New Releases (28/03/13)

There is another week of high volume releases coming, with G.I Joe: Retaliation, The Host, The Croods, Return to Nim's Island, Rust and Bone, Hyde Park on Hudson and in Vic/Qld/NT Adventures in Zambezia (for NSW/SA/ACT it hits screens April 11) hitting cinemas. Throughout March the line-ups have not only been unflattering, but have usually contained at least five new films.

Rust and Bone - A struggling single father helps a beautiful whale trainer recover her will to live following a terrible accident. Lonely and destitute, Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) leaves the north of France for his sister's house in Antibes after becoming the sole guardian of his estranged five-year-old son Sam. When Ali lands a job as a bouncer in a nearby nightclub, things quickly start to look up for the itinerant father and son. Then one night, after breaking up a fight in the club, Ali meets the radiant Stephanie (Marion Cotillard), and slips her his number after dropping her off safely at home. Though Stephanie's position on the high end of the social spectrum makes romance an unlikely prospect for the pair, Marie finds her reaching out in desperation to Ali. Her spirit broken, Stephanie gradually finds the courage to go on living trough transcendent moments spent with Ali -- a man with precious little pity, but an enormous love of life.

Hyde Park on Hudson - In June 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and his wife Eleanor (Olivia Williams) host the King and Queen of England (Samuel West and Olivia Colman) for a weekend at the Roosevelt home at Hyde Park on Hudson, in upstate New York - the first-ever visit of a reigning English monarch to America. With Britain facing imminent war with Germany, the Royals are desperately looking to FDR for support. But international affairs must be juggled with the complexities of FDR's domestic establishment, as wife, mother, and mistresses all conspire to make the royal weekend an unforgettable one.

 G.I Joe: Retaliation - In this sequel, the G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence.

The Host - What if everything you love was taken from you in the blink of an eye? "The Host" is the new epic love story from the creator of the "Twilight Saga," worldwide bestselling author, Stephenie Meyer. When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about - Jared (Max Irons), Ian (Jake Abel), her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt), proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world.

The Croods - Tells the story of the world's first family road trip. When their cave is destroyed, the Crood family must embark on a comedy adventure into strange and spectacular territory in search of a new home. As if patriarch Grug (Cage) didn't already have enough to handle, it goes from bad to worse when they encounter an imaginative nomad named Guy (Reynolds.) With Guy's help the Croods conquer their fear of the outside world and discover that they have exactly what it takes to survive - each other.

Return to Nim's Island - Fourteen year old Nim, more determined than ever to protect her island and all the wildlife that call it home, faces off against resort developers and animal poachers. Soon she realizes she can't depend on her animal cohorts alone and must make her first human friend - Edmund, who's run away to the island from the mainland - to save her home. Stars Bindi Irwin and Matthew Lillard.

Weekly Recommendation - Having only seen 'Rust and Bone' (terrific) and 'Hyde Park on Hudson' (shockingly dull) this week, and because the rest of the releases are wide-release blockbusters that don't look particularly good, I feel compelled only to recommend seeking out 'Rust and Bone', which is ambitiously directed and powerfully acted. Stephenie Meyer fans will flock to see 'The Host' - which might actually turn out better than the 'Twilight' series - and from what I have heard about 'The Croods' it might be the best animated family film to hit cinemas so far this year. But, it remains an uneventful week overall.