New Releases for the Week of October 24, 2014

JOHN WICK

(Lionsgate) Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Dafoe, Ian McShane, Adrianne Palicki, John Leguizamo, Bridget Moynahan. Directed by David Leitch and Chad Stahelski

Sometimes movies come out of nowhere to just blow audiences away. John Wick is one of those. Although the story of an ex-hitman being forced out of retirement after having everything he loves taken away from him isn’t anything novel, the action sequences here have generated some of the most buzz of any films this year. Everyone who’s seen it has raved; I tend to listen to recommendations like that.

See the trailer, clips, interviews and B-roll video here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard, IMAX (opens Thursday)

Genre: Action

Rating: R (for strong and blood violence throughout, language and brief drug use)

16 Stones

(Candlelight) Shona Kay, Brad Johnson, Mason D. Davis, Allan Groves. After witnessing the persecution of Mormons in 19th century Missouri, a young man is moved to prove the truth of the Book of Mormon by finding one of the stones touched by the finger of God part of the books of Mormon. Yes, it’s a faith based fiction, Mormon-style.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Faith-Based Adventure

Rating: PG (for some violence and thematic elements)

23 Blast

(Ocean Avenue) Mark Hapka, Stephen Lang, Alexa PenaVega, Dylan Baker. The true story of Travis Freeman, a Kentucky teenager who was blinded by an optic nerve infection. Refusing to give up, he continues to play football for his high school team and serves as an inspiration to his teammates and his town.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: True Sports Drama

Rating: PG (for mild action, rude humor, some thematic elements and brief scary images)

Dear White People

(Roadside Attractions) Tyler James Williams, Tessa Thompson, Kyle Gallner, Dennis Haysbert. At an Ivy League school, an African-American themed party which has been popular through the years throws the campus into a turmoil when some of the African-American students object. The students and faculty are forced to confront their own attitudes in regards to race as battle lines are drawn – and crossed.

See the trailer and clips here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Comedy

Rating: R (for language, sexual content and drug use)

Exists

(Lionsgate) Dora Madison Burge, Samuel Davis, Roger Edwards, Chris Osborn. After an accident in Texas’ Big Thicket woods, five campers discover they’ve awoken something evil and not quite human. Surviving the night is going to be a lot more difficult than it sounds. From the twisted mind of The Blair Witch Project director Eduardo Sanchez.

See the trailer and a clip here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Horror

Rating: R  (for language throughout, some violence, sexual content and drug use)

Happy New Year

(Yash Raj) Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani. An international dance competition has teams from around the world competing for national pride and glory. Not Team India though. They have something different on their mind – and something far more dangerous.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard (opens Thursday)

Genre: Bollywood

Rating: NR

Ouija

(Universal) Olivia Cooke, Ana Coto, Darren Kagasoff, Lin Shaye. When her sister dies in a disturbing accident, a young woman yearns to contact her on the other side one last time. Finding a Ouija board, she and her friends try to make that connection. What they connect with is the malevolent force that her dead sister had awakened – and now wants to claim them all.

See the trailer, clips, interviews and B-roll video here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard (opens Thursday)

Genre: Supernatural Horror

Rating: PG (for some thematic elements)

St. Vincent

(Weinstein) Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Chris O’Dowd, Naomi Watts. A single mom forced to work long hours to make ends meet is left with no choice but to have her next door neighbor watch her son. An unlikable smoker, drinker and gambler, he drags the boy off on the stops that make his day – the race track, the strip club and a local dive bar. Soon though the boy and the man find themselves making a difference in each other’s lives.

See the trailer, clips, interviews, featurettes, a promo, premiere footage and B-roll video here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Comedy

Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic material including sexual content, alcohol and tobacco use, and for language)

The Trial

(Star Cinema) John Lloyd Cruz, Jessy Mendiola, Gretchen Barretto, Richard Gomez.. The Philippines is rocked by the allegations that a mentally challenged young man assaulted and raped his teacher. Now his friends and a crusading lawyer join forces to prove to the court – and the world – that he didn’t do it.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Crime Drama

Rating: NR

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Happy New Year

2012 is upon us and hopefully Nostradamus is wrong about the world ending in December. If not, let me be the first to say it was nice knowing you.

It has been an up and down year for Cinema365 just like most of us, with our readership falling somewhat after hitting massive highs at the beginning of the year. However, there is a loyal core of regular readers that keep the site going, and for all of you whether you check in daily or just once in awhile, thank you thank you thank you.

For those anxiously awaiting the 2012 Preview, fear not – it will be up either tomorrow or Monday (hopefully no later) as we try to finish up a few minor details. Four-Warned for January will be up no later than Thursday. For those who use those features to help map out their movie plans, your patience is much appreciated. What can I say? It’s been a very busy holiday season for us here at Cinema365’s world headquarters.

There will also be some subtle changes coming starting tomorrow. For all new releases, the “Home or Theater” feature will be going away. With the sophistication of home theaters growing by leaps and bounds, for some movie enthusiasts (and soon nearly all of us) the question is kind of moot in terms of whether you get your big sound and big picture experience at home or at the multiplex. The small screen is rapidly evolving into a big screen and that has both pros and cons about it. We will be adding new features to the new release reviews soon; among those we’re considering is adding the Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores, comparison shopping (comparing the new movie to existing movies to give you an idea of what the movie is like) and perhaps some fun little asides for niche viewers – Pet Lovers, Gore Lovers, Meryl Streep Lovers, Sportscar Lovers etc. Just something to make the reviews a little more fun and informative.

Later on in the year more features will be added to the DVD Reviews as well; I’m thinking about posting streaming options for the movies (where you can find them for video streaming with options including Amazon, Netflix, Epix, YouTube and Hulu) as well as moving some of the new release features on the DVD side as well. Top 5 has been on hiatus but it may be back in 2012 if there is demand for it.

Looking forward to 2012, there will be our annual romance movie series Cinema From the Heart taking place over Valentine’s Day. We will be covering the Florida Film Festival in mid-April, hopefully taking in a goodly amount of great movies. Kicking that off, the Enzian Theater here in Orlando will be one of nine theaters in the country hosting Sundance USA, an extension of the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in which selected Sundance films will be screening at said nine theaters. Enzian will be hosting the film on January 26th followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers. Cinema365 will be there and reviewing the film, Arbitrage starring Richard Gere and Diane Keaton.

In addition to the 2012 Preview, we’ll be publishing a Summer movie preview in April and a Fall/Holiday preview in August. Our regular year-ending events Six Days of Darkness and The Holly and the Quill will be back as well as a new series in July – The American Experience, a three-day series in which we’ll be looking at movies that reflect what it means to be an American. That will take place around the Independence Day holiday. There will also be a non-American film series that will be taking place sometime in the Spring, although I don’t have a name for it yet. Stay tuned.

As the evening descends on the last day of 2012, I hope that you have or will be celebrating in style – and safely. 2011 was a year of great challenges, not only in Hollywood but everywhere. We hope that everyone has a 2012 that is better than the year that preceded it, even if our number is up in December. Me, I’m thinking that if the world ends in my lifetime, I just hope I’m in a darkened multiplex when the end comes. That’s where I belong.

Peace,

Carlos, Da Queen and puppies