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This weekend there are eight new films out for you to choose from: comedy in Keanu, Danish comedy in Men and Chicken, hard-hitting Mark Duggan documentary The Hard Stop, more kids CGI in Ice Age: Collision Course, Bruce Willis phones it in for Precious Cargo, Cécile De France kissed a girl and she liked it in Summertime, X-Factor vs Jem and the Holograms in Breaking Through, and dire horror in Death Walks.
Keanu felt like a daft name for a film, since it’s the first name of one particular film star, so everyone will confuse it for something about him. Then again, elements of it feel like Mr Reeves’ recent-ish (depending on which country you’re in) John Wick, where his dog meets an unfortunate end early on. This time, it’s about a man with a cat, named Keanu, which gets stolen.
The two friends in this movie then cook up a bizarre plot to get it back by by posing as drug dealers for a street gang.
The film also stars Keegan-Michael Key, Jason Mitchell, Luis Guzmán, Will Forte, Nia Long, Rob Huebel, Method Man, with Peter Atencio directing, and a script from Jordan Peele and Alex Rubens, and whereas before the trailer I didn’t care for it, after watching it, I definitely want to see it.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Men and Chicken centres around two outcast brothers – Gabriel (David Dencik) and Elias (Mads Mikkelsen) – getting to know their unknown family, but discovering a horrible truth about themselves and their relatives.
Bringing together various cast members from Borgen, 1864 and Follow the Money, the film also stars Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Søren Malling and Nicolas Bro and looks hilarious so I definitely want to see this.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
The Hard Stop is a documentary which reflects on the 2011 killing of Mark Duggan, a young, black, British man, at the hands of London’s Metropolitan Police. Duggan was pulled over by police early one morning, and minutes later, was shot dead. This event sparked the now-infamous Tottenham riots and made headlines around the globe, but, as so often happens, the issue soon dropped from the news reports.
Picking up the story where the media left off, George Amponsah’s documentary The Hard Stop brings it back to its roots in Duggan’s neighbourhood, following his friends Marcus and Kurtis as they fight for justice and search for meaning, while struggling against ongoing discrimination in their daily lives.
This certainly looks like an intriguing must-see documentary.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Ice Age: Collision Course is the fifth film in the animated series of which I still haven’t seen any because CGI kids movies aren’t really my bag, but this trailer did tickle me, given how Scrat (Chris Wedge) inadvertently creates the universe.
Scrat’s epic pursuit of his elusive acorn catapults him outside of Earth, where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten the planet. To save themselves from peril, Manny, Sid, Diego, and the rest of the herd leave their home and embark on a quest full of thrills and spills, high and lows, laughter and adventure while traveling to exotic new lands and encountering a host of colorful new characters as well as a new enemy who is a brother to one of their old foes.
Mike Thurmeier returns to direct for the third time, this time alongside Galen T Chu, a first-time co-director for the series but an old hand on the Ice Age series, and the script and story comes from Michael Berg, Aubrey Solomon and Michael J Wilson, with the cast also including Melissa Rauch, Simon Pegg, Stephanie Beatriz, Nick Offerman, Jennifer Lopez, Adam DeVine, Keke Palmer, John Leguizamo, Max Greenfield, Denis Leary, Ray Romano, Carlos Ponce, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Wanda Sykes, Michael Strahan and, oh dear, Jessie J.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Precious Cargo stars Bruce Willis in this rather daft actioner as murderous crime boss Eddie who, after a botched heist, hunts down the seductive thief Karen (Claire Forlani) who failed him. In order to win back Eddie’s trust, Karen recruits her ex-lover and premier thief Jack (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) to steal a cargo of rare precious gems. But when the job goes down, allegiances are betrayed and lines are crossed as Jack, Karen, and Eddie face off in a fateful showdown.
The film is written by Max Adams and Paul V Seetachitt, the former of whom directs and whom originally made Perfect Cargo as a short film back as far as 2008, so it’s obviously been a pet project of his, and no doubt he’s bowled over that he’s attracted a big name for the cast, but while it looks okay, it’s a shame it also looks such generic fare.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Summertime
There was little chance, in the year 1971, that Carole (Cécile De France), a Paris Spanish teacher and feminist militant, would ever meet Delphine (Izïa Higelin), the daughter of a couple of Limousin farmers. But they did meet and not only did they come across each other but they fell passionately in love as well. Unfortunately, Delphine’s father fell victim to a stroke, and the young woman had no other choice but to go back home to help her mother run the family farm.
Carole, who was so smitten by Delphine, couldn’t stand the estrangement and decided to join her lover at the farm. But could feminism and lesbianism easily be transferred to the countryside and its standards of the time…?
Also starring Noémie Lvovsky, Jean-Henri Compère and Loulou Hanssen, this looks tedious as hell from the trailer.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Breaking Through
When Casey, a dancer who is discovered on YouTube, gets thrust into the modern world of internet celebrity and culture, she must find a way to balance her true identity with her online persona, or risk losing everything she cares about.
Directed and written by John Swetnam, and starring Anitta, Sophia Aguiar and Larry Bourgeois, this coming-of-age drama is basically Jem and the Holograms and looks just as bad.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Death Walks
Late one night a shopping centre receives an unexpected visitor, what begins as an act of kindness turns into a night of horror.
Written and directed by Spencer Hawken, and starring Lucinda Rhodes Thakrar, Francesca Ciardi and Jessie Williams, death may walk, but don’t take a trip anywhere to see this rubbish.
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.