releasing this week: Shutter Island & The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The biggest film coming out this week is actually Green Zone but I’ve already seen it and will be writing a review shortly so I thought I’d highlight two I haven’t seen.

This week keep your eye out for Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and Swedish thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

First up this week is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

I know you’ve probably seen more than a few reviews from me where I’ve proclaimed I never read the book… Well lately I’ve been disappointed by these adaptations so I decided it was time I actually read the book.

And I enjoyed it, it reminded me of Criminal Minds or Law & Order: SVU and I love those shows. Which is not to say that it’s that much like those tv shows, it just reminded me of them.

Actually I should mention, this is the first of three films that are planned for the books of the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I’m half way through the second one now and I’ve enjoyed them so far so I’m looking forward to this movie… I’ll be interested to see how much they do of it. Like I said it’s been a long while since I’ve actually read the book of a movie but they usually have to leave something out…

I have another worry though… because unless I’m going a bit mad, this film is in Swedish. That doesn’t seem to be highlighted in the trailers on TV. I don’t know if that’s because they assume people will know that or if they just want people buy tickets – I just worry a bit because I know there are a good number of people out there who don’t like subtitled films and I think they should know that it will be before they go in. Then again maybe they’ll do a dubbed version. I can’t stand dubs but sure, I guess some people don’t mind them.

Enough waffling though. I could explain the plot for you but I don’t want to give anything away. To be honest all you need to know is that if you like Criminal Minds or if you like Swedish then you should give it a look. It’s not in that many cinemas in Ireland unfortunately but I’m sure it’s in the usual arthouse type cinemas in Dublin and I know it’s in a few more so have a look around for it.

Oh also, the original Swedish title for this book was Men Who Hate Women. Interesting.

Shutter Island is one that has been roaming around for a while. The release date has been pushed back a couple of times… hopefully this doesn’t mean it’s crap because it does look like a good thriller. I’ve seen some good reports from the US so here’s hoping.

Briefly, because you’ve probably seen the trailers by now, Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo play US Marshals who are assigned to investigate the disappearance of patient from a secure institution for the criminally insane. It happens to be on an island. Soon things take a turn for the weird and our friend Leo starts to wonder who is really crazy.

Now I have my own ideas as to what’s really going on here… I might even be right. Don’t tell me if you’ve seen it though. I do want to see it myself at some point… not sure when but soon hopefully.

There are only a couple of other films releasing this week:

Green Zone – I mentioned this one earlier. It is actually the biggest film opening this week but I thought it’d be a bit much if I did this article then wrote the review straight after. Basically it’s a war action drama which reunites Bourne pairing of director Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon. I’ve seen it and it’s pretty decent, I didn’t love it but you might. It reminded me of Body of Lies so if you’re on for that then… off you go.

Hachi: A Dog’s Tale – I know nothing about this film. I thought it was a kids film till I looked at it just now. Apparently it stars Richard Gere and Joan Allen it’s a film about a college professor and an abandoned dog. I’m sure it’s very touching. Actually it has a pretty high rating on IMDb so could be good… perhaps for older and more sentimental audiences though.

Shutter Island, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Green Zone and Hachi: A Dog’s Tale are all in Irish cinemas from Friday 12th Mar 2010.