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This weekend there are four new films out for you to choose from: comedy in 22 Jump Street, tedium in Grace of Monaco, dark comedy in Cheap Thrills and strong drama in Fruitvale Station.
22 Jump Street
22 Jump Street is the sequel to 2012’s 21 Jump Street, obviously, starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, and I never got round to seeing it but it looked good and so does this sequel, in which, after making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt and Jenko when they go deep undercover at a local college.
Also starring Dave Franco, Nick Offerman, Peter Stormare and Ice Cube, there’s plenty of choice language in this trailer, so it’s best not viewed at work… that’s if you can view Youtube at work anyway.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Grace of Monaco
Grace Of Monaco tells the story of former Hollywood star Grace Kelly’s (Nicole Kidman) crisis of marriage and identity, during a political dispute between Monaco’s Prince Rainier III (Tim Roth) and France’s Charles De Gaulle (André Penvern), and a looming French invasion of Monaco in the early 1960s.
Also starring Milo Ventimiglia, Parker Posey, Paz Vega, Frank Langella, Derek Jacobi, Geraldine Somerville and Robert Lindsay, the trailer really doesn’t do anything for me, but perhaps if you like period dramas then maybe this one will be for you, but it’s been slagged off royally (see what I did there?!) by Peter Bradshaw from the Guardian, who said it’s “so completely wooden that it’s basically a fire risk”.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Cheap Thrills
“Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you richer” according to Cheap Thrills, a new black comedy from the producers of You’re Next.
Craig (Pat Healy) has lost his job, his family are about to be evicted and he’s desperately short of cash, so when a man offers him and a friend increasing amounts of money in return for ever-humiliating acts, how can they turn it down?
The film also stars Ethan Embry, Sara Paxton, David Koechner and Amanda Fuller .
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Fruitvale Station
This is the true story of Oscar (Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008 and feels something in the air. Not sure what it is, he takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions: being a better son to his mother, whose birthday falls on New Year’s Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend, who he hasn’t been completely honest with as of late, and being a better father to T, their beautiful 4 year old daughter.
He starts out well, but as the day goes on, he realizes that change is not going to come easy. He crosses paths with friends, family, and strangers, each exchange showing us that there is much more to Oscar than meets the eye. But it would be his final encounter of the day, with police officers at the Fruitvale BART station that would shake the Bay Area to its very core, and cause the entire nation to be witnesses to the story of Oscar Grant.
The film also stars Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer and Kevin Durand.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
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.