New Releases for the Week of August 21, 2020

With the Regal and AMC chains opening their doors in most cities starting this weekend (including here in Orlando), there is reason for movie buffs to celebrate. Not all cinemaphiles feel comfortable going to theaters yet, but with the Florida Film Festival closing out their Enzian Theater run this Friday, it looks a little bit more like normal, although of course things are far from that. While most of the offerings in theaters will be classic movies, or films like Bloodshot and Trolls World Tour that never got a theatrical run or never got their full theatrical run. There are a handful of independent films making their debut as well, including the anticipated Train to Busan sequel Peninsula as well as Cut Throat City (pictured above), Words on a Bathroom Wall and Tulsa, among others.

The major studios will get back into the mix next week with the much-delayed Disney/fFox Marvel entry The New Mutants and then in ernest on Labor Day weekend, when the much-anticipated Tenet will finally get its American premiere (it will be playing in other countries around the world, including China starting next week) but it will be the first week of September that we here at Cinema365 headquarters anticipate that the weekly preview feature will resume. It will be an abbreviated version at first – covering only films opening locally here in Orlando, at least for September, and maybe longer until things get a little bit more normalized. The monthly preview feature Pick of the Litter will likely not return until October or even later depending on whether theaters are able to remain open.

Currently scheduled for September openings from a major studio standpoint in addition to Tenet are Bill and Ted Face the Music (September 1), The King’s Man (September 18) and Greenland (September 25). Disney+ will be making the big-budget live-action Mulan available for a fairly hefty upcharge next week, while Lionsgate will be making their horror film Antebellum available on premium VOD as of September 18. If theaters look like they’ll continue to remain open in October, I’ll run a brief summary of major studio releases as a means of helping theatergoers plan their month. However, considering how unpredictable this virus has been, theatrical release plans remain extremely fluid, to say the least.

You can continue to check the Coming Soon pages for information as to what is coming out that month along with trailers (when available). It is an understatement to say that it has been hectic and considerable effort to try and keep up with all the scheduling changes and I’m pretty sure that I haven’t been entirely successful. Please, if you see something that you are aware that is incorrect, please bring it to my attention either in the comments section here, or by directly e-mailing me at cinema365@live.com. Thanks for your patience throughout this crisis and I hope you continue to stay healthy and safe in these troubling times.

Another Programming Note

As is usual this time of year, the studios take a week off from adding any new movies to local theaters which in many ways is a relief; it gives us a chance to catch up on the big holiday films and Oscar contenders that flooded our local multiplexes last week. Therefore there won’t be a New Releases column this week but rest assured that it will return next Thursday as Insidious: The Last Key and I, Tonya are both scheduled to arrive in local theaters to kick off the new year, plus maybe a few other goodies as well.

As always thanks so much for checking out Cinema365 for your movie review and preview needs. From our family to yours, do have a safe and happy new year and let us hope that things get better for all of us in 2018 – from a movie standpoint it’s been a very good year in 2017 so there will be a very high bar when it comes to quality films next year.

New Releases for the Week of August 27, 2010

Cotton Marcus informs the young lady she doesn't need an exorcist, she needs a fashion consultant. Tim Gunn, to the rescue!

THE LAST EXORCISM

(Lionsgate) Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Louis Herthum, Iris Bahr, Caleb Landry Jones, Tony Bentley, John Wright Jr., Shanna Forrestall, Justin Shafer. Directed by Daniel Stamm

The Reverend Cotton Marcus, a charlatan who performs fake exorcisms, has grown weary of separating the faithful from their wallets, so he intends his last exorcism to be a confessional video. What he doesn’t bargain for is that the young girl who will be his final subject is genuinely possessed of an evil beyond anything he has ever imagined or prepared for, and it will be up to him and his crew to somehow rid this young girl of the vengeful demon possessing her before unimaginable tragedy results.

See the trailer, clips and promos here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Rating: PG-13 (for disturbing violent content and terror, some sexual references and thematic material)

Mao’s Last Dancer

(Goldwyn) Wen Bin Huang, Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlen, Joan Chen. This is the true story of Chinese ballet master Li Cunxin and his rise to fame despite obstacles from his totalitarian Maoist government. Directed by Oscar-winning director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Tender Mercies), the film covers the triumphs of a supremely talented dancer, as well as the loneliness and despair of an exile.

See the trailer and clips here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Rating: PG (for a brief violent image, some sensuality, language and incidental smoking)

The Secret of Kells

(GKIDS) Starring the voices of Brendan Gleeson, Evan McGuire, Christen Mooney, Mick Lally. A beautifully animated (it was also an Oscar Nominee for Best Animated Feature) movie about a young boy at an Irish abbey who comes face to face with Celtic mysticism, Viking invaders and the beauty of a well-illuminated volume. Previously reviewed during the Florida Film Festival, you can read my full review here.

See the trailer and clips here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Rating: NR (but would probably get a PG rating for some scenes with disturbing images and violence)

Takers

(Screen Gems) Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez. A group of notorious criminals are getting ready to pull off their last heist, their most daring, complex and high-risk job yet – and also their most lucrative. They are used to pulling off meticulously planned jobs executed like clockwork, but this one might be beyond the capabilities of anybody – and to top it all off, a case-hardened detective is right on their tails, nipping at their heels. One false move and the whole gang might wind up caught, a fate worse than death for a taker.

See the trailer, clips, promos, interviews and a music video here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, a sexual situation/partial nudity and some language)

New Releases for the Week of March 26, 2010

Hiccup finds surfing the net is a whole 'nother ballgame when you're a Viking.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

(DreamWorks) Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrara, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kirsten Wiig. Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean deBlois

Hiccup is a Viking…or rather, he lives in a Viking village and aspires to Viking-ness. However, these Vikings are all about killing the dragons that plague their village and steal their livestock. It has been a war without winner for generations until Hiccup actually meets a dragon and finds that they aren’t the monsters he was raised to believe they were. With the two sides locked in a death match, Hiccup has to find a way to get both sides to learn to see the world differently than they have been bred to in order to avoid the extermination of one or both of them.

See the trailer and clips here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard, 3D, 3D IMAX

Rating: PG (for sequences of intense action and some scary images, and brief mild language)

Chloe

(Sony Classics) Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson, Max Theriot. A married woman, suspecting her husband is cheating on her, hires a prostitute to test the loyalty of her man. But when the prostitute is untruthful about the nature of his fidelity, the family is embroiled in a situation that puts them all at risk. Acclaimed Canadian director Atom Egoyan has remade this from the French thriller Nathalie.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Rating: R (for strong sexual content including graphic dialogue, nudity and language)

Greenberg

(Focus) Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh. Greenberg is a forty-ish L.A. resident who finds himself adrift at a crossroads in his life. Single, unemployed and house-sitting for his more successful brother, he has nothing to show for his existence on this Earth. Trying to reconnect with old friends in an effort to find the qualities he valued in himself that are lost, he finds instead something unexpected. From director Noah Baumbach of The Squid and The Whale fame.

See the trailer, clips and featurettes here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Rating: R (for some strong sexuality, drug use, and language)

Hot Tub Time Machine

(MGM) John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Chevy Chase. A group of four guys who have been friends for 25 years get together at a ski lodge to drink and muse about how dissatisfied they are with how their lives turned out. The four of them get into the hot tub and pass out there; when they wake up, its 1986 and they have the opportunity of a lifetime – to change their lives for the better. Trouble is, they can also change them for the much worse.

See the trailer and clips here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Rating: R (for strong crude and sexual content, nudity, drug use and pervasive language)

New Releases for the Week of November 13, 2009

 

Northwestern Airlines REALLY needs to do something about their pilots flying to the right destination.

2012

(Columbia) John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton. Directed by Roland Emmerich

From the director of The Day After Tomorrow comes another end-of-the-world epic, making Roland Emmerich the modern-day Irwin Allen (younger folk not familiar with the name can google him). The Mayan calendar warns that the world will end in December, 2012 and there are several scientists – some fairly notable – who took that seriously. Not seriously enough however, as global cataclysmic mayhem ensues on a blockbuster scale.

 

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG-13 (for intense disaster sequences and some language)

The Damned United

(Sony Classics) Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney, Jim Broadbent. In the late 1960s, the most powerful football club – soccer to us Yanks – in the UK was Leeds United. They were a formidable dynasty with some of the top players in the sport and managed by Don Revie, one of the most revered coaches in the game. When Revie’s greatest rival Brian Clough was tapped to take over the United coaching reign, it would usher in one of the most notorious coaching situations in the history of the game.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for language)

Pirate Radio

(Focus) Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, January Jones. In the swinging 60s, British rock and roll bands were changing the face of music and culture forever, yet the English people were only permitted to hear two hours a week of rock music. A group of enterprising and passionate DJs took to the high seas to launch their own pirate radio stations, free of government restrictions and rules. The British government didn’t take kindly to the open defiance of their authority and did everything in their power to shut them down. I’m told this is loosely based on actual events of the time but regardless the soundtrack to this movie is killer!

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for language, and some sexual content including brief nudity)

New Releases for the Week of November 6, 2009

Ebeneezer Scrooge discovers a chain is gonna come.

DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL

(Disney) Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn, Cary Elwes, Lesley Manville, Jacquie Barnbrook, Daryl Sabara. Directed by Robert Zemeckis

There are very few humans alive in the western world that isn’t aware of the story of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The book has been the source of many film and television versions of the story, starring actors as disparate as Reginald Owen, Bill Murray, Henry Winkler, Marlo Thomas, George C. Scott, Alastair Sim and Tim Curry to name just a few taking on the role of notorious skinflint and Christmas hater Ebeneezer Scrooge. Now, Carrey is taking his shot, which is a loooong way from The Mask. This is also another motion capture film from Zemeckis (Polar Express, Beowulf).

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG (for scary sequences and images)

An Education

(Sony Classics) Carey Mulligan, Peter Skarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Emma Thompson. Set in mid-60s London when it was just beginning to swing, young schoolgirl Jenny seems to be set on course for an education at Oxford when she meets an urbane and witty 30-something guy who becomes her new object of desire. He introduces her to a rarefied world of classical concerts, late-night supper clubs, art auctions and sophisticated company. He manages to charm her conservative parents, but her introduction into this new life threatens the one she had been making for herself. Mulligan is already receiving extravagant critical praise for her performance in this role.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic material involving sexual content, and for smoking)

The Box

(Warner Brothers) Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, James Rebhorn. What would you do if someone came to your door with a mysterious wooden box that contained a large red button and offered you a million dollars to push the button? The catch is that if you push the button, a complete stranger will die before their time in response. For the financially strapped Lewis family, this is not just a hypothetical situation when a horribly disfigured man arrives on their stoop with just such a proposition. They quickly learn the price for making that kind of decision could mean far more terrifying consequences than they could ever imagine.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images)

The Fourth Kind

(Universal) Milla Jojovich, Elias Koteas, Will Patton, Corey Johnson. Ever since the 1960s the town of Nome, Alaska has had a disproportionate amount of disappearances among its general population, a trend that has never been explained. When a psychiatrist begins hypnotizing several traumatized patients to try and get at the root of what is distressing them, she videotapes the sessions. What happened next is all the more astonishing because it actually happened and the filmmakers here weave in footage from the actual hypnotherapy sessions with the recreated scenes here. My son thought this was the most disturbing trailer he’d ever seen. He might have something, there.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG-13 (for violent/disturbing images, some terror, thematic elements and brief sexuality)

The Men Who Stared at Goats

(Overture) George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey. A reporter looking for the kind of news story that will bring him fortune and glory instead finds Lyn Cassady, a broken down, scruffy man who claims to be part of an elite and shadowy military group that trains soldiers to use psychic powers to do, among other things, read minds, walk through solid walls and kill goats with a single thoughts. Now Cassady is off to find the program’s founder who has gone missing. Inspired by a non-fiction article in Esquire magazine, this marks the directorial debut of Oscar-nominated writer Grant Heslov.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for language, some drug content and brief nudity)

New Releases for the Week of October 30, 2009

Just in case you forgot the name of the Michael Jackson movie...

 

MICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT

(Columbia) Michael Jackson, Kenny Ortega, Travis Payne, Michael Bearden, Dorian Holley, Judith Hill, Bashiri Johnson, Orianthi, Tommy Organ. Directed by Kenny Ortega

This is a movie that was never supposed to be a movie. Shortly before his untimely death, Michael Jackson went into rehearsals for an extended stage show he would perform in London that was to be the basis of a comeback for the King of Pop. Of course, we all know that wasn’t to be. Love him or hate him, there is no denying that the man was one of the most talented performers of his generation and this will be the last footage of him in any sort of performance whatsoever. While it is slated for a limited two week run, chances are it will be extended, but if you are a true blue diehard Michael Jackson fan, you won’t want to chance it. I’m just hoping they’ll let the man rest in peace after the movie finishes its undoubtedly profitable run – the fascination the media has for all things Jackson has become rather ghoulish.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG (for some suggestive choreography and scary images)

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

(International Film Circuit) Gertrude Berg, Lewis Berg, Norman Lear, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Before Ellen deGeneres, before Mary Tyler Moore, before even Lucille Ball there was Gertrude Berg. She wrote, produced, directed and starred in a radio comedy called “The Rise of the Goldbergs” that was so popular that Berg regularly competed with Eleanor Roosevelt in the polls for the title of most popular woman in the United States. She became one of the first stars of television and would receive the first Emmy for Best Actress in history. She would also die in 1966 nearly forgotten by both the public and the industry that she helped create. Her influence would inspire not only industry giants but also people from all walks of life, most especially Jewish women. Her story is told here in a mix of contemporary interviews and archival footage from her show.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: Unrated

New Releases for the Week of October 23, 2009

Sadly, despite all the hoopla the Airstream with wings never really took off.

AMELIA

(Fox Searchlight) Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston, Mia Wasikowska, Joe Anderson. Directed by Mira Nair

One of the most iconic figures of the 20^th century was aviatrix Amelia Earhart. She blazed a trail for women back in the Depression for women to follow; she was fearless, confident and just as competent as any man in her chosen field. Sadly, that’s not what she is mostly remembered for today – not how she lived but rather, the mystery around how she (presumably) died. Acclaimed director Mira Nair intends to change that. While there have been biographical films about Earhart in the past, Nair seems to be out to show the human side of the hero and present her many accomplishments, many of which have been overshadowed by her mysterious disappearance during an attempted flight around the globe in 1937. This may very well be the first major entry in the Oscar sweepstakes for 2009.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG (for some sexuality, language, thematic elements and smoking)

A Serious Man

(Focus) Michael Stuhlbarg, Fred Melamed, Richard Kind, Adam Arkin. This is the latest from the Coen Brothers; that should be all you need to know to want to go see it right away. However, if you need a little more to get you into the theater, this is about a very neurotic Jewish professor at a small university in Minnesota during the 1960s who finds his life falling apart. His wife wants to leave him for an overbearing colleague; his feckless brother seems destined to spend the rest of his life on the couch in his living room, his children seem to be deliberately going out of their way to make him miserable and a mysterious letter-writer is trying to undermine his quest for tenure. He has come to realize he is a nebbish and needs advice on how to be a mensch – a serious man. However, the rabbis he consult cloud up the issue even further.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence)

Astro Boy

(Summit) Starring the voices of Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Charlize Theron. Based on one of the very first Japanese animes, this sci-fi animated feature is about a young robot with amazing powers that has been given a more or less human face and form. However, the boy robot is isolated because he is different. He goes on a journey to find acceptance, battling killer robots and aliens on the way.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG (for some action and peril, and brief mild language)

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant

(Universal) John C. Reilly, Ken Watanabe, Chris Massoglia, Salma Hayek. Based on a popular series of young adult fantasy novels, Universal is hoping this will kick off a new franchise for them. A bored young teen, feeling his wife is being mapped out and ultimately wasted in his dreary suburban existence, is drawn to a strange sideshow full of creatures as misunderstood as he feels himself to be. In a moment of clarity, he realizes he belongs with the Cirque and becomes one of the undead. However, his inexperience at being a vampire inadvertently breaks a 200-year-old truce between warring factions and threatens his new found home. Perhaps he should have read the Twilight series first.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of intense supernatural violence and action, disturbing images, thematic elements and some language)

Good Hair

(Roadside Attractions) Chris Rock, Maya Angelou, Nia Long, Kerry Washington. Hair is not merely what covers our head; it is our own personal signature. In the African-American community, hair can go even further, as a symbol of individual identity and often a tribute to African heritage. Comedian Chris Rock take an occasionally poignant and often hilarious look at the role of hair in African-American culture and tries to determine, once and for all, just what determines how hair can be “good.”

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG-13 (for some language including sex and drug references, and brief partial nudity)

Saw VI

(Lionsgate) Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Shawnee Smith. The most successful horror franchise of the 21^st century returns with more diabolical traps, more gruesome murders, more elaborate games and, well, just more.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, and language)

New Releases for the Week of October 16, 2009

What could be wilder than to howl at the sunset with your pack?

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

(Warner Brothers) Catherine Keener, Max Records, Mark Ruffalo, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini, Catherine O’Hara, Forrest Whitaker. Directed by Spike Jonze

One of the most beloved children’s books of all time is brought to life by innovative director Spike Jonze, who has Adaptation and Being John Malkovich on his resume, along with some of the most visually arresting music videos of the past 20 years. This is the story of Max, a young boy who feels neglected and misunderstood at home, and thus runs away to the island where the Wild Things are. The Wild Things long for someone to lead them and Max is more than happy to fulfill that need, until he discovers that leadership – and being a Wild Thing – is a much more complicated endeavor than he thought it would be.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG (for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language)

The Boys are Back

(Miramax) Clive Owen, Emma Booth, Laura Fraser, George MacKay. When an Australian sportswriter’s wife dies suddenly, he is left with a young son to raise on his own. His life is further complicated when a teenaged son from a previous marriage joins the family. The father, who had left most of the child-raising to his wives, decides on a unique method that causes some friction with other parents, but allows his boys to heal and thrive.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG-13 (for some sexual language and thematic elements)

Law Abiding Citizen

(Overture) Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler, Bruce McGill, Colm Meaney. When an upstanding family man’s wife and daughter are brutally murdered, the pain he goes through is nothing compared to what happens when the ambitious district attorney cuts a deal with one of the suspects to testify against the others in exchange for a lighter sentence. Ten years later, the suspect is found murdered and all the evidence points to the family man, who warns that unless the flawed justice system is fixed, all those connected with the trial will die. As he follows through on his threat, the district attorney races against time to protect his own family and stop this law abiding citizen from exacting his revenge.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for strong bloody brutal violence and torture, a scene of rape, and pervasive language)

More Than a Game

(Lionsgate) LeBron James, Dru Joyce, Romeo Travis, Sian Cotton. This is a documentary about a group of five guys from Akron, Ohio – talented basketball players all – who come from a background of great adversity. Through teamwork, friendship and their own remarkable skills, they come together on a journey to a state high school basketball championship. Their loyalty is tested when the spotlight begins to shine on future NBA superstar James, who becomes the most heralded high school player in the land. This uplifting story will be augmented by rare video, home movies and personal interviews that will illustrate the cost of excellence, and that nothing is impossible when the will is there.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG (for brief mild language and incidental smoking)

Paranormal Activity

(Paramount) Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Friedrichs, Ashley Palmer. Here’s a movie that benefitted from a unique marketing campaign; the trailer consisted of views of an audience watching the movie during a preview screening, and a website was created for moviegoers to vote as to whether the movie should be given a wide release. The vote came in affirmative, so this movie is getting a much wider release. It also helps that the movie is said to be genuinely scary. The premise is simple – a couple who believe their house might be haunted set up cameras to capture what goes on in their house while they are trying to sleep. The general consensus is that this is not for those who are easily disturbed or frightened.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for language)

The Stepfather

(Screen Gems) Dylan Walsh, Penn Badgley, Sela Ward, Sherry Stringfield. A remake of the 1987 horror classic of the same name, a young man returns home from military school to find his mother co-habiting with a new boyfriend. Everything seems fine on the surface, but little things begin to crop up to make the young man suspicious of the new man in his mother’s life. As the facts begin to come to light, he realizes that this perfect stepfather may be hiding a darker side that could have deadly consequences for everyone the young man loves.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, mature thematic material and brief sensuality)

World’s Greatest Dad

(Magnolia) Robin Williams, Alexie Gilmore, Daryl Sabara, Michael Thomas Moore. In this movie directed by comic Bobcat Goldthwait, Williams plays a high school poetry teacher whose life hasn’t gone the way he envisioned it. His son is an insufferable prick, the beautiful woman he is dating refuses to publically acknowledge him and his career has stalled. A freak accident gives him the means to the fame and fortune he has always craved, but only if he can live with the circumstances under which he acquired them.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for language, crude and sexual content, some drug use and disturbing images)