New Releases (17/01/13)

New to cinemas this week following a pretty average week of releases, and preceding a flurry of highly anticipated Academy Award-nominated films, is This is 40, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger and Compliance.

This is 40 - Writer/director/producer Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Funny People) brings audiences This Is 40, an original comedy that expands upon the story of Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) from the blockbuster hit Knocked Up as we see first-hand how they are dealing with their current state of life.

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger - Two couples find their lives turned upside down by their unfulfilled longings in this ensemble comedy from director Woody Allen. Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) and Helena (Gemma Jones) have been married for years. They have a grown-up daughter named Sally (Naomi Watts), who is married to a successful novelist named Roy (Josh Brolin), but finds the future of her marriage in jeopardy after falling for Greg (Antonio Banderas), the dapper owner of a prominent art gallery. Meanwhile, as Roy develops a fixation on Dia (Freida Pinto), an exotic beauty he encounters on the street, Alfie ditches Helena for Charmaine (Lucy Punch), an impressionable young call girl. Now it seems that the harder everyone tries runs away from their problems, the faster their lives seem to fall apart.

Compliance - Becky and Sandra aren't the best of friends. Sandra is a middle-aged manager at a fast-food restaurant; Becky is a teenaged counter girl who really needs the job. One stressful day (too many customers and too little bacon), a police officer calls, accusing Becky of stealing money from a customer's purse, which she vehemently denies. Sandra, overwhelmed by her managerial responsibilities, complies with the officer's orders to detain Becky. This choice begins a nightmare that tragically blurs the lines between expedience and prudence, legality and reason.

Weekly Recommendation: I intend to check out Compliance this weekend, having heard very good things about it, and I have been championing This is 40 for about a month now. If you enjoyed Judd Apatow's other films then you are sure to like this. Offering up consistent laughs, courtesy of the intelligent writing and excellent performances from the two leads and an ensemble of hilarious cameos, This is 40 also whacks an emotional punch. Apatow's most honest and intimate film to date.