New Releases for the Week of September 17, 2021

CRY MACHO

(Warner Brothers) Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam, Eduardo Minett, Fernanda Urrejola, Natalia Traven, Horacio Garcia Rojas. Directed by Clint Eastwood

An ex-rodeo star and former horse breeder gets a job from a former boss to bring his son hoe from Mexico. The journey is unexpectedly challenging as they take the back roads of Texas in 1979. Could this be Eastwood’s last hurrah? Maybe.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: Wide (also on HBO Max)
Rating: PG-13 (for language and thematic elements)

The Alpinist

(Roadside Attractions) Marc-André Leclerc, Brette Harrington, Alex Honnold, Reinhold Messner. A 33-year-old Canadian who makes some of the boldest free ascents in mountaineering history, shuns the limelight. When a documentary crew approaches him to tell his story, a tug-of-war ensues between the needs of the filmmakers and his desire to capture the purest essence of the sport.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Documentary
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG-13 (for some strong language and brief drug content)

Blue Bayou

(Focus) Justin Chon, Alicia Vikander, Mark O’Brien, Linh Dan Pham. A Korean adoptee who grew up in the South, is happily married and stepdad to an adored daughter, but he could lose everything as he finds out that me may end up being deported from the only country he has ever known.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: R (for language throughout and some violence)

Copshop

(Open Road) Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo, Toby Huss, Ryan O’Nan. A wily con-artist on the run from a lethal assassin decides to hide out in the office of a small-town police department, where an unsuspecting rookie cop will be caught up in the crossfire.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Action
Now Playing: Wide
Rating: R (for strong/bloody violence, and pervasive language)

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

(Searchlight) Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Fredric Lehne. The rise, fall and ultimate redemption of Tammy Faye Bakker who went from the wife of a disgraced televangelist (and national joke) to advocate for AIDS patients and LGBTQ Christians in general. Chastain is getting early Oscar buzz for her performance here.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Biographical Drama
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, Enzian
Rating: PG-13 (for sexual content and drug abuse)

Lady of the Manor

(Lionsgate) Melanie Lynskey, Judy Greer, Justin Long, Ryan Philippe. A stoner-slacker working as a costumed tour guide in a historic mansion – portraying the former lady of the house – is surprised when the ghost of the REAL Lady Wadsworth shows up and warns her to mend her ways.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Supernatural Comedy
Now Playing: Studio Movie Grille Sunset Walk
Rating: R (for language throughout, sexual material and drug use)

My Name is Pauli Murray

(Amazon) Pauli Murray, Patricia Bell-Scott, Dolores Chandler, Brittney Cooper. Before Rosa Parks, before Gloria Steinem there was Pauli Murray, a black gender-fluid attorney raised in the segregated South who was a pioneering activist who helped shape some of the most important social issues of his day, and whose work continues to resonate now.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Documentary
Now Playing: CMX Plaza Café Orlando
Rating: PG-13 (for disturbing/violent images and thematic elements)

COMING TO VIRTUAL CINEMA/VOD:

Best Sellers
Black Power
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Hudson (Tuesday)
The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
Last Night in Rozzie
Little Vampire (Tuesday)
The Mad Women’s Ball
Night of the Animated Dead (Tuesday)
The Nowhere Inn
Prisoners of the Ghostland
Savior for Sale: Da Vinci’s Lost Masterpiece? (Tuesday)
The Subnormal: A British Scandal
Uprising
The Wonderful: Stories from the Space Station

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Best Sellers
Copshop
Cry Macho
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
Last Night in Rozzie
The Nowhere Inn
Prisoners of the Ghostland

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How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

A dragon and his boy.

(2019) Animated Feature (DreamWorks) Starring the voices of Jay Baruchel, America Ferrara, F. Murray Abraham, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig, Kit Harrington, Justin Rupple, Robin Atkin Downes, Kieron Elliott, Julia Emelin, Ashley Jensen, AJ Kane, Olafur Darri Ólafsson, James Sie, David Tennant. Directed by Dean DeBlois

 

The DreamWorks animated franchise, based on the children’s books of Cressida Cowell, is neatly wrapped up with a big red bow in a satisfying if unoriginal conclusion. Hiccup (Baruchel) has turned Berk into a kind of sanctuary for dragons, who continue to be hunted down in the rest of the world, but the nefarious Grimmel (Abraham) is out to capture Toothless, Hiccup’s dragon and the alpha male of Berk.

=After a vicious attack brings the island village to its knees, Hiccup – now the leader of his incomprehensibly Scottish Vikings – decides the only way to truly protect the dragons is to lead them to The Hidden World, the place from which all dragon-kind has sprung. With Grimmel hot on their trail, they really have no choice if they are to save the dragons. Nobody’s ever actually been there and most consider it a fairy tale, but hey, this is a cartoon, no?

DeBlois does manage to go out with a bang, as the animation here puts nearly every other animated film to shame. Some of the sequences are actually moving (in a variety of ways) from scenes of sorrow to scenes of intense beauty and everywhere in between. Even jaded parents may well find themselves ooh-ing and ah-ing at the visuals here.

But the movie’s downside is essentially the same issue that has plagued the series from the beginning; a kind of standard plot of Hiccup lacking self-confidence when faced with a big challenge/major baddie and getting the confidence he needs from his buddy Toothless. Hiccup was never really a well-developed character to begin with; he’s fairly one-note and that makes the movie drag somewhat.

Nevertheless, it is gorgeous enough to be worth a family movie night. I’m not a huge fan of the franchise, but I will admit that if you’re going to bring a trilogy to a conclusion, this is the way to do it.

REASONS TO SEE: The strongest animation of the series by far.
REASONS TO AVOID: Feels formulaic.
FAMILY VALUES: There is mild rude humor and cartoon action.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The three movies in the trilogy were each distributed by different studios; the first one by Paramount, the second by Fox, this one by Universal.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon, AMC On Demand, AppleTV, Fandango Now, Google Play, Hulu, Microsoft, Movies Anywhere, Redbox, Vudu, YouTube
CRITICAL MASS: As of 7/27/20: Rotten Tomatoes: 90% positive reviews, Metacritic: 71/100
COMPARISON SHOPPING: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
FINAL RATING: 6.5/10
NEXT: Days of the Whale

The Vanishing (Keepers)

Taking on all comers.

(2018) Mystery (Saban) Gerard Butler, Peter Mullan, Connor Swindells, Gary Lewis, Emma King, Ken Drury, Soren Malling, Ólafur Dari Ólafsson, Gary Kane, Roderick Gilkison, John Taylor. Directed by Kristoffer Nyholm

 

On or about December 15, 1900, three lighthouse keepers on the tiny island of Eilean Mor in the Flannan Islands about twenty miles West of the Outer Hebrides Islands in Scotland vanished without a trace. Their fates are unknown even to this day and are the subject of lively conversation locally.

Senior officer Thomas Marshall (Mullan), grizzled veteran James Ducat (Butler) and fresh-faced newcomer Donald MacArthur (Swindells) – known in the log book as “The Occasional” because he isn’t a full-fledged member of the crew yet – are set for a six-week shift watching the Flannan Islands Lighthouse. It is tedious, boring and lonely work but the three men get on pretty well, ribbing the newbie and heading off the cold with copious amounts of Scotch.

Then a rowboat shows up with an apparently dead body and a locked chest. Donald is sent down to investigate, and the dead body turns out to be not-quite-dead-yet. Donald ends up in a fight for his life and triumphs, but is sorely affected by what has transpired. You just know that whatever is in the chest that someone was willing to kill for is certainly going to have other people looking for it, and of course they eventually show up. That leads to further mayhem, guilt, paranoia and inevitable tragedy.

Nyholm does a good job of creating an eerie atmosphere. Certainly there have been paranormal explanations as to what happened to the keepers, but Nyholm and writers Celyn Jones and Joe Bone keep their feet planted firmly on terra firma, but Nyholm is not above making us think there is something otherworldly going on. It is only in the last half of the film that we’re pretty much told “Nope, nothing crazy going on here.”

The performances here are superb, particularly from Butler, who doesn’t get many opportunities to flex his acting muscles in the action movies he primarily makes these days, and Mullan, one of the finest character actors in the UK. The turn of the 20^th century is replicated well here, although the lighthouse is equipped with a radio that I’m fairly certain wasn’t in general use for another decade at least.

Despite the title which intimates a spooky horror film, this is a pretty taut thriller with explosions of very personal, in-your-face violence. Well-acted with a nicely tense atmosphere of paranoia and maybe something else, this is an ideal viewing on a cold, windy night – or for that matter, a still summer day.

REASONS TO SEE: Very atmospheric with great period production design. Solid performances all around, particularly from Butler and Mullan.
REASONS TO AVOID: Devolves into a generic thriller towards the end.
FAMILY VALUES: There is a fair amount of violence and grisly images.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Although the lighthouse of Eilean Mor is still operational albeit slightly modernized, four other lighthouses were used in the production of the film due to the remoteness of Eilean Mor.
BEYOND THE THEATER: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango Now, Google Play, Microsoft, Redbox, Vudu, YouTube
CRITICAL MASS: As of 5/28/20: Rotten Tomatoes: 85% positive reviews; Metacritic: No score yet.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: The Lighthouse
FINAL RATING: 7.5/10
NEXT: A Dog’s Way Home

Hunter Killer

Looks like Gerard Butler just read the script.

(2018) Action (Summit) Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, Common, Michael Nyqvist, Linda Cardellini, Corey Johnson, Toby Stephens, Ryan McPartlin, Ethan Baird, Jacob Scipio, Dempsey Bovell, Henry Goodman, Adam James, Colin Stinton, Carter McIntyre, Shane Taylor, Kola Bokinni, Mikey Collins, David Gyasi, Will Attenborough, Kieron Bimpson, Sarah Middleton. Directed by Donovan Marsh

 

Sebastian the Crab famously sung “Under the sea/Darling, it’s better/Down where it’s wetter/Take it from me” in The Little Mermaid but clearly he hadn’t seen this submarine thriller. Gerard Butler has carved out a niche protecting Presidents for Lionsgate/Summit films (here it happens to be the Russian President) but in this case he’s doing so on board a submarine.

When a rogue Russian general takes the Russian prez hostage and prepares to initiate World War III (which hawkish Chairman of the Joint Chiefs (Oldman) just might oblige him. It is up to Captain Joe Glass (Butler) and the crew of the USS Arkansas, along with an elite rescue team headed by one Bill Beaman (Stephens) and an NSA operative (Cardellini) to mount a rescue operation before all hell breaks loose.

Sub movies can be deliciously tension-filled and full of geopolitical fun but this one is more of a standard action film. Try not to think about the preposterous plot points or the phoned-in acting performances – this is most definitely a paycheck movie, as evidenced by the nearly two years it sat on the shelf (in the interim Nyqvist, who played a Russian sub commander, passed away).

Perhaps the most grievous failure of the film is in its CGI which is utterly unconvincing. I get that not everyone can have a massive budget for their film but if you’re going to show submarines playing cat and mouse with each other, it should look at least vaguely realistic. The movie isn’t completely without merit, as there are moments where you’re likely to find yourself sucked in to the show, but for the most part you’ll be better served renting any of a couple of dozen sub movies that are much better.

REASONS TO SEE: Reasonably entertaining.
REASONS TO AVOID: The CGI is weak.
FAMILY VALUES: There is some violence as well as profanity.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Director Donovan Marsh and Butler sailed for four days aboard the USS Houston in order to familiarize themselves with submarine life.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon, AMC On-Demand, AppleTV, Fandango Now, Google Play, HBO Now, Microsoft, Vudu, YouTube
CRITICAL MASS: As of 4/2/20: Rotten Tomatoes: 36% positive reviews: Metacritic: 43/100
COMPARISON SHOPPING: The Hunt for Red October
FINAL RATING: 5/10
NEXT: Celebration

New Releases for the Week of August 23, 2019

ANGEL HAS FALLEN

(Lionsgate) Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lance Reddick, Tim Blake Nelson, Piper Perabo, Danny Huston, Nick Nolte. Directed by Ric Roman Waugh

An assassination attempt on the President leaves his trusted Secret Service agent and confidante Mike Banning wrongly accused. He is forced to go on the run to clear his name, keep his family safe and root out the real threat to the country and stop it before it’s too late.

See the trailer, video featurettes and a clip here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Action
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for violence and language throughout)

After the Wedding

(Sony Classics) Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup, Abby Quinn. The administrator of an orphanage in India gets an unexpected and generous donation from a mysterious benefactor in New York. She must go to the Big Apple to accept the gift in person but there is much more going on there than meets the eye.

See the trailer and video featurettes here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic material and some strong language)

Luce

(NEON) Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tim Roth. Ten years after adopting their son from Eritrea, a pair of suburban white parents believe their son has a bright future ahead of him. An academic all-star, well-regarded in the community and an example for his peers, Luce turns in a term paper with a troubling point of view. His African-American teacher begins to fear the worst which puts her into direct conflict with his parents.

See the trailer, clips and video featurettes here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: R (for language throughout, sexual content, nudity and some drug use)

The Nightingale

(IFC) Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Baykali Ganambarr, Damon Herriman. In early 19^th century Australia during the penal colony days, a woman suffers repeated sexual assault at the hands of a British officer. When her husband intervenes, the officer murders both her husband and her infant. Destitute and bereft, she goes on a journey to exact revenge. This previously played at both the Miami Film Festival and Florida Film Festival; you can read the review by clicking on the link in the “Scheduled For Review” section below.

See the trailer, a video featurette and a clip here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Historical Drama
Now Playing: Enzian Theater
Rating: R (for strong violent and disturbing content including rape, language throughout and brief sexuality))

Overcomer

(Affirm) Alex Kendrick, Priscilla C. Shirer, Shari Rigby, Cameron Arnett. When a small town is devastated by a plant closing throwing thousands out of work, the local high school basketball coach wonders what sort of future he has in the town. Pressed into service to coach the girl’s cross country team, he encounters an extraordinary athlete whose faith may very well move mountains.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Faith-Based Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG (for some thematic elements)

The Peanut Butter Falcon

(Roadside Attractions) Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson, John Hawkes, Bruce Dern. A young man with Down’s Syndrome and a yen to become a professional wrestler, confined to a nursing home because the State doesn’t have an opening at a proper facility for his care, runs away to find his wrestling hero who runs a wrestling school. He falls in with an ex-con on the run from some angry fishermen as the two search for a place where they can live life on their own terms.

See the trailer, a clip and video featurettes here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, AMC Lake Square, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal The Loop, Regal Waterford Lakes Regal Winter Park Village, Rialto Spanish Springs Square
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic content, language throughout, some violence and smoking)

Ready or Not

(Fox Searchlight) Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Andie MacDowell, Henry Czerny. A young woman marries into a wealthy family who have an eccentric tradition; a game must be played at midnight on the night of the wedding to welcome the new member of the family. When she selects a game of Hide and Seek, she discovers that the game is no laughing matter and she is in a fight for her very survival.

See the trailer and video featurettes here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Horror
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for violence, bloody images, language throughout, and some drug use)

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

Mike Wallace is Here

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI/FT. LAUDERDALE:

The Best Summer of My Life
Comali
Tel Aviv on Fire

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG/SARASOTA:

Jacob’s Ladder (2019)
Tel Aviv on Fire
Tone Deaf

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE/ST. AUGUSTINE:

Comali
Twice the Dream

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Angel Has Fallen
The Nightingale
The Peanut Butter Falcon
Ready or Not

New Releases for the Week of February 22, 2019

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD

(DreamWorks) Starring the voices of Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, F. Murray Abraham, Kit Harrington, Craig Ferguson, Gerard Butler, Jonah Hill. Directed by Dean DeBlois

The final entry in this trilogy has Hiccup and Astrid now leading the village which has turned into a chaotic paradise for dragons. The appearance of a female Night Fury coincides with the biggest threat the village has ever seen, forcing Hiccup and Toothless to journey to the near-mythic Hidden World, the original home of all dragons – if it exists. If it doesn’t, dragons may well disappear forever.

See the trailer, video featurettes and clips here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Animated Feature
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG (for adventure action and some rude humor)

Arctic

(Bleecker Street) Mads Mikkelsen, Maria Thelma Smáradöttir. A man stranded in the Arctic after a plane crash must make a life-or-death decision whether to stay in the relative safety of his camp and maybe never being rescued, or trekking through the harsh environment and unknown peril of the Arctic on the chance he might make it to safety.

See the trailer, video featurettes and a clip here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Adventure
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, Regal Winter Park Village, Rialto Spanish Springs Square
Rating: PG-13 (for language and some bloody images)

Fighting with My Family

(MGM) Dwayne Johnson, Florence Pugh, Vince Vaughn, Nick Frost. The true story of wrestling superstar Paige who along with her brother Zak get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try out for the WWE. When she is the only one selected, she leaves family and the familiar behind to enter the cutthroat world of pro wrestling alone.

See the trailer, video featurettes and an interview here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Sports Biography
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for crude and sexual material, language throughout, some violence and drug content)

Never Look Away

(Sony Classics) Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer, Saskia Rosendahl. Loosely based on the life of Gerhard Richter, an artist survives the horrors of Nazi Germany only to find himself trapped behind the Berlin Wall in East Germany. Determined to find his artistic freedom, he plans an escape that will take him to the West where he will become the vanguard of a new artistic movement.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Biographical Drama
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: R (for graphic nudity, sexuality and brief violent images)

Run the Race

(Roadside Attractions) Tanner Stine, Kristoffer Polaha, Mykelti Williamson, Mario van Peebles. Two orphaned brothers look to football as a way out of poverty. When one’s shot at an athletic scholarship to college is derailed by an injury, the other brother laces up the track cleats and hopes to make his brother’s dream come true anyway.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Sports Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, AMC Lake Square, Epic Theaters at Lee Vista, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Port Orange Pavilion, Regal Waterford Lakes, Regal The Loop, Regal Winter Park Village, Rialto Spanish Springs Square
Rating: PG (for thematic content and some teen partying)

Total Dhamaal

(Fox STAR) Ajay Devgn, Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Mishra. A small-time criminal gets his hands on a treasure but his partner double crosses him and disappears. However, the partner blabs the location of the loot to three rival gangs which gets back to his ex-partner and the race is on to get to the booty before the others do.

See the trailer, clips and a video featurette here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Comedy
Now Playing: AMC West Oaks, Cinemark Universal Citywalk, Touchstar Southchase
Rating: NR

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

Alone/Together
Mithrai
NTR: Mahanayakudu

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI/FT. LAUDERDALE:

Alone/Together
Kumbalangi Nights
LKG
Mithrai
NTR: Mahanayakudu
We Are the Heat

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG:

Alone/Together
The Changeover
Extreme Job

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE/ST. AUGUSTINE:

Alone/Together
Blue Alchemy: Stories of Indigo
NTR: Mahanayakudu

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Arctic
Fighting with My Family
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
We Are the Heat

New Releases for the Week of October 26, 2018

MID90S

(A24) Sunny Suljic, Katherine Waterston, Lucas Hedges, Na-kel Smith, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia, Ryder McLaughlin, Alexa Demie, Fig Camila Abner. Directed by Jonah Hill

Stevie, a 13-year-old boy living in Southern California in the 1990s, develops a deep friendship with a group of skaters at the local skate shop. They help take his mind off of his troubled home life and teach him life lessons that will serve him well in the next Millennium. Not only is this actor Jonah Hill’s directing debut it is getting some legitimate Oscar buzz off of the film’s Toronto Film Festival appearance just last month.

See the trailer, an interview and a video featurette here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for pervasive language, sexual content, drug and alcohol use, some violent behavior/disturbing images – all involving minors)

The Guilty

(Magnolia) Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Omar Shargawi, Johan Olsen. A Copenhagen police officer is put on desk duty at the local emergency call center after an incident in the field. On his last day before he is expected to be cleared for his actions, a call comes in from a terrified woman who has been kidnapped. As the drama unfolds we see this entirely from the point of view of the operator who it turns out has secrets of his own. This was my favorite movie from this year’s Florida Film Festival and if you missed it then, you owe it to yourself to see it now. Not convinced? Follow the link below to my review

See the trailer and a clip here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Suspense
Now Playing: Enzian Theater
Rating: R (for language)

Hunter Killer

(Summit) Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, Common, Linda Cardellini. An American captain is tasked with the mission of rescuing a kidnapped Russian president from a rogue General and in doing so averting World War III.

See the trailer, clips, interviews, video featurettes and B-roll video here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Action
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for violence and some language)

Indivisible

(Pure Flix) Justin Bruening, Sarah Drew, Jason George, Tia Mowry-Hardrict. An Army Chaplin serving in Iraq and his wife keeping the home fires burning at home face tribulations and heartache while separated. Neither dreamed that reuniting would be even more of an obstacle as they both wonder if they have the strength left to save their marriage.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Faith-Based Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for some thematic material and war violence)

Johnny English Strikes Again

(Focus) Rowan Atkinson, Olga Kurylenko, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon. Britain’s greatest spy is called out of retirement when all of the current secret agents are outed by a cyber-spy. To find the mastermind behind the disaster, English must utilize all his experience and skills which is harder than it sounds being as he’s an analogue man in a digital world.

See the trailer and a clip here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Spy Comedy
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, Cinemark Universal Citywalk, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Waterford Lakes, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG (for some action violence, rude humor, language and brief nudity)

London Fields

(Paladin/Atlas) Billy Bob Thornton, Amber Heard, Theo James, Jim Sturgess. A terminally ill American writer in London searches for one last story to tell and finds one in Nicola Six, who knows when and how she will be murdered but not who – only that one of them is a man she’s having a relationship with. Based on a Martin Amis novel, this has already been reviewed by Cinema365. Follow the link to the review below

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Mystery
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, Cinemark Universal Citywalk, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Pointe Orlando
Rating: R (for language including sexual references and brief nudity)

Silencio

(Tulip) John Noble, Rupert Graves, Melina Matthews, Michel Chauvet. In order to save her son’s life, a woman must find a stone with incredible powers in a remote and dangerous part of Mexico. However, there are others after the stone – who would be willing to kill to acquire it.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Adventure
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, Cobb Plaza Cinema Café, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Waterford Lakes, Regal Winter Park Village, Satellite Ocean Walk
Rating: R (for some violence)

Street Voices

(Duende) El Alfa, Melymel, Vicente Suriel, Shellow Shaq. A trio of talented but poor street kids who love rap decide to pool their talents to realize their musical dreams. Those dreams could come at a high price however.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Urban Musical
Now Playing: Regal The Loop, Regal Waterford Lakes
Rating: PG-13 (for crude and sexual content throughout, language, some drug references and violence)

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

Don’t Go
First Love
Kaashamora
Namaste England
Trabajo Sucio
Veera Bhoga Vasantha Rayalu

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI/FT. LAUDERDALE:

Beautiful Boy
El Pacto
First Love
Glass Jaw
The Happy Prince
Havana Habibi
I Am Not a Witch
Kayamkulam Kochunni
Parkland Inside Building 12
Suspiria (2018)
Trabajo Sucio
Veera Bhoga Vasantha Rayalu

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG:

Air Strike
The School
Trabajo Sucio
Veera Bhoga Vasantha Rayalu

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE/ST. AUGUSTINE:

The Perfect Wave

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Don’t Go
The Guilty
Hunter Killer
London Fields
Mid90s

New Releases for the Week of January 19, 2018

12 STRONG

(Warner Brothers) Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, William Fichtner, Elsa Pataky, Michael Peña, Rob Riggle, Austin Stowell, Taylor Sheridan, Geoff Stults. Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig

Even as the smoke was still rising from the rubble of the World Trade Center, a special forces team was dispatched to Afghanistan to prepare the way for the conventional military. Led by a new captain and untested in battle, the team must work with a local warlord to take on the Taliban and find themselves vastly outnumbered and fighting in an unfamiliar style that may doom their mission before it even starts.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard, IMAX, 4DX, DBox, XD, RPX
Genre: True War Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for war violence and language throughout)

Chavela

(Music Box) Chavela Vargas, Pedro Almodóvar, Laura Garcia-Lorca, Miguel Bosé.  Largely unknown outside of the Latin community, Chavela Vargas was one of the most influential ranchero singers of her time, a powerhouse whose influence echoes throughout the Latin music world after her death. A lesbian in a culture that didn’t take too kindly to different forms of sexuality, she remains an icon in the Latin LGBTQ+ community to this day. This is the latest installment in the Enzian’s monthly Music Monday series.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Music Documentary
Now Playing: Enzian Theater (Monday only)
Rating: NR  

Den of Thieves

(STX) Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr, 50 Cent, Pablo Schreiber. The movie follows an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and a skilled crew of bank robbers as the two teams head on a collision course as the robbers plan the biggest heist ever – a robbery of the Federal Reserve Bank in Los Angeles.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard, Dolby Atmos
Genre: Crime Action
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for violence, language and some sexuality/nudity)

Forever My Girl

(Roadside Attractions/LD Entertainment) Alex Roe, Jessica Rothe, John Benjamin Hickey, Tyler Riggs. After leaving his fiancé at the altar, a young man returns to his small home after achieving stardom in country music. He hopes to rebuild the relationships that his actions wiped out – and one in particular – which has a specific complication he never counted on.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Romance
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, AMC Lake Square, AMC New Smyrna, AMC Universal Cineplex, AMC West Oaks, Amstar Lake Mary, Cinemark Artegon Marketplace, Epic Theaters of Clermont, Old Mill Playhouse, Regal Ormond Beach, Regal Oviedo Mall, Regal Waterford Lakes, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG (for thematic elements including drinking, and for language)

Mary and the Witch’s Flower

(GKIDS) Starring the voices of Ruby Barnhill, Kate Winslet, Jim Broadbent, Ewen Bremner. A teenage girl finds a strange plant with a beautiful flower growing in the wild and discovers that it grants her fantastic powers. She is whisked away to a magic school where witches are cultivated and trained. She finally has found a place where she fits in – but discovers there’s a dark side to the school.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Anime
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, AMC Universal Cineplex, AMC West Oaks, Cinemark Artegon Marketplace, Regal Pointe Orlando
Rating: NR

Phantom Thread

(Focus) Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville, Gina McKee. A renowned dress designer in London during the 1950s lives a very precise, ordered life – one might say fastidious. Into that life comes the strong-willed Alma who becomes his lover and his muse, turns his life upside down and leads him down paths he never would have imagined taking. Day-Lewis has said this is his final film performance so this is worth seeing on that basis alone.

See the trailer, clips and featurettes here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Biographical Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, Cinemark Artegon Marketplace, Cobb Plaza Cinema Café, Epic Theaters of Clermont, Regal Ormond Beach, Regal Oviedo Mall, Regal Pointe Orlando, Regal Port Orange, Regal Waterford Lakes, Regal Winter Park Village, Rialto Spanish Springs
Rating: R (for language)

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

Freak Show

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI/FT. LAUDERDALE:

A Better Tomorrow 2018
Felcite
The Final Year
Freak Show
Gintama
Happy End
Mom and Dad
The Wound

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG:

Delirium
Mom and Dad

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE/ST. AUGUSTINE:

Mom and Dad

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

12 Strong
Chavela
Den of Thieves
Forever My Girl
Mom and Dad
Phantom Thread

FILM FESTIVALS TAKING PLACE IN FLORIDA:

Saint Augustine Film Festival

Geostorm

Gerard Butler saves the day but not his career.

(2017) Science Fiction (Warner Brothers) Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Abbie Cornish, Alexandra Maria Lara, Daniel Wu, Eugenio Derbez, Amr Waked, Adepero Oduye, Andy Garcia, Robert Sheehan, Richard Schiff, Mare Winningham, Zazie Beetz, Talitha Bateman, Daniella Garcia, Ritchie Montgomery, David S. Lee, Billy Slaughter, Catherine Ashton. Directed by Dean Devlin

 

It was inevitable that the climate change crisis that we are currently facing would eventually lead to some big budget disaster movies. After all, climate scientists have been predicting super storms, increased wildfire activity and rising oceans for years. Hollywood was bound to make a special effects extravaganza about such events.

Geostorm is part cautionary tale in which the technology that has been used to control global warming has been turned around and utilized as a weapon against us. The only ones who can save us all are a hard-drinking, big mouthed astronaut-engineer (Butler) with perpetual six o’clock shadow, his younger brother (Sturgess) who’s a Washington bureaucrat, his brother’s Secret Service girlfriend (Cornish), a brilliant Asian computer expert (Wu), a by-the-book Eastern European International Space Station commander (Lara), a precocious daughter (Bateman), a tough-minded President (A. Garcia) and an even tougher Chief of Staff (Harris). It’s pretty much a parade of cliché characters from start to finish.

I’d go into further detail about the plot but it’s so preposterous that the less you know in advance the better off you’ll be. For one thing, reading the story details on paper might just scare you off – not in the fearful sense but in the “Why would I want to waste my time with that crap” sense. It’s generally not a good sign when a movie opening is delayed several times until it comes out almost 18 months after the original release date – and has changed distributors in the interim as well.

Granted, there are a few things that the film has to recommend it. The special effects for the most part are decent with some even a cut above, but the effects are basically done by a mish-mash of effects houses with varying degrees of success. 80s icon Mare Winningham also makes a brief appearance but is limited to a single scene. She was smart enough to keep her participation to just that.

Butler is generally reliably likable but here it feels like he could care less about the movie, even though he’s one of the producers. Sturgess fares only a little bit better but most of the other actors take their paychecks and move on. So should you.

REASONS TO GO: Some of the special effects are pretty nifty.
REASONS TO STAY: The story is riddled with clichés and ends up being entirely predictable. The usually reliable Butler phones this one in.
FAMILY VALUES: There is all sorts of violence, massive destruction and sci-fi action.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Although Devlin has been a producer for more than 30 years primarily with Roland Emmerich, this is his directing debut.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Movies Anywhere, Vudu
CRITICAL MASS: As of 1/8/18: Rotten Tomatoes: 13% Positive Reviews. Metacritic: 81/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: 2012
FINAL RATING: 4/10
NEXT: Warning: This Drug May Kill You

New Releases for the Week of October 20, 2017

GEOSTORM

(Warner Brothers) Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Alexandra Maria Lara, Daniel Wu, Eugenio Derbez, Amr Waked, Andy Garcia, Ed Harris. Directed by Dean Devlin

In a future where we have the ability to control the weather, the satellites that do the controlling suddenly and inexplicably start to turn on the Earth, creating massive and deadly weather events. As the weather worsens, a massive worldwide Geostorm that could potentially wipe out all life on earth is forming and it’s a race against time to find out who is behind it and stop them before our home is turned into a lifeless wasteland.

See the trailer, clips, interviews, a promo and B-roll video here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard, 3D, DBOX, IMAX, IMAX 3D
Genre: Sci-Fi Action
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for destruction, action and violence)

Breathe

(Bleecker Street) Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Ed Speleers, Tom Hollander. Legendary motion capture king Andy Serkis makes his directorial debut with this inspiring true story of Robin Cavendish, a young man whose life is full of adventure, promise and love but is cruelly paralyzed by polio from the neck down, leaving a grim prognosis. Refusing to live out his days in a hospital, against all odds he returns home and slowly but surely with the help of mechanically-inclined friends he works on ways to make his life – and the lives of others in his predicament – better.

See the trailer and featurettes here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Biographical Drama
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, Regal Ormond Beach, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Pointe Orlando, Rialto Spanish Springs
Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic material including some bloody medical images)

Faces, Places

(Cohen Media Group) Jean-Luc Godard, Agnés Varda, JR, Laurent Levesque. Legendary French new wave director Varda and acclaimed muralist JR strike up an unlikely friendship and decide to make a film together. Travelling France to photograph new faces, art is created in the most unlikely and occasionally delightful of places.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Documentary
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG (for brief nude images and thematic elements)

Killing Gunther

(Saban/Lionsgate) Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cobie Smulders, Bobby Moynihan, Allison Tolman. Gunther is the world’s most successful assassin. So much so that the world’s other assassins are getting together and plotting to take him down. The trouble is, their plans don’t always work the way they are intended to.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Action Comedy
Now Playing: AMC West Oaks
Rating: R (for violence, language and some sexual material)

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House

(Sony Classics) Liam Neeson, Diane Lane, Marton Csokas, Tony Goldwyn. The story of Felt, who for years hid his identity as the mystery man who helped take down the Nixon White House. Felt, a respected agent in the intelligence community discovered the wrongdoings of Watergate and became the most famous whistleblower in history – known to most as Deep Throat.

See the trailer and clips here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Biographical Drama
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, AMC Universal Cineplex, Regal Winter Park Village, Rialto Spanish Springs
Rating: PG-13 (for some language)

Only the Brave

(Columbia) Josh Brolin, Jeff Bridges, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly. This is based on the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a volunteer firefighting brigade that took a heroic stand trying to defend their town from a historic wildfire. In the context of what has been happening in California, the Pacific Northwest and Big Sky country, this movie couldn’t be any more timely.

See the trailer, clips, interviews and Premiere footage here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: True Life Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic content, some sexual references, language and drug material)

Same Kind of Different as Me

(Paramount/Pure Flix) Renee Zellweger, Jon Voight, Djimon Hounsou, Greg Kinnear. A successful art dealer whose marriage is on the rocks befriends a dangerously volatile homeless man as a means of reconnecting with his wife. Her dreams will send the three of them on a journey none of them could have ever anticipated.

See the trailer, clips, interviews and a featurette here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG=13 (for thematic elements including some violence and language)

The Snowman

(Universal) Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer. Detective Harry Hole investigates the disappearance of a woman whose only clue is her pink scarf wrapped around the throat of an ominous looking snowman. Hole fears that this case may be linked to some bizarre murders that took place years earlier.

See the trailer, clips, interviews and B-roll video here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Thriller
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for grisly images, violence, some language, sexuality and brief nudity)

Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween

(Lionsgate) Tyler Perry, Patrice Lovely, Brock O’Hurn, Lexy Panterra. America’s favorite grandmother returns as she and her family visit a haunted campground on Halloween and unwittingly unleash a wave of monsters, goblins, ghouls and boogeymen. Run for your lives, America!

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Horror Comedy
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for sexual references, drug content, language and some horror images)

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

Golmaal Again
Mersal
Raja the Great
Secret Superstar
Tokyo Ghoul
The Unknown Girl

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI:

4 Days in France
A Silent Voice
Golmaal Again
Inseparables
Jungle
Mersal
Raja the Great
Secret Superstar
Tokyo Ghoul
Walking Out
Where’s the Money
The Woman Who Left

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA:

Demons
Golmaal Again
Leatherface
Let Her Out
Mersal
Never Here
Raja the Great
Secret Superstar
So B. It

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE:

Golmaal Again
Mersal
Raja the Great
Secret Superstar
Tokyo Ghoul

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Breathe
Geostorm
Only the Brave
The Snowman
Walking Out