Cinemas & Home Entertainment this week…

GRIM PICKINGS this week includes key dates to dismember with last year’s Monster Fest winner of ‘Best Australian Feature’ opening in cinemas and one of 2018’s most underrated genre films hitting home entertainment!

IN CINEMAS

Thursday March 14th
PIMPED
Following its win at Monster Fest 2018 for ‘Best Australian Feature’, writer/director David Barker’s debut feature, PIMPED,  a taut and intense psychosexual thriller, opens in limited release in cinemas across Australia. With exceptional performances from leads Ella Scott Lynch (LOVE CHILD) and Benedict Samuel (GOTHAM), this stylish though grim exploration of duality, toxic masculinity and retribution is one not to be missed. Sarah Montrose (Lynch) is a conflicted, mysterious woman who meets the philosophical, smooth-talking Lewis Blake (Samuel). Handsome and captivating, Lewis is the bait in a sick and twisted game conjured up with his low-life-rich-kid housemate, Kenneth. When the men’s sexual game backfires with wild abandon, Sarah is forced into an unlikely and bloodied alliance. And when her fragile psyche is threatened by a monster, she calls on all her strength and cunning to do battle with a psychopath, and her own inner demon.

HOTEL MUMBAI
Dev Patel (LION) leads this gripping and intense recounting of the devastating terrorist attack on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel back in 2008. The terrifying assault brings together the guests and staff of the luxurious hotel including wealthy new parents David and Zahra (Armie Hammer and Nazanin Boniadi), Russian businessman Vasili (Jason Issacs) and newly promoted waiter Arjun (Patel) in a desperate fight for survival. This story celebrates humanity, compassion, courage, resilience and the unwavering desire to survive.

HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Now Available
OVERLORD
he sophomore feature from Australian filmmaker Julius Avery (SON OF A GUN) and producers J.J. Abrams (CLOVERFIELD) & Lindsey Webber (STAR TREK) defies description, its a bold genre-hybrid of the highest order and will no doubt find its way into your favourite films of 2018! With only hours until D-Day, a team of American paratroopers drop into Nazi-occupied France to carry out a mission that’s crucial to the invasion’s success. Tasked with destroying a radio transmitter atop a fortified church, the desperate soldiers join forces with a young French villager to penetrate the walls and take down the tower. But, in a mysterious Nazi lab beneath the church, the outnumbered G.I.s come face-to-face with enemies unlike any the world has ever seen. Paramount Pictures’s Blu-ray & 4K Ultra-HD releases of OVERLORD contain a six-part documentary featurette titled ‘The Horrors of War’, the UHD release also features Dolby Vision and a punishing Dolby Atmos audio track.
GHOSTLAND
MARTYRS filmmaker Pascal Laugier’s latest is a gruelling exercise in terror that takes the horror of home invasion and twists it into a tension-filled and taut modern slasher. Following her aunt’s death, Colleen and her daughters inherit her house. However, during their first night in their new home, murderers enter the home, putting Colleen in a situation where she must fight to save her daughters’ lives. When the girls suffer a terrible trauma during the night, their disparate personalities diverge even further. The eldest daughter, Beth, is said to become a famous horror author with a perfect family and life in Los Angeles, while her sister, Vera, can’t cope and loses her mind faced with an unshakable sense of paranoia. Sixteen years later the daughters and mother reunite at the house where Colleen and Vera continue to reside. It is then that strange events begin to take place.
FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD
Following on from the HARRY POTTER spin-off feature of 2016, FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, this latest instalment is a slower burn than its predecessor but equally rewarding as it expands the universe of both franchises while containing some critical reveals in the mythos of the series itself. Gargantuan in scope, magnificently stylized and thoroughly engaging, THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD is valued addition to the HARRY POTTER universe! At the conclusion of FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) was captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings. In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world. Roadshow’s Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and 4K Ultra-HD releases contain Deleted Scenes and 9 featurettes that focus on everything from ‘Unlocking Scene Secrets’ to the author/screenwriter herself J.K. Rowling. The UHD also boasts Dolby Vision and an engulfing reference quality Dolby Atmos audio track! 
ROBIN HOOD
Taron Egerton (KINGSMAN franchise) plays the titular role in director Otto Bathurst’s ambitious, action-skewed and completely laughable retelling of the Robin Hood legend. Despite a valiant effort from Egerton with his performance, the film is a complete fail, from its dated stylization to Ben Mendelsohn’s inexcusably dreadful portrayal of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Robin of Loxley (Egerton) returns to England after years of fighting in Crusades to find his estate destroyed and his neighbours impoverished, all by the command of ruthless Sheriff of Nottingham (Mendelsohn). Learning that his death has been falsely reported and his love, Marian, is involved with a local politician, Robin and co-conspirator Little John (Jamie Foxx) launch a covert crusade against the corruption. Robin uses his lethal archery skills to intercept tax collections destined for the Sheriff’s coffers, which he turns over anonymously to Marian, now a leader of the clandestine grassroots rebellion. Discovering a larger conspiracy that threatens the stability of Europe, Robin and his men launch an attack that solidifies his status as a legendary and unstoppable rebel leader. StudioCanal’s Blu-ray & 4K Ultra-HD releases contain Deleted Scenes, Outtakes and a seven-part documentary featurette.  
Grim Pickings is written weekly by Jarret Gahan.