The summer season is starting to wind down as we enter August, but that isn’t stopping a sparkling new crop of releases being offered up this week, including an animated take on four famous reptilian warriors, a hilarious road trip comedy, Jason Statham vs. a giant shark (again), and much more…
Movie of the Week
Cinemas
Re-Releases
Streaming/On-Demand
MOVIE OF THE WEEK
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023, dir. Jeff Rowe)
CAST: Nicolas Cantu, Brady Noon, Shamon Brown Jr., Micah Abbey, Jackie Chan, Ayo Edebiri, Ice Cube, Seth Rogen, John Cena, Giancarlo Esposito, Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne, Natasia Demetriou, Post Malone, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph
CREW: Jeff Rowe (director, writer), Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (writers, producers), Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit (writers), James Weaver (producer), Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (composers), TBA (editor)
PLOT: After spending their childhood being sheltered from the human world by their rat mentor Splinter (Chan), mutated teenagers Leonardo (Cantu), Raphael (Noon), Michelangelo (Brown Jr.) and Donatello (Abbey) are eager to become accepted through their courageous acts of heroism. With the help of their new human friend April O’Neil (Edebiri), the turtles set out to confront a crime syndicate led by the mysterious Superfly (Cube), only to face an army of fellow mutants…
FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:
1) Everyone’s favourite quartet of pizza-loving reptilian warriors are back on the big screen with a brand-new animated look
2) The highly stylised animation brings the material closer to its comic-book origins, similar to how the Spider-Verse movies did
3) It is the brainchild of producer and co-writer Seth Rogen, a long-time Ninja Turtles fan who also has a voiceover role in the film (alongside numerous other A-list talent including Ice Cube, Paul Rudd, Jackie Chan and John Cena)
4) Co-writer Jeff Rowe makes his directorial debut after previously working on the script for the Oscar-nominated The Mitchells vs. The Machines
5) After the headache-inducing Michael Bay-produced live-action outings, this should bring the Turtles back to their fun-loving and endearing roots
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is showing in cinemas from Monday 31st July 2023
WHAT’S SHOWING IN
CINEMAS THIS WEEK?
Joy Ride (2023, dir. Adele Lim)
CAST: Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu, Ronny Chieng, Lori Tan Chinn, David Denman, Annie Mumolo, Meredith Hagner, Desmond Chiam, Alexander Hodge, Chris Pang, Rohan Arora, Victor Lau, Baron Davis
CREW: Adele Lim (director, producer), Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao (writers, producers), Josh Fagen, Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen and James Weaver (producers), Nathan Matthew David (composer), Paul Yee (cinematographer), Nena Erb (editor)
PLOT: Audrey (Park), a young woman of Asian descent who was adopted by white Americans, plans to travel to Asia in search of her birth parents. She brings along her childhood best friend Lolo (Cola), her college roommate and Chinese soap opera star Kat (Hsu), and Lolo’s eccentric cousin Deadeye (Wu) for the trip, but when things turn sideways for the group, they must rely on each other in order to achieve their goals…
FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:
1) Crazy Rich Asians co-writer Adele Lim makes her directorial debut with this riotous and unpredictable road trip comedy
2) The core cast, including Emily in Paris star Ashley Park and Oscar-nominated Everything Everywhere All At Once breakout Stephanie Hsu, share brilliant and heartfelt comedic chemistry
3) Seth Rogen co-produces along with regular writing/producing partner Evan Goldberg, so you can expect the humour to get seriously raunchy in places
4) It has scored critical acclaim following its debut at SXSW earlier this year, which is coincidentally where Hsu’s EEAAO first screened the year prior
5) Both a positive step towards stronger representation and a celebration of NSFW hilarity, this could be the late breakout comedy hit of the summer
Joy Ride is showing in cinemas from Friday 4th August 2023
Meg 2: The Trench (2023, dir. Ben Wheatley)
CAST: Jason Statham, Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels, Cliff Curtis, Sienna Guillory
CREW: Ben Wheatley (director), Erich Hoeber, Jon Hoeber and Dean Georgaris (writers), Belle Avery and Lorenzo di Bonaventura (producers), Harry Gregson-Williams (composer), Haris Zambarloukos (cinematographer), Jonathan Amos (editor)
PLOT: Jonas Taylor (Statham) leads a research team down to the deepest depths of the ocean for an exploratory mission, but the voyage soon descends into chaos when a malevolent mining operation forces Taylor and the crew into a battle for survival against a pack of giant Megalodon sharks…
FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:
1) Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, the giant prehistoric shark known as the Megalodon has returned for more monster movie carnage
2) This time, however, there’s more than one enormous shark to contend with – and none of them seem to be in the mood for anything other than human flesh!
3) Luckily, humanity has a hero to rely on in Jason Statham, who reprises his role from the first movie that embraces the B-movie ridiculousness of it all
4) Ben Wheatley takes over directing duties this time round, so you can expect a playfully nastier edge as he moves into big-budget filmmaking for the first time
5) Anyone who enjoyed the bonkers and tongue-in-cheek thrills of the first movie will find plenty of fun new things to be entertained by here as well
Meg 2: The Trench is showing in cinemas from Friday 4th August 2023
Paris Memories (2022, dir. Alice Winocour)
CAST: Virginie Efira, Benoît Magimel, Grégoire Colin, Maya Sansa, Amadou Mbow, Nastya Golubeva, Anne-Lise Heimburger, Sofia Lesaffre, Clarisse Makundul
CREW: Alice Winocour (director, writer), Isabelle Madelaine and Emilie Tisné (producers), Anna von Hausswolff (composer), Stéphane Fontaine (cinematographer), Julien Lacheray (editor)
PLOT: After surviving a deadly terrorist attack in Paris, Mia (Efira) is left traumatised and unable to recall the events of her experience. She sets out to retrace her steps in an attempt to process her trauma, and connects with fellow survivors who help her move on…
FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:
1) French filmmaker Alice Winocour presents a devastating but somewhat hopeful account of trauma and grief
2) Virginie Efira, best known for Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta, delivers a truly raw and emotionally heavy lead performance
3) It explores how those with collective trauma form meaningful connections with each other as a way of coping with everything from survivor’s guilt to physical impairment
4) Parallels are drawn to recent real-life terrorist attacks in the French capital, which might be potentially distressing to emotionally vulnerable viewers
5) It’s a hard-hitting drama that’s profoundly effective and utterly engrossing for anyone who’s experienced trauma in their lives
Paris Memories is showing in cinemas from Friday 4th August 2023
Kokomo City (2023, dir. D. Smith)
CAST: Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell, Dominique Silver, Bebé Smith
CREW: D. Smith (director, producer, cinematographer, editor), Bill Butler and Harris Doran (producers)
PLOT: In New York and Georgia, four Black transgender sex workers give frank and honest accounts of their experiences that shatter expectations surrounding race and gender…
FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:
1) This eye-opening documentary sheds light on the risky but unexpectedly liberating lifestyle of a Black trans sex worker
2) It is the filmmaking debut of Grammy-nominated musician and artist D. Smith, who herself identifies as a Black trans woman
3) Smith shoots the film in stark black-and-white, which captures the murky and sensual world in which its four main subject live in
4) There is plenty of intelligent and thought-provoking conversation about race, gender, sexuality, societal expectations, and more for audiences everywhere to understand and identify with
5) Daring in its subject matter and refreshingly open about both the positives and negatives, this is a can’t-miss experience for anyone who wants their cinema to explore more challenging areas of society
Kokomo City is showing in cinemas from Friday 4th August 2023
Psycho-Pass: Providence (2023, dir. Naoyoshi Shiotani)
CAST (ENGLISH): Kate Oxley, Robert McCollum, Jessie James Grelle, Lindsay Seidel, Lydia Mackay, Cherami Leigh, Z. Charles Bolton, Mike McFarland, Erin Noble Kelly, Stephanie Young
CAST (JAPANESE): Kana Hanazawa, Tomokazu Seki, Kenji Nojima, Shizuka Itō, Miyuki Sawashiro, Ayane Sakura, Takahiro Sakurai, Hiroki Tōchi, Takako Honda, Noriko Hidaka, Kazuhiro Yamaji
CREW: Naoyoshi Shiotani (director), Makoto Fukami and Tow Ubukata (writers), TBA (producers), Yûgo Kanno (composer), Eiji Arai (cinematographer), Yoshinori Murakami (editor)
PLOT: In the year 2118, when Japan is governed by a powerful biomechatronic computer network that scans civilians’ brains to reveal their criminal potential, Chief Inspector Akane Tsunemori (Oxley/Hanazawa) investigates the mysterious death of a professor whose research could potentially rock the foundations of society…
FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:
1) The hit sci-fi anime series comes to the big screen with a complex and action-packed new story
2) It comes as the original series celebrates its 10th anniversary
3) Fans can expect it to fill in the narrative gaps between several previous films and spin-off series
4) Newcomers can enjoy the stunning animation that’s used to bring this vast dystopian future to life
5) It’s an unpredictable and thrilling mystery that showcases some of the brightest talent in Japanese animation
Psycho-Pass: Providence is showing in cinemas from Wednesday 2nd August 2023
Just Super (2022, dir. Rasmus A. Sivertsen)
CAST: Hennika Eggum Huuse, Todd Monrad Vistven, Johannes Kjærnes, Tobias Santelmann, Kari Simonsen, Henriette Marø, Line Verndal, Atle Antonsen, Desta Marie Beeder, Charlotte Frogner
CREW: Rasmus A. Sivertsen (director), Kamilla Krogsveen (writer), Åshild Ariane Ramborg and Stian Tveiten (producers), Stein Johan Grieg Halvorsen and Eyvind Andreas Skeie (composers), Morten Rørvig (editor)
PLOT: In a world of superheroes, Hedvig (Huuse) is a socially-awkward 11-year-old girl who enjoys gaming but lacks the confidence to do much else. She soon discovers that her father, the superhero known as Super Lion (Santelmann), intends to pass down his heroic identity to her, forcing Hedvig to prove herself worthy of the title…
FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:
1) Directly from Norway comes this gleeful and cheery family adventure that takes a fresh new look at superheroes
2) Children will enjoy the silly slapstick and bright colours, while parents will appreciate the messages about finding the hero within
3) It won the Audience Award at TIFF Junior, a Norwegian film festival that showcases family-oriented content
4) Unexpectedly, the film stirred up controversy at the Berlin Film Festival, where accusations of racism led to it being pulled mere minutes before its first screening
5) Hopefully, those issues will have been sorted by the time it reaches UK screens, where families can expect the bright and (mostly) innocent escapades that they’re expecting
Just Super is showing in cinemas from Friday 4th August 2023
WHAT’S RETURNING TO
CINEMAS THIS WEEK?
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, dir. David Hand et al)
CAST: Adriana Caselotti, Lucille La Verne, Roy Atwell, Pinto Colvig, Otis Harlan, Scotty Mattraw, Billy Gilbert, Harry Stockwell, Moroni Olsen, Stuart Buchanan, June Foray
CREW: David Hand (supervising director), William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce and Ben Sharpsteen (sequence directors), Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd, Merrill De Maris, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears and Webb Smith (writers), Walt Disney (producer), Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline and Paul Smith (composers)
PLOT: When a wicked Queen (La Verne) learns that her young stepdaughter, the princess Snow White (Caselotti), is the fairest and most beuatiful in the kingdom, she sends a Huntsman (Buchanan) to kill her. Snow White escapes, and comes across a small woodland cottage where a group of dwarfs – Doc (Atwell), Grumpy (Colvig), Bashful (Mattraw), Sleepy (Colvig), Sneezy (Gilbert), Happy (Harlan) and Dopey – take her in. Soon, however, the Queen makes plans to do away with Snow White once and for all…
FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:
1) One of the very first animated features comes back to the big screen in celebration of Disney’s 100th anniversary
2) Walt Disney took a serious gamble that nobody in Hollywood took seriously – some even referred to it as “Disney’s Folly” – but it paid off when it immediately shifted the motion picture industry forever
3) To this day, it remains a childhood classic for many, with hummable songs and memorable characters, especially the dwarfs themselves
4) A live-action remake is due for release next year, with Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen
5) Keep an eye out over the next few months for more Disney classics returning to cinemas for the company’s centennial milestone!
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is showing in cinemas from Friday 4th August 2023
Breaking the Waves (1996, dir. Lars von Trier)
CAST: Emily Watson, Stellan Skarsgård, Katrin Cartlidge, Jean-Marc Barr, Adrian Rawlins, Jonathan Hackett, Sandra Voe, Udo Kier, Mikkel Gaup, Roef Ragas, Phil McCall, Robert Robertson
CREW: Lars von Trier (director, writer), Peter Asmussen (writer), Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Vibeke Windeløv (producers), Robby Müller (cinematographer), Anders Refn (editor)
PLOT: In the 1970s, devout Scottish woman Bess (Watson) marries oil rig worker Jan (Skarsgård), despite the misgivings of her religious community. When Jan is left immobilised after a work accident, he implores Bess to find other sexual partners in his stead, which ignites a serious crisis of faith and conscience within her…
FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:
1) The greatly acclaimed drama by Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier is back on the big screen with an all-new 4K restoration
2) Its re-release is part of Curzon’s brand-new retrospective season of the provocative and controversial filmmaker’s most notorious works
3) While it was made shortly after the founding of the famed Dogme 95 movement, where von Trier and other filmmakers took creative control back into their own hands, the film isn’t considered to be part of the overall scheme as it doesn’t meet many of the standards
4) Regardless, the film became a major critical hit, scoring the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, and earned lead actor Emily Watson her first Oscar nomination
5) Today, it is considered one of the best films of the 1990s, with some even going so far as to call it one of the greatest films ever made!
Breaking the Waves is showing in cinemas from Friday 4th August 2023
Gangs of New York (2002, dir. Martin Scorsese)
CAST: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Henry Thomas, Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson, Gary Lewis, Stephen Graham, Eddie Marsan, Alec McCowen, David Hemmings, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Cara Seymour, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Barbara Bouchet, Michael Byrne, John Sessions, Richard Graham, Giovanni Lombardo Radice
CREW: Martin Scorsese (director), Jay Cocks, Kenneth Lonergan and Steven Zaillian (writers), Alberto Grimaldi and H*rv*y W**nst**n (producers), Howard Shore (composer), Michael Ballhaus (cinematographer), Thelma Schoonmaker (editor)
PLOT: In 1860s New York, where gangster Bill the Butcher (Day-Lewis) rules the Five Points slum, young Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio) reemerges to take revenge on Bill for the death of his father (Neeson)…
FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:
1) Martin Scorsese’s epic historical crime drama is back in cinemas to hype up the legendary filmmaker’s upcoming historical epic Killers of the Flower Moon, due out in October
2) Scorsese spent two decades developing the project, but was only able to get it into production by collaborating with a certain disgraced mega-producer (who, out of respect for his numerous assault victims, will not be named)
3) Unsurprisingly, Scorsese did not enjoy working with said producer, who regularly interfered with the high-budgeted production and its final cut, to where Scorsese reportedly flipped over a table in frustration!
4) Despite the drama, Scorsese’s film would receive a strong reception with critics and audiences, earning 10 Oscar nominations (but sadly winning none) and starting the multi-film collaboration between Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio
5) While most wouldn’t put it among the filmmaker’s greatest work, it is still regarded as an astonishingly crafted piece of cinema by a director at the height of their artistic liberty
Gangs of New York is showing in cinemas from Friday 4th August 2023
WHAT’S SHOWING AT
HOME THIS WEEK?
Maggie Moore(s) (2023, dir. John Slattery)
CAST: Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Micah Stock, Nick Mohammed, Happy Anderson, Mary Holland, Nicholas Azarian, Louisa Krause, Derek Basco, Christopher Denham, Tate Ellington, Bobbi Kitten
CREW: John Slattery (director, producer), Paul Bernbaum (writer), Santosh Govindaraju, Ross Kohn, Nancy Leopardi, Vincent Garcia Newman and Dan Reardon (producers), Ben Sollee (composer), W. Mott Hupfel III (cinematographer), Tom McArdle (editor)
PLOT: In a small town, police chief Jordan Sanders (Hamm) investigates the strange murders of two women who happen to share the same name, Maggie Moore. Upon diving deeper into the investigation, where he is aided by one of the dead Maggie’s neighbours Rita (Fey), Sanders uncovers a web of dark truths within the town…
FIVE REASONS TO BE EXCITED:
1) Murder and conspiracy looms over this dark crime comedy that aspires to be the next Fargo
2) Jon Hamm brings his usual cool charm to the central detective role, with notable support from Tina Fey and Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed
3) Hamm’s former Mad Men co-star John Slattery directs, marking his second feature film after God’s Pocket which starred the late Philip Seymour Hoffman
4) The film was shot not too far away from the tragic set of Rust, where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was accidentally shot and killed by a prop gun handled by star/producer Alec Baldwin – the cast and crew for this film showed their solidarity by visiting Hutchins’ memorial during filming
5) You can expect madcap plotting and unpredictable twists as the central mystery further unfolds
Maggie Moore(s) is streaming exclusively on Sky Cinema from Friday 4th August 2023
That’s about it for this week – thanks for joining us, and be sure to come back next week for a whole new set of movies to work up an appetite for!
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