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A new year brings a quartet of new releases, all of which are at the cinema either from New Year’s Day or this coming Friday. Check, as they say, press for details. Or the internet. The films are American Hustle, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, Last Vegas and Long Walk To Freedom.
American Hustle
A con man, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), along with his seductive British partner, Sydney Prosser (Jeremy Renner), is forced to work for a wild FBI agent, Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia.
Directed by David O. Russell and also starring Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K., Michael Peña and Shea Whigham, this film has had a lot of good press, but I just don’t get it from the trailer. It looks like it’s trying to be the next Paul Thomas Anderson movie and just doesn’t cut it for me.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: For now, it’s a miss.
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
After being “marked,” Jesse (Andrew Jacobs) begins to be pursued by mysterious forces while his family and friends try to save him.
Also starring Molly Ephraim, Katie Featherston, Crystal Santos and Richard Cabral, I’ve only ever seen the trailers and they’ve all look as appalling as the last. However, this one looks like it could possibly be interesting as it just seemed to grabbed me whereas the others hadn’t.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Possibly a hit.
Last Vegas
Three sixty-something friends take a break from their day-to-day lives to throw a bachelor party in Las Vegas for their last remaining single pal.
Billy (Michael Douglas), Paddy (Robert De Niro), Archie (Morgan Freeman) and Sam (Kevin Kline) have been best friends since childhood. So when Billy, the group’s sworn bachelor, finally proposes to his thirty-something (of course) girlfriend, the four head to Las Vegas with a plan to stop acting their age and relive their glory days. However, upon arriving, the four quickly realize that the decades have transformed Sin City and tested their friendship in ways they never imagined. The Rat Pack may have once played the Sands and Cirque du Soleil may now rule the Strip, but it’s these four who are taking over Vegas.
Directed by Jon Turteltaub and also starring Mary Steenburgen, Romany Malco (Weeds) and Michael Ealy, the trailer has a few good laughs in it, even if it does feel like “The Hangover: The Pensioner Years”.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Long Walk To Freedom
The one about Mandela. I couldn’t give two hoots about it.
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.