THIS WEEK’S NEW CINEMA RELEASES

Three new movies come to our screens this week …

TOP PICK TO SEE

The top pick to see this week is a Korean drama which, unfortunately, is not in many cinemas. So check your cinema information to see if it is showing near you and take a look. It’s ODE TO MY FATHER set amid the time of the Korean War. A young boy’s vow to take care of his family marked the beginning of a lifelong promise spanning 60 years. I’ve seen this one and my review will be posted shortly – so watch out for it. I give it ***1/2

OTHERS TO SEE

ROSEWATER is a biographical drama in which an Iranian-Canadian journalist, Maziar Bahari, is detained by Iranian forces who brutally interrogate him under suspicion that he is a spy. The Playlist’s Chris Willman makes an interesting comment on this movie: For better or worse, torture-themed films don’t get too much easier to take than this one. I’ve already seen this one, too, and don’t believe it will have wide appeal. I’ll post my review soon. I give it ***

MAYBE/MAYBE NOT

JUPITER ASCENDING, an action fantasy sci-fi starring Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street) and Mila Kunis (Black Swan), takes place in a bright and colorful future where a young destitute caretaker gets targeted by the ruthless son of a powerful family who lives on a planet in need of a new heir, so she travels with a genetically engineered warrior to the planet in order to stop his tyrant reign. This may or may not be worth seeing depending on your tastes. The critics don’t like it much. Variety’s Peter Debruge laments that, While the Wachowskis have always put their greatest emphasis on aesthetics, they allow the visual impulse to get the best of them here, investing so much attention in creating unique fashions, technology, architecture and design that they’ve blinded themselves to the huge logical gaps in their own story. This is another one I have seen and will post my review asap! I give it ***1/2

That’s it for this week. See you at the movies!

*NOTE* Movie summaries are adaptations of movie summary on IMDB. Opinions are mine unless credited.