Coming Soon: March & April 2016

Once again, my Coming Soon post is more of a 'what you could have seen this month' as it's so late... apologies! In an effort to make up for this, I've combined March and April, so you'll hopefully be able to catch a couple of films from March that are still in cinemas and mark your calendars for those up and coming in the next few weeks. May will be better, I promise!

March was packed with horror films - 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Boy, The Witch; sequels - The Divergent Series: Allegiant, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2; and stunning animation, from family favourite Kung Fu Panda 3, to the astonishingly brilliant Anomalisa, and new Disney classic Zootropolis (I've already seen it twice and tell everyone I meet to head to a cinema immediately. The Breaking Bad joke in particular shouldn't be missed!). Then there was the latest Coen brothers' masterpiece in the form of Hail, Caesar!, Ben Wheatley's faithful adaptation of J.G. Ballard's dystopian novel, High-Rise, and the highly divisive - but no where near as bad as critics have declared - superhero behemoth Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.

April, on the other hand, is a little more varied. It kicks off with British feel-good film Eddie the Eagle; showcases a couple of documentaries - I am Belfast, The Last Man on the Moon; and takes a historical turn with World War One drama The Man Who Knew Infinity, Cold War spy thriller Despite the Falling Snow and tales of tense Middle East drone warfare Eye in the Sky. There's the hotly anticipated live-action remake of The Jungle Book; Tina Fey's latest comedy Whiskey Tango Foxtrot; Miles Davies biopic Miles Ahead, directed by and staring Don Cheadle; intelligent and gripping sci-fi Midnight Special; and battle lines are drawn when Marvel's favourite superheroes clash in Captain America: Civil War. Perhaps most exciting of all are the foreign films making their way to cinemas in April: the winner of the Palm D'Or at Cannes, Dheepan, and Best Foreign Language film everywhere else including the Oscars, Son of Saul, finally come to the U.K., and given their rave reviews over the last few months it looks like they'd be well worth seeking out.

As ever, all synopsis, release dates and trailers are below, along with star ratings for the films I've already seen. Hopefully this will throw up a couple of films to seek out from March, and those to look out for in April!

All films below are released in cinemas in March and April in the U.K.: some may have already opened abroad so if you're outside the U.K. then do check your local cinemas for film times and release dates.

MARCH

LONDON HAS FALLEN

Thursday 3rd March 2016

"In London for the Prime Minister's funeral, Mike Banning discovers a plot to assassinate all the attending world leaders."

THE CHOICE

Friday 4th March 2016

"Travis and Gabby first meet as neighbors in a small coastal town and wind up in a relationship that is tested by life's most defining events."

HAIL, CAESAR!

Friday 4th March 2016

"A Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio's stars in line."

* * * * *

TIME OUT OF MIND

Friday 4th March 2016

"George seeks refuge at Bellevue Hospital, a Manhattan intake center for homeless men, where his friendship with a fellow client helps him try to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter."

TRUTH

Friday 4th March 2016

"Newsroom drama detailing the 2004 CBS 60 Minutes report investigating then-President George W. Bush's military service, and the subsequent firestorm of criticism that cost anchor Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes their careers."

* * *

THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT

Thursday 10th March 2016

"After the earth-shattering revelations of Insurgent, Tris must escape with Four beyond the wall that encircles Chicago, to finally discover the shocking truth of the world around them."

ANOMALISA

Friday 11th March 2016

"A man crippled by the mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary."

* * * * *

THE HERE AFTER

Friday 11th March 2016

"When John returns home to his father after serving time in prison, he is looking forward to starting his life afresh. However, in the local community his crime is neither forgotten nor forgiven."

KUNG FU PANDA 3

Friday 11th March 2016

"Continuing his "legendary adventures of awesomeness", Po must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to his home."

THE ONES BELOW

Friday 11th March 2016

"A couple expecting their first child discover an an unnerving difference between themselves and the couple living in the flat below them who are also having a baby."

THE WITCH

Friday 11th March 2016

"A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession."

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE 

Friday 18th March 2016

"After getting in a car accident, a woman is held in a shelter with two men, who claim the outside world is affected by a widespread chemical attack."

THE BOY 

Friday 18th March 2016

"An American nanny is shocked that her new English family's boy is actually a life-sized doll. After she violates a list of strict rules, disturbing events make her believe that the doll is really alive."

HIGH-RISE 

Friday 18th March 2016

"Life for the residents of a tower block begins to run out of control."

* * * *

MARGUERITE 

Friday 18th March 2016

"Paris, 1920s. Marguerite Dumont is a wealthy woman, lover of the music and the opera. She loves to sing for her friends, although she's not a good singer. Both her friends and her husband have kept her fantasy. The problem begins when she decides to perform in front of a real audience."

RISEN 

Friday 18th March 2016

"In 33 AD, a Roman Tribune in Judea is tasked to find the missing body of an executed Jew rumored to have risen from the dead."

ROCK THE KASBAH 

Friday 18th March 2016

"A down-on-his-luck music manager discovers a teenage girl with an extraordinary voice while on a music tour in Afghanistan and takes her to Kabul to compete on the popular television show, Afghan Star."

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE 

Friday 25th March 2016

"Fearing that the actions of Superman are left unchecked, Batman takes on the Man of Steel, while the world wrestles with what kind of a hero it really needs."

* * *

DISORDER 

Friday 25th March 2016

"Vincent is an ex-soldier with PTSD who is hired to protect the wife and child of a wealthy Lebanese businessman while he's out of town. Despite the apparent tranquility on Maryland, Vincent perceives an external threat."

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 

Friday 25th March 2016

"A Portokalos family secret brings the beloved characters back together for an even bigger and Greeker wedding."

WELCOME TO ME 

Friday 25th March 2016

"When Alice Klieg wins the Mega-Millions lottery, she immediately quits her psychiatric meds and buys her own talk show."

ZOOTROPOLIS 

Friday 25th March 2016

"In a city of anthropomorphic animals, a rookie bunny cop and a cynical con artist fox must work together to uncover a conspiracy."

* * * * *

APRIL

BLACK MOUNTAIN POETS 

Friday 1st April 2016

"Claire and Lisa Walker are neurotic sisters on the run who assume the identities of Internationally renowned poets The Wilding Sisters to take refuge at a Poetry Retreat for the weekend; spending time in the black mountains of Wales amongst poets and the inspiration of nature leads to a new beginning for our heroines."

EDDIE THE EAGLE 

Friday 1st April 2016

"The story of Eddie Edwards, the notoriously tenacious British underdog ski jumper who charmed the world at the 1988 Winter Olympics."

VICTORIA 

Friday 1st April 2016

"A young Spanish woman who has newly moved to Berlin finds her flirtation with a local guy turn potentially deadly as their night out with his friends reveals a dangerous secret."

DHEEPAN 

Friday 8th April 2016

"Dheepan is a Sri Lankan Tamil warrior who flees to France and ends up working as a caretaker outside Paris."

THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER'S WAR 

Friday 8th April 2016

"As two evil sisters prepare to conquer the land; two renegades - Eric the Huntsman - who previously aided Snow White in defeating Ravenna, and his forbidden lover, Sara set out to stop them."

I AM BELFAST 

Friday 8th April 2016

"A visual, poetic depiction of Belfast and its citizens, told with love and passion of someone, who has left the city many years ago but is still fascinated by it."

THE LAST MAN ON THE MOON 

Friday 8th April 2016

"When Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan stepped off the moon in December 1972 he left his footprints and his daughter's initials in the lunar dust. Only now is he ready to share his epic but deeply personal story of fulfillment, love, and loss."

THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY 

Friday 8th April 2016

"Growing up poor in Madras, India, Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar earns admittance to Cambridge University during WWI, where he becomes a pioneer in mathematical theories with the guidance of his professor, G.H. Hardy."

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL

Friday 8th April 2016

"A father and son go on the run after the dad learns his child possesses special powers."

* * * * *

DESPITE THE FALLING SNOW 

Friday 15th April 2016

"In Cold War Moscow, a female spy steals secrets from an idealistic politician - and falls in love with him."

EYE IN THE SKY 

Friday 15th April 2016

"Col. Katherine Powell, a military officer in command of an operation to capture terrorists in Kenya, sees her mission escalate when a girl enters the kill zone triggering an international dispute over the implications of modern warfare."

THE JUNGLE BOOK 

Friday 15th April 2016

"An orphan boy is raised in the jungle with the help of a pack of wolves, a bear, and a black panther."

BASTILLE DAY 

Friday 22nd April 2016

"A young artist and former CIA agent embark on an anti-terrorist mission in France."

JANE GOT A GUN 

Friday 22nd April 2016

"A woman asks her ex-lover for help in order to save her outlaw husband from a gang out to kill him."

MILES AHEAD 

Friday 22nd April 2016

"An exploration of the life and music of Miles Davis."

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT 

Friday 22nd April 2016

"A journalist recounts her wartime coverage in Afghanistan."

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR 

Friday 29th April 2016

"Political interference in the Avengers' activities causes a rift between former allies Captain America and Iron Man."

DEMOLITION 

Friday 29th April 2016

"A successful investment banker struggles after losing his wife in a tragic car crash."

SON OF SAUL 

Friday 29th April 2016

"In the horror of 1944 Auschwitz, a prisoner forced to burn the corpses of his own people finds moral survival upon trying to salvage from the flames the body of a boy he takes for his son."

Sadly, I haven't seen as many films in March as I would have liked to, so I'll be trying a lot harder in April! Personal favourites so far have been Hail, Caesar!, Zootropolis and Midnight Special, and despite missing most of High-Rise due to overly chatty pensioners in the screening I attended I really liked the film. Also, while I agree with a number of the criticisms raised by critics over the past week or so, I really didn't think Batman v Superman was that bad. Wonder Woman was a real triumph, Hans Zimmer's score was excellent as usual and it was certainly fun enough to watch - if you ignore the length and the lack of narrative consistency it's not too shabby at all!

I have a number of films on my 'to watch' list for April, most notably Son of Saul and Captain America: Civil War. I've been waiting for both of them for months and I'm so glad they'll be in cinemas soon enough!

What have you seen in March, and what are you looking forward to seeing in April? Do let me know: I love film recommendations!