Chris Newbould
Transformers: Age of Extinction
It's big, it's dumb, it's full of explosions and it's going to be a box-office smash. The fourth movie in the Transformers franchise features an entirely new cast of humans, headed by Mark Wahlberg, while all the mechanical favourites such as Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee return. The director Michael Bay has long been a source of ridicule for critics and serious cinephiles alike and this movie was no exception – it was panned on its late June release and has a 17 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Tell that to audiences, though – the film made US$500 million (Dh1.8bn) in 10 days and is still pulling in crowds.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The eighth film overall in the Planet of the Apes franchise and the second in the current reboot (following 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes) has achieved rave reviews among both critics and audiences. With the human race devastated by a virus and apes now the planet's dominant species, the movie feels like a political study of humanity's attitude to the planet. The peace-loving Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and the vengeance-obsessed Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) are the main human protagonists, while the wise ape leader Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his adviser Koba (Toby Kebbell) have a similar dynamic among the apes. Is war between the species inevitable?
Muppets Most Wanted
More family fun with The Muppets appearing in their eighth feature-length adventure. This time, the gang head off to Europe with their new manager Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais). The furry friends find themselves unwittingly caught up in a plot to steal the Crown Jewels that has been hatched by Badguy and his sidekick Constantine, a criminal mastermind who has just escaped from a Siberian gulag and conveniently bears a striking resemblance to Kermit the Frog. Hilarity, naturally, ensues.
The Expendables 3
All the 1980s action heroes are back for another instalment of the action franchise, including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dolph Lundgren. This time around, they are up against a new foe – Mel Gibson playing a rogue Expendables co-founder, who was thought to have been killed by Stallone’s Barney Ross, the leader of the mercenary group, when he went off-message years ago. With a supporting cast that also includes Wesley Snipes, Harrison Ford, Kelsey Grammer, Jet Li, Jason Statham and Antonio Banderas, the cast reads like an A to Z of action movies over the past three or four decades.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The pizza-loving amphibians return to cinemas for the first time since 1993's largely forgotten Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3. For this reboot, Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes production company has been brought on board and Megan Fox plays the turtles' human accomplice, the journalist April O'Neil. Bay upset TMNT purists when he said in 2012 that the protagonists would not technically be turtles, but turtle-like aliens.
Release dates have not been confirmed yet; check local cinemas for information
cnewbould@thenational.ae
