At this point, we don’t know…

Indy Datta doesn’t go here, he doesn’t go there – he’s as much fun as a stick.

Question of the week is, do Guardian subs even read what they plan to publish before they write the headlines? The headline of this piece might lead you to believe that the article will be about the box office failure of Kevin Hart movies whereas in fact it’s all about how the perennially superfluous, must-have-a-picture-of-Rusbridger-fucking-a-goat John Patterson (he writes about film and is based in Los Angeles) kinda sorta didn’t much like Ride Along and, really, who gives a fuck about that? The headline is particularly bizarre, given that both Ride Along and this week’s UK release About Last Night (a remake of the terrible Edward Zwick bratpack rom-dram, presumably, rather than a fresh adaptation of Sexual Perversity in Chicago) were healthy hits in the US. Kudos to Patterson and the Guardian for packing so much pointlessness and ignorance into such a short article. Anthony Lane at the New Yorker would do well to learn from their talent for brevity; his bizarre Scarlett Johansson, uh, appreciation this week was so long that I needed to obtain certification as a 3rd level tantric adept to finish it.

I quite want to see Ride Along, as it goes, because it was one of the then-unmade scripts discussed at length in the wildly popular screenwriting manual Save the Cat. But then, the last time I said that, it was about Four Christmases.

Other notable UK releases this week include David McKenzie’s really pretty good Starred Up, which we reviewed at last year’s London Film Festival, and The Machine, a science fiction drama that comes trailing awards (3 Welsh BAFTAs, a BIFA, a Raindance Award) and decent reviews. It is in a handful of cinemas and available to buy and download from iTunes, Blinkbox, and the like. Have a trailer.

The big US release of the week is an adaptation of the young adult SF bestseller Divergent (to be followed by sequels, Effulgent and Cromulent). We’ll be reviewing that on its UK release in a couple of weeks.

In other stuff:

An exclusive video sneak preview of the DCC Mike Dryden spin-off from Line of Duty, which finished its second series this week.