There’s a poor selection of new releases this week, the best of which is French drama The New Girlfriend, in which a young woman is shocked to discover her dead friend’s husband is secretly a transvestite. Writer-director Francois Ozon handles this adaptation of a Ruth Rendell short story in sensitive fashion but it’s a little short on drama.
The latest remake of a classic comes in the form of Poltergeist. This one’s a very poor facsimile of the 1982 movie and adds nothing to justify to its production. The very definition of a pointless rethread.
Tomorrowland is based on the Disneyland attraction of the same name and the filmmakers struggle to pluck a decent narrative from this dubious source. It starts off as a fun romp but halfway through it runs out of steam and descends into a series of dull lectures on the state of the planet. Kids will be bored to tears.
Hipster bible Vice.com produced the Iranian vampire thriller A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and it’s exactly as pretentious as you might expect. This one tries way too hard to be a ‘cult’ movie and is insufferably mannered in its execution.
With such a poor lineup, the Eurovision doesn’t seem quite as bad a prospect this weekend.
By Eric Hillis