Movies Monday!

Having decided against throwing itself into the Liffey following England’s latest penalty shoot-out calamity – Ashley is off our list of potential baby names – Movies Monday is delighted to brighten up your day with some delicious cinematic eye-candy.

First out of the trap is the awesome-looking trailer for Dredd, which drops on September 21 and finds New Zealander Karl-Heinz Urban (The Lord Of The Rings, Star Trek and, ahem, Xena: Warrior Princess) taking over from Sylvester Stallone as the summary justice-dispensing lawman.

His mission this time is to rid Mega-City one of a new drug, Slo-Mo, that’s proving to be almost as damaging as the Great Atom War.

Liam Neeson is back and still righteously pissed off inTaken 2, which this time finds him and some very bad dudes running round Istanbul.

Before returning to duty with KVWN-TV Channel 4 Evening News, Will Ferrell stars as Cam Brady – slogan: “Yes we Cam!” – in political comedy The Campaign. Equal parts George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, the film is spot-on in its parodying of slightly-to-the-right of Attila The Hun Republicans who’d love Obama to be in the vicinity of a grassy knoll/book depository prior to November 6’s presidential duke-out.

Coming to your local multiplex this Friday is Storage 24, the latest big screen run-out for Norn Iron’s Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Drogheda man Colin O’Donoghue. Judging by the trailer, the makers are going for a cockney X-Files vibe as a decidedly un-friendly alien turns up in London. We’re also liking the accompanying Run, Hide Or Fight? Game, which throws you into the midst of the action.

[link]https://www.facebook.com/storage24uk/app_235530539896400[/link]

A comedy take on the same M.O. is offered by The Watch, a Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill and Vince Vaughn sci-fi comedy romp, which will be with us in late August.

Arnie being a bit too wrinkly for the gig, Colin Farrell takes the lead in the Total Recall re-make, which hits on August 24. We’ve also managed to track down some not entirely official behind the scenes footage.

Some televisual treats now starting with Major Crimes, a spin-off from The Closer starring Mary McDonnell, AKA Captain Sharon Raydor. Premiering Stateside on August 13, it's included in this summer/fall preview reel.

Ahead of that comes July 9’s first glimpse of Perception, a TNT offering starring Will & Grace’s Eric McCormack and Rachel Leigh Cook who scored a big rom-com hit with She’s All That.

“McCormack plays Dr. Daniel Pierce, an eccentric neuroscience professor with paranoid schizophrenia who is recruited by the FBI to help solve complex cases,” reads the sales pitch. “Pierce has an intimate knowledge of human behavior and a masterful understanding of the way the mind works. He also has an uncanny ability to see patterns and look past people's conscious emotions to see what lies beneath.

“Pierce's mind may be brilliant, but it's also damaged. He struggles with hallucinations and paranoid delusions brought on by his schizophrenia. Oddly, Daniel considers some of his hallucinations to be a gift. They occasionally allow him to make connections that his conscious mind can’t yet process. At other times, the hallucinations become Daniel's greatest curse, leading him to behave in irrational, potentially dangerous ways.”

From the makers of 13 Assassins comes Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai, which has already had Japanese film critics purring with delight.

Sticking with the Asian pugilistic theme, China Heavyweight follows a group of country kids as they try to make the Olympic boxing grade. Fail and the best they can hope for is a lifetime of grinding rural poverty, succeed and them and their families will never want for anything again. Huge pressure to put on young shoulders, but whoever said communism was fair?

It’s the martial arts, which feature in The Grandmasters, an all-kicking, all-punching, all-gouging Hong Kong beat ‘em up, which doesn’t have an Irish distribution deal yet but we’re hoping!

Back in Tinsel Town and only good things are being said about Killer Joe, the “totally twisted, deep-fried Texas, redneck trailer park murder story” featuring Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch and Juno Temple.

“When 22-year-old Chris finds himself in debt to a drug lord, he hires a hit man to dispatch his mother, whose $50,000 life insurance policy benefits his sister Dottie,” continues the blurb. “The shooter turns out to be Joe Cooper, a creepy, crazy Dallas cop who moonlights as a contract killer.”

Check it out in Irish cinemas this weekend.

Which is sadly where this week's popcorn munching must end. If you’ve anything you’d like to bring to Movies Monday’s attention give @stuartclark66 a zap, and don't forget to check out resident HP film guru Roe McDermott's reviews of all the latest Irish releases in our next issue, out on Thursday.