A hot Oscar candidate, an action splatter festival from South Korea, a “Rocky” spin-off without Sylvester Stallone & the film adaptation of Felix Lobrecht’s “Sun and Concrete”? A cinema restart week, where there should be something for every taste.
Avatar 2 dominance is over! While the film was undoubtedly visually stunning, the author of this article is quite happy to see exciting new releases coming to cinemas that don’t play on Pandora. A large number of films are starting this week alone, for which it is definitely worth getting off the comfortable couch and going to the cinema again.
In the following article we will give you an overview of which cinema highlights will be starting in Germany on March 2nd, 2023.
“Project Wolf Hunting”
Lovers of rock-hard genre fare almost looked into the tube at “Project Wolf Hunting”, because Capelight Pictures doesn’t do things by halves when it comes to its releases! In contrast to other German distributors, they are consistent when it comes to the versions of their films and prefer not to release them in the cinemas in an abridged form.
Fortunately, the action splatter festival “Project Wolf Hunting” was given an 18 rating by the FSK on the third and last attempt – and uncut! So genre fans can now also see the South Korean shocker in its bloody entirety on the big screen in this country. Anyone who had “fun” with “The Sadness” last year should not miss this opportunity.
And that’s what Project Wolf Hunting is all about: A gang of super brutal gangsters is about to be shipped from the Philippines to South Korea. Around two dozen police officers are supposed to guard the dangerous cargo on the cargo ship Frontier Wolf – but of course the criminals fight for their freedom. A fight for life and death breaks out – but soon the warring factions have to realize that something else on the old cutter is trying to kill them…
“Repository”
The Psycho-Drama “Warehouse“ has a good chance of winning an Oscar, after all the new film by director Todd Field is represented in six categories in the fight for one of the coveted trophies. And definitely not without reason – we have already been able to see the film and give it a strong 4 out of 5 stars in our FILMSTARTS review. Our editor Björn Becher, who was able to see the film at the Venice Film Festival in 2022, writes:
“Because of its subject matter, its running time and a deliberately fraying narrative, ‘Tár’ is a difficult film, but it’s also a strong one. And first and foremost, the two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett (for ‘Elizabeth’ and ‘Blue Jasmine’) shines so impressively in the title role that it’s worth going to the cinema for that alone – by the way, even if one or the other is keen due to a lack of interest in classical music polished dialogue may fly over your (and to some extent our) heads.”
And that’s what “Tár” is about: Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) is a real successful woman. She is the first female chief conductor of a major German orchestra and is celebrated worldwide. With the Berlin Philharmonic she is faced with an incredible achievement: They want to perform the complete cycle by Gustav Mahler – only the famous 5th symphony is still missing to be completed. But the pressure is bringing more and more cracks to light in Lydia Tár’s life…
“Creed III”
Creed III is the firstRocky‘ spin-off, which is completely sans Sylvester Stallone gets by. Can this go well? We think so – and that’s largely due to the awesome antagonist played by new-Marvel villain Jonathan Majors. In our review, our editor-in-chief Christoph Petersen gave a good 3.5 stars and came to the following conclusion:
“With ‘Creed 3 – Rocky’s Legacy’, Michael B. Jordan delivers a directorial debut that is really impressive. In addition, Jonathan Majors as Damian Anderson is clearly the strongest adversary of the entire ‘Rocky’ series, at least in terms of acting! At the same time, Adonis Creed feels so full and satisfied throughout the film that the really big emotions – especially in the ring – are missing this time.”
And that’s what Creed III is all about: Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) has achieved everything and decides to make a cut at the peak of his career. Instead of actively stepping into the ring, he now wants to devote himself to his family and encourage new talent. But a shadow of the past hangs over the life of the boxing star: Adonis’ childhood friend Damian (Jonathan Majors) suddenly reappears after two decades in prison – and plans to get into the ring and claim what was taken from him. ..
“Sun and Concrete”
Felix Lobrecht is currently one of the best-known comedians in Germany, who created a real hit format with his podcast “Gemischtes Hack” alongside Tommi Schmidt. In addition, he was also able to celebrate great success as an author with his novel “Sonne und Beton” – a story inspired by his own youth experiences about growing up in Berlin Gropiusstadt.
Now the novel is being brought to the screen by “Wetlands” and “He’s Back Again” director David Wnendt. The hype about the film adaptation of the bestseller (sold out cinema tour in a few hours) does justice to the finished film – at least that’s our opinion. We are convinced of the adaptation and awarded 4 out of 5 stars in our FILMSTARTS review.
And that’s what “Sun and Concrete” is about: Life in the Gropiusstadt district of Neukölln is no picnic. The young people Lukas (Levy Rico Arcos) and his friends experience this on their own bodies almost every day. Her everyday life is characterized by violence, drugs and the dream of making quick money. This lures when Sanchez (Aaron Maldonado Morales) comes around the corner with the suggestion to steal the new computers at his school…
Amazon’s “The Rings of Power” vs. Warner’s “The Lord of the Rings”? That’s what the Amazon boss says about the clash of fantasy giants
