Despite two outstanding leading performances and a handful of good points, the awkwardly on-the-nose drama The Last Shift remains so staunchly focused on delivering a bit of timely social commentary that it forgets to be a well rounded movie.
Richard Jenkins
Kajillionaire, an off-beat domestic drama and quirky heist comedy courtesy of singular auteur Miranda July, certainly won’t be to everyone’s tastes.
Director Roland Emmerich seems to be taking a break from blowing up the world and focusing on more intimate targets, like the centre of the American government, but whatever scale you’re talking about, White House Down is exactly what we have come to expect from the bombastic filmmaker.
After watching so many slasher movies, monster films, and gory extravaganzas, it’s easy to forget there is such a thing as horror with a new perspective, but The Cabin in the Woods laughs its way through a bloody story that is filled with surprises that you likely won’t see coming until they’ve grabbed you by the throat.
Opening in theatres across the country: Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis turn their friendship into something more in the romantic comedy Friends With Benefits; and Chris Evans takes to wearing the stars and stripes as he takes on Red Skull in the latest Marvel superhero adaptation, Captain America: The First Avenger.
Arriving this week on store shelves: Aaron Eckhart stars in the big budget alien invasion film, Battle: Los Angeles; two more Harry Potter films arrive in their gleaming Ultimate Editions for years 5 and 6 of the franchise; and a look at Point Break, which lands on Blu-ray, and Hall Pass.
Debuting in theatres this week: Nicolas Cage and Amber Heard star in the gory action adventure Drive Angry; Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis take a week off from their wives in Hall Pass; plus a look at the highly-rated foreign film, Of Gods and Men.
Available today on DVD and Blu-ray: director Alex Gibney explores the rise and fall of New York governor Eliot Spitzer in Client 9; Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee star in the horror remake, Let Me In; two people try to survive an alien wasteland on Earth in the drama, Monsters; plus a look at Never Let Me Go, starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield.
This week’s new releases on Blu-ray and DVD include: Eat Pray Love, starring Julia Roberts as a woman trying to find herself in three very different parts of the world; and Sylvester Stallone’s action-adventure, The Expendables; plus I take a look at the Blu-ray release of The Complete Metropolis.
Opening this week: Jesse Eisenberg stars in The Social Network, the story of the making of Facebook; and the horror-drama Let Me In stars Chloe Moretz as a twelve-year-old vampire making friends with her new next-door neighbour.