Cowards die many times before their deaths (Out this week - 28/10/11)

It's an interesting week for film releases with two Oscar players hitting British cinemas, but neither of them have received the kind of outstanding reviews that would guarantee box office hit status, not that we need to worry about ticket sales as Spielberg and Herge will be claiming the top spot. There's an interesting selection of Bollywood releases too, as a post Diwali celebration, not that I'm going there for film of the week, which has to be Ides of March.



Ides of March

George Clooney's throwback political thriller, with it's roots in 70's cinema - albeit reflected in todays celebrity obsessed politics and 24 hour news footage - looks set to peel the facade away from the business of spin and is another chance to see Ryan Gosling's star ascending (gotta be worth it for that alone).

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The Help

The astonishing success of Tate Taylor's directorial debut ($166m domestic and counting) has once again proven there's a significant market for films that are made for an adult audience, although being adapted from a New York Times bestseller certainly helps. Although whether the Civil Rights theme will translate to British audiences remains to be seen.

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The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

It's taken a surprisingly long for Hollywood to pick up on the best selling Belgian journalist/detective, possibly because whilst the character is wildly popular this side of the Atlantic he's barely dented the US market. Of course if anyone can change the opinions of the US public it's Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson.

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Miss Bala

Mexico's submission for the Foreign Language Oscar is an unlikely account of the drug cartels as seen through the eyes of an aspiring beauty queen.

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Anonymous

World wrecker Roland Emmerich is taking a break from destroying mankind by indulging in one of the more fanciful Shakespeare conspiracies, calling the authorship of the plays into questions, although frankly it hardly matters giving the quality of the work. Somehow he drags Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave and Derek Jacobi into the mix.

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Seventh Sense

Jumping straight past the sixth one, presumably because that involves seeing ghosts, this Tamil feature mixes elements of global arms races, genetic technology and a big song and dance number naturally.

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Silence

European crime thriller with the central abduction of a 13 year old girl offering eerie parallels to a 23 year old cold case the original investigators must work together to prevent another murder. Sounds awfully TV to me.

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Sket

Gender equality is a good thing, of that I'm sure there's no question, however the sight of a gang warfare movie focussed on a half dozen of teenage girls chasing down the drug dealer who hospitalized one of their brothers does feel like a step too far.

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Velayudham

Bollywood option number 2 could be about journalistic integrity with a columnist basing their copy on the experiences of an unwitting postman. But it'll probably be about an unconventional romance - do tell me if I'm guessing this wrong.

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Demons Never Die

Lo-fi British horror which starts with a terrific premise - teenagers enter into a suicide pact only to be brutally murdered if they fail to enact their plans - but swiftly turns into an unnecessarily derivative stalker pic.

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RA. One

For Random Access, this 3D superhero movie is reported the most expensive Bollywood movie of all time with a rumoured budget of $50m. Huge pressure then for megastar Shah Rukh Khan to deliver the audiences.

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