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This weekend there are four new films out for you to choose from: Liam Neeson does Taken-less Taken again in Run All Night, there’s wartime drama in Suite Française, mathematical possibilities abound in X + Y, and a woman is obsessed with a famous singer in Elle l’adore.
Run All Night shows that there is no end to Liam Neeson making mediocre-to-poor action thrillerless-thrillers. Here, he plays aging hitman Jimmy Conlon, whose former boss, Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris), is annoyed because Neeson has bumped off his son… but, the reason is that Maguire’s son was about to kill Conlon’s estranged son, Mike (Joel Kinnaman – from the terrible Robocop reboot), and when Maguire is done with bumping off anyone he wants, he’ll turn his attention to Jimmy.. and, like Taken, he WILL find him, and he WILL kill him…
Boyd Holbrook, Vincent D’Onofrio, rapper Common and the fabulously-named Genesis Rodriguez also get caught up in this mess, which was directed by Neeson’s other Taken-free pieces of nonsense, Unknown and Non-Stop.
Liam, if you make another one of these dull-looking action films… I WILL find you, and I WILL kill ten minutes explaining to you why they are total rubbish.
Note: The character Shawn Maguire is not to be confused with the real person Sean Maguire, who waas the annoying pipsqueak lad in Grange Hill, then went on to star in American shows and also released some terrible singles in the 1990s including Today’s The Day. Just wanted to clear that up.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Suite Française
France, 1940. In the first days of occupation, beautiful Lucile Angellier is trapped in a stifled existence with her controlling mother-in-law as they both await news of her husband: a prisoner of war. Parisian refugees start to pour into their small town, soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who take up residence in the villagers’ own homes. Lucile initially tries to ignore Bruno von Falk, the handsome and refined German officer staying with them. But soon, a powerful love draws them together and leads them into the tragedy of war.
The film stars Margot Robbie (Focus, The Wolf of Wall Street), plus Ruth Wilson (Luther), Michelle Williams, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sam Riley, Kristin Scott Thomas, Harriet Walter, Lambert Wilson, Eileen Atkins, and it looks like a load of ponderous tosh. Avoid.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
X + Y
X + Y is, thankfully, not a film about a Coldplay album, but one where socially awkward teenage math prodigy, Nathan (Asa Butterfield), finds new confidence and new friendships when he lands a spot on the British squad at the International Mathematics Olympiad.
It’s a bizarre movie for the studio to promote, as the website address is the rather awkward “XandYmovie.com”.
Also starring Rafe Spall, Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan, this has got a good write-up here and there. I’m in two minds about it, but based on the cast..
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Elle l’adore
Muriel Bayen (Sandrine Kiberlain), a divorced beautician and mother of two, loves to tell stories. She is a huge fan of this singer Vincent Lacroix (Laurent Lafitte), in fact she is a dedicated fan. One day Vincent knock on her door and ask for her help…
Also starring Pascal Demolon and Olivia Côte, I initially watched this trailer thinking it was a documentary as I hadn’t read the premise at first, and it seemed very intriguing. Might still be. Seems better than most things out this week.
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.