I'm not gonna lie, this was the most difficult monthly preview I've had to
put together. Film distribution in the UK and Ireland is currently in limbo,
with most studios holding off their releases in the (naive?) belief that
cinemas might reopen in the near future. Over the past year we've seen
studios put their less high profile releases, and even some major releases
like
Mulan
and Soul, onto online platforms, but this doesn't seem to be the case for February.
Having said that, thanks largely to subscription services Shudder, Amazon,
Netflix and MUBI, I've managed to find 10 February releases that look like
they might be worth checking out while you're still on lockdown.
A Nightmare Wakes (Feb 4th, Shudder)
Writer/director Nora Unkel's feature debut adopts a similar modus
operandi to Josephine Decker's
Shirley, taking a real life author and placing them in a fictional scenario. Here
it's 'Frankenstein' author Mary Shelley (Alix Wilton Regan), who
fuelled by opium, begins to hallucinate the characters of her novel coming
to life and threatening her relationship with Percy Shelley (Giullian Yao Gioiello).
Bliss (Feb 5th, Amazon Prime Video)
Director Mike Cahill won acclaim for his trippy indie sci-fi dramas
Another Earth and I Origins. His latest, Bliss, continues in similar fashion. Owen Wilson plays a man struggling
with a recent divorce and the loss of his job who meets a homeless woman (Salma Hayek) who convinces him that they're living within a computer simulation.
Greenland (Feb 5th, Amazon Prime Video)
In director Ric Roman Waugh's Greenland, a deadly comet is on a collision course with Earth. The planet should
be okay though, because Gerard Butler lives on Earth, and he's got
form when it comes to saving us from such catastrophes. Right? Maybe not
this time. In Greenland, even Gerry Butler turns his tail and flees with his wife (Morena Baccarin) and son to the titular nation, which represents their best chance of
survival. We're willing to bet Butler will roll up his sleeves and punch
the comet at some point though.
News of the World (Feb 10th, Netflix)
Director Paul Greengrass reteams with his
Captain Phillips
star Tom Hanks for this adaptation from the novel by
Paulette Jiles. Set in post Civil War Texas, the movie sees Hanks
play Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, who spends his time travelling from town
to town delivering news from around the world. Kidd is assigned to return a
young girl (System Crasher's Helena Zengel) to her family after she spent six years living
with the Kiowa tribe, but the girl is reluctant to return to a world she has
no memory of.
Dead Pigs (Feb 12th, MUBI)
Before helming comic book blockbuster Birds of Prey, Cathy Yan made her directorial debut with this Chinese satire, now
finally premiering in these parts thanks to MUBI. The film follows a
disparate group of characters in Shanghai who deal with various trials and
tribulations, all while thousands of pig carcasses float down a river
towards the city (an event which actually happened in reality!).
Willy's Wonderland (Feb 12th, VOD)
You've got to hand it to Nicolas Cage, he sure likes to pick
projects that catch your attention. Directed by Kevin Lewis,
Willy's Wonderland sees Cage play a taciturn man who accepts
a job cleaning a rundown theme park, only to spend the night fighting for
his life when the park's animatronic models come to life with murderous
intent. Consider us sold!
Sator (Feb 15th, VOD; Feb 22nd, DVD)
Filmed over five years, Jordan Graham's directorial debut
Sator is a slowburn horror movie in which a troubled family
are observed in their woodland home by a sinister supernatural entity. The
atmospheric trailer has us very intrigued!
Bad Tales (Feb 18th, MUBI)
Italian filmmaking brothers Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo's
Bad Tales is a misanthropic ensemble piece of the sort you
associate with the likes of Haneke and Seidl, but with a touch of pitch
black comedy ala Todd Solondz. The film revolves around a group of passive
aggressive neighbours in suburban Rome and their desperate attempts to
climb the social ladder.
I Care a Lot (Feb 19th, Amazon Prime Video)
Director J Blakeson's comic thriller stars Rosamund Pike and Eiza Gonzalez as two lovers who run
a scam whereby they seize the assets of elderly wards of the state.
Unbeknownst to them, their latest mark (Dianne Wiest) has a
connection to a dangerous mobster (Peter Dinklage).
The Dark and the Wicked (Feb 25th, Shudder)
Similar to last year's horror hit
Relic, The Strangers director Bryan Bertino's
The Dark and the Wicked sees a pair of siblings return to
their childhood home when their elderly father takes a bad turn. But once
home they realise that it's their mother they should be worried for, as
something seems to have taken possession of her.