A quiet week for new movie releases

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This weekend you totally have to watch.... The Avengers (my review). Again. Yup, it's a bit of a dud week at South African cinemas with only 3 new films opening locally. And none of them are exactly major drawcards. So, treat the next 7 days as a chance for an older release catch-up, or an opportunity to regain your breath before the seasonal blockbuster storm rages back to hurricane strength from next Friday.

One For the Money:
Love her or hate her, Katherine Heigl stars in this adaptation of the hit franchise-spawning mystery novel by Janet Evanovich. Mixing action and comedy, One For the Money sees Heigl play an unemployed woman who accepts a job as a bounty hunter. She sets her sights on a notorious bail-jumper - who also just so happens to be her ex (Jason O'Mara).

One For the Money opened in the US back in January with a devastating aggregated Rotten Tomatoes review score of 2%. Ow. Apparently this one is as bland, corny and tedious as a failed TV pilot.


The Son of No One:
Here's your third Channing Tatum film for the year, and the second one released in a week. Except this action thriller comes with a bit more credibility than you'd normally expect from Mr Step Up (here sporting a mo).After all Al Pacino, Ray Liotta, Katie Holmes and Tracy Morgan also all appear in this tale of a rookie cop forced to face his dark past when he's assigned to the same Queens neighbourhood where he grew up.

Alas, this police drama - from the writer-director of Fighting - is apparently a bit of a dud despite its impressive cast. It's been called messy, incoherent and ludicrously overwrought. 17% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.


Wuthering Heights:
Turns out there is one acclaimed movie debuting this week... and that's this big screen British adaptation of Emily Bronte's moody romantic tragedy. Screening in limited release at select Ster Kinekor theatres, Wuthering Heights tells of the destructive love affair between strong-willed Catherine (Kaya Scodelario) and brooding, obsessed Heathcliff (James Howson).

By all accounts Wuthering Heights is a striking costume drama that avoids genre conventions. The film has received film festival awards for its cinematography and has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 81% Fresh. It may however be too quietly "arty" and lengthy for some.


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