YOUR GUIDE TO THIS WEEK'S NEW CINEMA RELEASES

Ok... Some new visual delights to catch at the cinema this week ...

TOP PICK TO SEE

At last! After 30 years, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD has arrived. In a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, two rebels just might be able to restore order: Max, a man of action and of few words, and Furiosa, a woman of action who is looking to make it back to her childhood homeland. General audiences and critics are rating this an average of 4.5/5 stars. So it looks like our high expectations will be fulfilled. If you haven't seen the original Mad Max movie and its sequels, you'd better get watching then, if you like the frenetic quirkiness, catch the new one at the cinemas. TheWrap's  Alonso Duralde says, Where Fury Road stands apart from so much of today's action cinema is that the human element remains front and center. Can't wait!

OTHERS TO SEE

If you have seen previous animated movies from Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo) you'll know how beautiful they are. His new movie is WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE in which A young girl is sent to the country for health reasons, where she meets an unlikely friend in the form of Marnie, a young girl with flowing blonde hair. As the friendship unravels it is possible that Marnie has closer ties to the protagonist than we might expect. (David On - IMDB)

Billed as a drama/romance/thriller - but clearly not meant to be taken seriously or considered in any way accurate, A ROYAL NIGHT OUT is about how, on V.E. Day in 1945, as peace extends across Europe, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret are allowed out to join the celebrations. It is a night full of excitement, danger and the first flutters of romance. The trailer looks fun so I imagine this will be an enjoyable piece of entertainment.

Finally, there is CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA which stars Juliette Binoche (Godzilla) and Kristen Stewart (Twilight Saga) tells the story of a veteran actress who comes face-to-face with an uncomfortable reflection of herself when she agrees to take part in a revival of the play that launched her career 20 years earlier. The Telegraph's Robbie Collin describes it as ... a complex, bewitching and melancholy drama, another fearlessly intelligent film from Assayas. Critics are rating it around 4 stars.

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.