THIS week’s slate of releases seem decidedly “18+”, with adult thrillers, a Chinese epic and an inscrutable comic-book adaptation from Japan.

Babygirl is a grown-up drama/thriller from Dutch actor and filmmaker Halina Reijn, starring Nicole Kidman, Antonio Banderas and Harris Dickinson with a supporting turn from Australian Sophie Wilde.

Romy (Kidman) is a high-achieving CEO who is dissatisfied with her humdrum husband (Banderas).

When a confident, bold and ambitious intern (Dickinson) makes advances towards her, Romy begins an affair that may cost her more than she is prepared to lose.

These steamy, adultery-based thrillers have made a real comeback in the past year, after having long been thought a dead genre at the box office.

Everyone puts in a committed performance and it’s another film that makes New York City look pretty appealing, but what’s surprising is that such a familiar kind of premise still has room for… well, surprises.

Companion follows a string of small scale, limited cast, horror-thrillers revolving around the “awakening” of an AI robot to the dismay of the people around them.

Starring a cast of young and pretty faces as friends enjoying a weekend getaway at a remote cabin, the fun begins when it is revealed that one of their “new girlfriends” is actually a “Companion Robot”.

Many of the elements are predictable – the robot malfunctions in such a way that makes it smarter and self-aware and questions why it must remain subservient.

What is pleasing to report is that the film has a lot of fun with the premise, and the potential for cliche is offset by some over-the-top sequences and performances.

Maria is a biopic of renowned Greek-American opera singer, Maria Callas.

Angelina Jolie stars in the title role as the film chronicles the final week of Callas’ life and examines her conflicted relationships with family, lovers and friends, along with the circumstances that led to her death.

Jolie shows that she still has what it takes to take over and light up a screen, though the script itself doesn’t give her enough real drama to work with.

Did you happen to see Creation of the Gods last year? If not, then you may find yourself a bit lost if you check out Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force.

The second entry in what will eventually be a Chinese epic-fantasy trilogy, this film carries on the story involving immortal warriors, vengeful gods, animal spirits and kingdoms at war during the Shang dynasty of 2000 B.C.

Drawing upon the rich, but somewhat impenetrable Chinese mythology (at least to Western audiences), the film is appropriately large-scale and looks like it sits comfortably next to Lord of the Rings.

Finally an adaptation of Japanese manga (comic-book) Oshi no Ko: The Final Act comes to screens.

One of the interesting features of many Japanese anime or manga series is that while there may be a significant supernatural “hook” to the premise, the stories often veer towards surprising genres.

In this case, a doctor is murdered at the moment he is delivering the babies of a famous pop-star, only to be immediately reincarnated as one of the children, retaining all his past life’s memories.

Growing to adolescence, the young man and his twin sister now attempt to build careers in the entertainment industry in order to investigate and solve his murder, and others connected to it.

By Lindsay HALL