Cinema new releases for Friday January 12th including Darkest Hour

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Cinema new releases for Friday January 12th - Darkest Hour Gary Oldman stars as Winston Churchill
(Image credit: Jack English)

Jason Best reviews the latest films... Cinema new releases for Friday January 12th including Darkest Hour

Darkest Hour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtJ60u7SUSw

It is May 1940. The Nazis are on the advance across Europe, France is about to fall and the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Can new Prime Minister Winston Churchill rally the British people to stand up to Hitler and fight on? Unrecognisable beneath bald cap, fat suit and prosthetics, Gary Oldman lets rip with the oratory in this rousing World War Two biopic - but he also shows us the very human side of a political legend: the scotch-swigging grump as well as the statesman. Oldman’s already bagged a Golden Globe for best actor. Will an Oscar be in the offing too? ****

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jit3YhGx5pU

Frances McDormand’s grieving mother takes highly unusual steps to gain justice for her murdered daughter in this darkly satirical, blisteringly funny movie from In Bruges director Martin McDonagh. Yes, the title is a mouthful, but with the magnificent McDormand backed by the stellar likes of Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell and Peter Dinklage, the film is terrific. *****

Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrAvDFmE9i4

Fascinating in parts and frustrating in others, this music documentary charts the highs and lows of rock god Eric Clapton over his five-decade-long career. The film is at its best in the early years, with fascinating archive clips of the guitar legend in his 1960s heyday, but when he loses his way in drugs and booze in the 70s the tempo starts to flag. ***

Cinema new releases for Friday January 12th.

Main pic credit: Jack English

Jason Best
Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.