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This weekend there are ELEVEN new films out for you to choose from: disaster movie in spades with Deepwater Horizon, more Tim Burton madness in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, off-the-wall comedy with the Swiss Army Man, a French courtroom-based comedy in Courted, Russian period drama in The Fencer, a new Netflix documentary about Amanda Knox, Iranian horror in Under the Shadow, the 2011 UK summer riots come to the fore in Urban Hymn, Matthew McConaughey takes us back to the American Civil War in Free State of Jones, Jean Claude Van Damme takes us back to the ’80s in a new Kickboxer movie, and when Obama met Michelle in Southside With You.
Deepwater Horizon is the name of an offshore drilling rig, which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The trailer told enough to tempt you to watch it, without going into too much detail, and I’ve seen this today, with my review coming tomorrow. So… if you’re going to see it before that goes online, I’ll just say that YES, it is worth watching.
Directed by Peter Berg (Lone Survivor, and also appearing as Dr Billy Cronk in many a Chicago Hope episode), the film is written by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand, the film also stars Dylan O’Brien, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez and also marks the first time that father and daughter Kurt Russell and Kate Hudson have been in the same film together, although they don’t appear together onscreen, unfortunately.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children brings us Tim Burton with another madcap world, this time featuring a lot who were obviously too cutesy for the mutant world of the X-Men, with Sin City: A Dame To Kill For‘s Eva Green as the titular Miss Peregrine.
When Jacob (Asa Butterfield) discovers clues to a mystery that spans different worlds and times, he finds a magical place known as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. But the mystery and danger deepen as he gets to know the residents and learns about their special powers… and their powerful enemies. Ultimately, Jacob discovers that only his own special “peculiarity” can save his new friends.
The film has a script from Mrs Jonathan Ross, Jane Goldman, based on the novel by Ransom Riggs (is that a real name?), and stars Samuel L Jackson, Allison Janney, Ella Purnell, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp and The Program‘s Chris O’Dowd.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Swiss Army Man looks just plain weird. But brilliant.
Is Daniel Radcliffe‘s (Horns) character, Manny, dead or alive? Either way, he’s more useful than a Swiss army knife, and he soon becomes a boon for Hank (Paul Dano – Love and Mercy), who thankfully does NOT manage to kill himself at the start of the trailer.
Written and directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the cast also includes Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Timothy Eulich and Richard Gross and I really want to see this.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Courted (aka L’hermine)
If you have to go to court, you pray not to have to appear before Michel Racine (Fabrice Luchini), an awfully ruthless judge. Unfortunately for him, this is what happens to Martial Beclin, a man accused of kicking to death his baby daughter. And you can easily guess what his feelings are on the first day of his trial. But neither Martial nor Michel knows it yet: this time, things may turn out differently. Why? Because judge Racine stops being himself the moment he recognizes among the jurors Ditte (Sidse Babett Knudsen), a woman doctor he has been secretly dating for a couple of years…
Also starring Eva Lallier and Corinne Masiero, I loved this from the moment the trailer began, and even more when I saw it was led by Borgen‘s Birgitte Nyborg.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
The Fencer (aka Miekkailija)
Fleeing from the Russian secret police because of his controversial past, a young Estonian fencer named Endel is forced to return to his homeland, where he begins to train a group of young children in the art of fencing. The past however catches up with him and Endel has to choose between letting his students down or putting his life in danger. The movie is partially based on the real life story of an Estonian fencer Endel Nelis (1925-1993).
Directed by Klaus Härö, and starring Lembit Ulfsak, Kirill Käro and Märt Avandi, I loved visiting Russia when I was at school, and this period piece has a wonderful look to it.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Amanda Knox
Was she a cold-blooded psychopath who brutally murdered her roommate or a naive study abroad student trapped in an endless nightmare? In the Netflix Original Documentary Amanda Knox, directors Rod Blackhurst (Tribeca Audience Award-winner Here Alone) and Brian McGinn (IDA Award-winner Chef’s Table) and producer Mette Heide (Peabody Award-winner India’s Daughter) explore the notorious case that made headlines around the world.
Twice convicted and twice acquitted by Italian courts of the brutal killing of her British roommate Meredith Kercher, Amanda Knox became the subject of global speculation as non-stop media attention fed the public’s fascination through every twist and turn of the nearly decade-long case.
In a world that remains strongly divided on the legal findings, Amanda Knox goes beyond guilt or innocence to shed new light on the events and circumstances of the past nine years. Featuring unprecedented access to key people involved and never-before-seen archival material, the film shifts between past to present, exploring the case from the inside out in exclusive interviews with Amanda Knox, her former co-defendant and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, Italian prosecutor Giuliano Mignini and Daily Mail reporter Nick Pisa.
As a hunger for salacious and exciting news stories grows, what role do we all play in the perpetuation and the creation of ‘front page’ ready narratives? Amanda Knox is a human story that goes past the headlines to examine the often fraught relationship between true crime tragedy, justice and entertainment.
I’ll be checking this out soon, but based on the trailer it looks like a…
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Under the Shadow is a low-budget Iranian horror films which has had good write-ups, about a a mother and daughter struggling to cope with the terrors of the post-revolution, war-torn Tehran of the 1980s, at which point a mysterious evil begins to haunt their home.
Written and directed by Babak Anvari, and starring Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi and Bobby Naderi, this horror movie looks very intriguing indeed.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Urban Hymn
Set against the backdrop of the 2011 UK summer riots, Urban Hymn follows a young female offender who possesses a remarkable voice and a determined social worker who inspires her to use it.
Directed by Michael Caton-Jones, and starring Shirley Henderson, Ian Hart, Shaun Parkes, Steven Mackintosh and Letitia Wright, this film has got a great cast, but it all looks a bit ‘TV movie of the week’, and not a cinema experience, so chalk this one up as a ‘maybe’.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
Free State of Jones is set during the Civil War, and tells the story of defiant Southern farmer, Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey), and his extraordinary armed rebellion against the Confederacy. Opposed to both slavery and secession, Knight launched an uprising of poor white farmers that led Jones County, Mississippi to itself secede from the Confederacy, creating a “Free State of Jones.”
His relationship and post-war marriage to a former slave, Rachel Knight (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), effectively established the region’s first mixed-race community. Knight, continued his fight into the post war period, resisting Klan activity through Reconstruction. His legendary rebellion distinguished Newt Knight as a compelling, if controversial, figure of defiance long beyond the War.
Free State of Jones is written and directed by Gary Ross (The Hunger Games, Seabiscuit, Pleasantville) and also stars Keri Russell, Jacob Lofland and Sean Bridgers, and is released on May 27th in the UK but apart from the fact that this trailer seems to give away everything about the film, while it started off okay, the more it went on, the less I wanted to see it in the cinema since it just did not look that interesting.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Kickboxer
Otherwise known as Kickboxer Vengeance, and with Kickboxer Retaliation coming next year, Jean Claude Van Damme takes the lead as Master Durant, whereas Alain Moussi takes his old role of Kurt Sloane, a role that originally was going to Scott Adkins, who played opposite JCVD and Dolph Lundgren in the terrible Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning.
These films don’t look particularly necessary, especially from the trailer for the new one, but then if they’re all the same, and if people will still go and see them, how many Fast & Furious films are we up to now…(?)
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Southside With You is the film about the man who won the Nobel Peace Prize simply for walking into work on his first day – Barack Obama, played by Parker Sawyers. America’s second black President (after 24‘s David Palmer). This film chronicles the meeting between him and future First Lady Michelle (Tika Sumpter), set in Chicago’s South Side.
Unfortunately, this is so syrupy-sweet that the Tate & Lyle was dripping out of my phone as I watched the trailer, and almost as cloying, making me vomit. It’s full of godawful soundbites such as:
- Her: “Why did you come to Chicago?”
Him: “To make a difference!”
And, earlier, at home, her father asks: “What’s his name?”. She replies: “Barack Obama.”
Really?? You’d give a full name to a family member about the person you’re going to meet? It may as well shout his name in ten-foot letters of steel, and proclaim him as The Second Coming!
Anyhoo, how’s Guantanamo Bay’s closure coming on, eh, Obama?
Set in the summer of 1989, it looks like the only good thing about this fawning piece of sickly junk will be the music.
Those also getting caught up in this mess are Alex Zelenka, Phillip Edward Van Lear, Deborah Geffner, and Taylar Fondren, who calls himself TayLar. Mad, eh?
Written and directed by Richard Tanne, about the only good thing I can say in relation to this film is that the running time is a brief 81 minutes.
Southside With You is released in the US on August 26th, but as of yet there’s no UK date. For a film that basically makes him destined for Sainthood, I hope no-one’s planning the equivalent about Tony Blair or David Cameron!
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.