Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queens Gambit, The Menu) in the titular role opposite an unrecognisable but familiarly buff Chris Hemsworth, who dons a prosthetic nose (which had social media buzzing about whether he borrowed Bradley Cooper’s much-discussed schnoz from Maestro) to play uber-villain Warlord Dementus. Taylor-Joy takes over from the Charlize Theron’s portrayal of this formidable war captain in this upcoming prequel to the six-time Oscar-winning Mad Max: Fury Road, in 2015.
In a Mad Max Saga, Furiosa resides in the Green Place of Many Mothers. In this matriarchal peaceful society, life is good….. until she’s abducted by the roving Biker Horder, led by Dementus. This marks Taylor-Joy’s foray as a lead in an action movie, though she has appeared in The Witch, Split, and The Northman. Evidently, Theron has given her blessing and said she couldn’t think of a better actress to take on her beloved Furiosa. But be warned. Expect more violence and more action than its predecessor.
In theatres May 23
A Family Affair
Not your typical love triangle, this romantic comedy reunites Nicole Kidman with Zac Efron from their star turn in the 2012 film The Paperboy. Throw Joey King (The Act, The Kissing Booth films) into the mix, who plays Zara, the assistant of a womanising, narcissistic movie star Chris Cole (Efron). She finally decides to quit her job, only to discover that her widowed mum (Kidman) has begun dating him. Awkward, to say the least. The film also features supporting roles by Liza Koshy and Kathy Bates, which are not to be missed.
On Netflix coming soon
Back To Black
This biopic was directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey) on Amy Winehouse, the late British jazz crooner-turned pop star, with Marisa Abela (Industry, Cobra) in the lead role as the paparazzi-plagued troubled icon. The film chronicles her rise to fame leading up to the release of her 2006 Back to Black single and album of the same name. The film also stars Jack O’Connell (Lady Chatterley’s Lover) as her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, the reviled ‘soul mate’ who many fans attribute as the cause of Winehouse’s early and tragic death. To Fielder-Civil, love meant introducing ‘the love of his life’ to heroin.
The film also stars Academy-award nominee Lesley Manville (Mrs Harris Goes to Paris) as her grandmother, Cynthia Winehouse, and Eddie Marsan (Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre) as Amy’s father, Mitch Winehouse. Her mother, Janis Winehouse-Collins, is played by Juliet Cowan (The Power).
In theatres April 18.
The Fall Guy
If you didn’t get Kenough of him in his latest role in the Barbie blockbuster, Ryan Gosling stars in the titular role of the film adaptation of the celebrated 80s TV show, about a stuntman who moonlights as a bounty hunter. The film features Gosling as Colt Seavers, a stuntman now past his prime working on a film taking the hits and blows for A-list action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). When Ryder goes missing from the shoot, directed by Colt’s ex-girlfriend (Emily Blunt), Colt reluctantly offers to investigate his whereabouts. In doing so, he finds himself trapped in a sinister plot that places him in a dangerous situation far worse than anything he’s done onscreen as a stuntman. The film also stars Teresa Palmer, Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) and Lee Majors, the star of the TV show, will make a cameo appearance. The film was shot in Sydney, where the Harbour Bridge was shut down several hours a day while Gosling was shooting.
In theatres May 2
It Ends With Us
The long-awaited adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s hit novel It Ends With Us stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. The story follows a young Bostonian woman named Lily Bloom who falls for a neurosurgeon, Ryle Kincaid. On the surface, he seems perfect (don’t they all?) but eventually his controlling personality supersedes the charmer she once thought he was. She comes to realise she is knee-deep in an abusive relationship.
During their turbulent marriage, her childhood friend Atlas Corrigan (1923’s Brandon Sklenar) unexpectedly re-emerges into her life. The movie caused some controversy over the casting of Lively, 35, sporting red hair for the role, and Baldoni, 39, because in the book, Lily is 23 and Ryan is 30. Hoover has subsequently come out and said she had messed up the ages in the book, not realising that neurosurgeons went to school for many more years than she had previously calculated. So, fans of the book need to relax. If the casting is good enough for the author……
In theatres February 8
