After a quiet few weeks at the movies, multiple new films, and other special releases, are hitting cinemas this Friday and beyond.
On the limited screening front, your options include Bollywood romcom Tera Yaar Hoon Main; Tamil-language actioner Jana Nayagan; the Throwback return of The Hobbit (Part 2): The Desolation of Smaug; Rosamund Pike in a recorded National Theatre Production of Suzie Miller’s legal drama Inter Alia; and family anime Doraemon the Movie: New Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil.
Meanwhile, for one screening only, on Tuesday, 28 July, there’s concert documentary WHAM! 10 Days In China.
While horror filmmakers receive a lot of attention for their inventive approach to the genre, today’s action movies also often try to bring something fresh to the table. Like Motor City, which stars Reacher and War Machine’s Alan Ritchson. Reportedly, the film has only five lines of dialogue, instead using its 70s rock score to advance the plot. That plot? Happiness is short-lived for ordinary joe John Miller (Ritchson) when he falls in love with the ex (Shailene Woodley) of a possessive Detroit gangster (Ben Foster). Framed for a crime he didn’t commit, Miller is imprisoned, and swears revenge.
Also ticking the box for something unusual is A24’s The Invite, a razor-sharp, and super-highly acclaimed, comedy based on 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs. Actress-turned-filmmaker Olivia Wilde directs and stars here, and is joined onscreen by Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton for the tale of a couple whose marriage is quietly fracturing. Things take an unexpected turn when they invite their glamorous upstairs neighbours over for dinner, and the enigmatic pair make a saucy proposition. Out of interest Will McCormack and Rashida Jones are on writing duties.
Finally, there’s homegrown faith movie Angels, They Are Amongst Us, which has been picking up accolades at various Christian film festivals around the world. Keenan Arrison leads the cast of this drama which asks the question, “What if the help you prayed for was already standing beside you?” After he loses everything, Paul Taylor takes a teaching post at a reform school. It’s there, amidst the pain, hardship and cynicism that he’s confronted by the supernatural reality of ministering angels… and the existence of God too. Also with Ofentse Rakololo and Brümilda van Rensburg.