With so much grabbing for your attention and dollars these days, it’s easy to miss when the latest releases are heading to a cinema near you. So come back every week as we here at So, Is It Any Good? preview the big new releases hitting screens.
Up this week, a foul-mouthed stuffed toy returns to further dispel the myth that teddy bears are child’s play, and Cary Mulligan tries a corset on for size as she gets her period piece on. They’ll do battle with a series of successful holdovers (Jurassic World, Inside Out, Minions) as Aussie schoolkids invade the multiplexes during school holidays.
Ted 2
Life has changed drastically for thunder buddies John (Mark Wahlberg), now a bachelor, and best pal Ted (Seth MacFarlane), now married to the woman (Jessica Barth) of his dreams. Problems arise when the couple decide to adopt a child, but the law declares Ted to be property and not a person. Angry and dejected, the lovably foulmouthed teddy bear must now seek legal help from a young lawyer and a legendary, civil-rights attorney (Morgan Freeman) to get the justice he deserves.
Three years after Seth MacFarlane dropped the raunchy, unapologetic Ted on the world, to generally favourable reviews and almost $550 million in worldwide grosses, he returns to the director’s chair and the voiceover booth for the sequel. Mark Wahlberg obviously returns as Ted’s best friend, John, whilst Mila Kunis is weirdly absent as John’s girlfriend Lori, replaced by Amanda Seyfried, playing the lawyer representing Ted in his court battle. The cast is rounded out by Giovanni Ribisi, Jessica Barth, and Morgan Freeman.
Here’s the trailer:
It’ll be interesting to see if this can grab the same audience as the first, or whether audiences have grown tired of MacFarlane’s schtick in the last three years. Family Guy is still going strong, but The Cleveland Show was cancelled and MacFarlane’s next directorial effort A Million Ways To Die In The West didn’t exactly set the box office alight. I enjoyed the first Ted, so I’m hoping for more raunchy good times from the sequel. It’s not going to be a classic, but sometimes that’s OK folks.
Far From The Madding Crowd
A change of pace for the other new release this weekend, and one for the period piece set that enjoys a good, old fashioned love story.
In Victorian England, the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene (Cary Mulligan) attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), a sheep farmer; Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge), a reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood (Michael Sheen), a prosperous and mature bachelor.
Who doesn’t love a love triangle (is this case, square)? Based on the 1874 novel by British author Thomas Hardy, this is the latest of four (four!) film adaptations of the story.
Check out the trailer:
British actress-of-the-moment Mulligan is an obvious draw-card here, she’s reliably excellent in everything that she appears in, with Michael Sheen adding another hit of class. It’s directed by Thomas Vinterberg, who received acclaim a couple of years ago for the Danish Mads Mikkelsen starrer The Hunt. If these kinds of movies are your bag, you’ll probably do a lot worse than this one.
What are you going to see this weekend? Hit us up in the comments and let us know what you’ve watched, and if it’s any good!