THIS WEEK'S NEW CINEMA RELEASES

Sorry about the delayed update on new cinema releases this week - as I said, I’ve been in China so couldn’t update Facebook until now. Anyway … here we go …

MY TOP PICK TO SEE

THE SKELETON TWINS is top of my list to see this week. Having both coincidentally cheated death on the same day, estranged twins reunite with the possibility of mending their relationship. Stars Kristen Wiig (Maggie) and Bill Hader (Milo). According to Philadelphia Inquirer’s Steven Rea, If a movie with suicide as a central theme can be deemed funny, then writer/director Craig Johnson has pulled it off, mixing heartache and humor and giving Wiig, especially, the opportunity to shine. Sounds good.

OTHERS TO SEE

A new Australian comedy tackles some very everyday topics in THE LITTLE DEATH. It is a truly original comedy about sex, love, relationships and taboo. In a multi story narrative, we peer behind the closed doors of a seemingly normal suburban street. A woman with a dangerous fantasy and her partners struggle to please her. A man who begins an affair with his own wife without her knowing anything about it. A couple struggling to keep things together after a sexual experiment spins out of control. A woman who can only find pleasure in her husband's pain. A call centre operator caught in the middle of a dirty and chaotic phone call. And the distractingly charming new neighbour who connects them all. The little Death explores why do we want what we want? How far will we go to get it? What are the consequences of that fleeting moment of sexual ecstasy? (Anonymous)

MAYBE/MAYBE NOT

Denzel Washington is usually good in his typical action thriller movies. However, THE EQUALISER is hard to predict as general public and critics are in disagreement. A man believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and has dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when he meets a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can't stand idly by - he has to help her. Sounds like an uneven script if New York Daily News’s Joe Neumaier is correct. According to him, The movie is tense and coiled for its first hour, then becomes routine in its second half.

Finally, LIFE OF CRIME sits right on the borderline for both the general viewer and the critics. It is a comedy crime about two common criminals who get more than they bargained for after kidnapping the wife of a corrupt real-estate developer who shows no interest in paying the $1 million dollar ransom for her safe return. For The Hollywood Reporter’s John DeFore, Daniel Schechter's Life of Crime starts promisingly and ends with a smile but underwhelms in between.

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

NB: synopses of movies are adapted from IMDB. Opinions are mine unless quoted from cited sources.