There’s plenty to get excited about in cinemas and on home video next month. Read on to see what we’re looking forward to checking out once cinemas have been steam-cleaned of all Fifty Shades of Grey residue, and we finally get to see some long-awaited goodies, albeit from the comfort of our living rooms.
Focus – March 5
Will Smith leads this “rom-con” crime caper from the directors of Crazy, Stupid, Love. Nicky (Smith) is a veteran conman who confuses business and pleasure with his protégé Nicky (The Wolf of Wall Street‘s Margot Robbie) and breaks up with her having taught her the tricks of the trade. Years later they cross paths in Buenos Aires, working opposite sides of the same scam involving a billionaire race car owner – no prizes for picking that some twists may ensue. Hard to say which way this one will go, but Smith’s charm suits the part, and Robbie should relish sinking her teeth into a femme fatale role.
Chappie – March 12
A crime-ridden Johannesburg is again the setting for this sci-fi tale by writer-director Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium). In shades of RoboCop, a private force of robots have hit the streets to police the city, but their key developer (Dev Patel) isn’t satisfied with these programmed machines, instead pursuing the development of true artificial intelligence – which takes the form of sentient robot Chappie. Instead of the controlled environment of a lab, though, the new-born Chappie finds himself living with, and learning from, criminals Ninja and Yolandi (played by Die Antwoord‘s, um, Ninja and Yolandi). Blomkamp’s go-to actor Sharlto Copley provides the voice and motion capture for Chappie, with Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver co-starring.
Home – March 19
DreamWorks’ animated family sci-fi about the Boov, a group of passive aliens who follow their self-indulgent leader (voiced by Steve Martin) to planet Earth. They’re on the lam from their mortal enemy, and need a new home – but generously they intend to relocate humans to a desert planet. Yeah, no thanks! Directed by DreamWorks veteran Tim Johnson (Over the Hedge, Antz) and featuring the voices of Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna and Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons.
Insurgent – March 19
Shailene Woodley leads this follow-up to 2014’s Divergent, the young adult dystopian sci-fi about a heavily-guarded community in the near future broken into five factions based on individual skill sets. Theo James, Kate Winslet, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller and Zoë Kravitz return alongside new additions Naomi Watts and Octavia Spencer. In the wreckage of a futuristic Chicago, Tris (Woodley) attempts to find her comrades while living life on the run with Four (James) as fugitives. With Jeanine (Winslet), leader of the elitist Erudite faction, closing in on them, Tris must discover what her parents died to protect. But Janine isn’t the only one catching up with Tris – the truth of the family’s past closes in on her too.
Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman co-wrote the script, which may either be a good thing (he wrote A Beautiful Mind) or a bad thing (he wrote and directed Winter’s Tale).
Shaun the Sheep – March 26
A stop motion animated Aardman Studios adventure following Shaun, whose mischief inadvertently leads to his farmer being taken away. The sheep and his flock head to the city to rescue their newly amnesiac human, where Shaun finds himself locked up in the Big House – Animal Control. Perhaps that’s where he found the time to make all these parody movie posters that have been turning up.
Shaun the Sheep made his appearance in the Oscar-winning animated short Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave.
Cinderella – March 26
Disney retells the fairy tale in live-action and under the direction of the great Kenneth Branagh (Thor). Wrath of the Titans‘ Lily James fills the crystal slippers, aided by her fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) and thwarted by her step-mother (Cate Blanchett) as she’s pursued by Prince Charming (Game of Thrones‘ Richard Madden). Reputedly hews close to the classic version of the tale, rather than a revisionist retelling – which is bound to please and disappoint people in near-equal proportions.
Horns – 11 March
The basics: Alexandre Aja (Piranha 3D, Haute Tension) adapts Joe Hill’s novel about a fellow with a strange affliction – horns growing out of his head and demonic powers. Daniel Radcliffe stars as Ignatius Perrish, prime suspect in the murder of his girlfriend (Juno Temple). Can he utilise his new powers to find her killer? And will anyone notice the goddamn horns sticking outta his head?
The buzz: 41% on Rotten Tomatoes. “Benefits from the helmer’s twisted sensibility,” says Variety, “but suffers from a case of overall silliness”. Time Out says “this patchy supernatural black comedy is Daniel Radcliffe’s latest and least successful shot at putting distance between himself and the boy wizard”.
DVD, Blu-ray and On Demand options
John Wick – 11 March
The basics: Keanu Reeves is back in arse-kicking mode here, under the direction of his stunt double from The Matrix (Chad Stahelski) who co-directs with Brad Pitt’s stunt double from Fight Club (David Leitch). More to the point, it has heaps of guns and fights and Willem Dafoe, Adrianne Palicki, Ian McShane, a cute puppy and guns and fights. Really, really can’t wait to see this.
The buzz: 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. For an action flick! Variety calls John Wick ” a slick and satisfying revenge thriller”, “one of the most excitingly visceral action flicks I’ve seen in ages” reckons Entertainment Weekly, and AV Club labels this “one of the more fully realized shoot-’em-up flicks in recent memory”.
DVD, Blu-ray and On Demand options
In Bloom – 12 March
The basics: Two young girls navigate the oppressive familial and societal expectations of post-Soviet Georgia in this drama, winner of the C.I.C.A.E. Award (awarded to significant ‘art house’ films) at Berlin Festival 2013. Teens being teens, though, the duo’s environments may be chaotic and poverty-stricken, but there are more pressing priorities – classroom, gossip, music, and boys.
The buzz: 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Variety describes the pic as “an absorbing, intelligently assembled coming-of-ager”, the Wall Street Journal observes “this adroit and understated coming-of-age film reminded me of the New Wave of Czech films in the 1960s, but with a distinctive poignancy that translates to wisdom”.
In Order of Disappearance – 12 March
The basics: Stellan Skarsgård (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) leads this comedy-thriller set in the wintery Norwegian mountains as a Citizen of the Year award-winner out for revenge against the man who murdered his son under false pretences. In his quest for justice, he ignites a mob war between a mafia boss and a vegan gangster.
The buzz: 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. “Provides a wonderful vehicle for Stellan Skarsgard’s stone-faced gravitas and calm intelligence” says Hollywood Reporter. Empire Magazine says “Funny and nasty in the best traditions of Headhunters and Jackpot, this is the Stellan Skarsgård vengeance thriller we’ve all been waiting for”.
Jimi: All is by My Side – 12 March
The basics: André (3000) Benjamin, one half of OutKast, is perfectly cast here as the legendary Jimi Hendrix. 12 Years a Slave writer John Ridley directs, limiting the story to Hendrix’s time in London through 1966 and 1967, where the genius guitarist assembled the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the height of the swinging ’60s. Agent Carter‘s Hayley Atwell plays Hendrix’s girlfriend Kathy Etchingham.
The buzz: 65% on Rotten Tomatoes. Entertainment Weekly says it’s “made not with obligatory biopic beats but with verve and freedom”, and Village Voice reckons “Ridley’s decision to focus on Hendrix’s first year in London – from 1966 to 1967 – frees rather than limits him”.
DVD, Blu-ray and On Demand options
Why Don’t You Play in Hell? – 12 March
The basics: Severed-tongue-in-cheek flick from cult Japanese writer-director Sion Sono (Cold Fish, Love Exposure) about a group of wannabe documentary movie-makers who inject their flash-mob filming technique straight into a yakuza-filled gangwar. A crazy, unhinged highlight of the NZ International Film Festival and a bloody love letter to cinema.
The buzz: 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. “Quite possibly mankind’s greatest achievement”, raves Film.com, while Hollywood Reporter praises its “Irresistible trashy fun in a cross-genre free-for-all”. But Variety is among the dissenting voices, stating “Sion Sono trawls sub-Tarantino B-movie-pastiche territory with this tedious, over-the-top gorefest”.
Lucio Fulci’s Zombie Flesh Eaters (also known as Zombi 2, Zombie and Woodoo) makes a gory appearance on Blu-ray. Hopefully the HD transfer does justice to its iconic zombie vs. shark scene.
