After being spoiled last week with a whole plethora of cinematic delights, it’s a slightly more low-key affair this time out.
There’s only a couple of major releases hitting the screens but there’s several smaller independent features which may well prove worthy of seeking out, particularly when you consider the critical reception of what’s on offer.
If you want to check to see if any of these films are playing near you you can visit Find Any Film and they’ll be able to help.
Without further ado, here we go…
Ghost Rider : Spirit of Vengeance in 3D
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Nic Cage is back as Johnny Blaze, the former stunt driver turned demonic avenger. Having sold his soul to the devil, Blaze now takes on the mantle of the Ghost Rider, a bounty hunter of the damned. In this follow up to the poorly received 2007 original, Blaze is holed up in remote Eastern Europe where he is roped into saving a local boy from demonic possession. The film is directed by the creative team behind the Crank movies, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, so expect plenty of explosive action but perhaps not so much subtle nuance.
Asim Burney says:
“I’ve been looking forward to Ghost Rider quite a bit although the first film was a mess and not a movie I would recommend even to the biggest Nicolas Cage fans (of which I would call myself one)…I’m sure this will be quite a bit of fun. Although I did worry if Neveldine-Taylor would be able to work within the Marvel Studio framework, I was happy to hear on the ‘How Did this Get Made’ -Podcast that they did have quite a bit of free reign.”
You can also see David Sztypulijak’s interview with Nic Cage here and read Lisa’s review here.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
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This adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel of the same name is a heart-string tugging drama starring Tom Hanks and directed by Stephen Daldry. The film follows a young boy who loses his father in the 9/11 attacks but who embarks on a scavenger hunt around New York City seemingly set by his deceased father. Needless to say he learns valuable life lessons along the way as he struggles to come to terms with the terrible loss.
You can read Lisa Giles-Keddie’s review here.
The Woman in the Fifth
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The movie’s official bio on Artificial Eye’s website states:
“American writer Tom Ricks comes to Paris desperate to put his life together again and win back the love of his estranged wife and daughter. When things don’t go according to plan, he ends up in a shady hotel in the suburbs, having to work as a night guard to make ends meet. Then Margit, a beautiful, mysterious stranger walks into his life and things start looking up. Their passionate and intense relationship triggers a string of inexplicable events… as if an obscure power was taking control of his life.”
Kristen Scott-Thomas and Ethan Hawke take the lead roles in this intriguing art house movie that divided critics at the Toronto Film festival last year.
A Position Amongst the Stars
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This remarkable documentary sees filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich following the lives of an impoverished Indonesian family living in the slums of Jakarta . It’s the third part of Helmrich’s documentary trilogy chronicling the lives of the Sjamsuddin family. The official synopsis says:
“The Indonesian Sjamsuddin family is, in a way, a microcosm in which you can recognise the most important issues of life in Indonesia: corruption, conflict between religions, gambling addiction, the generation gap and the growing difference between poor and rich.”
Hadewijch
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This French film directed by Bruno Dumont won the International Film Critics award at the Toronto Film Festival in 2009. It follows a young nun called Celine who is dismissed from her convent by the mother superior for being too over zealous. She returns to live in Paris with her family and struggles to adapt to her new life as her passion for God becomes overwhelming. It looks pretty heavy going but still an extremely interesting piece of French film making.
