From this Friday…

August: Osage County

A star cast (Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Juliet Lewis, Benedict’s Cucumber-batch – are there any new film’s this man isn’t in?) feature in John Wells’ seriously dysfunctional family drama. Roberts, one of three sisters whose lives have taken vastly different turns, returns home and has to contend with, amongst other issues, her melodramatic, pill-popping mother (Streep).  Roberts has snagged herself a Best Supporting Actress nod, Streep (again) is in the running for Best Actress. The official website is here; the film will be playing all over.

Dark Days

Mark Singer’s brave sounding documentary follows members of a group of homeless people who have for some years lived beneath New York in an abandoned train tunnel. The official site is here; the film will play at key cities only.

The General

Perhaps silent movie comedian Buster Keaton’s most famous movie, this Civil War ‘epic’ (at 1 hour and 29 minutes, it is a long film for Keaton) sees him as a train engineer chasing after the Confederate soldiers who have stolen his locomotive. almost the entire film is taken up by a grandly orchestrated chase as he tried to get it back. The Park Circus webpage is here; the film will be showing at these locations.

The Grudge Match

Two old cinematic boxing champs (Sylvester Stallone as Rocky and Robert De Niro who was previously a Raging Bull) dust of their Zimmer frames and beef up at the gym as two former boxing champs who have a re-match many years after Stallone mysteriously and suddenly retired. An interesting pairing; these two have made a good film in the past (Copland, 1997) so there is some hope here, especially with Kim Basinger and Alan Arkin in support. The official website is here and the film will be playing across the whole UK.

Inside Llewyn Davis

The Cohen brothers’ latest feature has them focusing on a young folk musician in the 60’s (Oscar Isaac) who is just on the verge of being the next big thing. Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake co-star as does a cat that Isaac is either chasing or carrying throughout (so metaphor’s will feature strongly in most critics’ reviews). I’m ambivalent about Cohen films, having failed to crack a smile at their ‘comedies’ Intolerable Cruelty (2003) and Burn After Reading (2008) but loving every second of No Country For Old Men (2007). This at least looks well acted from the trailers and the glowing photography looks adorable. The official Canal+ webpage is here and you will be able to see it just about everywhere.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Third reboot of the screen adaptations of the Tom Clancy thrillers, sees Chris Pine step into Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck’s shoes in this original story. Pine uncovers a Russian plot to destabilise the American economy with a terrorist attack. Kevin Costner and Keira Knightley co-star in a film that will be playing just about every place. The official website is here.

Teenage

The teenager is a thoroughly modern concept so this drama looks at being a teenager during the first half of the twentieth century, from members of the Hitler Youth to black Boy Scouts. The official website is here; including screening details here.

And on Wednesday 29 January…

I, Frankenstein

Aaron Eckhart looks in decidedly fine, ripped fettle (age: 45)  as a modern day monster in writer/director Stuart Beattie’s silly sounding adaptation of  the Darkstorm Studios graphic novel, itself following upmteen increasingly ridiculous screen versions of what was Mary Shelley’s rather far-fetched and florid literary classic. Having lived for more than 200 years since his creator (Aden Young) stitched him together from the body parts stolen from corpses and a soupcon of electricity, Adam the monster still walks the earth. But when he finds himself in the middle of a war over the fate of humanity, he discovers he holds the key that could destroy humankind. At only an hour and a half, it seems suspiciously short but could be a fun night at the movies, in a Van Helzing kind of way. The official site is here and the film will be everywhere.

Out of the Furnace

Phew! Christian Bale, that very serious actor, is currently in ‘fitty’ mode for cinematic fans. Stuck in a dead end job, he gets involved with a notorious criminal gang when his brother (Casey Affleck), who works for them, mysteriously vanishes. Zoe Saldana is on-hand to help him solve this. The official Tumblr site is here; the film will be playing to saturation point.

That Awkward Moment

Stills have already been released from this film, showing Zac Efron peeing in an odd position following a Viagra overdose, an indication therefore of the type of comedy here as three friends face that titular point in a relationship when a young man must decide where things are going. The official site is here and the film will be showing just up, down and round the whole of the UK.