PLANNING ON HEADING to the cinema this weekend?

There are a few new movies out, but which is a must-watch, and are there any you should avoid? We take a look.

The Favourite

What we know

Yorgos Lanthimos’s brand of playful yet gloriously dark humour is on show here again as he tells the tale of what happens when a frail Queen Anne gets a new maid. That Queen Anne is played by Olivia Colman, the maid by Emma Stone and the Queen’s jealous close friend by Rachel Weisz tells us that we can expect something very good indeed. Cinematographer is Ireland’s own Robbie Ryan and the film is produced by Element.

What the critics say

• “Yet despite the nominally historical setting, this has none of the staid distance of a costume drama. On the contrary, it feels cruelly, deliciously contemporary, shot through with a sense of modernist absurdity that can be traced back to Greek director Lanthimos’s international break-through feature, Dogtooth.” – The Guardian
• “At the centre of the triangle, Colman initially cuts quite a comic figure, with her unusual behaviour coming across as childlike and tempestuous. Over the course of the film, as we learn more about why Anne is the way she is, her performance grows into something quite extraordinary.” – Den of Geek

What’s it rated?

• RottenTomatoes: 8.5/10
• IMDB: 8.2/10

Welcome to Marwen

What we know

Steve Carell (who we’ll next see in Beautiful Boy later this month) plays the real-life artist Mark Hogancamp, who dealt with tragedy by constructing a miniature WWII village, Marwen.

What the critics say

• “It’s a bold, bonkers move by a filmmaker always willing to walk a tightrope between dark humour and big emotions, but is only partially successful in illuminating a damaged worldview.” – Empire
• “The film is at its most affecting and relatable when Hogancamp’s relationships with the numerous women in his life – Gwendoline Christie’s Russian carer, Janelle Monáe’s rehab worker, Merritt Wever’s hobby shop owner, Leslie Mann’s kindly neighbour – are brought to the fore.” – Little White Lies

What’s it rated?

• RottenTomatoes: 4.7/10
• IMDB: 5.6/10

Life Itself 

What we know

Dan Fogelman is best known for the series This Is Us, and here he turns his eye to the big screen. Will (Oscar Isaac) and Abby (Oliva Wilde) fall in love in college, get married and get pregnant. But things don’t go as planned. Their story is told while intertwined with the connect stories of others, including a troubled young woman and a wealthy landowner. 

What the critics say

• “You rarely get the sense of Fogelman’s characters being complex figures with internal lives – instead they’re merely there to smile weakly through whatever trauma their sadistic creator puts them through.” – The Guardian
• “Life Itself packs in enough narrative twists and turns to leave viewers with a sense of emotional whiplash. One tragedy bleeds into another so often that the events begin to blur.” – Roger Ebert

What’s it rated?

• RottenTomatoes: 3.7/10
• IMDB: 6.2/10

Which one would you go see first?