YOUR GUIDE TO THIS WEEK'S NEW CINEMA RELEASES

Quite a choice of movies to see this week - most of them pretty average!

TOP PICK TO SEE

Top pick is DOPE. Life changes for Malcolm, a geek who's surviving life in a tough neighbourhood, after a chance invitation to an underground party leads him and his friends into a Los Angeles adventure. The title isn't encouraging, but The Hollywood Reporter's Boyd van Hoeij describes it as, Bouncy, with snappy dialog to spare and a great young cast headed by breakout star Shameik Moore, this is a crowd-pleaser from start to finish. I'll be checking it out.

MAYBE/MAYBE NOT

SOUTHPAW, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams is a sport action drama in which Boxer Billy Hope turns to trainer Tick Willis to help him get his life back on track after losing his wife in a tragic accident and his daughter to child protection services. General audiences have responded to this one more positively than critics. Apparently, Gyllenhaal is excellent, according to Total Film's Paul Bradshaw, who says, The script keeps its gloves on but Gyllenhaal gives his all, notching up one of his very best performances.

I've been looking forward to Woody Allen's new feature film IRRATIONAL MAN for a while now. The trailer looked interesting. It's about a tormented philosophy professor finds a will to live when he commits an existential act. For Hitfix'a Gregory Ellwood, His [Woody Allen's] characters may spout Kant and debate the ethics of different human interactions, but it's only sugar coating on top of what is effectively a simple and familiar story. I give it a go and let you know.

HITMAN: AGENT 47 is a crime action thriller in which an assassin teams up with a woman to help her find her father and uncover the mysteries of her ancestry. Don't know much about this one other than the trailers which look ok.

Finally, VACATION, which the critics don't like but the general public are rating as average - so you're going to have to make up your own mind. In this adventure comedy, Rusty Griswold takes his own family on a road trip to "Walley World" in order to spice things up with his wife and reconnect with his sons. Be warned, Movie Nation's Roger Moore has this to say: With every desperate F-bomb, every “Dad, what's a rim job?” crudity, every crass overreach into vulgarity, Vacation feels pointless, dated and dirty. I'll be giving this one a miss, I think.

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.