‘UNBROKEN’
How do you top your mega-star husband’s Second World War drama? Produce and direct your own, which is exactly what Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie has done with the screen adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 best-seller, Unbroken.
Jolie’s Unbroken tells the harrowing tale of Olympic runner-turned-bombardier for the United States Army during the Second World War, Louis Zamperini (played by newcomer Jack O’Connell). After his plane malfunctions over the Pacific, Zamperini survives 47 days in a life raft. And that’s not the worst part. He’s eventually captured by the Japanese Navy and spends three years as a prisoner of war (POW) being tortured by prison guard Mutsuhiro Watanabe (Takamasa Ishihara). To call this guy evil would be an understatement.
With this biographical war drama Jolie proves again she has the ability to inspire viewers, handle complex material and outdo her heart-throb hubby.
‘VICE’
Bruce Willis stars in this sci-fi thriller about an ultra-modern resort called VICE where customers play out their wildest fantasies.
Before you ask, no, this magical resort is not in the UAE (but give it a year or two). When one of the resort’s artificial inhabitants (Ambyr Childers), who looks like a human, strays off the reservation, Willis and his crew attempt to track her and bring her back. You might think you’re watching a reboot of Willis’s Surrogate.
‘WOMAN IN BLACK 2’
Back in 2012 Harry Potter stopped being Harry Potter and we saw Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur in the Woman In Black. This first film terrified my fully grown 35-year-old MALE friend… can’t wait to take him to see this second instalment because if the first one scared you as much as it did him, this one will leave you literally quaking. So we head back to Eel Marsh House but this time its opened its doors to a group of Second World War orphans.
There’s something about children in horror movies that make things all the more freaky and young Edward (played by award-winning Oaklee Pendergast, last seen in The Impossible) is particularly odd… scarily odd. If you’re looking to loose a little weight this New Year go and see Woman In Black 2 — you’ll loose calories due to all the seat jumping!
‘LAGGIES’
Keira Knightley… with an American accent. Initial thought? Never gonna work… but actually she really pulls it off in this new movie. So Megan (Knightley) is having an early mid-life crisis, walks out on her boyfriend mid-proposal and seems like the only person she can turn to is teenage girl Megan (Chloe Grace Moretz) who she’s only just met. Bear with us — it actually works!
An official Sundance 2014 Film Festival film, which is a bit of an outsider this week but a good option if you want some New Year feel-good ‘life’s too short’ kinda cliche fun.
Still Showing… ‘PADDINGTON’
Everyone has heard of Paddington Bear, right? The original marmalade sandwich-loving teddy bear who we first met in the late 1950s (OK, maybe your parents first met him then, you a little later) — well now he’s back!
Revamping something as classic as the P-Bear was always going to upset some of the more ‘classic’ film goers but this version has been a long time in the works and you can tell, thoughtful, entertaining and actually pretty funny; if you haven’t seen this yet go. Now!
