Movies out today: bunnies and best friends with benefits

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Five new releases hit South African cinemas today, including Bollywood crime drama Game.

For lovers of character-driven, powerfully acted cinema, be sure to check out stage adaptation Rabbit Hole (87% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes). Nicole Kidman received an Oscar nomination for her work here as a mother trying to cope with the death of her young son. It's apparently much less of a downer than it sounds. Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest co-star.


Just in time for Easter is family comedy Hop, about EB, the slacker, candy-crapping son (voiced by Russell Brand) of the Easter Bunny (voiced by Hugh Laurie), who would rather become a drummer in Hollywood than take over his father's duties. And when James Marsden hits EB with his car, EB's trouble-making crosses over to our world. Combining CGI-animation and live-action, this one looks like another Alvin & The Chipmunks, God help us! Actually, it's from the director of Alvin and Garfield 2). 19% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.


Action movie lovers and Jason Statham fans will no doubt be keen to watch The Mechanic, a remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson flick. Statham is an assassin who stages his hits to look like accidents, common crimes and suicides. He proceeds to take Ben Foster under his wing, even though the angry younger man doesn't know that Statham was the one contracted to kill his father. 53% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, The Mechanic is apparently a solid, graphic but utterly uncreative action movie.


Recent Oscar winner Natalie Portman stars in several 2011 releases, including romantic comedy No Strings Attached with Ashton Kutcher. The pair play young professionals and friends who, unwilling to commit to time- and emotion-sapping relationships, develop a casual sex arrangement. But of course, feelings complicate matters. No Strings Attached is a divisive 49% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Some are praising the film for its surprising amount of raunchiness. Others have found the mix of sleaze and tenderness too calculated and unconvincing.

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