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This week, there are SIX new films out for you to choose from: The Full Monty meets wrestling in Walk Like A Panther, Joaquin Phoenix makes yet another offbeat movie in You Were Never Really Here, Woody Allen makes his potentially last movie in Wonder Wheel, David Oyelowo and Amanda Seyfried star in dark comedy Gringo, Nicolas Cage goes mental (as always) in Mom and Dad, and there’s murder in the Australian outback in Sweet Country.
Walk Like A Panther is a comedy about a group of 1980s wrestlers, who are forced to don the lycra once last time when their beloved local pub is threatened with closure.
They’re led by father-son duo, Mark (Stephen Graham – Little Boy Blue) and Trevor Bolton (Dave Johns – I, Daniel Blake), this unlikely bunch of underdog heroes sets out to save their community, rekindling old friendships and family ties along the way.
So, it’s another comedy where everyone ‘wants to get the band back together’, but that’s a good thing when it’s done right, and based on the trailer, I’m really looking forward to this.
Written and directed by Dan Cadan, the film also stars Julian Sands, Jason Flemyng, Jill Halfpenny, Sue Johnston, Stephen Tompkinson, Lindsey Coulson, Steve Furst and Michael Socha, who was in my favourite comedy of 2017, Double Date.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
You Were Never Really Here
Joaquin Phoenix plays Joe, a traumatised veteran, unafraid of violence, who tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, his nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.
Phoenix rarely makes a conventional film, and since this is from Lynne Ramsay, director of We Need To Talk About Kevin, I definitely want to see this.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Wonder Wheel is a new movie from writer/director Woody Allen, and also for Amazon, who made the superb series last year, Crisis In Six Scenes.
The simple premise to this new movie is that, on Coney Island in the 1950s, a lifeguard tells the story of a middle-aged carousel operator and his beleaguered wife.
The film stars Kate Winslet, Juno Temple, Justin Timberlake, Debi Mazar, James Belushi, Max Casella, Geneva Carr
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Gringo is, according to the billing, an exhilarating mix of dark comedy, white-knuckle action and dramatic intrigue, joyriding into Mexico, where mild-mannered businessman Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) finds himself at the mercy of his back-stabbing business colleagues back home, local drug lords and a morally conflicted black-ops mercenary. Crossing the line from law-abiding citizen to wanted criminal, Harold battles to survive his increasingly dangerous situation in ways that raise the question: Is he out of his depth – or two steps ahead?
Directed by Nash Edgerton (brother of guess who in the cast?), this looks like quite a madcap comedy, but it did make me laugh quite a few times, and it has a great cast including Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, Amanda Seyfried, Thandie Newton, Sharlto Copley, Alan Ruck and Harry Treadaway.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Hit!
Mom and Dad doesn’t set a high bar when the trailer says “Nicholas Cage goes full-on Nutzoid”. What?? Again?? Like EVERY time?! Oh dear.
The premise is that parents gave birth to you, so now they can kill you. Sounds terrible. In this case, a teenage girl and her little brother must survive a wild 24 hours during which a mass hysteria of unknown origins causes parents to turn violently on their own kids.
Writer/Director: Brian Taylor
Also stars: Selma Blair, Anne Winters, Lance Henriksen, Joseph D Reitman, Rachel Melvin
Thankfully, this is nothing to do with the excellent 2008 British thriller, Mum and Dad.
Hit or Miss? Verdict: Miss!
Sweet Country
Australian western set on the Northern Territory frontier in the 1920s, where justice itself is put on trial when an aged Aboriginal farmhand shoots a white man in self defense and goes on the run as posse gathers to hunt him down.
Personally, I wasn’t wild about this western…
Director: Warwick Thornton
Writers: Steven McGregor, David Tranter
Stars: Bryan Brown, Matt Day, Tremayne Doolan, Trevon Doolan, Sam Neill
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.