New Releases for the Week of November 5, 2021

ETERNALS

(Disney/Marvel) Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kit Harrington, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry. Directed by Chloë Zhao

A group of near-immortal aliens living on Earth have taken no hand in human events, until an unexpected tragedy paves the way for their implacable enemies – the Deviants – to come to Earth, forcing them to reveal themselves and their dazzling powers. This new superhero team falls on the heels of the success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Superhero
Now Playing: Wide
Rating: PG-13 (for fantasy violence and action, some language and brief sexuality)

Annaatthe

(Sun) Rajinkanth, Meena, Kushboo, Nayanthara. A young man’s sister marries and moves to another city. Soon, he begins to hear disturbing news about her and realizes that she’s in some kind of trouble. He refuses to sit back and do nothing, so he heads to a strange city to rescue his sister, even though he doesn’t know what from.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Action
Now Playing: AMC Avenue Melbourne, Cinemark Orlando, Cinemark Universal, CMX Plaza Café, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Waterford Lakes
Rating: NR

Christmas vs. the Walters

(Safier) Shawnee Smith, Dean Winters, Chris Elliott, Bruce Dern. If you think the stores are already gearing up for Christmas, you should see the Hallmark Channel. Here’s a movie that would fit right in over there: an overworked and over-stressed mom tries to create the perfect Christmas while her loving but dysfunctional family begins to fall apart.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Holiday Comedy
Now Playing: Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Pointe Orlando
Rating: PG-13 (for some suggestive material)

Ida Red

(Saban) Josh Hartnett, Melissa Leo, Frank Grillo, William Forsythe. The son of a notorious crime boss is convinced by his mother to pull off one last heist to get out of jail. However, the FBI is closing in and he will find himself faced with a choice between freedom and family.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Thriller
Now Playing: Studio Movie Grille Sunset Walk
Rating: R (for language throughout, strong violence and some sexual content)

Mass

(Bleecker Street) Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Reed Birney, Ann Dowd. Two sets of parents are torn apart yet forever linked by an unspeakable tragedy. They agree to meet privately some years later in order to try and move on with their lives, but it won’t be so easy.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic content and brief strong language)

Red Notice

(Netflix) Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Ritu Arya. An Interpol agent goes after the world’s most wanted art thief. This may be the biggest movie Netflix has produced to date.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Action Comedy
Now Playing: Cinemark Lakeland Square, Cinemark Orlando, Cinemark Universal, CMX Daytona, Premiere Fashion Square Mall, Studio Movie Grille Sunset Walk
Rating: PG-13 (for violence and action, some sexual references, and strong language)

Sooyavanshi

(Reliance) Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan, Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif. A police anti-terror squad in India gets a lot more than it bargained for.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Crime
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC West Oaks, Cinemark Universal, Regal Pavilion Port Orange
Rating: NR

Spencer

(Neon) Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Sean Harris, Sally Hawkins. A take on what might have happened during the holiday weekend when Diana, Princess of Wales, made the decision to divorce her husband Prince Charles. Early reviews have praised Stewart as a possible Oscar Best Actress contender.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Biographical Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Avenue Melbourne, AMC Disney Springs, AMC West Oaks, Cinemark Universal, CMX Daytona, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal The Loop, Regal Waterford Lakes, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: R (for some language)

Wife of a Spy

(Kino Lorber) Yû Aoi, Issei Takahashi, Masahiro Higashide, Ryôta Bandô. As Imperial Japan descends inexorably into a war footing, the wife of a progressive silk exporter begins to suspect he’s having an affair. But her boyhood friend, now the head of the military police, is sure he’s up to something far worse.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Thriller
Now Playing: Cinematique Daytona
Rating: PG-13 (for violent material, bloody images and some language)

COMING TO VIRTUAL CINEMA/VOD:

A Cop Movie
A Man Called Scott
Beta Test
Clifford the Big Red Dog (Wednesday)
Dead and Beautiful (Thursday)
The Deep House
The Drummer (Tuesday)
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Ending Disease
Finch
Her Fatal Family Secret
Highway to Heaven (Saturday)
Ida Red
Love Hard
Mark, Mary and Some Other People
Passing (Wednesday)
Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day
Violet (Tuesday)

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Eternals
Finch
Spencer
Wife of a Spy

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P.S. I Love You

Hilary Swank contemplates Sunday morning alone with the Times.

(2007) Romance (Warner Brothers) Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Harry Connick Jr., James Marsden, Lisa Kudrow, Gina Gershon, Kathy Bates, Nellie McKay, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Dean Winters, Anne Kent, Brian McGrath, Sherie Rene Scott, Susan Blackwell, Michael Countryman, Roger Rathburn, Mike Doyle, Caris Vujcec, Alexandra McGuinness. Directed by Richard LaGravenese

When the one we love passes away before their time, the loss is devastating. Letting go is nearly impossible, particularly when the person who is gone is the person you were supposed to grow old with. I can’t imagine coping with that kind of pain.

But that’s exactly what Holly (Swank) has to cope with. Her husband Gerry (Butler), a charming Irish rogue if ever there was one, has succumbed to a brain tumor, leaving Holly completely devastated. She has trouble leaving her apartment, where her memories of Gerry are vivid. When she does leave, she carries his urn (containing his ashes) with her like the security blanket of Linus van Pelt. She calls her own phone number endlessly so she can hear her husband’s voice on the answering machine.

Then she starts getting letters, notes and missives from her late husband, the first one accompanying a cake on her 30th birthday which falls not long after the funeral. Before he died, he suspected that Holly would have a hard time adjusting, so in order to ease her back into society he has come up with a plan to help her get over the hump. Each letter comes with instructions of things to do – some of them she is kind of reluctant to undertake but bolstered by her mom (Bates) and two best friends (Gershon, Kudrow) she puts herself out there, intending to honor her late husband’s last instructions.

Along the way she meets a bartender with a huge crush on her (Marsden) and an Irish singer who was once Gerry’s best friend (Morgan) and slowly Holly begins to come to life. But will that life ever be as sweet again?

A lot of critics found the movie misogynistic and creepy but I disagree, particularly on the former. One critic went so far to as to say that the movie denigrates women because one of the things that rescues Holly is her discovery that she has a knack for designing shoes. Really? So throwing yourself into creative work isn’t therapeutic?  Some critics really need to have that stick that is firmly implanted in their anus surgically removed.

I will say that it is a bit creepy to have one’s life directed by their spouse after they’ve died (and to the film’s credit the Kathy Bates character says as much) but there is also a tenderness to it, a revelation of the concern of a husband for his wife even after he’s gone. Puts the “til death do us part” thing to shame in a way because this is beyond death. Sometimes, love is looking out for the one you love even when you’re not there to do it.

This is a very different role than what we’ve come to associate with Swank; she’s normally more in her wheelhouse when she’s portraying strong women. And that’s not to say that Holly isn’t strong; it’s just that she’s been completely brought to her knees by a sudden, unexpected and overwhelming loss. It’s enough to bring anyone to their knees, come to that and I found myself relating to her when I thought about how I’d react if Da Queen were to be suddenly taken from me. I’d be a miserable wreck, a quivering mass of goo on the floor and likely I would hide in my bedroom for a very long time afterwards.

That said, you have to give Butler and Morgan credit for playing charming Irishmen. For Butler it pretty much comes naturally but Morgan had to reach a little bit for that bit of blarney. Morgan’s career has cooled a bit since he made this and I don’t understand why; I always thought he had some leading man potential but that hasn’t panned out as yet for him, although he continues to steal the show of just about every movie he participates in.

This is a bit bittersweet for Valentine’s Day as it concerns the loss of a loved one and rebuilding one’s life afterwards. I can’t say as I think this is perfect for couples just starting out but for those who have put some mileage in their relationship it is one that allows them to consider how they’d deal with the loss of the other, and while that sounds a bit morbid in a way, it also serves to remind you that life is a great big chance and that the rock of your life can be snatched out from under you at any time, more the reason to appreciate every last moment you can with them, particularly watching a romantic movie like P.S. I Love You on the couch on Valentine’s Day.

WHY RENT THIS: Sweetly romantic. The feelings of loss for Swank’s character hits home hard. Morgan and Butler are both scene-stealers here.
WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: The whole concept is a little bit creepy.
FAMILY VALUES: There is some very brief nudity as well as a few sexual references scattered about.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Jeffrey Dean Morgan had to learn to play guitar for the movie; his teacher was Nancy Wilson of the band Heart.
NOTABLE HOME VIDEO EXTRAS: There is a faux instructional video (done in faux black and white with faux scratchy film) on the game of Snaps which is briefly mentioned in the movie. There’s also a music video by James Blunt and an interview with author Cecilia Ahern whose novel the movie is based on.
BOX OFFICE PERFORMANCE: $156.8M on a $30M production budget.
SITES TO SEE: Netflix (DVD/Blu-Ray rental), Amazon (buy/rent), Vudu (buy/rent),  iTunes (buy/rent), Flixster (buy/rent), Target Ticket (buy/rent)
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Definitely, Maybe
FINAL RATING: 8/10
NEXT: Cinema of the Heart concludes!

John Wick

Sometimes, Keanu Reeves wonders if he shouldn’t have taken the other pill.

(2014) Action (Lionsgate) Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Dafoe, Dean Winters, Adrianne Palicki, Omer Barnea, Toby Leonard Moore, Daniel Bernhardt, Bridget Moynahan, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane, Bridget Regan, Lance Reddick, Keith Jardine, Tait Fletcher, Kazy Tauginas, Alexander Frekey, Thomas Sadoski, Randall Duk Kim, Kevin Nash, Clarke Peters, Gameela Wright. Directed by Chad Stahelski

If action movies teach us anything, it’s that you don’t mess with a man’s family. You DEFINITELY don’t mess with his car. But if you steal his car and kill his dog? Not a good idea, even if you’re the son of a Russian mobster.

But that’s just what Iosef Tarasov (Allen) does. But it’s not the act itself that pisses off his father Viggo (Nyqvist). It’s who he did it to. Check out this conversation the Russian mobster had with Aurelio (Leguizamo), the owner of a chop shop;
VIGGO: I understand that you struck my son.
AURELIO: He stole John Wick’s car and killed his dog.
*pause*
VIGGO: Oh.
*click*

There are some things you just do not do. You don’t walk on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. And you do not steal the car and kill the dog of John Wick (Reeves), particularly when the dog was the last gift from his recently deceased wife (Moynahan). Who is John Wick may you ask? He’s a retired contract killer. He’s the sort who can walk into a room and kill three guys with a pencil. That’s right, a pencil. If you want someone who is untouchable dead and in the ground, you’d call John Wick. There wasn’t anyone he couldn’t kill. Even other contract killers were terrified of him; that’s why they call him The Boogey Man. And not the one that KC and the Sunshine Band sang about either.

Viggo knows that John Wick won’t stop at his son; he’ll go after his entire organization, everyone who ever knew his son and a lot of people who didn’t. John Wick is like the ice age; where he comes through nobody lives. The only people who like John Wick are funeral directors. You get the general idea.

And that’s all you need to know about the plot. Mainly the movie goes from one action sequence to another. Director Chad Stahelski comes from a stuntman background (he was in fact Reeves’ stunt double in The Matrix) and his experience shows. The fight sequences are mind-blowing, perfectly choreographed and exciting as hell. They are most definitely the highlight of the film, kinetic whirling dervishes of leaping assassins and flying bullets.

Reeves, never the most charismatic of actors under the best of circumstances, has a role that really plays to his strengths here. John Wick rarely shows any emotion, although he has one speech to Viggo late in the movie where all his rage seethes out of him like a terrible demonic presence and Reeves actually does an outstanding job with it. He is also a fairly graceful action hero, and is said to have performed about 90% of the stunts himself.

The supporting cast is very able, with Palicki showing her fangs as a gleeful assassin, Nyqvist showing his villain chops and Dafoe has a role as a kind of Zen Yoda-like assassin/mentor for John Wick. McShane, Leguizamo and Reddick are reliable and Alfie Allen, Theon Greyjoy on Game of Thrones, may be setting himself up for a career portraying men the audience would like to see die painfully.

If you go looking for something that breaks the action film mold, well, you’ll be hard-pressed to find any of that here – or anywhere else given the state of action movies in 2014. There isn’t much of a plot (the revenge thing has been done to death) but the action is so outstanding that you don’t much care. There is a place in this world for mindless entertainment and as that kind of movie goes John Wick is better than most.

REASONS TO GO: Amazing action sequences. Right in Reeves’ wheelhouse.
REASONS TO STAY: Kind of a series of action sequences in search of a plot.
FAMILY VALUES: A ton of violence, some of it bloody. Loads of foul language. Some drug use as well. Dog cruelty may be upsetting to some.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: This is the fifth time Reeves has played a character named John in the movies.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 11/12/14: Rotten Tomatoes: 84% positive reviews. Metacritic: 67/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: The Mechanic (2011)
FINAL RATING: 6.5/10
NEXT: Small Town Murder Songs