THE WOMAN IN BLACK (12A, 95 mins, Momentum)
Daniel Racliffe relishes his first post-Potter lead role in this storming horror tale. Adapted from Susan Hill’s Eighties classic, this Victorian spooker puts the chills back into the horror genre as Dan winds up in a spooky old Eel Marsh House, remotely secluded at the end of an only part-way accecssible causeway in the Victorian north of England. Alone that is except for the vengeful spook of the title. It’ll have you jumping out of your seat, guaranteed.
You can see the trailer below and catch our review of the film here.
BIG MIRACLE (PG, 107mins, Universal)
John Krasinksi and Drew Barrymore star in this understated, heart-warming drama about a couple who try to save a group of wales trapped in the ice in Alaksa. Based on a true story. too. One for those who likes cute creatures, or Drew Barrymore for that matter.
A DANGEROUS METHOD (15, 100mins, Lionsgate)
Viggo Mortenseon reteams with his Eastern Promises and A History of Violence director David Cronenberg for this tale of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and why we all want to fuck our mothers, apparently. Cronenberg made his name in icky, sticky tales of the flesh, mostly rotting debased flesh too, but recently has taken a turn in to more psychological tales of haunted psyches. Method promises to be aligned more closely with the latter, and you can check out our review of the film here.
GIRL MODEL (78mins,Dogwoof)
This documentary lifts the lid on the modelling industry, telling its tale of behind the scenes modelling life through the eyes of a 13-year old embarking on a career in the industry. The contentious film has turned heads, and caused much consternation in the industry, as some of its shady practices are hung out to dry. You can check out our interview with the film’s co-director here.
THE MUPPETS (U, 109mins, Disney)
They’re back, and have a theatre to save. Early on in his screenwriting for this movie, muppet-fan Jason Segel pitched an idea about one of the Muppets being retired and working as a ventriloquist puppet, a thought quickly quashed by Team Henson. The Muppets are real, not puppets, he was told! With this on board he went back and penned a screenplay that reimagined Kermit, Miss Piggy, and co for a new generation, mixing the sort of slapstick and knowing smarts that made the Muppets so popular with young and old alike in the first place. And then there’s some cracking tunes too. For those still unsure, check out the trailer below and join the petition to get the Muppets to perform at this year’s Oscars.
THE VOW (12A, 104mins, Sony)
Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum team up for this treackly romantic drama as a couple faced with tragedy when McAdams is left in a comer after an accident. She wakes up but with severe memory loss which leaves Tatum forced to try to get her to fall in love with him again.
DVDs OUT FEB 13…
ABDUCTION (Lionsgate)
Taylor Lautner beefed up after the first Twilight movie to show he could be the muscled, frequently shirtless wolf-hunk the franchise wanted. He was successful enough off, snagged the role for the series and is, less face it, far more interesting in the film than R-Patz’ boring, pallid vamping. His first foray as a lead and action star pits him as a junior-Bourne, but is for the most part less successful. The action’s passable, but the script clunky and the characterisation absent. Lautner needs a stronger flick for his sophomore or his hopes as a solo star might be put to the test.
A DOLPHIN’S TALE (Warner Home Video)
In the second of two films this week where folk play nice with nature’s creatures, A Dolphin’s Tale sees Ashley Judd and Harry Connick Jr befriending a dolphin that has been injured (his tail in particular, giving rise to the cutesy play on words in the title) in a fishing net. Despite the hokey sounding, sub-Free Willy, lessons-learned-about-how-we-treat-nature premise, the film was a success in the US, even scoring the number one spot, in no small part down to its family-friendly, heart-warming feelgood sincerity. And Morgan Freeman’s voice too, perhaps.
HESHER (Lionsgate)
Joseph Gordon Levitt, the Inception star soon to be seen in Chris Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, takes the lead as the drop out, long haired, titular stoner with a dodgy past who befriends a local boy mourning the death of his mother in a car crash, the drama unspooling as their relationship unfolds. The film was commended for its star turn for Levitt, and its black humour, and co-stars Natalie Portman.
RESTLESS (Sony)
Gus Van Sant has had a career that has veered from the oblique (the ponderously dull plod through the desert that was Gerry) to the mainstream (Good Will Hunting). He was Oscar nominated for Milk, for which Sean Penn won the Best Actor Oscar. His follow up is an off kilter romantic drama about a terminally ill young girl (Alice in Wonderland’s Mia Wasikowska) who begins a relationship with an odd young boy who has a ghost for a best friend and crashes funerals in his spare time. Filmed in Van Sant’s hometown Pacific northwest, it is subtely observed, warm, and different enough to hold your attention through its moments of melodrama.
RED LIGHT REVOLUTION (Terracotta Media)
A Beijing taxi driver loses his wife and job in the same day and so decides that the only way to change his fortunes is to set up a sex shop, selling the sort of stimulating stock that is in high demand in the local area. It’s a little daft, not as racy or edgy as it thinks, or wants to be, and crucially not funny enough.
