Cinemas have recently seen business rise by 23 per cent year on year, thanks to the November releases of Paddington in Peru, Gladiator II, Wicked and Disney’s Moana 2.
The four blockbusters are all still showing at Cineworld Broad Street and Odeon Luxe Broadway Plaza if you’re wondering what to do now that the second Birmingham Artisan Markets event in Brindleyplace tomorrow (Saturday 7 December) has been cancelled because of Storm Darragh forecasts.
And there’s also one brand new film to catch on Westside this weekend…
Nightbitch (15). This black comedy about what motherhood might do to a career-break woman is based on the 2021 novel by Rachel Yoder, adapted and directed by Marielle Heller.
There can therefore be no complaints about men being responsible for Searchlight Pictures’ unforgiving title! Why, it’s even being distributed by Walt Disney Pictures!
There are shades here of the Westside-made ITV Central series Woof! which ran from 1989-97, covering 69 episodes across nine series and starring Northfield actress Sarah Smart in the story of a boy who could turn into a dog, based on the books by Allan Ahlberg.
Heller eased off on her little-known acting career to debut direct The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015). This is her sixth movie since, and it stars multi-Oscar nominee Amy Adams in the title role of ‘Mother’, with Argo star Scoot McNairy (as ‘Husband’).
The verdict: ☆☆☆
Amy Adams seems to be following in the footsteps of Glenn Close by bagging lots of Oscar nominations but no wins. She’s had five to date for best supporting actress, with American Hustle (2014) her one tilt at the big prize.
Ten years later and now aged 40, here she admirably looks like a ‘real’ mum, proper cuddly and not Hollywood hyper-toned. Young mums on a rare night out with friends might share her pain… if it feels like they’ve escaped from a prison / under-powered partner for an evening of girlie freedom!
Showing only at Cineworld Broad Street, the film’s early use of wry humour gives way far too easily to a relentless sense of matrimonial despair. And the dog metaphor curiously lacking energetic bounce on screen, perhaps because ‘Mother’ is actually a cat owner!
Your reviewer: Graham Young has been reviewing films for the media in Birmingham for the last 35 years, serving the Birmingham Mail, Birmingham Post, Sunday Mercury, BirminghamLive and BBC WM. He was the 1996 Regional Film Journalist of the Year, and runner-up 1997-99.
Picture caption: Amy Adams stars in Nightbitch, Walt Disney Pictures
ENDS
