This week’s movie releases
Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter in a new adaptation of Dickens's Great Expectations Channing Tatum returns alongside Bruce Willis in toy franchise sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation
One of the finest of all Charles Dickens works, Great Expectations has already had numerous big-screen incarnations, not least David Lean’s masterfully atmospheric 1946 adaptation starring John Mills, Jean Simmons and Alec Guinness; while more recently Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá También) updated the tale to 1990s New York with Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert De Niro. The latest version, by Four Weddings and a Funeral director Mike Newell, keeps things firmly grounded in the Victorian era and stars Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) as Pip, the young orphan catapulted into high society courtesy of a mysterious benefactor; Ralph Fiennes as creepy crim Magwitch; Holliday Grainger as the entrancing Estella; and Helena Bonham Carter as wealthy spinster Miss Havisham.
A sequel we could probably have done without, G.I. Joe: Retaliation is the second in the film franchise based on the Hasbro action figures. Having moved on to far better things with the likes of Magic Mike, Channing Tatum returns from the 2009 first film, while Bruce Willis and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson are among the new recruits.
Based on the novel of the same name, Italian director Saverio Costanzo’s 2010 drama The Solitude of Prime Numbers jumps between different points in the last three decades as teens Mattia and Alice, both traumatized in their own way, meet and form a close bond, before drifting apart and then reuniting as adults. Isabella Rossellini, Alba Rohrwacher and Luca Marinelli star.
