YOUR GUIDE TO THIS WEEK'S NEW CINEMA RELEASES

Three new movies hit the screens this week — but two of them are in limited release.

TOP PICK

Joel Edgerton pops up in another movie this week, the adventure drama sci-fi, MIDNIGHT SPECIAL in which a father and son go on the run, pursued by the government and a cult drawn to the child's special powers. According to Consequence of Sound’s Dan Caffrey, ‘Only in its final stretch does Midnight Special start to lose its distinct identity.’ Looks interesting. In limited release so check your cinema guides to find out where it is on. People ***1/2 | Critics ***1/2

OTHERS TO SEE

The French drama MARGUERITE is rating around the same as Midnight Special above. It’s set in ‘Paris, 1920s. Marguerite Dumont is a wealthy woman, lover of the music and the opera. She loves to sing for her friends, although she's not a good singer. Both her friends and her husband have kept her fantasy. The problem begins when she decides to perform in front of a real audience. (IMDB — Written by Andres Garza) It may be a challenge to watch because The Playlist’s Kimber Myers says that, ‘At 127 minutes, Giannoli's script feels overlong and a bit repetitive in its heroine's disastrous performances. Lucien, the critic who helps propel Marguerite and her story forward, disappears for a large chunk of the film, only to randomly appear toward the end. Other than these missteps, Marguerite is worth watching with a well-earned grimace, largely for Frot's pitch-perfect performance.’ People ***1/2 | Critics ***1/2

MAYBE/MAYBE NOT

EDDIE THE EAGLE is the story of Eddie Edwards, the notoriously tenacious British underdog ski jumper who charmed the world at the 1988 Winter Olympics. I went to see it at a prescreening where it was described as this year’s feel-good movie. Sadly, a large proportion of it is fictional and very cliched. TheWrap’s Alonso Duralde gets it right when he says that, ‘As cinema, it's an avalanche of feel-good clichés, but as an audience-pleasing machine, it relentlessly pursues its goal and will probably win over viewers who surrender to it.’ I’d agree. My review is coming soon. People ***1/2 | Critics **1/2

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. These updates are written from an Australian perspective so openings of the movies in cinemas may vary in other parts of the world.