Top 10 Movies for May 2018

These are the Top 10 Movies for May 2018 in UK cinemas and at the top of posting this, I haven’t seen any of them (mostly because we’re not yet in May) and so rather than list them in order of potentially best to worst, I’ll list them in order of release date, starting with the ones coming first. Note, that I’ll still do my weekly forthcoming movie round-ups as there’s certainly more than 10 films released each month.

I Feel Pretty sees Amy Schumer doing exactly what you expect Amy Schumer to do, in trying to find a movie style which Melissa McCarthy hasn’t yet attempted.

In this case, despite trying to lose weight at the gym, she falls off an exercise bike, bangs her head, and she believes a spell has suddenly made her gorgeous… except that to everyone else, she looks exactly the same. Because she is. However, her confidence suddenly sees her climbing the ranks at the cosmetics company she works for, getting the respect of her idol and boss, Avery LeClaire (Michelle Williams).

I can see how this will be seen as a positive thing in telling everyone that it’s not how you look that matters, but how confidence is a preference for the habitual voyeur of what is known as… Parklife!

I mean, it’s all about having faith in yourself. I could guess, as the billing states, that she’ll come round by the end, and realise exactly that.

Still, at least everything in the film is in the trailer, so save your money and just watch that! Actually, I’m glad I’ve started with the one I want to get out of the way.

Release date: May 4th

Writers/Directors: Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein
Also stars: Emily Ratajkowski, Busy Philipps, Tom Hopper, Lauren Hutton, Aidy Bryant, Naomi Campbell

Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!

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Tully centres around… not quite Tully, but Marlo (Charlize Theron), a mother of three including a newborn, who is gifted a night nanny by her brother. Hesitant to the extravagance at first, she comes to form a unique bond with the thoughtful, surprising and sometimes challenging young nanny… and that’s where Tully (Mackenzie Davis) comes in.

Anything from director Jason Reitman can be hit or miss, and I wasn’t wowed by either the teaser or trailer.

Release date: May 4th

Screenplay: Diablo Cody
Also stars: Ron Livingston, Emily Haine, Marceline Hugot, Elaine Tan, Crystal Lonneberg

Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!

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How to Talk to Girls at Parties, from John Cameron Mitchell, director of the acclaimed Hedwig and the Angry Inch, takes us to an exotic and unusual world: suburban London in the late 70s.

Under the spell of the Sex Pistols, every teenager in the country wants to be a punk, including our hopeless hero Enn (Alex Sharp). Hearing the local punk Queen Boadicea (Nicole Kidman) is throwing a party, Enn crashes the fun and discovers every horny boy’s dream; gorgeous foreign exchange students. When he meets the enigmatic Zan (Elle Fanning), it’s lust at first sight.

But these girls have come a lot further than America. They are, in fact, aliens from another galaxy, sent to Earth to prepare for a mysterious rite of passage. When the dark secret behind the rite is revealed, our galaxy-crossed lover Enn must turn to Boadicea and her punk followers for help in order to save the alien he loves from certain death. The punks take on the aliens on the streets of London, and neither Enn nor Zan’s universe will ever be the same again.

This trailer had a lot going on in it, but not a lot that I found must-see.

Release date: May 11th

Writers: Philippa Goslett, John Cameron Mitchell, Neil Gaiman
Also stars: Ruth Wilson, Stephen Campbell Moore, Matt Lucas, Joanna Scanlan, Elarica Gallacher, Eloise Smyth, Tom Brooke

Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!

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Life of the Party sees Melissa McCarthy in a rare departure of role where she does her bit for the Suffragettes by acting against type and portraying the overweight woman who falls over a lot.

Here, she’s going back to college and embarrassing her daughter in the process, mostly with her potty talk.

When her husband suddenly dumps her, longtime dedicated housewife Deanna turns regret into re-set by going back to college – landing in the same class and school as her daughter, who’s not entirely sold on the idea. Plunging headlong into the campus experience, the increasingly outspoken Deanna – now known as Dee Rock – embraces freedom, fun, and frat boys on her own terms, finding her true self in a senior year no one ever expected.

And now a second trailer has been released. For some reason.

Release date: May 11th

Director: Ben Falcone
Screenplay: Ben Falcone, Melissa McCarthy
Also stars: Debby Ryan, Gillian Jacobs, Julie Bowen, Adria Arjona, Maya Rudolph, Stephen Root, Heidi Gardner

Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!

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The Cured has an interesting premise in that after a zombie outbreak, someone managed to cure a number of them, so they can rejoin the rest of society… but are they REALLY cured? What do you think?! After all, why else would they make such a film?

Some of the ‘cured’ are discriminated against by society and their own families, which causes social issues to arise, and which leads to militant government interference.

However, no *career* cure can be found for Ellen Page, who starred in the godawful remake of Flatliners.

That said, zombies movies are always at least worth a watch.

Release date: May 11th

Writer/Director: David Freyne
Also stars: Peter Campion, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Sam Keeley, Stuart Graham, Amy De, Chelsea Debo

Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!

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Anon is set in a near-future world where there is no privacy, ignorance or anonymity. Our private memories are recorded and crime almost ceases to exist.

In a modern world where advanced biosyn implants mean everyone is subjected to a relentless visual stream of information they call the ‘Mind’s Eye’, privacy and anonymity as we know it has vanished. With everyone’s personal information on public display and each person’s life recorded down to the millisecond, personal information is downloaded to a vast grid called ‘The Ether’, a database which law enforcement can access and use to prosecute criminals.

In trying to solve a series of unsolved murders which appear to be linked, and unable to identify the killers, it soon becomes apparent that what they have in common signals a major breakdown in the system on which society has come to rely. Sal Frieland (Clive Owen) stumbles onto a young, nameless woman (Amanda Seyfried) who appears to have subverted the system and disappeared. She has no identity, no history and no record. Sal realises it may not be the end of crime… but the beginning.

Known only as The Girl, she must be found before Sal becomes the next victim.

Writer/Director Andrew Niccol‘s Gattaca had a lot that was great about it, so I’m very intrigued to see this.

Release date: May 11th

Also stars: Colm Feore, Sonya Walger, Mark O’Brien, Joe Pingue, Iddo Goldberg, Sebastian Pigott, Rachel Roberts

Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!

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Deadpool 2 is less than a month away, as Ryan Reynolds (right) again takes the role of Wade Wilson, and in this final trailer (yes, you’ve heard the word ‘final’ again. REALLY?!), and despite this being a Marvel film, yet those characters with Fox being on a different contract, Deadpool throws a sleight at Marvel with Josh Brolin’s other big superhero character, from Avengers: Infinity War, “Pump the hate-brakes, Thanos!”

And TJ Miller adds, “It’s time to get back on LinkedIn!”. I still don’t understand the point of that site, but I know that’s the joke, here.

There’s also a BIG Logan spoiler in there, which I won’t name here, so if you haven’t seen it, be warned. Or just watch Logan first. If you haven’t watched Logan, you need a cold slap.

The apparent plot is as follows: After surviving a near fatal bovine attack, disfigured cafeteria chef Wade Wilson struggles to fulfill his dream of becoming Mayberry’s hottest bartender while also learning to cope with his lost sense of taste. Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship, and flavour – finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World’s Best Lover. Hmm… really??

Release date: May 15th

Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!

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Allure

Plagued by the abuse of her past and the turmoil of failed intimate encounters, Laura (Evan Rachel Wood) struggles to find a lover and a sense of normalcy. Her beacon of hope comes in sixteen year-old Eva (Julia Sarah Stone), a talented pianist disillusioned by the life her mother imposes upon her. An unlikely relationship is formed between the two and Eva becomes an obsession to Laura. In light of Eva’s unhappiness, Laura convinces her to runaway to her house and they soon find themselves caught within an intense entanglement. Manipulation, denial and codependency fuel what ultimately becomes a fractured dynamic that can only sustain itself for so long.

Release date: May 18th

Writer/Directors: Carlos Sanchez, Jason Sanchez
Also stars: Denis O’Hare, Maxim Roy, Joe Cobden, Jonathan Shatzky

Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!

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Cargo is kind of a zombie movie where Bilbo Baggins must go on another quest…

In a desperate bid to outrun a violent pandemic, Andy (Martin Freeman) and Kay (Susie Porter) have holed up on a houseboat with their one-year-old daughter, Rosie. Their protected river existence is shattered by a violent attack, which sees Kay tragically die and Andy infected.

Left with only 48 hours before he transforms into one of the creatures they have fought so long to evade, Andy sets out on a precarious journey to find a new guardian for his child. A flourishing Aboriginal tribe are Rosie’s best chance of survival, but with their merciless attitude toward the afflicted, they also pose a grave threat.

A young indigenous girl becomes Andy’s only chance of safe passage into this sacred community, but, unfortunately, the girl has no desire to return to her people – she is on a quest to cure her own infected father by returning his stolen soul. Each in their own way is seeking salvation… but they will need to work together if they hope to achieve it.

Cargo is released on Netflix on May 18th, and with this new clip, which runs for about a minute, the fear really did start to kick in so I am looking forward to checking this out.

Release date: May 18th

Directors: Ben Howling, Yolanda Ramke
Writer: Yolanda Ramke
Also stars: Anthony Hayes, Caren Pistorius, Kris McQuade, Natasha Wanganeen, Bruce R Carter

Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!

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Solo… Han Solo…

Ooh, it’s like James Bond all over again, but that has been revealed as the title of the Star Wars spin-off released in May, although the full-title is technically, Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Sadly, it’s not a movie version of Felicity Kendal’s ’80s sitcom, but you can’t have everything.

The brief premise is that during an adventure into a dark criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his future copilot Chewbacca and encounters Lando Calrissian years before joining the Rebellion.

Still, while there’s no detailed plot yet known, the premise so far is simply that this is Han Solo and Chewbacca’s adventures before joining the Rebellion, including their early encounters with Lando Calrissian.

Directed by Ron Howard, Donald Glover (Spider-Man Homecoming) plays Lando, with the lead role of Han Solo taken by Alden Ehrenreich (Rules Don’t Apply). Hmm… maybe he’ll be okay in this, but my choice – as I’ve said before – would be Anthony Ingruber who played a young Harrison Ford in The Age of Adaline. I mean, he actually LOOKED like him!

Oh well…

There’s some good cast members in Paul Bettany, Woody Harrelson and Thandie Newton, but I’m not a fan of Emilia Clarke, after her godawful Terminator Genisys.

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The screenplay will come from Jon Kasdan and his Dad, Lawrence Kasdan, the producers are Simon Emanuel, Kathleen Kennedy and Allison Shearmur, and the score comes from John Powell, who has many credits including last year’s Jason Bourne.

The rest of the cast includes Warwick Davis, Clint Howard, Richard Dixon, Deepak Anand, Ian Kenny, Sarah-Stephanie, Douglas Robson, plus Phoebe Waller-Bridge from the oddly popular, but clearly terrible, Fleabag, and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca.

However, I watched this trailer and… it looks like a poor man’s rip-off of Guardians of the Galaxy. I’ll go see it as it’s Star Wars, but it doesn’t feel like Star Wars. Feels more like Marvel meets Spaceballs!

Solo: A Star Wars Story is released in the UK on May 24th, one day ahead from the original date set of the 25th, although the Star Wars films have so far always come out on a Thursday. Of course, they should really have made it… yes, May 4th.

That said, these films are normally released a week before Christmas, so moving it to May surely means that it’s not big enough to carry as a Christmas movie?

Release date: May 24th

Hit or Miss? Verdict: Maybe!

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