In Theaters: RED SPARROW, DEATH WISH, DANCE ACADEMY - THE MOVIE and GOLDSTONE

This week in theaters it's time for some ultra-violent R-rated fun. We have the sexy spy thriller "Red Sparrow" starring Jennifer Lawrence and the revenge thriller remake "Death Wish" starring Bruce Willis. None of these films have impressed critics, especially as American society is going through some turbulent times, but if you can leave your politics (and your brain) at the door, I'm sure there's fun to be had with these flicks.

In limited release you should check out "Dance Academy: The Movie" (also titled "Dance Academy: The Comeback"), the big screen follow-up to the TV show that ran from 2010 until 2013. Also released in select theaters is the Australian crime thriller "Goldstone".

Synopses, details, critical reception, trailers, clips and more after the jump.

RED SPARROW

Official Synopsis

Dominika Egorova is many things. A devoted daughter determined to protect her mother at all costs. A prima ballerina whose ferocity has pushed her body and mind to the absolute limit. A master of seductive and manipulative combat. When she suffers a career-ending injury, Dominika and her mother are facing a bleak and uncertain future. That is why she finds herself manipulated into becoming the newest recruit for Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people like her to use their bodies and minds as weapons. After enduring the perverse and sadistic training process, she emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow the program has ever produced. Dominika must now reconcile the person she was with the power she now commands, with her own life and everyone she cares about at risk, including an American CIA agent who tries to convince her he is the only person she can trust.

Film Details

• Director: Francis Lawrence
  
  
• Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Ciaran hinds, Mary-Louise Parker, Joely Richardson, Bill Camp, Jeremy Irons
  
  
• Genre: Mystery, Thriller
  
  
• Running Time: 139 min.
  
  
• Rating: R for strong violence, torture, sexual content, language and some graphic nudity
  
  

Critical Reception

• Rottentomatoes: 51% (83 fresh, 81 rotten, score: 5.6/10)
  
• Metacritic: 54 out of 100 (17 positive, 20 mixed, 8 negative).

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DEATH WISH

Official Synopsis

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures presents director Eli Roth's reimagining of the 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish. Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of his city's violence when it is rushed into his ER - until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge, hunts his family's assailants to deliver justice. As the anonymous slayings of criminals grabs the media's attention, the city wonders if this deadly avenger is a guardian angel or a grim reaper. Fury and fate collide in the intense action-thriller Death Wish. Paul Kersey becomes a divided person: a man who saves lives, and a man who takes them; a husband and father trying to take care of his family, and a shadowy figure fighting crime; a surgeon extracting bullets from suspects' bodies, and a man seeking justice that detectives are quickly closing in on.

Film Details

• Director: Eli Roth
  
  
• Starring: Bruce Willis, Vincent D'Onofrio, Elisabeth Shue, Dean Norris, Beau Knapp
  
  
• Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
  
  
• Running Time: 107 min.
  
  
• Rating: R for strong bloody violence, and language throughout
  
  

Critical Reception

• Rottentomatoes: 15% (10 fresh, 57 rotten, score: 3.6/10)
  
• Metacritic: 31 out of 100 (1 positive, 12 mixed, 14 negative).

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DANCE ACADEMY: THE MOVIE

Official Synopsis

Former ballet student, Tara Webster, was destined to become one of the top dancers of her generation before a devastating injury crippled her career. Over the last eighteen months she has tried to embrace life as a university student but cannot get over her dream of dancing professionally. In her quest to defy the odds in a near impossible comeback, Tara leaves her life and love behind in Sydney and travels to New York. But as the rejections pile up, and Tara tears herself apart trying to fit the unrelenting ballet mould, she must learn to find, and trust, her own voice before she loses everything that truly matters in the pursuit of a dream.

Film Details

• Director: Jeffrey Walker
  
  
• Starring: Alex Acosta, Alicia Banit, Chris Bartlett, Keiynan Lonsdale, Jordan Rodrigues
  
  
• Genre: Drama
  
  
• Running Time: 101 min.
  
  
• Rating: Not Rated
  
  

Critical Reception

• Rottentomatoes: 100% (13 fresh, 0 rotten, score: 6.5/10)
  
• Metacritic: N/A

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GOLDSTONE

Official Synopsis

Indigenous Detective JAY SWAN arrives in the frontier mining town of "Goldstone" on a missing persons enquiry. What seems like a simple "light duties" investigation soon opens into a web of crime and corruption implicating the local Mayor, Mining Boss and Aboriginal Land Council

Film Details

• Director: Ivan Sen
  
  
• Starring: Aaron Pedersen, Alex Russell, Jacki Weaver, David Wenham, David Gulpilil
  
  
• Genre: Crime, Thriller
  
  
• Running Time: 110 min.
  
  
• Rating: R for language and violence
  
  

Critical Reception

• Rottentomatoes: 80% (24 fresh, 6 rotten, score: 7.4/10)
  
• Metacritic: 81 out of 100 (7 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative).

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