Planning a cinema trip this weekend? Here's the low-down on which of this week's new releases are worth the ticket price.
Deepwater Horizon ****
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O'Brien, Douglas M Griffin, James DuMont, Joe Chrest, Brad Leland, David Maldonado, Ethan Suplee
When it comes to advice dished out in this life, 'find your niche' is one of the best bits of wisdom you can ever receive, and Mark Wahlberg has certainly taken it to heart. More than any of his Hollywood contemporaries, Wahlberg has developed a grá for movies based on real-life events. Since The Perfect Storm back in 2000 he's made Invincible, The Fighter, Pain & Gain, Lone Survivorand now Deepwater Horizon - arguably the most harrowing film of the year.
To tell the story of the 2010 drilling rig explosion off the Louisiana coast, Wahlberg has reunited with Lone Survivor director Peter Berg, and their partnership is even more powerful this time around. Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson and John Malkovich have also signed up, but such is Deepwater Horizon's docudrama feel that the character development and star wattage are turned way down. It's the right decision, as the performances rank among the cast's best... Read Harry Guerin's full review here.
Free State of Jones ***
Director: Gary Ross
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Keri Russell
Hands up, I'd go to the cinema to watch Matthew McConaughey reading a book. The man is a riveting performer, and when he gets a good script – as inDallas Buyers Club and the first season of True Detective – well you can just kiss that scenery goodbye. On form, he's fantastic and could act his way through granite.
In Free State of Jones, McConaughey is in cracking form in this American Civil War film inspired by the true story of Newton Knight and his armed rebellion against the Confederacy in Jones County, Mississippi.
Written and directed by Gary Ross (The Hunger Games, Pleasantville andSeabiscuit), the film stars Matthew McConaughey in the lead role, supported by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali and Keri Russell - who, by the way, is quite amazing in US TV drama The Americans... Read John Byrne's full review here.
Swiss Army Man ***
Directors: Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Paul Dano, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
On the deserted island on which he is stranded, a bearded young man named Hank (Paul Dano) is trying to hang himself by standing on a bucket. There is a rope around his neck, hanging from its fixture on the cliff above him. At the last minute, he changes his mind when he notices a body washed ashore, ashen of face, seemingly lifeless.
Wildly animated at the fact that he may no longer be alone, Hank runs swiftly to the seas’s edge to investigate the body of the man, played by Daniel Radcliffe, whose name, we subsequently discover, is Manny. A strange rumbling noise, a basso profundo, emanates from the new arrival’s supine body which sounds suspiciously like gas releasing itself - and in fact that is what it is. Maybe it was at this point, mid-fart and very early in the movie that some of the folks started walking out last January when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. Yep, it's been divisive ever since... Read Paddy Kehoe's full review here.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children ***
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Eva Green, Samuel L. Jackson, Judi Dench, Asa Butterfield, Ella Purnell, Terence Stamp, Chris O'Dowd, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett
Burton's career has become synonymous with gothic-themed films with an affinity for embracing the odd and stirring the imagination (Sweeney Todd, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands).
In recent years, the director has had more cinematic defeats (Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) than triumphs, but his pictorial flair and offbeat aesthetics return to the big screen in his adaptation of Ransom Riggs' best-selling YA novel.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is delightfully Burton-esque, flirting with the eerie and whimsical qualities viewers associate with him.
It tells the story of Jake (Martin Scorsese's Hugo) a Florida teen who grew up hearing far-fetched tales of unusual children with extraordinary powers from his grandpa Abe (Terence Stamp). After his grandfather is mysteriously murdered, Jake sets off to Wales with his clueless dad (Chris O'Dowd with a questionable American accent) to investigate Abe's tall-tales... Read Laura Delaney's full review here.
