YOUR GUIDE TO THIS WEEK'S NEW CINEMA RELEASES

A rather dismal week for new releases this week… they’re all in the maybe/maybe not category or not worth seeing at all.

MAYBE/MAYBE NOT

Ricky Gervais stars in a The Office movie spinoff called DAVID BRENT: LIFE ON THE ROAD. A camera crew catches up with David Brent, the former star of the fictional British TV series The Office (2001), as he now fancies himself a rockstar on the road. The Hollywood Reporter’s Stephen Dalton says that ‘David Brent remains an enduring comic grotesque, but this sporadically amusing big-screen resurrection is more cash-in reunion tour than killer comeback album.’ People ***1/2 ◉ Critics **1/2

FREE STATE OF JONES is about a disillusioned Confederate army deserter (Matthew McConaughey) returns to Mississippi and leads a militia of fellow deserters, runaway slaves, and women in an uprising against the corrupt local Confederate government. It’s based on actual historical events. It’s pretty average despite its significant subject matter. I agree with TheWrap’s Robert Abele: ‘That you may learn a good deal about an unusually driven man, but never quite feel emotionally connected to him, means Ross has hit a workmanlike middle, crafting a handsome textbook more than a blood-pumping portrait.’ My review soon. People ***1/2 ◉ Critics **1/2 ◉ Me ***

THE CARER is a comedy with the tagline: When the question is to be or not to be, there is only one answer. Doesn’t tell us much. It’s a UK comedy. People ***1/2

A man is on his way home when the poorly constructed tunnel he is driving through collapses, leaving him trapped, in the South Korean drama, THE TUNNEL. People ***1/2

TO AVOID

Finally, and very disappointingly, the remake of the classic BEN HUR is getting mainly negative reviews from critics. In case you don’t know the storyline, Judah Ben-Hur, a prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother, an officer in the Roman army, returns to his homeland after years at sea to seek revenge, but finds redemption. According to TheWrap’s Robert Abele, ‘This Ben-Hur may not be an epic fail, but its steady stream of shortcomings are certainly a cautionary journey for anybody with the hubris to try and rebuild the monuments of movies past.’ People **1/2 ◉ Critics **

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. People and critics scores are a rough idea of how movies are currently being rated on the “average”. These updates are written from an Australian perspective so openings of the movies in cinemas may vary in other parts of the world.