Atomic Blonde succeeds as a thrill ride and another triumph for Charlize Theron, but not much else. It’s enjoyable and often quite rousing, but the highs are fleeting and somewhat hollow. If it wasn’t so streamlined, it would feel like a test run for a much better film waiting to burst through at any moment. It’s fine as it stands, but Atomic Blonde also smacks of missed opportunities.
Toby Jones
Hello, movie lovers, and welcome to day two of the Toronto International Film Festival. I hope all of you have been enjoying the festival as we head into the first weekend of TIFF, which also happens to be the busiest time during the festival. There were a lot of great films screening yesterday, on Friday, including Martin McDonagh‘s Seven Psychopaths, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
This week’s new releases on Blu-ray and DVD include: Paul, the tongue-in-cheek alien comedy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost; the animated Disney film, Mars Needs Moms; and the stoner comedy, Your Highness.
New arrivals on Blu-ray and DVD this week: Jason Statham stars as the assassin Arthur in the remake of The Mechanic; Kat Dennings plays a sardonic teenager in lust opposite Reece Thompson in Daydream Nation; and Anthony Hopkins takes on the powers of the devil in The Rite.
Opening across Canada at a theatre near you: a teenage girl takes on the CIA in the modern action fairy tale, Hanna; Russell Brand plays a lovable man-child in Arthur; medieval times get a bit dopey in the comedy Your Highness; and a girl gets back on her surf board after a shark attack in Soul Surfer.
New this week on home video: Timothy Olyphant tries to survive a town of infected killers in The Crazies; John Cusack goes on a wild ride through the eighties in Hot Tub Time Machine; Paul Bettany plays Charles Darwin in the drama, Creation; and a look at Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.
Paul Bettany stars in not one but two new films opening in theatres this week, including the drama Creation, about the life of a young Charles Darwin, and the horrific action thriller, Legion. Other new arrivals include Extraordinary Measures with Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser, plus the sugary-sweet comedy, The Tooth Fairy starring Dwayne Johnson.