Retribution
Cast: Liam Neeson, Noma Dumezweni, Lilly Aspell
Director: Nimród Antal
Rating: M
Synopsis: A bank executive receives a bomb threat while driving his children to school that his car will explode if they stop and get out.
Reviews
“Retribution is ultimately serviceable and, thankfully, never dull, and if it opens up viewers to what Antal is capable of as a director with limited space and an average script, then that can only bode well for his previous works that, personally, feel entirely undiscovered.”
The AU Review
“Retribution is edge-of-your-seat fare. With strong direction from Nimrod Antal (Predators), Retribution is one of the better examples of the genre.”
The Blurb
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie
Cast: Finn Lee-Epp, Ron Pardo, Mckenna Grace
Director: Cal Brunker
Rating: PG
Synopsis: When a magical meteor crash lands in Adventure City, it gives the PAW Patrol pups superpowers, transforming them into The MIGHTY PUPS. For Skye, the smallest member of the team, her new powers are a dream come true. But things take a turn for the worse when the pups’ archival Humdinger breaks out of jail and teams up with a mad scientist to steal the superpowers for the two villains. With the fate of Adventure City hanging in the balance, the Mighty Pups have to stop the supervillains before it’s too late, and Skye will need to learn that even the smallest pup can make the biggest difference.
Reviews
“
SWITCH.The film also suffers because of the superhero premise; it just kind of fulfils the basic tropes, but at the cost of the pups. It makes the film feel more draining to sit through, and a lot of kids in my screening were checking out.“
“
The BlurbI saw PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie with a very young audience, many of whom were toddlers and I was surprised how quiet they were. That says to me they were engaged, a sure sign the film has hit the mark.“
It Lives Inside
Cast: Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, Mohana Krishnan
Director: Bishal Dutta
Rating: M
Synopsis: Sam, an Indian-American teen, lives in an idyllic suburb with her conservative mother and her assimilated father. Sam’s cultural insecurities grow due to her estranged friend, Tamira, who mysteriously carries around an empty mason jar all the time. In a moment of anger, Sam breaks Tamira’s jar and unleashes an ancient Indian demonic force that kidnaps Tamira. Sam searches for Tamira, following the trail of a young man who performed a deadly ritual, until the demonic entity starts targeting her, murdering her boyfriend and shattering her reality with terrifying visions. Sam must band together with her parents and a sympathetic teacher to save Tamira and put an end to the terror of the demon.
Reviews
“This Indian American monster movie has interesting touches of cultural specificity but it’s a mostly familiar formula.”
The Guardian
“This feature debut about a high schooler’s struggle with her cultural identity is promising, even if the allegory doesn’t always land.”
The New York Times
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken
Cast: Jane Fonda, Lana Condor, Toni Collette
Director: Kirk DeMicco, Faryn Pearl
Rating: PG
Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Ruby Gillman learns that she is in the next legendary line of sea krakens. Despite her lofty destiny, she is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High. Ruby struggles even more to fit in when her mother forbids her from going to the beach. After disobeying her mother’s rules, she discovers that she is descended from the warrior Kraken queens and will ascend to the throne as the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas, her grandmother. The krakens are a race sworn to protect the world oceans from the vain, power-hungry mermaids by battling with aeons. Ruby would need to embrace Chelsea, a mermaid-turned-human who enrols at Oceanside High School.
Reviews
‘”Ruby Gillman’s’ strongest asset is its voice-cast, with the affable Lana Condor handling Ruby’s teenage coming-of-age with equal angst and awkward enthusiasm and Annie Murphy playing the most fashionable and cool mermaid, Chelsea.”
SWITCH.
‘”Managing to feel slow-paced at an hour and twenty minutes long, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, is an uninspired-by-the-numbers girl power chick flick that should have been shunted directly to VOD.”
worthitorwoke.com
Blue Beetle
Cast: Xolo Maridueña, Bruna Marquezine, Becky G
Director: Angel Manuel Soto
Rating: M
Synopsis: An alien scarab chooses Jaime Reyes to be its symbiotic host, bestowing the recent college graduate with a suit of armour that’s capable of extraordinary powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the superhero known as Blue Beetle.
Reviews
“It wouldn’t be half as much fun were it not for the boisterous dinner-table vibe that drives the film.”
The Guardian
“In the end, while Blue Beetle may not be a flawless leap, it’s a significant stride in the right direction. Even in a landscape crowded with capes and cosmic clashes, there’s always room for smaller stories that touch the human soul.”
wionews.com
A Haunting in Venice
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Rating: M
Synopsis: In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a séance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer.
Reviews
“With smart casting and suitably murky Venice setting, the director improves on last year’s Death on the Nile, though his moustache-fondling Poirot remains the same.”
The Guardian
“A Haunting in Venice gets a little more serious about Hercule Poirot than Agatha Christie ever did.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Cast: Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu
Director: Jeff Rowe, Kyler Spears
Rating: PG
Synopsis: After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtles set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. But they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.
Reviews
“With its refreshingly glitchy animation style and superb hip-hop soundtrack, the reptilian superheroes’s latest outing is a fizzing treat.”
The Guardian
“…this “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” while a half shell of those films, has its own low-key charms. It’s goofier, grosser and mostly fun.”
AP News
The Equalizer 3
Cast: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Eugenio Mastrandrea
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Rating: MA15+
Synopsis: Since giving up his life as a government assassin, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has struggled to reconcile the horrific things he’s done in the past and finds a strange solace in serving justice on behalf of the oppressed. Finding himself surprisingly at home in Southern Italy, he discovers his new friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends’ protector by taking on the mafia.
Reviews
“The Oscar-winner returns for more carnage in a rote, violent sequel, this time saving an idyllic Italian seaside town from baddies.”
The Guardian
“Whilst Denzel and The Equalizer series deserve a stronger send-off than the uneven farewell afforded here, there’s just enough cheap thrills and Washington swag to render this serviceable-enough for the casual movie-goer seeking an escape.”
The AU Review
Surprised by Oxford
Cast: Simon Callow, Rose Reid, Mark Williams
Director: Ryan Whitaker
Rating: PG
Synopsis: Brilliant but emotionally guarded Caro Drake arrives in Oxford with the singular goal of attaining her PhD – but through a turbulent friendship with a charming young man, Caro begins to open herself up to mystery, vulnerability, and love.
In theaters September 27, 2023
The Creator
Cast: John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan
Director: Gareth Edwards
Rating: M
Synopsis: Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war-and mankind itself.
In theaters September 28, 2023
