ig b e e r h t t a k o A lo new releases
Coming 2 America As sequels go, a gap of 33 years isn’t insignificant. But that’s how long it’s taken Eddie Murphy – famous for Beverly Hills Cop, The Nutty Professor, Doctor Dolittle, Holy Man and others – to reprise his iconic character Prince Akeem, who enchanted audiences way back in 1988 as the African Prince Akeem dropped into New York City in pursuit of a wife. Naturally the story has moved on a generation and in this reworking our main man is returning to the states to groom his son into becoming the new Crown Prince. Coming 2 America is a movie that flows nicely, with co-stars Arsenio Hall (Akeem’s advisor Semmi) and James Earl Jones (as his father) leading the line. It’s cheeky, pseudo-cultural, edgy fun, and is a perfect spring feelgood flick. The only regret is that so few will be able to see this at the cinema… America ain’t what it used to be! 40
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Nicolas Cage, playing himself, accepts the offer to attend a billionaire fan’s birthday bash, inadvertently working as a CIA agent. The party host is a drug kingpin and he becomes ensconced in the movie industry as the intelligence service look to put a case together to nail the super-criminal. What develops is a rather engaging, absorbing, original take on a pretty standard concept and Cage is, well, Cage. In many ways it’s like an episode of Ricky Gervais’s Extras without the insults. In support, Pedro Pascal and Tiffany Haddish are great foils in a casting that works well. It may be too early to suggest this is a triumphant return to form, but against a landscape of precious few releases, it will garner more attention than it would have otherwise received, and for Cage that’s probably well deserved.
Godzilla v Kong The superhero smackdown, released in cinemas and streamed through HBO, has everything you would expect of the genre – CGI at every turn, a combative plot, a colossal budget, and implausible outcomes. Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown and Rebecca Hill star in director Adam Wingard’s repositioning of these two giants; with Godzilla, who previously saved the world (on more than one occasion) striking out at Kong and all those who protect him. The battle rages hard and long, and the mechanics are magnificent. Ultimately though, you are left with the feeling that while these two ogres fight for supremacy, us humans are mere pawns in the battle; a rather insignificant pimple on the backside of civilisation… just don’t tell that to the financiers behind this $200m colossus, who are most likely already licking their wounds.