Skip to content
This weekend there are five new films out for you to choose from: never ending driving franchise in Fast And Furious 7, a comedy which looks good but has been censored – The DUFF, uncensored comedy in Kidnapping Freddy Heineken, plus drama in While We’re Young and The Water Diviner.
Fast and Furious 7 (aka Furious 7), continues the series that will never end until they’re all pushing up daisies, and this time round, Ian Shaw (Jason Statham) seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his crew for the death of his brother.
I’ve yet to see one of these films in full, and quite frankly, the trailer is enough for me. There’s a scene that takes up half the trailer which is actually quite amusing, but do I need to pay £10 to see that again, plus 2 hours of all the cast standing around talking? I don’t think so.
Furious 7 also stars Dwayne Johnson, Paul Walker, Lucas Black, Vin Diesel, Ronda Rousey, Michelle Rodriguez, Kurt Russell, Jordana Brewster, Iggy Azalea, Djimon Hounsou, Nathalie Emmanuel, Tony Jaa, Tyrese Gibson and is released in the UK on April 3rd 2015.
Check out the trailer below which tells us that the film will be available in IMAX… not that it’ll be filmed that way. I’m surprised they don’t fake a 3D print at the same time:
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
The DUFF is a comedy which doesn’t refer to where-is-she-now actress Hilary Duff, Johnny Vegas-starring Ideal sitcom creator Graham Duff, nor Homer Simpson’s favourite tipple, but actually stands for “Designated Ugly Fat Friend”, when a high school senior instigates a social pecking order revolution after finding out that she has been labeled the DUFF in question, to her prettier more popular friends.
Starring Mae Whitman as Bianca – the DUFF, plus Bella Thorne, Robbie Amell and Allison Janney, this made me laugh a fair bit so it looks worth a watch upon its UK release… or so I thought.
Unfortunately, it’s yet another film which has been censored. And while it’s usually 20th Century Fox doing the dirty deed – the latest example being Kingsman – this time it’s Entertainment One UK Ltd.
The BBFC confirmed:
“This film was originally seen for advice, at which stage the company was advised it was likely to receive a 15 classification but that their preferred 12A could be achieved by removing a scene involving strong sex references. When the film was submitted for formal classification, this sequence had been removed and the film was classified 12A.”
Hopefully the Blu-ray and DVD release will be uncut. but don’t bet the farm on it. Perhaps import the US release when the time comes? At leas Blu-ray discs aren’t region-locked. Then again, neither are DVDs once you set your machine to circumvent them.
I want to see this film, but since the film is censored…
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Kidnapping Freddy Heineken (aka Kidnapping Mr Heineken) tells the inside story of the planning, execution, rousing aftermath and ultimate downfall of the kidnappers of beer tycoon Alfred “Freddy” Heineken (Anthony Hopkins), which resulted in the largest ransom ever paid for an individual.
The film also stars Sam Worthington, Jim Sturgess, Ryan Kwanten and Jemima West (Channel 4’s forthcoming drama, Indian Summers). Directed by Daniel Alfredson (The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest), it looks like a pretty entertaining piece of nonsense.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
While We’re Young looks at a middle-aged couple’s career and marriage are overturned when a disarming young couple enters their lives.
The film is basically Ben Stiller in a semi-serious movie but overall, it looks pretty lame. Similarly, Naomi Watts just sleepwalks through the trailer. No-one’s putting any effort in, here, including Amanda Seyfried, Adam Driver and Charles Grodin. In fact, I think I’d rather watch another Beethoven film with the latter(!)
Written and directed by Noah Baumbach, While We’re Young is a…
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
The Water Diviner is set after the Battle of Gallipoli, in 1919, when an Australian farmer, Connor (Russell Crowe), travels to Turkey to find his 3 missing sons. While staying at a hotel in Istanbul, he meets Ayshe (Olga Kurylenko), the hotel manager… and tries to find a way to Gallipoli.
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.