releasing this week: Sex and the City 2 and Rec 2

Sex and the City 2 really is the only show in town this week… We’ve had a few big releases so far this year, but this is the biggest. Rolling into a vast number of cinema screens around the country and undoubtedly enticing many people, who wouldn’t usually go to the cinema, to put on their best pair of heels and make a night of it. Hey, I know I will be*… what harm can a bit of escapism do?

But obviously there also plenty of people out there who can’t stand the sight of the girls, so I thought I’d better highlight something else too. For those people who’d rather see people get their eyes scratched out [•REC]2, the follow up to 2007 Spanish horror flick, [•REC], is coming out on Friday as well.

So I guess it’s sequels week.

Firstly, Sex and the City 2.

You may recall, back in 2008, when we used to have at least a bit of cash, women everywhere flocked to see Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda make their triumphant and glamorous debut on the big screen. I went along too and I quite enjoyed it. I even got around to writing a review. Fast-forward 2 years later and the world is a little different. But that’s alright. It’s not like I could ever afford Manolo Blanicks anyway (and besides*).

I’ve went and saw this when it came out on Friday night, hence the late posting of this article. I don’t want to say too much. Let’s just say that if you like beautiful clothes, women running around after men, gorgeous settings and just want to forget about your bank balance for a night. This is the film for you.

If you want an intelligent film which is not all about clothes, good looking men and how the extremely rich live then… this is not the film for you at all.

For those who aren’t quite looking for an intelligent film, but do want to see pretty much exactly the opposite of Sex and the City 2, there is [•REC]2.

Over the ’09 / ’10 winter I went through a mainland European horror phase…. well… that’s a bit of an exaggeration. I saw a Spanish horror film and a French one. Which pretty much doubled my experience of mainland European horror. Oh wait, I saw Let The Right One In as well, not sure if that counts as mainland Europe or not though. The French horror film I saw was Martyrs, the Spanish film was [•REC].

I’d picked those two because I’d heard they were scary. Simple I know, but I was looking for a good scare that was reasonable unrealistic. Criminal Minds is a little too realistic sometimes! I’m not sure I found them that scary… but they were different from the usual kind of horror films I watch, so that was good. Mainly I watch US and UK horror but I have seen a lot of Asian horror as well so the European stuff was a welcome change.

Anyway, I know some people really loved [•REC] so I’m sure they’ve really been looking forward to this… but for those who’ve never heard of it – It’s a low budget, single hand held camera style, story of one terrifying night in a single apartment block. It’s good tbh so give it a watch. I’ve no idea if you need to see the first one to see this follow up but I can’t imagine it makes much of a difference. In case you’re wondering, there’s a fair bit of blood and gore in the first one so be warned if you’re not into that kind of thing.

Just to mention, unfortunately [•REC]2 is only playing in a few screens in Dublin this week – Cineworld, Vue and Dun Laoghaire to be exact – but if you’re outside Dublin and want to see it then keep an eye out over the next few weeks as these kind of cult films sometimes do a little tour of the country

Competition time!
If you are a horror fan or you know when then, as you may or may not know, I’m currently running a competition to win a DVD boxset of the first 7 Nightmare on Elm Street films. Have a look over here for the details.

Other films in cinemas this week are…

Tooth Fairy – relatively entertaining family comedy starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the tooth fairy. What a legend. I liked it, but then again I find it hard not to like family comedies. They’re always fairly inoffensive.

The Losers – Action drama starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jason Patric and Zoe Salanda. An elite U.S. Special Forces unit finds itself the target of a double-crosser in the Bolivian jungle…

Interestingly, if you’re me, one of the screenwriters on The Losers is Peter Berg, who used to play Dr. Billy Kronk on Chicago Hope. I loved that show. Always happy when I see people who used to be on it appearing in other stuff. Like Mandy Patinkin and Thomas Gibson. That’s why I started watching Criminal Minds in the first place actually.

Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back (3D) – Another day, another 3D kids films. Actually that’s not fair… with a title like Zartog Strikes Back, I’d actually like to see this. I won’t; but I’d like to. This is mainly running on matinees.

So that’s it for this week. I’m sorry it’s so late but I hope you can forgive me… I’ll try harder this week.

Sex and the City 2, [•REC]2, The Losers, Tooth Fairy and Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back are all in Irish cinemas from Friday 28th May 2010.

*not strictly true: I never wear heels.