Upcoming: March

Upcoming is a brand new feature here at RhettMedia, and is where the best and most notable film releases in the UK for the looming month will be examined in a hope to give you the reader a feel for which movies to keep an eye on and which to avoid at all costs. This inaugural edition deals with March 2012, and there’s an interesting mixed bag to consider.

This Means War, Released 2 March

This Means War is a rom-com/action combo with an impressive cast list, with Chris Pine and Tom Hardy starring as spies caught in a love triangle with Reese Witherspoon’s character. The conflict of interests between the two secret agents leads to more and more hair-brained and wacky schemes to thwart the other’s attempt to romance the lady, and with this Witherspoon’s choice between the two is the lynchpin of the plot.

By combining the romance storyline with a lot of action and fight scenes, the film was originally slated to be released around Valentine’s Day as a bid to accommodate the reluctant male audience who were inevitably dragged along by the more eager female audience for this type of movie. However stiff competition from Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams’ turn in The Vow (reviewed here: https://rhettmedia.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/film-review-the-vow/) meant the release date was pushed back before being blasted critically Stateside. With the exceptional Witherspoon involved and the watchable Pine and Hardy at the helm, this should be better than the reviews suggest, but as with most films in this genre this may be more miss than hit.

Watch/Avoid: Avoid if predictable rom-coms aren’t your cup of tea.

 

The Raven, Released 9 March

Guided by V For Vendetta director James McTeigue, The Raven looks to be a dark look into the gothic world of Edgar Allan Poe, played by veteran John Cusack. Set in 19^th century Baltimore, the picture offers a dim look into the latter years of the great poet’s life, focusing on a series of events that sees a serial killer on the loose and framing the murder scenes to allude to and reflect images created by Poe. This premise means that Poe himself is drafted in so as to attempt to solve the case and end the murders, and thus the story becomes a game of cat and mouse between the creator and the misguided imitator.

As a detective narrative and as a character study of Poe himself, The Raven looks to be quite the intriguing romp, channelling tone and imagery from Jack the Ripper movie From Hell starring Johnny Depp and parlaying the reputation of one of the most recognisable names of American literature. Looking quite sombre in manner, the film will undoubtedly be a faithful portrayal of the dark melancholy of which Poe himself is the embodiment of, and the enjoyment of such qualities depends on your particular taste for the gothic and whether the performance by John Cusack reflects his irritatingly distracting performance in the fairly average horror flick 1408.

Watch/Avoid: Catch it if you have an affinity for Poe, otherwise Cusack’s performance is probably crucial to whether or not this works.

Bel Ami, Released 9 March

Based on a novel by Guy du Maupassant, Bel Ami is probably one of the more anticipated films on this list primarily for the involvement of Twilight star and apparent global phenomenon Robert Pattinson, who stars in the leading role as Georges Duroy. Chronicling the rise of an impoverished ex-soldier to aristocrat in approximately nineteenth century Paris, Pattinson’s portrayal of Duroy is certain to turn an absolutely huge number of heads, purely for the inclusion of erotic content and the narrative’s fixation on sex as a means to social ascension.

As loyal ‘Twihards’ are inevitably salivating at a number of tenuous excuses to see Pattinson in more compromising positions, this role should be interesting for assessing the actor’s progression into a more rounded and reliable performer. Starring opposite the already legendary Uma Thurman as well as the highly respected Kristin Scott Thomas and the recognisable Christina Ricci, this is evidently a substantial chance for Pattinson to legitimise himself as a real Hollywood leading man outside of the typecasting that Twilight will inexorably entail.

Watch/Avoid: Definite watch if you’re a Pattinson fan, but clearly a questionable maybe if you’re not.

The Devil Inside, Released 16 March

The latest in Blair Witch Project­-style fake documentary footage movies comes in the form of The Devil Inside, a picture that is rife with controversy looking to build upon the recent successes of Paranormal Activity while also channelling the legacy of the inimitable flick about supernatural possession The Exorcist. The general premise of the film surrounds a woman committing a brutal homicide during an exorcism, with her daughter filming a documentary on the events a couple of decades later. Siphoning a bevy of religious symbolism and iconography, the film has been causing a stir for its tackling of what is still largely a taboo subject, and will inevitably receive much condemnation from certain watchdog groups for its utilisation of Catholicism in the narrative.

Receiving an unyielding amount of negative press after its release in America, the reviews would tend to suggest that the audience is tired of this format of movie, thirteen years removed from the release of seminal picture for the genre The Blair Witch Project. However, the film topped the box office on Stateside, so it would seem the public demand for this genre of cinema has not been reached yet, and thus is unlikely to be the last of its kind.

Watch/Avoid: Only watch if you need to see what all the fuss is about, otherwise avoid.

 

The Hunger Games, Released 23 March

The Hunger Games is another film based in the context of the near and impending future, focusing on the destruction of the United States of America and the birth of a struggling culture of survival from that devastation. Based on the novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins, the film concentrates on the titular Hunger Games, wherein the burgeoning new country of Panem nominates two adolescent candidates from each of the twelve districts that the country has been split into to partake in the event. What follows is a battle to the death, with the winner receiving enough to live on for the rest of their lives.

Produced by goliath Lionshead and featuring appearances from Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz and Donald Sutherland, it is clear that no expense has been spared for what is set to be a big action/thriller for the month, and perhaps the season. With further books by Collins in The Hunger Games canon, providing this does reasonable numbers at the box office, it should be expected that the already ongoing talks of a sequel will intensify.

Watch/Avoid: The idea isn’t vastly removed from anything we’ve seen before, but may be unique enough to warrant a viewing – watch.

 

Wrath of the Titans, Released 30 March

Finally, we end this month’s Upcoming with another heavy-hitting, big-budget action movie, as the follow-up to 2010’s Clash of the Titans graces our screens with the release of Wrath of the Titans at the end of the month. Reassembling the same stellar cast, with just the tips of the iceberg being Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes and Sam Worthington reprising their roles as Zeus, Hades and Perseus, the sequel looks to build off the story from the first movie by retelling of some of the finer stories of Greek mythology.

Despite the first instalment receiving less than spectacular reviews, the direction of the films has never been to make outstandingly thought-provoking works of cinema, rather looking to draw from the weight of the mythology and create something truly enormous and epic in terms of scope. Being jam-packed with action and with a bevy of impressive visuals, the original was a non-stop study of heroism in the face of insurmountable odds, and this sequel will undoubtedly be more of the same, with little reason for it to be anything otherwise.

Watch/Avoid: Watch as it is by far the biggest example of epic-concept cinema that will hit the screens this month. Pick of the month.

 

That does it for this month, be sure to leave a comment to say which film you’re most looking forward to this month or if you’re most looking forward to seeing anything that’s missing from the list. Also, check out the official twitter of RhettMedia found on the sidebar, and press the like button if you’re feeling generous.

~ by jrhett on February 29, 2012.