What To Watch This Weekend

This is arguably the best time of the year for filmophiles, with the run-up to the Oscars in full swing – There’s an exciting list of new must-see releases to choose from this weekend!

The Post

Steven Spielberg’s latest political-thriller is inspired by real events. The Post follows the investigation of a massive cover-up of government secrets that spans three decades and four U.S. presidents. Drama builds as the first female newspaper publisher in American history, Kay Graham (Meryl Streep) and veteran editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) attempt to publish and expose the Pentagon Papers – classified documents regarding undisclosed information concerning America’s disastrous involvement in the Vietnam War.

Coco

12-year-old Miguel Rivera loves his life in Mexico, surrounded by his quirky family. His passion is music and he’d love nothing more than to follow in his hero, Ernesto de la Cruz’s footsteps. Unfortunately, his dreams are stifled by his grandmother, the eponymous Coco, who is adamant about keeping a ban on music that started in the family generations ago. Miguel rebels against his grandmother and is transported to the Land of the Dead; only to discover the truth behind his family’s past with the help of his new friend, Hector. Way more thought-provoking than any Disney film before… and possibly even more fun!

The Commuter

Liam Neeson has teamed up with director Jaume Collet-Serra for the fourth time (and don’t worry, it’s not an action-packed Taken knock-off). His character Michael leads a normal and average life; wakes up every morning, gets the same train to the same city, with the same people. One day, a woman (Vera Farmiga) approaches him and offers him a deal. Someone on the train doesn’t belong and it’s up to his Michael to identify who this person could be, in return he will receive $100,000. Sounds simple enough, right? Not quite.

The Final Year

Oh, how we all miss Obama! He was a true visionary, a graceful statesman, and overall, a genuinely nice guy. Showing at the Lighthouse Cinema and IFI (Irish Film Institute) this weekend, Greg Barker’s documentary follows Obama’s foreign policy team through their last year in office. The film closely follows Secretary of State John Kerry, Irish-born US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes as they negotiate deals in Syria, Cuba, and Iran, try to free the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, and help draft the Paris Agreement on climate change – hoping to create a system protocol that would last once Obama left office.