New Releases for the Week of November 12, 2021

BELFAST

(Focus) Jude Hill, Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench, Ciarán Hinds, Lewis McAskie, Josie Walker, Freya Yates. Directed by Kenneth Branagh

A nine-year-old Irish boy must suddenly chart his path to adulthood through terrain that is no longer familiar as life in Belfast begins to change in the late 1960s. What keeps him tethered is the ongoing magic of the movie theater. Taken from Branagh’s own childhood experiences.

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: PG-13 (for some violence and strong language)

C.S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert

(Trafalgar) Max McLean, Nicholas Ralph, Eddie Ray Martin, Richard Harrington. The journey of author and creator of The Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis from a hardcore atheist to one of the most renowned Christian writers of his generation.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Biographical Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, CMX Daytona, Regal Waterford Lakes, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: NR

Clifford the Big Red Dog

(Paramount) Darby Camp, David Alan Grier, John Cleese, Kenan Thompson. A middle schooler meets a magical animal rescuer who gifts her with a little red puppy. She wakes up the next morning to a giant red dog walking around her New York City apartment. With her mom away on business and her impulsive Uncle in charge, it’s time for an adventure that’s bigger than the Big Apple.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Family
Now Playing: Wide (Opened on November 10th)
Rating: PG (for impolite humor, thematic elements and mild action)

Multiverse

(Saban) Paloma Kwiatkowski, Munro Chambers, Marlee Matlin, Robert Naylor. Four scientists on the verge of a major breakthrough in quantum physics are struck by tragedy. The survivors are startled, several months later, when their dead colleague suddenly turns back up alive. Something remarkable has happened…and it may not be as beneficial as they at first believe.

See the trailer
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Science Fiction
Now Playing: Studio Movie Grille Sunset Walk
Rating: R (for language throughout and some violence)

Raja Vikramarka

(Sree Chitra) Kartikeya Gummakonda, Tanya Ravichandran, Sudhakar Komakula, Sai Kumar. A green recruit for India’s version of the CIA is given his first case through a set of ironic circumstances, finding that the pressure is changing his life in every way imaginable.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Action
Now Playing: Regal Pointe Orlando
Rating: NR

Soulmate(s)

(Vertical) Stephanie Lynn, Alexandra Case, Mark Famiglietti, Di Quon. A pair of BFFs in Vermont are confronted by a large corporation threatening their small-town way of life. To make matters worse, one of them is falling hard for one of the corporate flunkies. The other, fearing not only for her town but for her friendship, will do anything to prevent the corporation’s plans – and her friend’s budding romance.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Now Playing: Studio Movie Grille Sunset Walk
Rating: NR

COMING TO VIRTUAL CINEMA/VOD:

A Choice of Weapons (Monday)
The Accursed
Apex
Back to Sölöz
Home Sweet Home Alone
Kelvin Garnett: Anything is Possible
Mayor Pete
Night Raiders
Prayers for the Stolen (Wednesday)
Set!
They Say Nothing Stays the Same

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Belfast
Mayor Pete
Prayers for the Stolen
Set!

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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

A gathering of Spiders.

(2018) Animated Feature (Columbia) Starring the voices of Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Lily Tomlin, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez, Zoe Kravitz, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, Kathryn Hahn, Liev Schreiber, Chris Pine, Natalie Morales, Oscar Isaac, Jorma Taccone, Lake Bell. Directed by Bob Perischetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman

Spider-Man has been perhaps the most popular character in the history of Marvel Comics. So much so that the hero has progressed beyond Peter Parker; there are a number of iterations of the character in the comics; some serious, some not.

Miles Morales (Moore) is one of those characters. A young, African-American/Hispanic teen, he likes hanging out with his Uncle Aaron (Ali), and less so with his cop father (Henry). He’s a very smart kid, but not so interested in school and a little on the timid side. When he’s bitten by a radioactive spider, he gets the powers of Spider-Man. He relies on the comic books to kind of guide him through.

But then the Kingpin (Schreiber), a corpulent villain, opens up gateways to a multitude of parallel universes, threatening all of them. Spider-men from all around the multiverse begin to flood in, including a tired and nearly broken Peter Parker (Johnson), an iteration in which Gwen Stacy (Steinfeld) becomes Spider-Gwen, a black and white character from the 30s called Spider-Noir (Cage), a porcine cartoon pig named Spider-Ham (Mulaney) and a sprightly teen from the future named Peni Parker (Glenn). Together they will have to face down against the Kingpin and his scientific advisor Doc Octopus (Hahn) if they are to save the multi-verse.

Visually, this is a striking film that is meant to look more like a comic book than conventional animated features. It is certainly meant to appeal to Spider-Fans, with lots of little in-jokes and Easter Eggs for those who follow the character in the comics, but even for those unfamiliar with the various Spider-Man characters, there is some clever dialogue to keep the story moving, even though at just a hair under two hours long it might be too much for the attention-challenged. Still, this was the Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature at the 2019 Academy Awards and quite honestly, it deserved to be.

REASONS TO SEE: Wonderful animation. Plenty of Easter Eggs for fans. Clever dialogue.
REASONS TO AVOID: A bit too long.
FAMILY VALUES: There is some cartoon violence, mild profanity and thematic material.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Both Steve Ditko and Stan Lee, the original creators of the Spider-Man comic, passed away during production of the film.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon AMC On Demand, AppleTV, Fandango Now, FlixFling, Google Play, Microsoft, Redbox, Vudu, YouTube
CRITICAL MASS: As of 5/12/20: Rotten Tomatoes: 97% positive reviews, Metacritic: 87/100
COMPARISON SHOPPING: The Incredibles
FINAL RATING: 8.5/10
NEXT: Hope Gap