Swerving around many of the cliched potholes modern day biopics about famous performers all too frequently and gleefully drive over at full speed, Judy smartly profiles its larger-than-life subject and talent at a couple of fixed, well chosen points in time rather than mounting a standard riches to rags tale.
Twelve years after the last big screen installment of the franchise, novelist Helen Fielding’s monologue loving everywoman heroine returns for Bridget Jones’s Baby, a film that feels a lot fresher than its mothballed pedigree might suggest.
Out this week on Blu-ray, Kevin Costner stars in one of his last good films, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Plus, on DVD, Diane Lane and Mickey Rourke star in the adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Killshot; Renée Zellweger is off to the boonies for the romantic comedy New in Town; and aliens attack the Vikings in the B-movie extravaganza, Outlander.
Veteran actor and sometimes tough-guy Liam Neeson takes on a different role this week as a former military man leaping into a fight with European criminals who have abducted his daughter in the film, Taken. Also out this week, but far less praiseworthy, Renée Zellweger stars in the romantic comedy New in Town, while Elizabeth Banks plays a woman with evil intentions in The Uninvited.
When Renee Zellweger first caught our attention, she was making decent film choices – Empire Records, Jerry Maguire, Chicago, and of course Bridget Jones Diary. But lately she’s been making odd rom-com choices (Down With Love, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason) that have me questioning her Oscar win. New In Town would be her latest effort in making us believe she’s a comedic actress with impeccable timing.
Rough it out at the movies this week with ladies man George Clooney and the retro-comic football film, Leatherheads; or get your Rolling Stones fever raging in the Martin Scorsese-directed concert documentary, Shine A Light. Other new films include the kids fantasy tale Nim’s Island, and a viney-horror adaptation of The Ruins.
