A slow week this week, especially compared to the awesomeness that was last week, though it does still feature one of the year’s more anticipated releases, and the end to the biggest non-comic book film series around at the moment. Other than that there’s a kinda okay looking documentary, a French art-house film (read: gratuitous sex and nudity), and some otherwise lacklustre releases.
First up is the cinematic event of year – apart from Age of Ultron, Jurassic World, Inside Out, Spectre, and Star Wars. Hold on to your metaphors for modern society, folks, it’s The Dawn of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2: Origins: The Final Sequence, the movie adaptation of the last third of a book that, from what I gather, disappointed its fans. Join Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and company as they make a stand and get all revolution-y, and try to put an end to the tyrannical rule of Jon Snow, or whatever his name is. Expect lots of well put together, if occasionally over-the-top, action scenes, alongside some kind of personal, emotional turmoil, and a nice sprinkling of ham-fisted political commentary (I don’t know why I’m being so harsh – I’m going to see a midnight showing of this, I guess I’m just tired). The conclusion to the series that just happened to slip in at the right time after Harry Patter ended will arrive in cinemas everywhere this Thursday.
Next up this week is the thrillingly titled The Dressmaker. Of Australian origin, the film is a revenge comedy, about a woman returning to her hometown to care for her sick mother, a town from which she was exiled as a child under false accusations of murder. Now, a renowned dressmaker, she begins exacting revenge on her accusers (so like The Count of Monte Cristo, but if all the fun was sucked out and replaced with dresses). Based on the novel of the same name by Rosalie Ham, The Dressmaker is directed and written by Jocelyn Moorhouse (Proof, A Thousand Acres), and stars Kate Winslet, Luke Hemsworth, and Hugo Weaving. It will be in cinemas Friday.
If you are concerned about the recent news that the release of Fallout 4 has seen a reduction in traffic to porn sites, have no fear, the film industry is here, offering the totally not pornographic, definitely “arty” Love. Made by Gaspar Noé (Irréversible, Enter the Void), the film follows a French film school student and his fractious relationship with his girlfriend. The two female leads for the film, Klara Kristin and Aomi Muyock, offer up their debut performances, with Noé having cast them after meeting them in a club. Also, the sex scenes in the film (of which there are many) are largely not choreographed. If this intrigues you, go see the film. It’s even in 3D (that’s not even a joke). But… don’t take your parents or anything. The film sees a limited release this Friday.
If controversial art-house films aren’t your cup of tea, and you just want to watch things blow up, why not try Momentum, a Canadian action thriller starring Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace, Oblivion), James Purefoy (Rome, The Following), and Morgan Freeman. The film follows a diamond thief who ends up running for her life from an assassin, while trying uncover who has ordered for her to be killed. It hasn’t received much in the way of praise, sitting at 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, so if action is what you crave, The Hunger Games is probably the safest bet this week. The film is released on Friday.
Wrapping things up this week is Steve McQueen: The Man and Le Mans, a documentary about Steve McQueen, The King of Cool, one of the biggest film star of all time, and how he became obsessed with motor racing, ultimately ruining his career and personal life in pursuit of this dream. The film has received positive criticism, but nothing over-the-top. If the story itself is something you’re already interested in then this will no doubt be worth the watch, but if not, 2015 has already produced some better documentaries. The film received limited release this Friday.
