The Cinema Corner – July 28th

Movie of the week – The Untouchables

Long before the current trend for cinematic adaptations of old TV shows, Brian De Palma brought The Untouchables to the big screen in 1987. Hollywood filmmaking at its finest, the movie gives De Palma ample opportunity to exercise his stylistic muscles, giving us memorable visual set-pieces along with great performances by Kevein Costner as the goody two shoes Elliott Ness and Sean Connery as the unconventional ‘Irish’ beat cop. Catch it late Friday night at the Lighthouse in a 35mm print.

47 Metres Down

47 Metres Down is a shark thriller with a twist – two young women find themselves trapped in a not so shark repellent cage 47 metres below sea level. Director Johannes Roberts does an effective job of creating tense situations that rarely strain credibility, and Mandy Moore puts in a great performance under difficult circumstances.

The Big Sick

Comedian Kumail Nanjiani draws on a real life experience for his script for rom-com The Big Sick, in which he plays a slightly fictionalised version of himself. The film details how his then girlfriend ended up in a coma, struck down by a mysterious illness at a rough patch in their relationship, and leaving Kumail to deal with her parents. It’s got plenty of charm, but the relationship is portrayed as too one-sided to fully convince.

Hounds of Love

Based on a far grimmer true story is Aussie thriller Hounds of Love, which details the abduction of a teenage girl by a pair of serial killers in ’80s Australia. There’s nothing here we haven’t seen before, but debut director Ben Young does enough to suggest he may be one to watch in future.

By Eric Hillis of themoviewaffler.com