THIS week sees four new films on the local circuit. The Hills Have Eyes II is at Ster Kinekor and CineCentre, where Blades of Glory, Fracture and Employee of the Month also open. Namastey London continues in CineCentre's Sunday Bollywood slot, while Hot Fuzz and Meet the Robinsons join the Nu Metro line-up.
• Blades of Glory is a sports comedy, directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, starring Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett and Amy Poehler. The idea is promising - rival figure skaters Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Heder) have an embarrassing, no-holds-barred fight on the podium at the World Championships - and find themselves banned for life. But there is a loophole in the rules - if they skate together, they can still compete, so the macho Chazz and the camp Jimmy have to find a way of getting along. Reviews suggest there is enough edge in the plot to make it watchably funny.
• Martin Weisz directs The Hills Have Eyes II, written by Wes Craven and the sequel to last year's remake of a seventies horror. A bunch of National Guardsmen get lost in the desert and find themselves up against a vicious group of mutants. Cheesy seems to be the word. Michael McMillian, Jessica Stroup and Daniella Alonso star.
• Employee of the Month is a comedy directed by Greg Coolidge and starring Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson and Dax Shepard. The plot concerns a slacker in a Wal-Mart kind of shop. He is competing for the attention of a cashier, but she only wants the kind of guy who wins dorky employee -of-the-month competitions. Reviews have been mixed - from bad to so-so.
• Anthony Hopkins may not have appeared in the latest outing for Hannibal Lecter, but he's here in Fracture, doing his sinister thing. Gregory Hoblit directs Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn, Rosamund Pike and Embeth Davidtz in a courtroom thriller about a man who kills his wife in what he sees as the perfect crime. But he reckons without a young prosecuting attorney. Reviews suggest the film is overlong, but slick.
- Arts Editor.
