Keeping it in the family (Out this week - 30/07/10)

Fighting for the top of the box office, in a re-run of their US face off, are two major 80's properties getting dusted down for a modern reinvisioning. Whilst I'd probably be joining our American cousins and plumping for little Jaden Smith I suspect the A-Team will be victorious this side of the pond. Of course that's all academic as the film of the week is Aussie incest drama Beautiful Kate.



The A-Team

The trend for milking the nostalgia of 30 somethings continues with the return of televisions least likely quartet. The war they're veterans from has been updated but much of the plot will doubtless stay the same, with added editing and Liam Neeson taking George Peppard's shoes.

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Beautiful Kate

80's Femme Fatale of choice Rachel Ward (there had to be some connection this week) adapts and directs Newton Thornburg's novel about two non-identical twins who turn to incest in the Australian Outback. Rachel Griffiths and Bryan Brown are the 'names' that make up the rest of the family.

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Down Terrace

British Gangster movie - don't go - set in a dingy council house where a literal family of crooks argue about hiding the stash and who's turn it is to wash-up. Apparently a lot better than that last sentence made it seem.

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Frontier Blues

Debut feature director Babak Jalali may not be a household name but his groud-breaking Iranian film about the everyday frustrations and simplicity of life in small communities is making a big splash on the art-house circuit. Maybe one to watch out for in the future.

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Gainsbourg

Womanising French Crooner (is there another kind of French Crooner) behind Je t'aime, Moi Non Plus and Charlotte Gainsbourgh gets the biopic treatment with a suitably unconventional narrative structure.

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The Karate Kid

Or a Kung Fu kid if you want to be pedantic. I have a soft spot for the original film, whilst realising it's only a classic because of the timeliness of it's release and not because of the standard of filmmaking. Therefore I wish the remake, and stars Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith and Taraji P. Henson all the best.

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Once Upon a Time in Mumbai

No prizes for guessing where this Bollywood drama, based on the gangsters in one of the world's most populus cities, found inspiration for it's title. That's really quite true - there are no prizes.

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