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This weekend there are seven new films out for you to choose from: comedy/horror in Life After Beth, drama in Gone Girl, Dracula revisited in Dracula Untold, a collection of short stories in Palo Alto, horror in 7500, American Football in Draft Day, and children’s nonsense in Dolphin Tale 2.
Life After Beth
A hike alone in the woods ends tragically for Beth Slocum with a fatal snake bite. Her death leaves her parents and boyfriend Zach reeling. After the funeral, Zach tries to make friends with Mr. and Mrs. Slocum, but even they reject him, and he’s determined to figure out why. Then he sees Beth…
Her parents are trying to keep her resurrection a secret, but zombie Beth provides Zach with the opportunity to do everything with her that he didn’t get to do while she was still alive. But with Beth’s increasingly erratic behavior and even more strange occurrences around town, life with the undead Beth proves to be particularly complicated for her still-living loved ones.
Starring Aubrey Plaza as Beth, plus Dane DeHaan, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Cheryl Hines, Paul Reiser and Anna Kendrick, this looks a fantastic comedy-horror so I’m very much looking forward to this.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Gone Girl
Gone Girl features Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne who, on his fifth wedding anniversary, has to report that his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), has gone missing.
Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick’s portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his lies, deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife?
Gone Girl also stars Neil Patrick Harris, Missi Pyle and Tyler Perry, and the trailer doesn’t give a massive amount away other than the basics, but I think it’s worth a look.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Dracula Untold tells the origin of Vlad Tepes (Luke Evans), the man who becomes the mythological Dracula. Also starring Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon, Charles Dance and Samantha Barks, I wasn’t at all grabbed by this. It just looks like a random load of nonsense as lots of special FX replace a plot.
Also, this was never filmed in IMAX, so why are IMAX cinemas screening it? Well, because they’ve got nothing else to show in there until Interstellar is released on November 7th. However, even if you do go and see this in the cinema, DO NOT see it in IMAX. You’ll gain NOTHING.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Palo Alto is the name of a book of short stories by James Franco, who also stars in this drama.
Shy, sensitive April (Emma Roberts) is the class virgin, torn between an illicit flirtation with her soccer coach Mr. B (James Franco) and an unrequited crush on sweet stoner Teddy (Jack Kilmer). Emily (Zoe Levin), meanwhile, offers sexual favors to every boy to cross her path — including both Teddy and his best friend Fred (Nat Wolff), a live wire without filters or boundaries.
As one high school party bleeds into the next — and April and Teddy struggle to admit their mutual affection — Fred’s escalating recklessness starts to spiral into chaos. An unflinching portrait of adolescent lust, boredom, and self-destruction, Palo Alto is a teen movie for the ages, adapted for the screen and directed by Gia Coppola and featuring new music from Devonté Hynes (Blood Orange).
Palo Alto certainly looks worth a watch.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
7500
On May 12th, Vista Pacific Flight 7500 departs Los Angeles International Airport bound for Tokyo. The take-off is routine but what transpires over the next ten hours is anything but ordinary. As the overnight flight makes its way over the Pacific Ocean, the passengers encounter what appears to be a supernatural force in the cabin.
Starring Leslie Bibb, Ryan Kwanten and Amy Smart (Scrubs), this hasn’t had a great response on IMDB, nor has it had a release in the US! Still, it looks like it could be worth a watch so I’ll err on the side of a…
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Draft Day
It’s draft day in the NFL and as general manager of the Cleveland Browns, Sonny Weaver (Kevin Costner) is forced to come up with a big move. After trading for the number one pick, Sonny has to choose between a lower-ranked linebacker with a questionable past or a celebrated quarterback with a questionable future. All the while, Sonny is walking in the footsteps of his father and personal complications force their way to the surface.
The film is directed by Ivan Reitman and also stars Jennifer Garner, and there’s not many famous people in this, apart from Costner and Garner, and since American Football is a niche sport in the UK, I’m surprised this is getting a cinema releases, especially almost six months after the US, by which time any fans of the sport will have had the opportunity to get the US Blu-ray disc.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Dolphin Tale 2
The second one about a dolphin.
Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd waste 107 minutes of your life which you won’t get back.
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.