YOUR GUIDE TO THIS WEEK'S NEW CINEMA RELEASES

Lots to choose from this week when it comes to new movies at the cinemas…

TOP PICK

Top of the list is an animated family adventure called KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS. In this visually stunning movie, a young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armour worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past. This is not for young children who would probably get bored. But for the rest of the family, definitely worth seeing. TheWrap’s Sam Adams says that ‘It's not a flawless movie, but there's real magic in it, and that's more important, and no less rare, than perfection.’ My review soon. People **** ◉ Critics **** ◉ Me ***1/2


OTHERS TO SEE

Now here’s a weird documentary that I imagine will provide some humour — but there’s also a very dark side. In TICKLED, journalist David Farrier stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition online. As he delves deeper he comes up against fierce resistance, but that doesn't stop him getting to the bottom of a story stranger than fiction. Variety’s Dennis Harvey describes it as ‘An alarming cautionary tale about how easy it is in the Internet age to ruin people's lives while hiding behind a cloak of anonymity … the pic boasts a humorously titillating entry hook that soon gives way to engrossing conspiracy-thriller-like content.’ People **** ◉ Critics ****


MAYBE/MAYBE NOT

Don’t know much about HIGH-RISE other than that it is about life for the residents of a tower block that begins to run out of control. Time Out New York's Joshua Rothkopf says, ‘The movie ultimately feels both too glib and too hermetically sealed to resonate beyond its chaotic interiors.’ People *** ◉ Critics ***

In THE SHALLOWS, a mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills. Nothing like a good shark attack thriller, is there! I don’t think this will be as good as Jaws was, but it might be entertaining. For Movie Nation’s Roger Moore, ‘Things get into the area of “Oh come on” before they're done. But The Shallows never tries to pass itself off as deep. It's a straight, simple and primal thriller playing with our darkest deep sea fear - getting eaten.’ People *** ◉ Critics ***

WAR DOGS is based on the true story of two young men, David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli, who won a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to arm America's allies in Afghanistan. It’s billed as a comedy war drama! It’s a bit hard to tell what this one is going to be like. According to indieWIRE’s David Ehrlich,
‘Hill [who plays Diveroli] embodies everything that's best about the film around him: He's funny, daft and broken in a way that's more fun to gawk at than it is to fix. In a story that's supposedly about the payoffs and perils of taking big risks, he's the only one who puts his money where his mouth is.’ People ***1/2 ◉ Critics ***

TO AVOID

Finally, one to avoid. The Chinese romantic drama SWEET SIXTEEN (Xia You Qiao Mu) tells the story of Xia Mu, a troubled child whose salvation comes in the form of Shu Yawang. When something terrible happens to her, he seeks revenge. Nothing is the same in their lives after that.’ Give it a miss. People **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. 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.