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This weekend there are five new films out for you to choose from: a dark thriller in Nightcrawler, historial biopic in Mr Turner, Devilish Daniel Radcliffe gets the horn in… er… Horns, a cabin-in-the-woods horror in Extraterrestrial, and some supernatural spookiness in Ouija.
Nightcrawler proves that Jake Gyllenhaal rarely chooses a conventional film.
It’s a pulse-pounding thriller set in the nocturnal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles. Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom, a driven young man desperate for work who discovers the high-speed world of L.A. crime journalism. Finding a group of freelance camera crews who film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem, Lou muscles into the cut-throat, dangerous realm of nightcrawling – where each police siren wail equals a possible windfall and victims are converted into dollars and cents.
Aided by Rene Russo as Nina, a veteran of the blood-sport that is local TV news, Lou thrives. In the breakneck, ceaseless search for footage, he becomes the star of his own story.
The film also stars Bill Paxton, Ann Cusack and Riz Ahmed.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Mr Turner explores the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter JMW Turner (1775-1851). Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies.
Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.
Starring Timothy Spall in the lead role, plus Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey and Lesley Manville, while Mike Leigh sometimes makes good films, I have absolutely zero affinity for JMW Turner, so I will be giving this one a…
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Horns stars Daniel Radcliffe as Ig, a young man who, in the aftermath of his girlfriend’s mysterious death, awakens to strange horns sprouting from his temples.
It’s a bizarre concept and seems to work, and it stars Juno Temple (for the temple link?), Heather Graham, Max Minghella, James Remar, David Morse and Kathleen Quinlan, and is directed by Alexandre Aja, who made… erm… Piranha 3D.
I’ve heard varying reports about this, but I’ll go for…
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Extraterrestrial looks like a better-than-average thriller where a group of friends on a weekend trip go off to the ubiquitous cabin in the woods find themselves terrorised by alien visitors.
It stars Gil Bellows, Reese Alexander, Jacob Tremblay and Michael Ironside .
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Ouija
A girl is mysteriously killed after recording herself playing with an ancient Ouija Board, which leads to a close group of friends to investigate this board. They later find out that some things aren’t meant to be played with, especially the ‘other side’.
Starring Olivia Cooke, Ana Coto, Daren Kagasoff and Bianca A Santos, this looks like it’ll be rather entertaining.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
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.