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This week, there are SEVEN new films out for you to choose from: DC superheroes unite for Justice League, Aubrey Plaza takes the lead in an f-word-laden comedy when Ingrid Goes West, there’s a Hungarian psycho-thriller in Strangled, Robert Pattinson and Barkhad Abdi are out for a Good Time, Annette Bening wants to prove to Jamie Bell that Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, a documentary follows big-game hunters in Trophy, and drama takes a tedious turn in Mudbound.
Justice League was originally envisaged as a two-parter movie, but the mediocre response to Warner Bros’ early DC movies, plus not all two-parters doing so well (such as the final Divergent movie ending up as a TV movie), this appears to be on its own. The same is also happening for next year’s Avengers: Infinity War.
Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s (Henry Cavill) selfless act, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince (Gal Gadot), to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes-Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) – it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions… but Zack Snyder will give it a good try.
Director Zack Snyder does what he should’ve done with Man of Steel and Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, and frames the movie at 1.85:1 instead of 2.35:1. Both of those films had 70mm IMAX scenes opening up to 1.44:1 on the cinemas that could show such a film (all four of them in the UK), while digital IMAX screens (most of them) could only open up to 1.90:1, so 1.85:1 is the way to go, here.
Again, Snyder enlists Junkie XL to do the score, following their work on BvS. His other credits include Mad Max: Fury Road and… er… the Point Break remake.
With a script by Chris Terrio, who co-wrote the story with Snyder, the cast also includes Amy Adams, Connie Nielsen, Amber Heard, Kiersey Clemons, Diane Lane, Jeremy Irons, JK Simmons, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Eisenberg, Ciarán Hinds, Samantha Jo and Eleanor Matsuura… and maybe Jared Leto as The Joker, but overall, on watching both the first trailer and, now, this Comic Con trailer below…
Well, I was thinking Meh! at first, but now since the press seem to hate it, that probably means that I’ll love it!
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Ingrid Goes West stars the titular lady (played by Dirty Grandpa‘s Aubrey Plaza), and the billing states she’s a mentally disturbed young woman, but that didn’t come across in the trailer since she plays her usual kooky character. However, she becomes obsessed with Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen), a social media star who appears to have the perfect life.
When Ingrid decides to drop everything and move west to befriend Taylor, her behaviour turns unsettling and increasingly dangerous.
And now there’s a second Red Band trailer, so that means it’ll include lots of swearing.
It’s just strange that the US got this on August 11th, but in the UK, we hadto wait until November 17th for it to be released!
Director: Matt Spicer
Writers: David Branson Smith, Matt Spicer
Additional cast: O’Shea Jackson Jr, Wyatt Russell, Billy Magnussen
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Strangled
Based on real-life events, this psycho-thriller is set in the provincial Hungary of the 1960s, when a series of atrocious murders shock the small town of Martfü. A psychotic killer is on the prowl, who continues to slaughter young women while an innocent man is wrongly accused and sentenced for crimes he could never have committed. A determined detective arrives on the scene and soon becomes obsessed with the case while under pressure from the prosecutor to see a man hang. Stuck in the suffocating social, political and psychological world of socialist Hungary, we soon find ourselves entangled in a web of intricate conspiracy and disturbing drama.
The trailer for this is pretty short, but it does look good.
Director: Árpád Sopsits
Stars: Károly Hajduk, Gábor Jászberényi, Zsolt Anger
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Good Time centres around bank robber Dash (Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips), who finds himself unable to evade those who are looking for him. He’s accompanies by his brother, Connie (Robert Pattinson), and it’s difficult to get an exact handle on everything that’s going on in the trailer, but it does look like an engaging movie with good performances.
Directors: Ben Safdie, Joshua Safdie
Writers: Ronald Bronstein, Joshua Safdie
Also stars: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Robert Pattinson, Ben Safdie, Lucas Elliot Eberl
Same as Ingrid Goes West, this one ALSO was released in the US on August 11th, but has waited until now for the UK date.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
A romance sparks between a young actor and a Hollywood leading lady.
A brief premise, but that just about sums it up. This could be okay, but I get the feeling I’ve seen it all in the trailer.
Director: Paul McGuigan
Screenplay: Matt Greenhalgh (based on the memoir by Peter Turner)
Stars: Jamie Bell, Annette Bening, Stephen Graham
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!
Trophy is a startling exploration of the evolving relationship between big-game hunting and wildlife conservation that will leave you debating what is right, what is wrong and what is necessary in order to save the great species of the world from extinction.
While I can understand the topic of the documentary, I revile the hunting practice. Shoot the hunters, instead!
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Mudbound centres on two men, Jamie McAllan (Garrett Hedlund) and Henry McAllan (Jason Clarke), who return home from World War II to work on a farm in rural Mississippi, where they struggle to deal with racism and adjusting to life after war.
Director: Dee Rees
Also stars: Carey Mulligan, Jonathan Banks, Jason Mitchell, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Rob Morgan, Mary J Blige, Elizabeth Ashling, and I thought I saw Doctors‘ Lorna Laidlaw in this, but it’s not. That’s a shame 🙁
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.