This week is an awards season showcase at the cinemas, with three Oscar contenders and a Johnny Depp romp…
Foxcatcher:
Based on actual events, Foxcatcher tells the story of Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum), who sees a way out from the shadow of his more celebrated wrestling brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo) and a life of poverty when he is summoned by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont (an unrecognisable cold and creepy Steve Carell) to move onto his estate and train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Desperate to gain the respect of his disapproving mother, du Pont begins “coaching” a world-class athletic team and, in the process, lures Mark into dangerous habits, breaks his confidence and drives him into a self-destructive spiral. Foxcatcher is a psychological drama directed by Bennett Miller (Moneyball), co-stars Vanessa Redgrave and Sienna Miller and is a real threat at this year’s hotly-contested Academy Awards.
Foxcatcher is out now
Official trailer:
Still Alice:
Based on the best-selling novel by Lisa Genova, Still Alice brings to light the confronting, compelling and challenging world of early-onset dementia. 50 year old Alice Howland (Julianne Moore in her Golden Globe winning role) is a Columbia professor, gifted researcher and lecturer, wife, and mother of three grown children. On a day like any other she sets out for a run along the route she always takes, but soon realises she has no idea how to find her way home. She is lost – a feeling that will only grow for her and those around her – as medical testing confirms early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Alec Baldwin plays the supportive husband, and Twilight scarlett Kristen Stewart takes a serious and heartfelt turn as Alice’s grieving daughter. Still Alice is a gentle and patient portrayal of the slowly fading memory of a great woman, and touches anyone who watches it. A true tearjerker.
Still Alice is out now
Official trailer:
The Theory of Everything:
Starring young British talents Eddie Redmayne (Les Misérables) and Felicity Jones (The Invisible Woman), this is the extraordinary true story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. We meet Hawking on the very cusp of his intellectual discoveries and his relationship with fellow Cambridge student Jane (Jones). But, at just 21 years-of-age, he is about to receive an earth-shattering diagnosis – Motor Neurone Disease. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Hawking defies impossible odds, breaks new ground in medicine and science, and achieves more than they could ever have dreamed. The film is based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, by Jane Hawking, and is directed by James Marsh (Man on Wire). Redmayne gives an incredibly taxing, physical performance to completely transform into this remarkable icon. Another tear-jerker!
The Theory of Everything is out now
Official trailer:
Mortdecai:
It’s Johnny Depp, but before you say anything, no, it’s not another Tim Burton movie. However, Mordecai director David Koepp has worked with Depp before, in Secret Window. Their latest collaboration tells the quirky tale of debonair art dealer Charlie Mordecai, whose average day involves juggling with angry Russians, the British Mi5, his impossibly leggy wife and an international terrorist. Moustachioed Mortdecai (an extravagantly extravagant Depp) must travel the globe armed only with his good looks and special charm in a race to recover a stolen painting – a Goya, no less – rumoured to contain the code to a lost bank account filled with Nazi gold. Adapted from The Mortdecai Trilogy by English author Kyril Bonfiglioli, this regal-tinged romp co-stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, Jeff Goldblum and Paul Bettany. A Pink Panther-esque romp for fans of farce!
Mortdecai is out now
Official trailer:
