The Mercury

NEW RELEASES

- JAGVELD:

GET OUT:

In Jordan Peele’s debut feature, the writer-director has pulled off a movie that is bloody and macabre enough to work as grindhouse genre fare, funny enough to qualify as a comedy but one that is observant of race relations in post-Obama, earlyTrump America. The film’s a blast but it has a serious and disturbing subtext.

SENSE OF AN ENDING:

Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling and Michelle Dockery star in a big-screen adaptation of the widely praised Julian Barnes novel about a love triangle and its consequenc­es.

LIFE:

Scientists aboard the Internatio­nal Space Station discover a rapidly evolving life-form which could have caused extinction on Mars, and which threatens the crew and all life on Earth.

JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2:

The sequel finds John Wick (Keanu Reeves) succeeding in retrieving his prized 1969 black Mustang from New York’s Russian mob. He barely finishes stashing his collection of weaponry in anticipati­on of enjoying his retirement when a visitor turns up. POWER RANGERS: Screenwrit­er John Gatins succeeds in distilling the Power Rangers’ sprawling mythology into a manageable scope, and dialling back the campy humour and martial arts fixations that characteri­sed the TV series. This version instead emphasises more realistic, dramatic situations by imbuing each ranger with some type of personal issue.

CHIPS:

This big-screen adaptation of the TV series from the 1970s and 80s stars Dax Shepard and Michael Peña as a pair of California Highway Patrol officers attempting to uncover corruption in their ranks.

MISS SLOANE:

The political thriller paints a cynical picture of the lengths to which advocates will go to advance a cause. Even if you admire the drive of its title character, Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain), you may not admire the means she uses to achieve her goals.

Afrikaans action movie, written by thriller author Deon Meyer, tells the story of Emma le Roux (Leandie du Randt Bosch) who witnesses a murder by drug syndicate mastermind, Bosman (Neels van Jaarsveld), and his henchman, Baz (Tim Theron).

KONG: SKULL ISLAND:

Warner Bros gets the effects-driven fantasy adventure formula right again after numerous misfires. This entertaini­ng return of one of cinema’s most enduring giant beasts moves like crazy and achieves an ideal balance between wild action, throwaway humour, genre refreshmen­t and a nonchalant awareness of its own modest importance.

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS:

David Lynch meets Alfred Hitchcock meets Douglas Sirk in this, a sumptuousl­y entertaini­ng noir melodrama laced with vicious crime and psychologi­cal suspense.

BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK:

How do you make a psychologi­cally probing anti-war, pro-soldier movie in America when the traditiona­l screen vernacular calls for heroism and visceral combat action? Director Ang Lee has attempted to answer that with this film, told through the eyes of a soldier whose courage during an Iraq battle lands him in a spotlight of surreal demi-celebrity.

JACKIE:

Extraordin­ary in its piercing intimacy and lacerating in its sorrow, this is a raw portrait of an iconic American first lady, reeling in the wake of tragedy while summoning the fortitude needed to make her husband’s death meaningful. Natalie Portman gives an astonishin­g performanc­e in the title role.

LOGAN:

Seamlessly melding Marvel with Western mythology, director James Mangold has crafted a stripped-down, standalone feature, one that draws its strength from Hugh Jackman’s nuanced turn as a reluctant, all but dissipated hero.

THE HOLLARS:

The film announces itself as a quirky dysfunctio­nal family dramedy, but it slips into insufferab­le clichés and contrivanc­es one minute, evincing delicate familial interplay and genuine emotion the next.

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 ??  ?? Keanu Reeves stars as John Wick in John Wick Chapter 2
Keanu Reeves stars as John Wick in John Wick Chapter 2

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