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This week, there are TEN new films out for you to choose from: the bear from darkest Peru returns in Paddington 2, the dead return as holograms in Marjorie Prime, Toby Jones stars in taut, psychological thriller Kaleidoscope, Willem Dafoe takes the lead in low-budget indie movie The Florida Project, John Rhys-Davies stars in British horror movie Aux, Hitler is back (as well as dodgy accents) in The Man with the Iron Heart, war is hell in Thank You for Your Service, the origins of one of the DC Universe characters takes shape in Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, there’s a load of American gung-ho junk in Only the Brave, and Shakespeare takes a holiday in A Caribbean Dream.
Paddington 2 – it’s here. Just accept it.
Okay, the first one in 2014 was quite funny, but it didn’t need a sequel. However, money talks, so the bear from darkest Peru is back.
Voiced by Ben Whishaw, Paddington is now happily settled with the Brown family in Windsor Gardens, where he has become a popular member of the community, spreading joy and marmalade wherever he goes. While searching for the perfect present for his beloved Aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday, Paddington spots a unique pop-up book in Mr. Gruber’s antique shop, and embarks upon a series of odd jobs to buy it. But when the book is stolen, it’s up to Paddington and the Browns to unmask the thief.
Paddington 2 is directed by the first film’s Paul King and also stars Hugh Grant, Brendan Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Julie Walters, Sally Hawkins, Imelda Staunton, Hugh Bonneville, Ben Miller
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
Marjorie Prime
A service that provides holographic recreations of deceased loved ones allows a man to come face-to-face with the younger version of his late father-in-law.
A love time-travel movies, and while this isn’t quite that, there are elements akin to that. The trailer is a bit of a mind-bender, but the film looks fantastic.
Director: Michael Almereyda
Writers: Michael Almereyda, Jordan Harrison (based on his play)
Stars: Jon Hamm, Hannah Gross, Geena Davis
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Kaleidoscope is a taut, psychological thriller that explores the inescapability of a destructive relationship between a middle-aged man and his mother. At the heart of this modern day ‘Psycho’ are some unsettling questions: Can we ever escape the role in which we are cast by our early circumstances? Must a perpetrator first be a victim?
This looks weird as hell, but you can kinda see where it’s going from the trailer, and looks like a must-see, with the cast including Toby Jones (Detectorists, Marvellous) and Sinead Matthews (Ideal).
Writer/Director: Rupert Jones
Also stars: Anne Reid, Deborah Findlay
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
The Florida Project
Set over one summer, the film follows precocious 6-year-old Moonee as she courts mischief and adventure with her ragtag playmates and bonds with her rebellious but caring mother, all while living in the shadows of Disney World.
Quite a departure for Willem Dafoe, this looks very captivating, so I do hope to check it out at some point.
Director: Sean Baker
Writers: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch
Also stars Brooklynn Prince, Valeria Cotto
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Aux is a gruesome action horror which begins when two young boys playing in the woods discover the entrance to a military bunker undetected since World War II.
This looks like a great little off-beat horror, and it’s been some time since I’ve seen Raiders of the Lost Ark‘s John Rhys-Davies, so I hope to check this out soon.
Director: John Adams
Writers: John Adams, Peter Adams
Also stars: Tanya Franks, Rosie Fellner
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
The Man with the Iron Heart
1942: The Third Reich is at its peak. The Czech resistance in London decides to plan the most ambitious military operation of WWII: Anthropoid. Two young recruits in their late twenties, Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis, are sent to Prague to assassinate the most ruthless Nazi leader – Reich-protector Reinhard Heydrich, Head of the SS, the Gestapo, and the architect of the “Final Solution”.
Based on the novel by Laurent Binet, this looks moderately interesting, even if there’s some dodgy German accents in English.
Director: Cédric Jimenez
Stars: Rosamund Pike, Mia Wasikowska, Jason Clarke, Jack O’Connell, Jack Reynor and Stephen Graham as Himmler.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
Thank You for Your Service looks like a potentially interesting drama about how Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can affect American servicemen and women returning home from wars, primarily focusing on Adam Schumann (Miles Teller).
It’s difficult based on just this one trailer as to how well-rounded a film it’ll be, however.
Director: Jason Hall
Writer: Jason Hall (based on the book by David Finkel)
Also stars: Haley Bennett, Amy Schumer, Kate Lyn Sheil, Joe Cole, Keisha Castle-Hughes
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women details the unconventional life of Dr William Marston (Luke Evans – The Hobbit Trilogy), the Harvard psychologist and inventor who helped invent the modern lie detector test and created Wonder Woman in 1941. Marston was in a polyamorous relationship with his wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall), a psychologist and inventor in her own right, and Olive Byrne (Bella Heathcote), a former student who became an academic.
This relationship was key to the creation of Wonder Woman, as Elizabeth and Olive’s feminist ideals were ingrained in the character from her creation. Marston died of skin cancer in 1947, but Elizabeth and Olive remained a couple and raised their and Marston’s children together. Aww….
Overall, I’m not particularly fussed.
Still, it’s got to be better than the ho-hum Wonder Woman movie!
Writer/Director: Angela Robinson
Also stars: JJ Feild, Connie Britton, Maggie Castle
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Only the Brave is one of those annoying all-American gung-ho movies where everyone talks to objects that can’t hear them – in this case, with Josh Brolin talking to the fire that’s coming towards him. Er… yep.
It’s a drama based on the elite crew of firemen from Prescott, Arizona who battled a wildfire in Yarnell, AZ Iin June 2013, which claimed the lives of 19 of their members.
Only the Brave bakes the desert from today. I’ll give it a cold shower.
Director: Joseph Kosinski (TRON Legacy)
Also Stars: Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Taylor Kitsch, Jeff Bridges, Andie MacDowell, Geoff Stults, James Badge Dale, Ben Hardy
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
A Caribbean Dream
Contemporary re-imagining of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream‘ set in the Caribbean on the island of Barbados. Chaos ensues when Puck the Butler and staff of a tropical paradise home turn into mischievous fairies and tamper with the wedding plans of three multicultural couples or was this a changeling boys dream ?
If you like Shakespeare, this is for you. If iambic pentameter is not your bag… like me, give it a miss.
Director: Shakirah Bourne
Stars: Adrian Green, Susannah Harker, Sam Gillett
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.