Martians and Lobsters: Your week in film (Feb 8-14)

Matt Damon stars as a stranded astronaut in The Martian

TV, DVD, Blu-ray, VOD and cinema picks for the next seven days...

MONDAY 8th: Ridley Scott's The Martian (Blu-ray, DVD and VOD) is easily the biggest home entertainment release of the week and stars Matt Damon as an astronaut stranded on Mars when a manned mission to the red planet goes tits up. It's MacGyver in space, it's Cast Away meets Apollo 13, and although the final 20 minutes strain credulity and Damon's smarty-pants botanist never seems bothered enough by his predicament, it's hugely enjoyable. The Lobster (DVD, Blu-ray and VOD) is a very different kettle of shellfish. Yorgos Lanthimos's first English language film is a frequently hilarious, blisteringly original satire on romance and dating. In the Greek director's bizarre future world, single people have 45 days to find a mate or they are transformed into an animal of their choosing. The first half is perfect and although the film runs out of steam towards the end, its superb cast (Colin Farrell has never been better), wealth of ideas and sheer chutzpah make it more than worthy of your time. Also out this week are action-packed Pam Grier blaxploitation flick Sheba, Baby (Dual Format) and Michael Mann's debut feature Thief (DVD), starring the great James Caan as an expert safecracker who gets tangled up with the mafia. On the 40th anniversary of its cinema release, online subscription service Mubi have today added Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver to their catalogue.. 

Colin Farrell, John C Reilly and Ben Whishaw
are looking for love in The Lobster (trailer)

TUESDAY 9th: Jim Carrey is the unknowing prisoner of reality TV in Peter Weir's prescient and pretty much perfect The Truman Show (Sky Greats, 20:00). Elsewhere today, there's Wes Craven's clever horror satire Scream (TCM,21:00) and, although I've never really warmed to it, I know a lot of people love Gareth Edwards' Monsters (Film4, 23:10). Granted, it's an ingenious low-budget spin on the monster movie, but I prefer my creature features populated by cannon-fodder characters I really couldn't give a toss about (see Cloverfield below). 

Gareth Edwards' ingenious Monsters (trailer) 

WEDNESDAY 10th: Clint Eastwood's supernatural revenge western High Plains Drifter hits Netflix today. Elsewhere, former Radio 1 movie critic Rhianna Dhillon joins Claudia Winkleman and Danny Leigh for a look at the week's new releases on Film 2016 (BBC1, 23:15), including Zoolander 2, Deadpool, and Pride And Prejudice And Zombies. 

Ryan Reynolds kicks arse in Deadpool (Red Band trailer)

THURSDAY 11th: Jessica Chastain plays hide and seek with Osama Bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty (Film4, 21:00); a ruddy great monster chomps his way through a bunch of New York yuppies in found-footage flick Cloverfield (Sky Greats, 22:10), and Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando square off in Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam epic, Apocalypse Now (ITV4, 23:40). 

The hunt is on for Osama Bin Laden in 

Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty (trailer)

FRIDAY 12th: Lots of new films in cinemas from today. I've mentioned a few of them already (see Wednesday) but also out are Will Smith NFL drama Concussion, Eli Roth's Cannibal Holocaust The Green Inferno, and The Survivalist, a haunting British post-apocalyptic tale that's available on Curzon Home Cinema as well as in theatres. Away from the multiplex, Michel Gondry's eccentric French road movie Microbe & Gasoline debuts on Amazon Prime Video, while Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story Of Cannon Films (Film4, 23:00) is an entertaining documentary about the rise and fall of the movie studio responsible for such '80s 'classics' as Masters Of The Universe, Lifeforce and Chuck Norris's Missing In Action.

The Survivalist, aka Mad Max in the British countryside,
is up for a BAFTA (trailer) 

SATURDAY 13th: If you only watch one film this week, make it There Will Be Blood (BBC2, 23:15). Daniel Day-Lewis is on truly spectacular form in Paul Thomas Anderson's epic tale of oil, madness, family and religion. Set at the turn of the last century, it's the story of an ambitious oilman (Day-Lewis) and a preacher (Paul Dano, also electrifying) who share a long-gestating mutual loathing. Probably Anderson's best film and definitely Day-Lewis's.

Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano are electrifying

in There Will Be Blood (trailer)

SUNDAY 14th: It's Valentine's Day and nothing says love and romance better than, erm, The Mist (Horror Channel, 21:00), Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's novella about a small town besieged by terrifying creatures from another dimension. If you are looking for something a little more smoochy, there's While You Were Sleeping (BBC1, 23:30), a Sandra Bullock rom-com in which she saves Bill Pullman's life then pretends to be his girlfriend while he's in a coma. Yes, it sounds rubbish but Bullock makes it watchable as she does every mediocre film she's in. 

Thomas Jane stars in creepy horror The Mist (trailer).  

UK box office top 10

1. The Revenant R

2. Dirty Grandpa
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
4. Ride Along 2
5. Spotlight R
6. The Big Short R
7. Capture The Flag
8. Daddy's Home
9. Creed R
10. Room R

R = Recommended

Reviews: Orion, The Nightmare, The Lobster, Knock Knock and more...

Reviews of some of the films I've recently seen (including Knock Knock, pictured above), in order from best to worst...

Orion: The Man Who Would Be King

(Director: Jeanie Finlay)

When Elvis Presley popped his clogs in August 1977, many people refused to believe the King had really gone. Stepping into the breach soon after came Orion, a mysterious Presley 'lookalike’ in a mask, who, whilst an eerie dead ringer for the King voice-wise, was substantially younger and much taller. It didn’t stop Elvis fans clamouring to see him and some even to believe he was the legend “reborn”. Orion performed concerts and released LPs (ironically enough through Sun Records) and, for a time at least, seemed to successfully exploit his manufactured association with the star’s history and music. As British director Jeanie Finlay’s fascinating and ultimately heartbreaking documentary reveals, though, there was a lot more to the story than that of a cynical chancer exploiting gullible people’s affection for a dead star. In fact, this is ultimately a very sympathetic portrait of a man – real name Jimmy Ellis – who wanted fame so desperately he allowed himself to be manipulated into an entirely bizarre situation that soon felt more like a prison than a music career. Fame chewing up and spitting out the unwary is a tale as old as the hills but one rarely told as effectively as it is here. 

Rating: WWWW

Orion: The Man Who Would Be King is available now on Curzon Home Cinema

The Nightmare

(Director: Rodney Ascher)

This is a fascinating and disturbing documentary exploring sleep paralysis, a medical ailment whose many sufferers are plagued by horrifying night-time visions and hallucinations. Director Ascher – who himself has the condition – talks to eight different sufferers and, using actors and special effects, recreates the sometimes disturbing, often downright terrifying, images and scenarios that await them when asleep. Some feel the condition’s effects so keenly they have – perhaps foolishly – eschewed medical explanations and treatment, believing sleep paralysis is supernatural in nature. Spending time with the people interviewed you quickly realise the deleterious impact the disorder has had on their lives, and how exhausting and dispiriting it must be to, literally, fear sleep. In the film’s most unsettling scenes, Ascher and one of his subjects illustrate how the condition could be an explanation for ‘alien abduction’ stories, making particular reference to the famous Whitley Strieber case. Rather cleverly, the director also shows how sleep paralysis sufferers have utilised the condition in their art; from John Henry Fuseli’s painting The Nightmare to Wes Craven’s horror film classic A Nightmare On Elm Street. 

Rating: WWW

The Nightmare is available now on Curzon Home Cinema

The Lobster

(Director: Yorgos Lanthimos)

Greek filmmaker Lanthimos is responsible for the beguilingly bizarre Dogtooth, one of my favourite films of the last 10 years and this – his first English-language picture – starts in the same impressive vein. Set in a surreal near-future world where single people must find a mate in 45 days or face being turned into an animal of their choice, our story focuses on Colin Farrell’s newly-divorced David. He’s booked into a posh country hotel and forced to mix with other singles, breaking off only to help hunt the pack of wild loners, who live in the woods, with a tranquiliser gun. The first hour is blisteringly good – a laugh-out-loud funny and excoriating satire on the enormous pressures society brings to bear on single people to find a mate and the sanctions imposed upon those who don’t (for Lanthimos, they are made, quite literally, less than human). The second half, in which the director has to engage with something approaching an actual plot, isn’t nearly as successful as Farrell escapes into the forest and hooks up with the loners, including Rachel Weisz (a short-sighted woman with whom he falls in love) and their no-nonsense leader Léa Seydoux. The satire is still there – especially when you realise these militant singletons have as many rules and regulations as the people from whose clutches Farrell has just slipped – but it doesn’t quite hit as hard or as effectively as it does earlier on. Ultimately, then, The Lobster is a frustrating experience, although Lanthimos deserves great credit for assembling such a terrific cast (which also includes Olivia Colman, John C Reilly, Ben Whishaw, Ariane Labed and Ashley Jensen) and creating a film quite unlike anything else I’ve seen all year.

Rating: WWW

The Lobster is in cinemas now

Knock Knock

(Director: Eli Roth)

I’m not the world’s biggest Roth fan so calling Knock Knock the US director’s best film to date is probably damning it with faint praise. That said, this is a pacy and surprisingly compelling horror thriller that sees Keanu Reeves’ family man come a cropper when he has a threesome with two bedraggled young women (Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas) who trick their way into his home and seduce him. Suffice to say the clearly damaged girls are after rather more than a bit of middle-aged man flesh and it isn’t long before Keanu’s up to his neck in trouble. Knock Knock wears its influences on its sleeve – Happy Games, Hard Candy – but ultimately manages to transcend them. Nicely worked ending, too. Bring on The Green Inferno... 

Rating: WWW

Knock Knock is available now on VOD, DVD and Blu-ray

  

The Overnight 

(Director: Patrick Brice)

Disappointing sex comedy starring Adam Scott (Parks And Recreation) and Taylor Schilling (Orange Is The New Black) as a married couple recently moved to Los Angeles from Seattle. Quickly befriended by Jason Schwartzman (Listen Up Philip, Big Eyes) and Judith Godrèche (Stoker, Potiche), proceedings get a little wild when an invite to dinner leads to recreational drugs, nudity and the possible offer of more besides. The cast are great and the first half shows real promise. Unfortunately, the script is never quite funny enough and a kind of twist towards the end fails to convince. What’s more, despite being barely 80 minutes long (a little over 70 without the credits) it somehow manages to run out of juice long before the end.

Rating: WW

The Overnight is available now on VOD and DVD

Fidelio: Alice’s Journey

(Director: Lucie Borleteau)

Slow-moving and, it has to be said, slightly mucky, French film from first-time director Borleteau. The titular Alice (Ariane Labed) is an engineer on a freighter that just happens to be captained by Gael (Melvil Popaud), her first love. Lonely and horny with her graphic novelist boyfriend hundreds of miles away, she recommences their affair, whilst every now and again reading through the scurrilous, shag-packed diaries of the dead man she replaced on board. The impossibility and impracticality of monogamy is a theme worth exploring but Fidelio is too often more interested in getting Labed out of her clothes and into la bed than truly engaging with its subject matter.

Rating: WW

Fidelio: Alice’s Journey is available on VOD and DVD now

Ratings

WWWW = Wonderful
WWW = Worthwhile
WW = Watchable
W = Woeful

5 for Friday (October 16): Trailers, new releases and box office

1. Crimson Peak
What is it? After the action-packed excess of Pacific Rim, Guillermo Del Toro returns to what he does best – a gothic horror tale jam-packed with ghosts, spectacular visuals and an atmosphere so thick you could slice it like bread. It stars Mia Wasikowska (pictured above), Jessica Chastain and Tom Hiddleston, and features a spooky mansion that “breathes, bleeds… and remembers".
Where in the UK can I see it? Everywhere.
Critical consensus: A ghost-bustingly average 67 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
My take: It’s difficult to see this rivalling Pan’s Labyrinth as Del Toro’s best film but if this sumptuous trailer is anything to go by, Crimson Peak will be a treat.

2. The Lobster

What is it? Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman star in a surreal and disturbing sci-fi satire on the dating game and the pressure exerted on people to find romantic love. In a dystopian future, singles must find a partner in 45 days or be transformed into animals and released into the wild. It sounds far more humane than Take Me Out.

Where in the UK can I see it? Key cities, including London, Cardiff and Manchester.

Critical consensus: A tasty 88 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

My take: The first movie I saw by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos was 2009’s Dogtooth, a piece of work that was inventive, transgressive and quite superb. Suffice to say, I have high hopes for this.

3. Howl

What is it? Passengers on a broken-down train come under attack from a werewolf in this British-made horror movie. Dog Soldiers’ Sean Pertwee’s in it although not, it seems, in a starring role.

Where in the UK can I see it? Howl is getting a very limited cinema release before clawing its way onto DVD, Blu-ray and VOD on October 26.

Critical consensus: A bitingly mediocre 57 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

My take: It’s been a while since old-school horror fans had a really cracking werewolf flick to get our teeth into (Dog Soldiers in 2002, by my reckoning) so I’m keeping my fingers crossed this contains the requisite amounts of scares, gore and black comedy.

4. The Program

What is it? The rise and fall of seven-time Tour de France winner/cancer survivor/doping cheat Lance Armstrong (Ben Foster). Chris O’Dowd plays the Irish journalist determined to prove the champion cyclist’s guilt. Stephen Frears (Philomena) directs, Dustin Hoffman co-stars.

Where in the UK can I see it? It’s getting a wide release so shouldn’t be difficult to track down.

Critical consensus: A chemically-unenhanced 52 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

My take: Armstrong’s fall from grace is one of the most extraordinary events in sporting history and fully deserving of the big movie treatment. But Frears’ film will do well to better Alex Gibney’s 2013 documentary about the same subject, The Armstrong Lie.

5. Censored Voices

What is it? Documentary about 1967’s Six Day War in which Israel defeated Egypt, Syria and Jordan and grabbed land in Gaza, Sinai, and the West Bank. The country tripled in size in under a week, leading to euphoric scenes. However, away from the celebrations, author Amos Oz recorded interviews with Israeli soldiers, fresh from the battlefield, and their take on the conflict is anything but jubilant. Nearly 50 years on (the recordings were suppressed for decades) the interviews are replayed for the same group of soldiers... 

Where in the UK can I see it? London only.

Critical consensus: An impressive 100 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, albeit after just seven reviews.

My take: Any documentary about the Israel/Palestine situation is always pertinent and prescient for one simple reason - nothing there ever seems to change. I hope this gets a speedy DVD/VOD release as its probably the only way I'll get to see it.    

Also in cinemas this week...

Back To The Future 2 (reissue, from Wednesday)

Chic!
Dans La Cour
The Diabolical 
Henry V – RSC Live 2015
Hotel Transylvania 2 

The Last Witch Hunter (from Wednesday)
Le Talent De Mes Amis

Laurel & Hardy: Towed In The Hole & Way Out West (double bill) (reissue, from Tuesday)
North V South 
Pan 
Rough Cut
Soaked In Bleach
SuperBob

UK box office top 10

1. The Martian
2. Sicario (15)
3. The Walk
4. Legend
5. The Intern
6. Everest
7. Macbeth
8. The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials
9. Regression
10. Inside Out

US box office top 10

1. The Martian
2. Hotel Transylvania 2
3. Pan
4. The Intern
5. Sicario
6. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
7. The Walk 
8. Black Mass
9. Everest
10. The Visit