Movie Review Round-Up: The New Releases

There's plenty of action on screens with Robin Hood, Assassination Nation and The Girl in the Spider's Web, with the great Irish documentary, The Camino Voyage, and the Palme d'Or-winning Shoplifters also in cinemas this weekend.

The Camino Voyage *****

The Camino Voyage sees four comrades travelling by naomhóg or currach on the 2,500km sea journey to North-West Spain as they make their risky but spirited pilgrimage to the holy city of Santiago de Compostela.

They are following the example of intrepid Irish pilgrims, who sailed centuries ago from Ireland to the city of A Coruña in North-West Spain prior to completing the final, dry-land leg of the Camino - which means 'the way' or 'the road' in Spanish - on foot to Santiago.

A heart-warming, sometimes moving documentary directed by Dónal Ó Céilleachair. Read our full review here.

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Robin Hood *1/2

The overwhelming feeling after sitting through almost two hours of the latest Robin Hood iteration to hit the big screen is: Did we really need this movie?

Similarly to Guy Richie's frenetic, frequently confusing re-imagining of the King Arthur legend, Robin Hood manages to be both action-packed and mind-numbingly boring. Quite the feat.

Peaky Blinders director Otto Bathurst makes his feature debut with Welsh actor Taron Egerton, probably best known for his role in Kingsman: The Secret Service, taking on the leading role of Robin of Loxley. Read our full review here.

Assassination Nation ***

Assassination Nation has a lot to say but the script fails to live up to all its promise, in what is a visually masterful film more intent on looking good than being as smart as it thinks it is.

It's modern day Salem, Massachusetts and the film opens with an eerie pan through an average looking American neighbourhood, but the inhabitants wear masks and something seems off. Our narrator, 18-year-old protagonist Lily (Odessa Young), tells us that her town has lost its mind, and that she doesn't know if she and her three best friends will survive the night.

It's ominous, intriguing and stylised and I am hooked. Read our full review here.

Shoplifters ****

Director Hirokazu Koreeda has form when it comes to young female characters welcomed into families who shower them with love, no matter how tough the circumstances. That is the bare thumbnail plot of the Palme d'Or-winning Shoplifters as it was the thumbnail for his previous film Our Little Sister.

Here he depicts a much poorer family who essentially live by their wits. Cramped though they may be in their squat-like dwelling, they take in a five-year-old girl when they discover that her natural parents do not want her. Thus she becomes part of this crafty family who live cheek by jowl in their makeshift flat on the fringes of a Japanese city.

Shoplifters is an absorbing, masterful film that opens out like a Japanese fan into a coda of sociological commentary that will leave you pondering about the ethics of families and their brands of dysfunction, veiled and visible alike. Read our full review here.

The Girl in the Spider's Web **1/2

Well, that's two heroes who've failed to save our November nights.

First up was the new Jack Reacher adventure, Past Tense - one of the weakest books from author Lee Child - and now The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's Lisbeth Salander returns to screens after seven years with Don't Breathe director Fede Álvarez behind the lens and The Crown's Claire Foy taking over the iconic lead role from Rooney Mara.

Given the length of the lay-off and the talent involved - which also includes Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight as one of the writers and Dragon Tattoo director David Fincher as an executive producer - The Girl in the Spider's Web ranks as one of the bigger disappointments of 2018. Read our full review here.

Still Showing:

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ***1/2

In this second instalment of the Fantastic Beasts series, fans will delight at the Harry Potter Easter eggs, shocking reveals and cinematic magic, though it does feel expositionary at times.

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Following on from the events in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) is in custody in MACUSA and the film kicks off with him showing the extent of his powers of magic and persuasion as he sets his escape plan in motion.

Now on the loose, Grindelwald goes to Paris to try to recruit witches and wizards to his cause; giving pure-blood wizards power to rule over the wizarding and muggle worlds. But he doesn't do it in the Voldemorty way of killing those in his path; he is more concerned with building a loyal following devoted to his beliefs and having the appearance of being a fair and worthy leader. Read our full review here.

Suspiria ****

November not cold enough for you? Try this.

After basking in the Lombardy sun with Call Me by Your Name, director Luca Guadagnino's new adventure in the screen trade has taken him to a chilling Berlin in 1977 as he puts his own spin on a horror that left quite the mark on audiences in that very year and in the four decades since: Dario Argento's Suspiria.

From the get-go, Guadagnino said his Suspiria would be "a homage", not a remake of a film that has fascinated him since he first saw the poster all those years ago.

He's been true to his word. Read our full review here.

Movie Review Round-Up: The New Releases

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