releasing this week: Perrier’s Bounty & The Blind Side (& Kick-Ass previews)

Unusual situation this week, officially there are 5 films coming out this week… however there are also previews of Kick-Ass and How to Train Your Dragon starting on Saturday. Since I’ve seen Kick-Ass I thought I’d mention it as well, since there’s a fair chance that you’ll be able to see it this weekend.

First things first though, the official general releases I’m highlighting this week are Perrier’s Bounty and The Blind Side. I think I’ll go with The Blind Side first.

There’s really only one reason I’m talking about The Blind Side. You’ve probably already guessed but it’s because this is the film that the ever popular Sandra Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for.

Aside from that I’m not sure if it’s really my cup of tea. Based on a true story, The Blind Side depicts the story of Michael Oher, a homeless young black man from a broken home whose life is changed when a the mother of a middle class wealthy white family, Leigh Anne Tuohy, played by Sandra Bullock, decides that they need to help.

It’s hard to summarise it actually – I didn’t want to seem patronising because, to be honest, it’s a very TV movie formulaic sounding film… it’s probably a very worthy story so I don’t want to put Ms. Tuohy efforts down but it does really sound like a bit of a “heart-warming tale”

Anyway if you think you can stomach the treacle then I imagine it probably is a good watch, I presume Bullock didn’t win that Oscar for nothing.

Perrier’s Bounty is the one I’m thinking of heading to myself.

Perrier’s Bounty comes to us from the pen of Mark O’Rowe, excellent playwright and also writer of the critically acclaimed 2003 film Intermission.

The film stars Cillian Murphy, Jim Broadbent and Brendan Gleeson, as the aforementioned Perrier of the title. I guess it had to be either him or Colm Meaney.

I only actually saw the trailer for this the other day, just before Shutter Island, and I have to say… it looks really good. I wasn’t expecting much when I first heard about, despite Mark O’Rowe’s pedigree, because well… I thought it sounded like a bit of a crime caper and they can sometimes be a bit farcical (and I don’t mean that in a good way). The trailer makes it look like it has a bit of an edge to it while also balancing the humour, this bodes well.

As usual though, I think the trailer gives a lot away so you should probably just take my word and go see it… After all, I am always right about these things 😉 disclaimer: may not always be right about these things

I wanted to give a quick preview of Kick-Ass as well since there are previews all over the country from tomorrow. If you haven’t heard of Kick-Ass by now then I assume that maybe you’re just not on the internet that much… or maybe you’re just really uninterested in film, in which case I’m not sure why you’re reading this, but anyway.

Universal Pictures have been running a heavyweight marketing campaign with this film and I was fortunate enough to be invited to a preview screening of it the other week in the mobile cinema. I had to dress up as a superhero but that was ok because it was a great film. The stars of the film were here only the other day at a special preview screening in Cineworld and I know Universal have been running quite a few competitions to win merchandise and the like on their facebook and twitter pages so keep an eye out for those.

I’ll be posting my review in the next few days and it’s not officially releasing till 31st March but it’s gonna be all over the place from Friday 26th so have a look at the trailer and when it comes out, go see it.

click image to watch the Kick-Ass trailer on apple.com

Other films coming out this week are…

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang – follow up to the very successful 2005 family movie Nanny McPhee. These films are based on the Nurse Matilda children’s novels.

Shank – youth thriller set in London in the near future when civilised society has collapsed and gangs roam the streets. It’s rated 16 and is only playing in Cineworld Dublin

Lourdes – the story of a group of hopeful pilgrims heading to the French pilgrimage site. Has received strong reviews and a number of awards for the film maker.

Kick-Ass, Perrier’s Bounty, The Blind Side, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, Shank and Lourdes are all in Irish cinemas from this Friday, 26th March 2010.

re: edit to The Blind Side – saw the film, I had only seen the trailer when I first wrote this article so I hadn’t really realised how rich the family actually are.