New in theaters: Gerard Butler’s answer to “Con Air”, the new movie from the “Oldboy” director & Tom Hanks as Grumpy Old Man

Even more than seven weeks after its theatrical release, ‘Avatar 2: The Way Of Water’ still tops the cinema charts in Germany – James Cameron’s mega-blockbuster managed to attract nearly 392,000 viewers this WE. Only the hobby detectives from Rocky Beach could with their new cinema release “The Three??? – Legacy of the Dragon”. A total of 330,000 tickets were sold to fans of the cult researchers.

Whether “Avatar 2” can be dethroned next weekend? In any case, today, February 2, 2023, several exciting cinema films will start that we can recommend. Alongside Chan-Wook Park’s tender film noir “The woman in the fog“ is with that “Plan“ plenty of action for fans of handmade firecrackers. If you want to experience “America’s Sweetheart” Tom Hanks as a grumpy early retiree, you should check out “A man named Otto“ Throw. In the American remake of A Man Called Ove, the actor plays an isolated widower who sees no point in his life after the death of his wife and only regains the joy of life through an unexpected friendship.

The cinema releases of the week: our tips

“The woman in the fog“: Was it an accident, suicide or murder? When an experienced hobby climber falls off a high cliff during a trip through the mountains, the police are puzzled. Investigating agent Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) soon questions the suicide theory. For him, the dead man’s widow is the prime suspect. But is Seo-rae (Tang Wei), who has fled China to Korea and takes good care of the elderly, capable of committing such a cold-blooded murder? Slowly but surely, the policeman falls for the woman he thinks is the murderer…

We can give you clear advice for “The Woman in the Mist”. Our editor-in-chief Christoph Petersen gave the film noir no less than 4.5 out of 5 stars in our FILMSTARTS review and came to the following verdict:

“The mastermind behind tough revenge hits like “Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance” and “Oldboy” gives us one of the most tender film noirs of all time. Chan-wook Parks “The Woman in the Mist” is a masterfully staged, cleverly constructed, surprisingly humorous and, despite the painful tragedy, pleasantly lighthearted crime melodrama a deeply romantic and utterly fascinating cat-and-mouse relationship between a sleepless detective and the prime suspect in two of his murder cases.”

“A man named Otto“: Tom Hanks has been America’s “sweetheart” for years. The actor has captured the hearts of audiences around the world with roles as the loveable Forrest Gump and the stranded Fed Ex employee on Cast Away. For years he devoted himself to the clean man. However, the Hollywood star is now slowly trying to soften this image: in “Elvis”, Tom Hanks already played the wonderfully sleazy manager of the King of Rock, who was more interested in his own interests than the well-being of his protégé, and also in “Ein Mann named Otto”, the American remake of “A man named Ove”, the actor is surprisingly grumpy at first.

In the film, Hanks plays an embittered widower who lost all his zest for life after the death of his wife and now also makes life miserable for the people in his neighborhood. Actually, the annoying man can no longer be helped, but then Marisol (Mariana Trevino) slides next to the grumpy ass. The tough woman manages to awaken a spark of the old self in Otto, who then begins to open up to life again.

In our MOVIE STARTS review the tragic comedy gets a solid 4 stars, with our critic Gaby Sikorski in particular Tom Hanks lifting the remake above the original from Sweden: “The atmospherically strong remake of Fredrik Backman’s bestseller is not only a success as a remake, but – especially thanks to Tom Hanks – even more convincing than the Swedish version from 2015. A wonderful, sincere dramedy, whose rough humor has already led to suspicion of kitsch parried in the approach.”

“Plan“: Thriller novels and tragic comedies are too emotional for you? Want another proper old-school hit-and-run movie with a muscle-bound action star punching his fists? The right film for this also starts in cinemas this week: “Airplane” is almost Gerald Butler Reply to the cult actor”Con air“, because the movie premises are not that different.

“Plane” is also about the transfer of a high security prisoner by plane. Only this time Gerard Butlers is in the cockpit as pilot Brodie Torrance and makes sure everything runs smoothly. Of course not, and when lightning strikes the plane, the plane has to make an emergency landing on an island. It’s just stupid that a bloody civil war is raging there and the rebels are capturing a large part of the crew. Brodie Torrance has only one way out if he wants to save the lives of the passengers: he must team up with suspected killer Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), who was being transported by the FBI on his plane. Is there more to the alleged violent criminal than meets the eye?

For us, the movie is good action fare. Here’s how we sum up our 3.5 star review: “Absolutely nothing special, but really good for that – If you want to see an effective old-school action movie as you could have made it 30 or probably even 50 years ago, ‘Plane’ is the place to be. Moreover, Gerard Butler delivers a much, much better performance than his generic hero role should have required.”