- Matt Damon peers out the window, afraid he is still being stalked by Ben Affleck.
HEREAFTER
(Warner Brothers) Matt Damon, Cecilie de France, Frankie McLaren, George McLaren, Jay Mohr, Bryce Dallas Howard, Richard Kind, Steven R. Schirripa. Directed by Clint Eastwood
The lives of three people in three different places on Earth are touched by death in different ways; a blue collar American is able to communicate with the dead but finds this less a gift and more of a curse. A French journalist has a near-death experience in a tsunami, shaking her to the very core of her being. Finally a young London boy loses his twin brother and searches for answers. Their lives will eventually intersect as they embark on a path to search for the truth of what they believe awaits in the hereafter.
See the trailer, interviews and clips here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release formats: Standard
Genre: Supernatural Drama
Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic elements including disturbing disaster and accident images, and for brief strong language)
Anton Chekhov’s The Duel
(Highline) Andrew Scott, Fiona Glascott, Tobias Menzies, Nicholas Rowe. A ne’er do well in a Russian village begins an illicit affair with a married woman, but when they plan for her to leave her husband for her paramour, his true nature begins to emerge in this well-reviewed version of a classic tale by the Russian author.
The trailer for this movie is unavailable.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release formats: Standard
Genre: Drama
Rating: NR
I’m Still Here
(Magnolia) Joaquin Phoenix, Sean Combs. Actor Joaquin Phoenix shocked Hollywood in the fall of 2008 by announcing that he was retiring from his acting career and instead, becoming a hip-hop artist. Oscar-nominated actor Casey Affleck was behind the camera documenting this “career reinvention” that would later turn out to be a hoax. Still, the film that came out of it has gotten a good deal of buzz as a look at life in the public eye and the odd worship of celebrity that creates an environment that allows celebrities to do whatever they please.
See the trailer and clips here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release formats: Standard
Genre: Mockumentary
Rating: R (for graphic nudity, sexual material, pervasive language, some drug use and crude content)
Lebanon
(Sony Classics) Yoav Donat, Michael Moshonov, Zohar Shtrauss, Dudu Tassa. During the First Lebanon War of 1982, a lone Israeli tank and a platoon of paratroopers are sent to a hostile town for a simple mission that turns into a nightmare of survival as the soldiers, motivated by fear and instinct, try not to lose the best part of themselves in a situation that demands their worst.
See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release formats: Standard
Genre: War Drama
Rating: R (for disturbing bloody war violence, language including sexual references and some nudity)
Paranormal Activity 2
(Paramount) Katie Featherston, Gabriel Johnson. Further supernatural goings-on are captured in a house via security cameras, this time affecting a different family in the sequel to the smash hit horror movie that was made for only $15,000 – I’m assuming the sequel cost them a bit more to make.
See the trailer and a clip here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release formats: Standard, IMAX
Genre: Supernatural Thriller
Rating: R (for some language and brief violent material)
Stone
(Overture) Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich, Frances Conroy. A man imprisoned for covering up the murder of his grandparents with a fire is up for early parole, and that decision rests in the hands of a parole officer approaching retirement age. In order to up his odds, the prisoner sends his sexy, amoral wife to help convince the parole officer to set him free.
See the trailer, clips and interviews here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release formats: Standard
Genre: Thriller
Rating: R (for strong sexuality and violence, and pervasive language)
The Tillman Story
(Weinstein) Pat Tillman, Dannie Tillman, Richard Tillman. When pro football star Pat Tillman gave up his lucrative career to fight for his country in Afghanistan, that was big news. When he gave his life for his country, that was even bigger news. The real story is his family’s fight to find out the truth behind his death, and the government’s equal determination to cover up that truth.
See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release formats: Standard
Genre: Documentary
Rating: R (for language)
Waiting for “Superman”
(Paramount Vantage) George Reeves, Geoffrey Canada, Michelle Rhee, Randi Weingarten. Oscar-winning documentarian Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) focuses his lens on the American public education system. Once the best in the world, it has become a morass of drop-out factories and bureaucratic bungling that inhibits rather than promotes academic excellence. However, there is still some hope as good teachers and innovative administrators are creating a new educational system with programs in charter schools and other enlightened academic institutions that may eventually deliver on the promise of leaving no child behind.
See the trailer, clips and an interview here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release formats: Standard
Genre: Documentary
Rating: PG (for some thematic material, mild language and incidental smoking)
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