The Northern Hemisphere summer may be over, but evidently that doesn’t mean the blockbuster entertainment has to end. This weekend there’s a surge in high-profile movie releases, in addition to the more niche offerings of Bollywood romance Love in Vietnam, IMAX concert special David Gilmour Live at the Circus Maximus, and the Throwback rerelease of genre classic Once Upon a Time in the West.
Honestly, The Long Walk (see below) is our personal top pick of the week’s new movies. However, there’s a very good chance that epic anime adventure Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle will be the biggest hit of the debut bunch. And it’s coming to select large format screens for extra impact, in addition to being two-and-a-half hours long. In the middle of their preparations for the final face-off, the Demon Slayer Corps are drawn by “big bad” Muzan Kibutsuji into the demons’ stronghold, the Infinity Castle. There, our heroes face terrifying foes. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Think of this dark thriller as an utterly engrossing and emotionally hard-hitting The Hunger Games for adults. In fact, The Hunger Games’ Francis Lawrence is behind the camera here too. Based on the Stephen King novel, The Long Walk is set in a dystopian, post-war America where every year a group of young men are selected by lottery to take part in a televised walking contest. Drop below three miles per hour and you’re executed, with the challenge only ending when one walker remains. Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, and Mark Hamill star.
You can read our very positive The Long Walk review here.
If you’ve been engrossed in the saga of the aristocratic Crawley family and their household staff since 2010, you’ll probably want to watch it all wrap up in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. The third and (supposedly) concluding film in the British period drama franchise is set in the early 1930s, and sees the Crawleys not only face financial trouble, but also social disgrace as a result of Mary’s (Michelle Dockery) scandalous divorce. Change is afoot for everyone, whether they like it or not. Barring Dame Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess, fan-favourite characters are back, played by the likes of Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern and Penelope Wilton.
Keeping things dramatic is The Heart is a Muscle, a South African production screening in two Cape Town and Johannesburg theatres after film festival showings overseas. Taking place over the course of one weekend, young father Ryan (Keenan Arrison) finds himself desperately searching for his five-year-old son, who goes missing during a birthday celebration. Ryan’s violent kneejerk actions put strain on him, his marriage and his friendships, forcing him to revisit events from his troubled past. Explorations of masculinity, transgenerational trauma and healing through forgiveness are all on the table here.
Finally, for something more lighthearted, though definitely R-rated, there’s action comedy Code 3. Rainn Wilson stars as burned-out paramedic Randy, who, on his final 24-hour shift, must train up his eager but inexperienced replacement, Jessica (Aimee Carrero). An already tough ask is made worse as the night spirals into chaos, and the film’s band of emergency responders is forced to race around the city, dealing with one crisis after another – which tests their endurance, instincts and sense of humor. Also with Lil Rel Howery.