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Shadows reviews Trailers and other previews... ALL COMMENTS BY RICH CLINE
C O M I N G S O O N to the UK & US...	O N T H E H O R I Z O N can’t hardly wait...
24 Jan: THE BRUTALIST STAR TREK: SECTION 31 PRESENCE THE COLOURS WITHIN (Jpn) 31 Jan: THE COLOURS WITHIN (Jpn) HARD TRUTHS SATURDAY NIGHT 7 Feb: THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG SEPTEMBER 5 14 Feb: COTTONTAIL THE DEAD THING DESIRE LINES MEMOIR OF A SNAIL PADDINGTON IN PERU 21 Feb: I'M STILL HERE (Br) 28 Feb: THE LAST SHOWGIRL THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN (Gr) THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP THE END 4 Apr: SEBASTIAN RELEASE DATE TBC . . . HANDLING THE UNDEAD (Nor) HOW TO BUILD A TRUTH ENGINE THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER RILEY SCARED SHITLESS SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON (Ind) TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS VIDEO VISION ZODIAC KILLER PROJECT* * reviews under embargo C O M I N G U P . . . • PRESENCE. PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK. LUTHER: NEVER TOO MUCH. FOUR MOTHERS. CHANGING THE GAME. COMPANION. WHEN AUTUMN FALLS. • SUNFLOWER. THE TASTE OF MANGO. HEAVIER TRIP. BAM. F.L.Y. LUMINA. LOUD AND LONGING. • BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY. MICKEY 17. HORIZON CHAPTER II. UNRELEASED FESTIVAL FILMS . . . • FrightFest: 7 KEYS. THE DAEMON. DERELICT. FRIGHT. LADYBUG. SCARLET BLUE. TRAUMATIKA. • Annecy: ROCK BOTTOM. THE BIRTH OF KITARO: THE MYSTERY OF GEGEGE. • Flare: ALIGNED. BALDIGA: UNLOCKED HEART. CALLS FROM MOSCOW. COMMITMENT TO LIFE. DESIRE LINES. DON'T EVER STOP. PINE CONE. TOLL. UNSPOKEN. WE FORGOT TO BREAK UP. WHAT A FEELING. See also: SHADOWS FILM FEST	PRESENCE dir Steven Soderbergh; with Lucy Liu, Julia Fox, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, West Mulholland, Lucas Papaelias, Eddy Maday, Natalie Woolams-Torres 24/US release US/UK 24.Jan.25 Steven Soderbergh continues to experiment with new genres and filmmaking approaches, and this looks like a properly nasty horror thriller with a script by David Koepp and a lean 85-minute running time. A refreshingly offbeat cast will help make the film even more involving, as it circles around a group of people dealing with crippling paranoia in an isolated location. Indeed, word after its premiere screening at Sundance has been very strong, calling it an intense slow burn. BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY dir Michael Morris; with Renee Zellweger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Jim Broadbent, Shirley Henderson 25/UK release US/UK 14.Feb.25 Another nine years later, Bridget is back for a fourth romantic escapade, once again based on a Helen Fielding novel (she's also once again among the screenwriters). This is only director Michael Morris' second feature, after To Leslie and an eclectic range of TV shows, so hopefully he will bring a fresh tone to the film. And adding Leo Woodall, Emma Thompson and Chiwetel Ejiofor to the ensemble should also add a kick. CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD dir Julius Onah; with Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Rosa Salazar, Liv Tyler, Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Blake Nelson, Danny Ramirez, Takehiro Hira 25/US release US/UK 14.Feb.25 Full disclosure: I am not actually looking forward to this. But I will want to see it to find out whether Marvel has learned anything from its bruising box office results over the past few years. After sacrificing coherent characters and stories, and decent effects work, to the dumbed-down demands of focus groups and studio execs, the Avengers saga has become an unwieldy mess. So hopefully this film will restore some focus. It'll also be great to see Anthony Mackie in the title role, and arthouse director Julius Onah is a cool choice as director. Let's hope he can resist studio pressure. CLEANER dir Martin Campbell; with Daisy Ridley, Clive Owen, Taz Skylar, Flavia Watson, Ray Fearon, Rufus Jones, Lee Boardman, Richard Hope 24/UK release US/UK 21.Feb.25 This looks like a potential guilty pleasure, a throw-back thriller about a company gala in Europe's tallest skyscraper, The Shard in London, that is attacked by extremists who are fighting violently amongst themselves. Expect the topical issues to be fairly generic as the focus will be on Die Hard-style action anchored by Daisy Ridley's window cleaner, who of course has a military past and comes to the rescue. And without the article "the", that title has a witty twist. BLACK BAG dir Steven Soderbergh; scr David Koepp; with Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Tom Burke, Pierce Brosnan, Naomie Harris, Rege-Jean Page, Marisa Abela, Orli Shuka 25/UK release US 14.Mar.25, UK 21.Mar.25 Pretty much everything about this thriler screams "must see!" The cast is heavily stacked, and Soderbergh always has fun playing in genres like this, keeping things funny, sexy and tense. The plot sounds a bit high-concept, with married spies who find themselves on opposite sides of some sort of international incident, or something. But that won't matter as long as Blanchett and Fassbender are enjoying themselves. And Burke, Brosnan, Harris, Page and Abela are icing on the cake. Fingers strongly crossed. THE ALTO KNIGHTS dir Barry Levinson; scr Nicholas Pileggi; with Robert De Niro, Cosmo Jarvis, Debra Messing, Kathrine Narducci, Michael Rispoli, Wallace Langham, Matt Servitto Matt Servitto, Carrie Lazar 25/US release US/UK 21.Mar.25 The central gimmick here is that Robert DeNiro is playing two rival mob bosses who go to war against each other. But since it's directed by Barry Levinson from a script by Nicholas Pileggi, this is bound to be far more interesting than that. Based on a true story, it's about the mafia war that essentially brought down the largest mob families in America. The only worry perhaps is that the filmmakers take it all far too seriously. MICKEY 17 dir Bong Joon Ho; with Robert Pattinson, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Thomas Turgoose, Angus Imrie, Patsy Ferran 25/UK release UK/US 18.Apr.25 It's been five years since Bong Joon Ho took the world by storm, and won every award going, for Parasite. And now he has teamed up with Warner Bros for this big-scale action comedy about an expendable worker who is sent to colonise a distant planet. The cast is terrific, and it's bound to look amazing through Bong's distinctly inventive eyes. The only concern is whether the studio lets his imagination run with it. Because they seem to be worried, as evidenced by the fact that the release date was pushed back to January, bypassing awards contention, then into April. HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA - CHAPTER II dir Kevin Costner; with Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Abbey Lee, Luke Wilson, Dale Dickey, Georgia MacPhail 24/US release US/UK tbc After his enjoyable three-hour prologue ended on an extended montage of scenes to come, we're hoping for dramatic resolution to the various plot strands Kevin Costner left dangling. Chapter 2 looks just as spectacular visually, with its expansive settings and colourful ensemble, including a promising glimpse of a sneering Giovanni Ribisi. Word out of Venice was only OK on this one. And Costner is working on two further chapters. But there's no word yet on a release for this one. Also on my want-to-see list... Winter: FLIGHT RISK LOVE ME YOU'RE CORDIALLY INVITED THE GORGE THE MONKEY Spring: THE ALTO KNIGHTS THE ELECTRIC STATE SNOW WHITE THE WOMAN IN THE YARD DEATH OF A UNICORN KARATE KID: LEGENDS MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING SINNERS THUNDERBOLTS Summer: 28 YEARS LATER BALLERINA F1 SUPERMAN
Release dates: British film release schedules are much more fluid than American ones, so please be patient as I try to keep up with UK distributors. I'm working to keep this list up-to-date as they keep trying to outfox me. I'm sure it's personal. Embargoes: Britain's Film Distributors Association asks us to hold reviews until the week of release, and some distributors are even more restrictive. Normally, once the film is shown to a paying audience, either on release or at a festival, the full review can appear on the site. © 2025 by Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall HOME \| REVIEWS \| NEWS \| FESTIVAL \| AWARDS \| Q&A \| ABOUT \| TALKBACK