THE WEEKEND IS coming up, and that means new movies for you to see.

But which is a must-watch, and are there any you should avoid?

We take a look

I, Daniel Blake

What we know

The latest from Ken Loach, this looks at what happens when a carpenter finds himself looking for state welfare. What he discovers, and who he meets, makes him realise that there is red tape blocking people from living their full lives.

What the critics say

• “This film intervenes in the messy, ugly world of poverty with the secular intention of making us see that it really is happening, and in a prosperous nation, too. I, Daniel Blake is a movie with a fierce, simple dignity of its own.” - The Guardian
• “It captures a world — our world — in which the opportunity to thrive, or even just survive, is shrinking by the minute. With the right handling, the movie has a chance to connect with audiences as few Loach films ever have. It’s a work of scalding and moving relevance.” - Variety

What’s it rated?

• RottenTomatoes: 7.4/10
• IMDB: 8.1/10

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

What we know

Ex-military cop Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) is back in the sequel to the Lee Child novel Never Let Go.

What the critics say

• “The plot involves drug and arms smuggling or something at the hands of one of those military-industrial conspiracies that’s really just the fault of a few bad apples, though Reacher (the name is said approximately 200 times in the film) is also protecting a teenage girl from hit men, and he’s a very wanted fugitive trying to clear his name and the name of a certain Maj” – AV Club
• “It’s a pity that “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” fails to support Cruise and his co-stars, all of whom are acting as if their lives depended on it. There’s a great movie buried somewhere in here—a strange but beguiling family comedy and a meditation on nature vs. nurture, with a bit of shooting and punching thrown in—but the filmmakers never figure out how to excavate it.” - Roger Ebert

What’s it rated?

• RottenTomatoes: 5.2/10
• IMDB: 7.1/10

Further Beyond

What we know

Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor tell the story of Ambrose O’Higgins, a Sligo man who moved to South America and crossed the Andes into Chile, where he later became viceroy of Peru. Who was he, and how did he get there?

What the critics say

• “Its early sections in particular are rife with theses and anti-theses: ideas, interruption, digressions, self-commentary and irony. There are references to other directors and their process: Robert Flaherty and his anxiety about making a start on editing, Stanley Kubrick’s search for the perfect image of a tree in a field with which to begin Barry Lyndon.” - Film Ireland
• “The film ponders its own dishonesty in presenting a composite location as a single property. Happily, there is enough wit and imagination on display to dispel the wrong (non-Brechtian) class of alienation.” – The Irish Times

What’s it rated?

• RottenTomatoes: None yet
• IMDB: 7.2/10

Which one would you go see first?

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