Unsurprisingly, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has dominated the Irish box office last weekend. A good 100,000 over Calvary, regardless of anyone’s opinion of it, it’s definitely started making it’s money. That said, we have a full review here if you’re wondering if it’s worth your time. Rio 2 is hanging in there at number 3, and Captain America: the Winter Soldier is holding tight at number 5 in the Irish charts as of Wednesday. That film is proving just unstoppable, can it overtake Iron Man 3? It’s looking like it just might have a shot at it. Marvel are bound to be VERY happy right now.
We have a break from Marvel for this week, though, thankfully, and there’s an interesting couple of films doing the rounds right now, I can tell you that much right now. Here’s my recommendations for what you should, and should NOT, go see this weekend.
The Good: Transcendence
Director: Wally Pfister, Rating: 12A, Running Time: 119 minutes
Wally Pfister is absolutely one of the best cinematographers in major motion pictures right now. His work on Memento, The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception and The Prestige just speaks for itself as an impressive résumé of commanding on-screen visuals. His directorial début gets me very excited to see what he’s capable of with full control over the artistic vision and the cast he’s manage to gather together to make it happen only strikes confidence in the films delivery. Johnny Depp spear-heads the story of a man who plays God with artificial intelligence, trying to push the absolute limits of what a computer is capable of. When he’s killed, his mind is uploaded to the very same technology he helped create and so the film continues as a discussion of how much stock we should put in artificial intelligence and the marriage of biology and technology. Well, at least, I think is going to happen. The concept is incredibly old school, harking back to films like eXistenZ and The Lawnmower Man with more new school delivery and special effects. Bolstered with a supporting that includes Morgan Freeman, Kate Mara and Cillian Murphy, this deserves attention if even for being distinctive and an original screenplay.
The Bad: The Other Woman
Director: Nick Cassavetes, Rating: 12A, Running Time: 109 minutes
Y’know what film I enjoy? The Notebook. I do, I really, really do. I love the idealistic romance and the soppy ending, it makes me feel nice emotions. Y’know I don’t enjoy? Romantic comedies generally. Usually, they’re incredibly generic and have two-dimensional characters and story-telling in the same vein as The Notebook, but without the heavy-handed tragedy and sense of meaningful closure in the end. The Other Woman looks to be one of these romantic comedies, with Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton and Nicki Minaj (not kidding) playing completely mundane characters who discover they all share the same boyfriend and decide to get revenge on the villainous man-whore. It’s contrived, it’s dumb and it’s narrative idea is playing into steretypes that should be worked against, not towards. Nick Cassavetes is capable of making decent, albeit simple romance films, The Notebook proves that. This is just an excuse for Cameron Diaz and Nicki Minaj to be on the big screen, and it should not be allowed to work.
Avoid please.
The Anto: Tracks
Director: John Curran, Rating: 12A, Running Time: 113 minutes
This is a total surprise on my radar, the film came out last year in festivals and what not, but is only now actually coming to the theaters over here – something I’m somewhat surprised at, I thought it would hit DVD straight away. Tracks is an independent film directed by John Curran and based on the memoirs of Robyn Davidson, who is known for her 30 year career of writing based on her continuing career in traveling the world. This particular venture is about trekking across Australia on camels and it features Mia Wasikowska (Alice In Wonderland) and Adam Driver (Inside Llewyn Davis) in the leading roles and honestly, it just looks interesting. John Curran has made his career on lower budget films featuring huge actors, his film Stone in 2010 featured Edward Norton opposite Robert De Niro, and both Mia and Adam have proven themselves in recent movies to be very competent. This probably won’t make headlines, but it’s something off-beat and refreshing in the scene of big-budget indulgence.
It’s a very good weekend for selection, actually. The Marvel big dogs are still doing the rounds and films like Tracks and Transcendence offer something more interesting and distinctive for you to check out. Just don’t see Cameron Diaz. Please.
See you next week Arcadians, same arcade time, same arcade channel!
