Skip to content
This weekend there are six new films out for you to choose from: sci-fi thriller in The Martian, high-wire drama in The Walk, comedy in Convenience, Shakespearean action in Macbeth, animation in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’, and alleged comedy in The Intern.
The Martian is effectively Matt Damon as Mark Watney, an astronaut who, during a manned mission to Mars, is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet.
With only meager supplies – having to somehow make 31 days’ worth of rations last four years until NASA can reach him, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.
The film also stars Kate Mara, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Mackenzie Davis, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Donald Glover, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Chiwetel Ejiofor, plus Headhunters‘ Aksel Hennie and Jonathan Aris from BBC2’s The Game.
Directed by Ridley Scott, from a screenplay by Drew Goddard, based on the book by Andy Weir, I loved Scott’s last venture into space for Prometheus in 2012, which looked outstanding in IMAX 3D.
The Martian also marks a return to space for Matt Damon as well as Jessica Chastain, who were both in Interstellar – one of my favourite films of last year, even though neither of them shared screen time. That said, with Damon up in space and Chastain back at mission control, there’s something very familiar about all this…
The Martian was originally due for release in the UK on November 27th, but is now out this week, and I’m really looking forward to this… but I would like Prometheus 2 – aka Alien: Paradise Lost, please!! (so far, that’s now been put back from March 4th 2016 to May 30th 2017 – in the US, at least, but no doubt around the same time for us. Not fair. However, at the time of this film’s first trailer, Ridley Scott wasn’t down to direct P2, but now he is! Hurrah!)
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
The Walk tells the tale of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as French high-wire artist Philippe Petit, who attempted to cross the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.
Also starring Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon and James Badge Dale, the full trailer makes it look even more intriguing and well worth going to see on the big screen. And with a cinematographic process of of Deep Vision 3D in 6K resolution, make sure you see it on the biggest screen possible!
The Walk is directed by Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Flight) and I’m off to see this as quickly as possible!
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Convenience stars Ray Panthaki (Eastenders) and Adeel Akhtar (Utopia) as two convenience store robbers who screw up the crime and end up working there for the rest of the night, partly because the safe is on a timelock which won’t open until 6am.
The cast is led by Vicky McClure (Line of Duty, This Is England), and accompanied by Jenny Bede, Tom Bell, James Bradshaw and Anthony Head, and this British film probably won’t get much screen time in the cinema with big competition out this week so I’ll most likely have to check this out when it’s released on Blu-ray but it looks like a must-see.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Macbeth! Yes, it’s the title which should be referred to as “The Scottish Play”, or another of marijuana-head Shakespeare’s apparent works of art heading for the big screen yet again.
This time round, the almost ubiquitous (well, he is when twinned with Tom Hardy) Michael Fassbender takes the titular role of Macbeth, a duke of Scotland, who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
Well, what a selfish man!
Macbeth also stars Elizabeth Debicki, Marion Cotillard, Sean Harris, David Thewlis, Jack Reynor, Paddy Considine and David Hayman. Justin Kurzel directs, and while he’s also taking charge of next year’s Assassins Creed movie, also starring Fassbender, he previously directed 2011’s Snowtown, which is brilliant. So despite not being wowed by it from the teaser in June, the involvement of Kurzel has actually swayed me to go and see this.
Macbeth is sure to be in the running for Oscar and BAFTA nominations next year.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’
After the god of destruction, Beerus, decided to not destroy the Earth, the planet is back again in peace. But, Sorbet and Tagoma, previous Freeza’s servants, decide to revive his leader using the Dragon balls. Succesful in his plan, Freeza decides to return to Earth to start his revenge against the saiyans who humillated him once.
I’m in no way up to speed with the Dragon Ball Z canon, and I’ll be giving this a…
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
The Intern stars Robert De Niro as 70-year-old widower Ben Whittaker, who has discovered that retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Seizing an opportunity to get back in the game, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site, founded and run by Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway).
And after two trailers for this, it looks like the worst idea for a film ever. And that’s before I get to the fact they cast Rene Russo in it!
And now it’s released, go see something else instead.
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.