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NEW MOVIE RELEASES
April is looking fairly lean in terms of its genre film offering, but there is a smattering to look out for, including Avengers: Infinity War at the end of the month.
In Rampage, Dwayne Johnson tries to save George, a mutant albino gorilla, with whom he has an incredibly strong bond, and in The Titan, Sam Worthington’s character is turned into a superhuman capable of weathering the atmosphere on Saturn’s moon. A number of intriguing horror movies are also being released, and, finally, BPM – out in early April – looks set to delight.
BPM (Beats Per Minute)
In the late 1980s the direct action group ACT UP – AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power – strove to rouse the gay community from and confront the indifference of politicians and companies who were failing to address the AIDS epidemic “we’re here to talk about AIDS as the government won’t” announces one activist, gatecrashing a classroom and disseminating pamphlets to kids in the class. BPM, its French title 120 Battements Par Minute, written and directed by Palme d’Or winning Robin Campillo, dramatises ACT UP’s struggle in France during the 1990s and their confrontations with health corporations such as Melton Pharm and their delay in publishing the results of HIV trials. Drawing on Campillo and co-writer Philippe Mangeot’s own experiences with ACT UP, the film narrates internal struggles over strategy within the group, and tells the story of Nathan as he begins falling in love with HIV-positive ACT UP veteran Sean. BPM has been met with acclaim, competing for the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2017 and winning numerous other awards.
Rampage
An experiment goes wrong and turns George the albino gorilla into a really massive albino gorilla. Directed by Brad Peyton and starring Dwayne Johnson, Rampage is a new sci-fi film loosely based on the videogame of the same name from Midway Games – they acquired the company for $33 million in 2009, and adapted the 1989 arcade game thereafter. The film follows a primatologist, or monkeyhandler, called Davis Okoye (Johnson), who has shared a strong bond with George – the albino gorilla – since he rescued him at two years old. When a mysterious genetic experiment goes wrong, the resulting contamination causes George, a wolf called Ralph, and a crocodile called Lizzie to grow to terrible sizes. As the mutant monsters take off on their rampage, Okoye teams up with a discredited genetic engineer named Kate Caldwell and the military to find out what went wrong. Peyton, the director, has said that the film is “a lot more emotional, a lot scarier and a lot more real than you’d expect” – ‘BIG MEETS BIGGER’ reads its slogan.
Avengers: Infinity War
Spider-Man, Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy – Avengers: Infinity War’s got ‘em all. This, the nineteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is a continuation of 2012’s The Avengers and 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. This band of familiar heroes unites to battle Thanos (Josh Brolin) in his attempt to get the world-bending Infinity Stones. Its ensemble cast is enormous because Marvel won’t kill this mushrooming list of heroes off, and includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, and Chris Pratt, and the film is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, with a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. A sequel is due out in April 2019.
Deadpool 2
Deadpool’s comic book hero buddy Cable, as played by Josh Brolin, joins the action for this sequel and we cannot wait. Even the trailer is awesome. But it’s definitely not for kids, oh no. So cover their tender eyes when watching. And ears.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
We’re still not totally convinced by the idea of Star Wars prequel movies. Yeah, Rogue One was great, but it’s still heavily outweighed by Episodes I to III. Still, Ron Howard’s involvement – having replaced original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller – is an intriguing one. And the latest trailer does look rather spiffing.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
The Jurassic World team return for another outing, this time to save the Dinosaurs of the abandoned theme park from doom. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are joined by Jeff Goldblum this time around, who reprises his role as Dr. Malcolm.
Incredibles 2
The Parr family finally don their spandex again with Jack-Jack’s powers becoming one focus of a sequel we’ve been requesting for years. It’s been 13 years since the first animated feature was released, can director Brad Bird rediscover the magic? We certainly hope so.
Venom
Breaking out from the Spider-Man lore to get his own movie, a Tom Hardy Venom will hopefully be a darn sight better than the one portrayed in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3. From the teaser trailer it certainly looks like the much-loved antihero will get the respect it deserves, although we’re yet to see the CGI treatment on Eddie Brock’s alter-ego.
