This Week's Cinema | 4th January

This section of Great Expectations features the hottest theatrically released films of the week.
If i've missed any, please leave a comment below.

The Impossible - Released New Year's Day, J. A. Bayona's disaster epic depicts that of the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami which had thousands fighting for their live amidst a landscape of absolute chaos. Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor headline a family, based on the true circumstances of another, as they, separately, battle to survive and to find one another again. A demanding yet emotionally crippling drama, expertly executed. Read the full review here.

Playing for Keeps - Released New Year's Day, Gerard Butler stars as an ex-footballer whose fame has decreased him to a life of coaching his son's soccer team, leaving him to battle off the bored soccer mothers who pursue him at every turn. Jessica Biel, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dennis Quaid and Uma Thurman co-star in a breezy romantic-comedy.

Quartet - Released New Year's Day, Maggie Smith stars in Dustin Hoffman's quirky drama about a retirement home whose annual concert is disrupted by the arrival of Jean (Smith). Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins co-star in a drama based on Ronald Harwood's same-titled play.

Texas Chainsaw 3D - Advance screenings this coming Friday (4th) and Saturday (5th), John Lussenhop's latest addition to the reeling sequels of Leatherface's past is actually a direct sequel to Tobe Hooper's 1974 classic. Alexandra Daddario (Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief) is Heather, a young woman who, with a handful of friends, heads to Texas to collect her inheritance. It is, however, to her surprise that a certain chainsaw-wielding maniac resides in said inheritance. Certified fresh by Hooper himself, anticipation for this 3D sequel is rife. Didn't think that would be possible. The film has a full general release on January 9th.