releasing this week: Robin Hood

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’m only highlighting one film this week.

It’s not that I particularly think that Robin Hood is going to be so amazing that it’s worthy of being out there on it’s own… It’s really just that this is a blog focussing on the average films that everyone will have a chance to see and unfortunately, all the other films this week are very small releases that will only really be showing Dublin.

Just to take a step out for a sec. Obviously, as I mentioned, this is a blog about the average films that most people will watch. However, I do watch a lot of movies, including arthouse, documentaries, foreign language films etc… and I’m sure there are many in Ireland who do – after all, we are a nation of film lovers, we have the second highest cinema admissions per capita in the world… That’s why I find it quite sad that every week there are at least 2 or 3, if not 4 or 5, films that most of the country won’t get to see because they only open in Dublin.

I’d like to imagine there are a few cinemas around the country that do get the prints later on, but that’s really not enough. When the Kino cinema in Cork closed that marked the closure of the only dedicated arthouse cinema outside of Dublin… surely there is some appetite out there? Could there be a network of film clubs or something that could move the prints around the country so that more people would have a chance to see the films from smaller distributors? Maybe there is and I just don’t know about it?

Anyway, that was a bit of an early digression – I’ll get back to the article now.

So… Robin Hood. There have been loads of films about Robin Hood. It’s one of those stories, like Romeo and Juliet, that people just love to make movies about. Now I’ve only actually seen two Robin Hood movie but of course, I’m familiar with the story. Robin Hood, steals from the rich, gives to the poor, Merry Men, Maid Marian, Sheriff of Nottingham etc. I’ve always though of Robin Hood as quite a friendly fellow. Perhaps I am unduly influenced by Robin Hood: Men in Tights but I always thought of Robin Hood and his merry men and a fun, carousing band of thieves who go around helping poor people…

… Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood doesn’t seem to be anything like that at all. Looks very serious altogether. And what’s this beach landing about in the trailer? I don’t remember Sherwood Forest being anywhere near a beach… Also it seems like everyone who sees the trailer says it looks like Gladiator. I don’t really remember all that much about Gladiator but I certainly don’t remember laughing at it. I do remember crying a bit at the end and being kind of annoyed about it. If I recall correctly I felt manipulated.

Of course it wouldn’t be fair to dismiss Robin Hood because of Gladiator… that was just one film on Scott’s CV. Besides, it was 10 years ago. I really enjoyed American Gangster and Body of Lies so I’ve no reason to think that Robin Hood won’t be good. I’m just a bit skeptical about the direction it’s going in. That skepticism is probably totally unfounded though… I just get a bit nervous when I know so much money is riding on a film being good. I don’t know why that makes me nervous, it’s not my money, but in my head I’m always thinking “Oh no! What if it’s crap? It could be crap! Is it crap? I bet it’s crap!” I should just put those thoughts away.

In any case it is a must-see film. I’d go so far as to say a must-see-in-the-cinema film. It looks pretty epic. This and Iron Man 2 really mark the start of the summer blockbuster season, let’s hope it’s starting with a bang.

Oh, I forgot to mention! Mark Strong is in this too. Sherlock Holmes, Kick-Ass and now Robin Hood? he’s really racking up those villains on his filmography. Then again he’s so good at it, why should he give it up? I like how he’s always a VILLAIN as well… he’s not just some bad guy, he’s proper Evil, with a capital E.

By the way, the wikipedia article on Robin Hood is actually really interesting. Have a look at it. Course I may be stretching the definition of interesting there… let’s just say it’s very informative. I love gathering information.

Other films releasing this week…

Lebanon – Set in 1982 and within the confines of a single tank, Lebanon is a visceral portrait of a young man fighting for something he doesn’t quite believe in. Or so I’m led to believe. It’s based on the experiences of the director and it won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival last year. Actually despite my tendencies, it sounds kind of interesting. War movies aren’t generally my thing but I’ve been looking for a good thought-provoking drama so this could be it.

The film is in Hebrew, Arabic, French and English and is only showing in the IFI and Screen cinema, D’Olier St. in Dublin.

Eyes Wide Open (Einaym Pkuhot) – Drama about a married Orthodox Jew, father of four children, who falls in love with a 22 year old male student. As you can imagine, this does not go down well in the Orthodox Jew community. Sounds a bit worthy to me tbh. This, of course, does not mean people shouldn’t go see it. It just means I probably won’t see it. Sounds a bit heavy.

This film is in Hebrew and Yiddish and is only showing in the Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield

Vincere – This was one of the films that was recommended to see during in the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival a few months back. It’s an Italian biopic based on the life of Ida Dalser, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s secret first wife. Secret family? Sound intriguing. Maybe I’ll see this rather than Lebanon. Showing in the Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield and the IFI only.

Edit: Just realised I missed one of the movies coming out this week

American: The Bill Hicks Story – a feature length, photo animated documentary telling of, believe it or not, Bill Hicks’ story. The story is told by 10 of his closest friends and family. You can read more about it on the official website. Looks good. I don’t really know anything about Bill Hicks, I grew up in Singapore so he didn’t really feature over there… but I gather he was a very funny guy. I’ll definitely be trying to head along to this if only to find out what everyone’s been talking about all these years. Showing in the the IFI and Screen cinema, D’Olier St. in Dublin.

Robin Hood is in cinemas now while Lebanon, Eyes Wide Open, American: The Bill Hicks Story and Vincere are all in cinemas from Friday 14th May 2010.