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Blithe Spirit & Judas and The Black Messiah: 4 new UAE films opening Feb 18

What's on at the cinema?

Blithe Spirit. The rule of thumb tends to be: if the movie’s title is even approaching a pun, avoid it. However, we’re going to have to hang the golden regulation this week as Blithe Spirit looks like our choice picture. As a result of the stellar cast and the fact it is based on a Noel Coward play, how could we possibly settle on anything else? 1930s writer Charles Condomine (Dan Stevens) is having a tough time converting his award-winning novel into a screenplay. He hires spiritualist medium Madame Arcati (Judi Dench) to conduct a private séance at a party in order to get the creative juices flowing. Presumed to be a fraud, Arcati inadvertently conjures up the ghost of Condomine’s first wife Elvira (Leslie Mann) who, much to the consternation of his current spouse (Isla Fisher), decides to stick around and cause havoc. Does true love really never die? IMDb gives it 5.3

Judas and The Black Messiah. However, if you fancy something a little more realistic and historically important, you have to see this powerful work. Starring the always-excellent Daniel Kaluuya, Oscar-winner in the making LaKeith Stanfield and incredible screen presence Jesse Plemons, you just know the story will be captivating. Sly FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Plemons) offers William O’Neal (Stanfield) a plea deal. He’ll drop all misdemeanor charges if the young man infiltrates the Black Panther Party and gathers intelligence on its Chairman Fred Hampton (Kaluuya). The cat and mouse game begins! Rotten Tomatoes gives it a whopping 96%

Boss Level. Picture a shockingly violent Groundhog Day (1993) and you can pretty much imagine what Boss Level has in store. A former soldier, played by Frank Grillo, has to relive the same day repeatedly. Each 24 hours a new assassin arrives to deliver a gruesome death. Resigned to his fate, when the Marine discovers the assumed-dead only woman he ever loved (Naomi Watts) is still alive, he decides to fight back. How do you beat a Samurai sword warrior, though? When you have endless time in which to practice you can become halfway decent it appears. Despite initial reservations, the film actually looks pretty good. IMDb gives it 6.3

Tuesdays & Fridays (Hindi). A rom com from India for you now and there’s not much info to go on plot-wise, but how complicated are these films anyway? A new couple embark on a relationship in which they are only allowed to meet on two days of the week. As they become more involved, the pair begin to question who is actually in charge of this arrangement. The picture is introducing relatively new actors, Anmol Dhillon and Jhataleka Malhotra. There are so far no ratings.