Skip to content
This weekend there are eight new films out for you to choose from: sci-fi thriller in Morgan, Woody Allen returns with Café Society, time travel meets sci-fi weird stuff in The 9th Life of Louis Drax, there’s a ‘She-Wolf of Wall Street’ movie in Equity, two films called Akira, Isabelle Huppert in the drama Things To Come, and alleged comedy in Sausage Party.
Morgan is definitely a character who looks to be a suitable case for treatment in what appears as an intriguing sci-fi thriller starting with this teaser which gives away just enough to tempt you, and stars Kate Mara as a corporate risk-management consultant who has to decide and determine whether or not to terminate an artificial being’s life that was made in a laboratory environment.
Directed by Luke Scott, from a script by Seth W Owen, and also starring Rose Leslie, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Anya Taylor-Joy, Paul Giamatti, Boyd Holbrook, Toby Jones, Sam Spruell, Chris Sullivan, Jonathan Aris and The A-Word‘s Vinette Robinson, I really like the look of this.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Café Society stars Jesse Eisenberg as James, a young man who arrives in Hollywood during the 1930s, hoping to work in the film industry. There, he falls in love with Theresa (Kristen Stewart), and finds himself swept up in the vibrant café society that defined the spirit of the age.
Written and directed by the prolific Woody Allen, it’s been a while since I saw one of his films – there’s a lot going on, here, but it all looks just a bit too daft and not quite my bag.
The film also stars Blake Lively (The Age of Adaline), Corey Stoll (Ant-Man), Steve Carell (The Big Short), Parker Posey, Judy Davis, Paul Schneider and Ken Stott .
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
The 9th Life of Louis Drax begins on the boy’s 9th birthday, when a lifetime of curious mishaps culminates in the boy’s near-fatal fall. Desperate to reveal the strange circumstances behind the young boy’s accident and dark coincidences that have plagued his entire life, Dr. Allan Pascal (Jamie Dornan) is drawn into a thrilling mystery that explores the nature of the sixth sense, testing the boundaries of fantasy and reality.
Directed by Alexandre Aja, and also starring Aiden Longworth, Sarah Gadon, and Molly Parker, what started off as looking a bit so-so, soon ups the ante into time-travel-meets-sci-fi-weird-stuff, so I definitely want to see this.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Equity
Senior investment banker Naomi Bishop is threatened by a financial scandal and must untangle a web of corruption.
Directed by Meera Menon and starring Anna Gunn, James Purefoy, Sarah Megan Thomas, Alysia Reiner, Craig Bierko and Margaret Colin (Independence Day), billed as a ‘She-Wolf of Wall Street‘, this looks pretty good.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Akira (aka Naam Hai Akira)
A gripping action thriller about a college girl Akira, who has grown up with the ideals of being self reliant. Her life spirals out of control when she becomes unwittingly involved in a crime involving four corrupt police officers.
Directed by AR Murugadoss and starring Sonakshi Sinha, Amit Sadh and Urmila Mahanta, this looks quite a hit… or several hits, as Sonakshi Sinha smashes all the baddies’ faces in.
Note that there are TWO films out called Akira in the same week! That was bizarre! The other is some romance tosh written and directed by G. Naveen Reddy.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Akira – And this is the other one. And I was right. Give it a…
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Things to Come
Nathalie (Isabelle Huppert) teaches philosophy at a high school in Paris. She is passionate about her job and particularly enjoys passing on the pleasure of thinking. Married with two children, she divides her time between her family, former students and her very possessive mother, but one day, Nathalie’s husband announces he is leaving her for another woman. With freedom thrust upon her, Nathalie must reinvent her life.
Directed and written by Mia Hansen Love, the film also stars André Marcon and Roman Kolinka, and… good God does it look boring! I’ll pass on this one.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Sausage Party looks like one of those ideas you can’t believe ever got off the page. In fact, the number of ideas are so thin in this trailer that I’m amazed it lasted two-and-a-half minutes.
Starting off as a typical CGI movie where various items of food are bought in a supermarket and taken home to be cooked, they’re opened up, a potato is de-skinned and it swears a lot in return. Wonderful(!)
Directed by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon, and written by Evan Goldberg, Kyle Hunter, Seth Rogen and Ariel Shaffir, the film stars the voices of Kristen Wiig, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Salma Hayek, Edward Norton, Seth Rogen, Michael Cera, Bill Hader and Danny McBride, I won’t be rushing to see this. Including a Saving Private Ryan spoof in the trailer, it really proves that the well of ideas in Hollywood has truly run dry.
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.