Jumanji videogame in their learning establishment’s basement, start playing it, and end up inside it.
The dorky ginger girl turns into the uber-hot Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2), while the hot blonde turns into… er.. Jack Black. Yes, it’s sounding even worse isn’t it.
Shall I lower your expectations even more? The other two turn into Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. Really? Kevin bloody Hart? I have more talent in my anus than he does in his entire body!
Where’s the original was based around a board game, in this one, the kids become the adult avatars they chose, discovering that you don’t just play Jumanji – you must survive it. To beat the game and return to the real world, they’ll have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives, discover what Alan Parrish (Williams’ character) left 20 years earlier, and they must change the way they think about themselves – or they’ll be stuck in the game forever.
Director: Jake Kasdan (Bad Teacher)
Writers: Chris McKenna, Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, Erik Sommers
Also stars: Missi Pyle, Bobby Cannavale, Rhys Darby, Tim Matheson, Nick Jonas, Alex Wolff
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is out now. Go see something else.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Pitch Perfect 3 is the third and final film in a series I’ll never watch, as even from the trailers, they annoy me intensely. In fact, it angers me!!!
Rebel Wilson proves forever unfunny, since ‘Fat Amy’ is now ‘Fat Amy Winehouse’. Being obese doesn’t make you funny, it can just lead to diabetes.
After the highs of winning the World Championships, the Bellas find themselves split apart and discovering there aren’t job prospects for making music with your mouth. But when they get the chance to reunite for an overseas USO tour, this group of awesome nerds will come together to make some music, and some questionable decisions, one last time.
Oh, and once again, it tries to make the lame job of confusing ‘pitches’ with ‘bitches’, by saying “Last Call, Pitches”. Laugh, I nearly pre-ordered the trilogy box-set(!)
Director: Trish Sie (Step Up Vol.27: All In)
Writer: Kay Cannon
Also stars: a lot of people who ought to know better than appear in this threequel dross: Ruby Rose, Anna Kendrick, Elizabeth Banks, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Alexis Knapp and John Lithgow.
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.