New Releases for the Week of January 21, 2022

REDEEMING LOVE

(Universal) Abigail Cowen, Tom Lewis, Logan Marshall-Green, Famke Janssen, Nina Dobrev, Eric Dane, Ke-Xi Wu, Brandon Auret. Directed by D.J. Caruso

A bitter young girl, sold into prostitution as a child, finds love in an unlikely source in this story set during the California Gold Rush. The movie is based on a novel by Francine Rivers which is in turn inspired by the Old Testament story of the prophet Hosea and his wife Gomer.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Romance
Now Playing: Wide
Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic content, sexual content, partial nudity, and strong violent content)

The King’s Daughter

(Gravitas) Kaya Scodelario, Pierce Brosnan, Fan Bingbing, William Hurt. The aging Louis XIV of France, the Sun King, is desperate to find the secret to immortality and believes at last that he has found it – through the possession of a mermaid. He commissions a young sea captain to find him one, a move complicated when the king’s daughter stows away on board.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Fantasy
Now Playing: Wide
Rating: PG (for some violence, suggestive material and thematic elements)

Parallel Mothers

(Sony Classics) Penelope Cruz, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde. Two single women meet in a Spanish maternity ward as they await to give birth; one, middle-aged and eagerly anticipating motherhood, the other young, frightened and apprehensive in this new film from the legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Dramedy
Now Playing: Enzian
Rating: R (for some sexuality)

The Souvenir – Part II

(A24) Honor Swinton Byrne, Tilda Swinton, Richard Ayoade, Ariane Labed. A graduate film student who recently extricated herself from a toxic romance with a manipulative older man, attempts to reorder her life, separate fact from elaborately woven fiction and complete her graduate studies and film project.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs
Rating: R (for some strong sexuality and language)

The Tiger Rising

(The Avenue) Queen Latifah, Dennis Quaid, Christian Convery, Katherine McPhee. A young 12-year-old boy discovers a caged tiger in the woods near town, setting off a journey that will enlighten him and send him on a road to adventure.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Family
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, Cinemark Lakeland Square, Cinemark Orlando, Cinemark Universal Citywalk, Fashion Square Premiere
Rating: PG (for thematic elements, language and brief violence)

Unsilenced

(Zhen) Sam Trammell, Ting Wu, Anastasia Lin, Tzu-Chiang Wang. A cynical American reporter, having lost faith in his profession and in his nation, covers events in China in 1999 when the Chinese government in a move of unbridled repression, banned the practice of Falun Gong in that country. Based on true events.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: True Life Drama
Now Playing: Cinemark Orlando
Rating: R (for some violence)

WarHunt

(Saban) Mickey Rourke, Robert Knepper, Jackson Rathbone, Josh Burdett. After an Allied plane crashes in the Black Forest in the waning days of World War II, a squad of elite soldiers is sent to retrieve sensitive material the plane was carrying, but the soldiers find themselves in a battle for their lives when supernatural forces beyod their understanding come into play.

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

COMING TO VIRTUAL CINEMA/VOD:

A Shot Through the Wall (Friday)
Butlers in Love (Saturday)v
Confession (Tuesday)
Deadly House Call (Sunday)
Hollywood Fringe (Tuesday)
Love on the Road (Sunday)
MICerz (Tuesday)
Munich: The Edge of War (Friday)
My Father’s Violin (Friday)
Picabo (Friday)
The Royal Treatment (Thursday)

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Munich: The Edge of War
Parallel Mothers

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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

New Releases for the Week of February 10, 2017

THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE

(Warner Brothers) Starring the voices of Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Siri, Zach Galifianakis, Jenny Slate, Conan O’Brien, Doug Benson. Directed by Chris McKay

One of the big reasons that The LEGO Movie was such a big hit was Will Arnett’s uptight loner Batman. Now he gets his own movie and the Caped Crusader is beset on all sides. The Joker is taking over Gotham City and for once Batman is overwhelmed. He’ll need to enlist help to save the day – but that’s not something he’s entirely comfortable with.

See the trailer, interviews, clips, Premiere footage and B-roll video here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard, 3D, IMAX 3D
Genre: Animated Feature
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG (for rude humor and some action)

50 Shades Darker

(Universal) Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson, Bella Heathcote, Marcia Gay Harden. Following the events of 50 Shades of Grey Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey have separated but such is the attraction between them that they can’t remain apart for long. However, dark secrets in Christian’s past may threaten to tear the two lovers apart.

See the trailer, clips, interviews, a promo and B-roll video here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Erotic Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for strong erotic sexual content, some graphic nudity and language)

John Wick: Chapter Two

(Lionsgate) Keanu Reeves, Common, Laurence Fishburne, Ruby Rose. Wick is happy living in retirement, something of a rarity among assassins. However when someone he owes a blood oath to calls him in to help him take over a shadowy international assassin’s guild, Wick is forced to travel to Rome to take on some of the world’s deadliest killers.

See the trailer, clips, interviews, a featurette 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 strong violence throughout, some language and brief nudity)

Jolly LLB 2

(Fox Star) Akshay Kumar, Humar Qureshi, Sayani Gupta, Arshad Warsi. A somewhat clumsy and lawyer is given the case of a lifetime to try, but the Indian legal system proves to be much more challenging than he could have possibly imagined.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Courtroom Dramedy
Now Playing: AMC West Oaks, Touchstar Southchase
Rating: NR

Julieta

(Sony Classics) Emma Suárez, Adriana Ugarte, Daniel Grao, Imma Cuesta. From Spain’s master director Pedro Almodóvar comes this look at a brokenhearted woman whose estranged daughter has been she hasn’t seen in 12 years. When a former acquaintance lets it slip that the daughter is married with three kids and living in Switzerland, the mom abruptly turns her life upside down and moves back in to her old apartment in Madrid, hoping her daughter will communicate with her. While she waits, she decides to write her memoirs, describing the events that led up to her situation.

See the trailer and clips here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Romance
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: R (for some sexuality/nudity)

The Salesman

(Cohen Media Group/Amazon) Taraneh Alidoosti, Shahab Hosseini, Babak Karimi, Mina Sadati. A couple that is rehearsing for a stage version of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman are forced to move out of their collapsing home. A fellow performer rents out an apartment to them. They are however unaware that the previous tenant was a prostitute and when a former client comes by one night when the woman is all alone, the repercussions of the encounter will be extraordinary. This is one of the finalists for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Academy Awards.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Thriller
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic elements and a brief bloody image)

Wild Tales (Relatos salvajes)

This guy could teach Mad Max a thing or two about vengeance.

(2014) Comedy (Sony Classics) Ricardo Darin, Rita Cortese, Maria Marull, Cesar Bordon, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Walter Donado, Oscar Martinez, Osmar Nunez, Maria Onetto, Erica Rivas, Diego Gentile, German de Silva, Dario Grandinetti, Monica Villa, Julieta Zylberberg, Nancy Duplaa, Lucita Mangone, Alan Daicz, Hector Drachtman, Margarita Molfino. Directed by Damian Szifron

Revenge, it is said, is a dish best served cold although it must also be said that in Latin American countries, there’s nothing cold about good ol’ hot-blooded Latin revenge. It is a cultural imperative, as a matter of fact.

This collection of vignettes each looks at vengeance from a different angle, all of them funny and some of them downright hilarious. Mostly set in Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires (although at least one is set out in the hinterlands of Argentina), there is a delicious quality to all of them which goes against what we normally see in American movies in which we are taught that an eye for an eye tends to leave everybody blind.

Herein we see a variety of different scenarios, with the first one begins with a beautiful model sits down on a strangely uncrowded airplane and strikes up a conversation with a neighbor. Soon, all of those aboard the plane discover they have a connection and that they aren’t aboard the plane by happenstance.

From there on we go to a waitress, discovering that the corrupt politician who ruined her family has sat down in the deserted diner in which she works is egged on by her somewhat diabolical cook to take her justice, then to an incident of escalating road rage, followed by a demolition expert whose car gets towed, setting off a chain of events that grow more and more devastating. Then we see the results of a drunken hit and run by a spoiled scion of a wealthy man who, sickened by the corruption of those who want to cover up the deed, is torn between saving his son and not contributing to the corruption. Finally we end of with the ultimate Bridezilla who makes a devastating discovery on her wedding day.

Each of the vignettes is told with a sense of humor that has a distinct Latin feel; some of it is quite subtle while some of it is broad to the point of slapstick and there is even some grossness that would make Apatow shudder and exclaim “Now, that’s going too far” – as in the road rage vignette in which one of the combatants defecates on the auto of another. Many auto-worshiping American men would rather have their genitals cut off with a butter knife than have that happen to their own car.

I was fond of the opening vignette which may be disturbing to some because of recent events in France which have some similarities to what you see here. The second one set in the diner isn’t nearly as clever as the others and briefly made me wonder if the rest of the movie would be like the first scene or the second; it turned out to be the former which was quite the relief.

My favorite was that of the munitions expert who is caught up in a corrupt, greedy scam of a towing company and his quest for justice ends up costing him nearly everything. However, in this particular case, his redemption turns him into something of a folk hero as a little man takes on the big machine and wins out. I think we’ve all felt like that at one time or another.

There is definitely a class element here; the road rage incident, for example, involves an upper class man in an expensive sedan versus a working class man in a beat up truck, while the case of the hit and run drunk driving we see the police and lawyer conspire with the wealthy man to have a groundskeeper in the wealthy man’s employ take the fall for the action committed by the wealthy man’s no-account son, which seems to indicate that justice is never truly served when it can be bought by the rich.

If you can see elements of the great Spanish director Pedro Almodovar in the movie, you are to be congratulated for your insight. In fact, Almodovar served as a producer for the movie although he didn’t direct it. Certainly his influence as a filmmaker can be felt in every scene.

This truly isn’t for everybody, I will admit. Americans don’t always find the Latin sense of humor palatable, although I think that we have more in common with it than not. Still, I enjoyed this very much and laughed throughout. It can be absurd and sometimes gross and even occasionally thought-provoking but there is some real superior filmmaking here.

REASONS TO GO: Howling with laughter funny. No weak vignettes.
REASONS TO STAY: Some might find some of the scenes crass and the opening vignette has elements in common with a recent tragedy that might make it offensive to some.
FAMILY VALUES: All sorts of violence, a little bit of sexuality and plenty of foul language.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: This is the seventh film from Argentina to make the final list of nominees for Best Foreign Language film and the third straight to star Ricardo Darin.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 4/2/15: Rotten Tomatoes: 95% positive reviews. Metacritic: 77/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
FINAL RATING: 7.5/10
NEXT: It Follows

The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito)

Beauty is only skin deep.

(2011) Thriller (Sony Classics) Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Marisa Paredes, Jan Cornet, Roberto Alamo, Eduard Fernandez, Jose Luis Gomez, Bianca Suarez, Susi Sanchez, Barbara Lennie, Fernando Cayo, Chema Ruiz, Concha Buika, Ana Mena, Teresa Manresa, Fernando Iglesias, Agustin Almodovar, Miguel Almodovar, Marta R. Mahou, Carmen Machi. Directed by Pedro Almodovar

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar is something of an acquired taste. He has directed zany comedies and taut thrillers but none of his movies really fit into any neat little boxes. His movies tend to push boundaries, whether of things that are considered socially acceptable or of cinematic convention. You may not necessarily like all of his films but they will make an impression.

Dr. Robert Ledgard (Banderas) is a brilliant surgeon and medical researcher who is on the cusp of an amazing discovery – artificial skin that is flame retardant. His own wife had perished from injuries suffered in a fiery car crash so he has a personal stake in making this breakthrough. When he presents his results at a medical symposium it appears he may well be on his way to a Nobel Prize if things go the way that he hopes.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the good doctor has been performing illegal transgenetic experiments on humans. He is forbidden from continuing any further research on the subject. Of course, that’s not going to stop Dr. Ledgard, who on his secluded estate has been keeping a woman named Vera (Anaya). He has been grafting the artificial skin onto her body and he has gone too far to stop now. Through his loyal maid Marilla (Paredes) he dismisses the other servants and starts to step up testing on the skin.

Unfortunately, it’s about this time that Marilla’s criminal son Zeca (Alamo) turns up while Robert’s away and spies Vera on a closed circuit TV monitor and demands to see her in the flesh. When his mother refuses, he ties her up and rapes Vera, which clearly doesn’t sit well with Robert. These events will lead to an unveiling of secrets, including who Vera is and how she came to be the mad doctor’s captive.

Almodovar based this loosely on the novel Tarantula by Thierry Jonquet although he used a bundle of different influences as well, from Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast to a number of literary sources which are listed during the end credit acknowledgements. There are a lot of different themes going on here, from medical hubris to personal obsession to the masks we adopt. Then again, Almodovar generally tends to deliver very layered films with themes that often invite controversy or at the very least post-screening discussion.

Banderas was an early Almodovar discovery in such films as Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! although he hadn’t worked with the Spanish director in 21 years. Here he is at his best as the creepy, arrogant and psychotic scientist.  Dr. Ledgard believes he is doing good work, although not necessarily for humanity but certainly for his own needs. He is haunted by his dead wife and is literally trying to recreate her from the skin down. Vera is merely the conduit for his mad obsession. He becomes a kind of Dr. Frankenstein but in a modern medical sense. Almodovar handles that aspect rather clinically.

Like most of Almodovar’s films, the appeal isn’t going to be universal. Some will see this movie as way too strange and way too twisted for their own sensibilities and I can certainly understand that; there were times in the movie that I was a little uncomfortable myself and I tend to think of myself as pretty open-minded, cinematically speaking.

The movie’s ending isn’t going to brighten anybody’s day. Still, this is a really good movie for people who love to discuss the nuances of a film with friends afterwards. This is not only an intellectual exercise but an emotional one as well, with some visceral elements. The Skin I Live In isn’t the best of Almodovar’s films nor is it even his most squirm-inducing but it is the closest thing to a true horror film as he is ever likely to get.

WHY RENT THIS: An interesting, twisted modern update of Frankenstein. Banderas at his creepy best.
WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: May be a little too twisted for some. Kind of dreary ending.
FAMILY VALUES: There is some very strong violence including a sexual assault, graphic nudity and sexuality, some drug use, disturbing images and rough language.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Among the books acknowledged in the end credits as inspirational material (copies of which appear in the bedrooms of Dr. Ledgard and Vera respectively) are The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and Angel at My Table by Janet Frame.
NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: The Blu-Ray contains footage from the New York premiere and an interview with the director conducted before a live audience.
BOX OFFICE PERFORMANCE: $30.8M on a $13.5M production budget.
SITES TO SEE: Netflix (DVD rental only), Amazon (rent/buy), Vudu (rent/buy),  iTunes (rent/buy), Flixster (purchase only), Target Ticket (purchase only)
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Eyes Without a Face
FINAL RATING: 7/10
NEXT: Annabelle

New Releases for the Week of July 26, 2013

THE WOLVERINE

(20th Century Fox) Hugh Jackman, Will Yun Lee, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rila Fukushima, Famke Janssen, Brian Tee. Directed by James Mangold

The Wolverine is summoned to Japan by a super wealthy industrialist whose life he had saved years before. Now, the favor is to be returned – by removing Wolverine’s mutant healing ability, making him mortal for the first time. However, it also makes him a target in a game that he doesn’t know the rules to and may well be out of his depth. Now more than ever he’ll have to rely on his courage to get through this.

See the trailer, clips, a promo and a featurette here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard, 3D (Opens Thursday)

Genre: Superhero

Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, some sexuality and language)

Bajatey Raho

(Eros International) Tusshar Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, Vishakha Singh. A pair of conmen who have been wronged have just 15 days to pull off the heist of their lives and get sweet revenge. They’ll need their entire family to pull it off.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Bollywood

Rating: NR

Fruitvale Station

(Weinstein) Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Melonie Diaz, Chad Michael Murray. On New Year’s Eve 2008, a young black man in Oakland who was trying to get his life back together for his young daughter, his girlfriend and his mom decided to celebrate the New Year in San Francisco. What happened on his way back home shocked the region and became a national news story. A major hit at Sundance, this could well be a major Oscar contender next year.

See the trailer and featurettes here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: True-Life Drama

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

I’m So Excited!

(Sony Classics) Carlos Areces, Raul Arevalo, Javier Camara, Lola Duenas. Passengers aboard a flight to Mexico City find out that their plane has suffered a mechanical malfunction that threatens all their lives. As the crew and ground control attempt to find a way to fix the problem, the passengers and stewards try to find ways to take their minds off of their predicament. Since this is directed by the great Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, you know this won’t be anything like you expect it will be.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Comedy

Rating: R (for strong sexual content including crude references, and drug use)

The To-Do List

(CBS) Aubrey Plaza, Bill Hader, Alia Shawkat, Christopher Mintz-Plasse. A young valedictorian preparing to enter college realizes that she’s experienced little social and sexual activity during high school. Concerned she won’t fit in, she decides to experience all the things she missed in a frantic summer before going to the next level in her education. Somewhat loosely (we hope) based on the experiences of the writer/director of the movie, Maggie Carey.

See the trailer and clips here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Coming-of-Age Teen Sex Comedy

Rating: R (for pervasive strong crude and sexual content including graphic dialogue, drug and alcohol use, and language – all involving teens)  

New Releases for the Week of November 18, 2011

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1

(Summit) Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Jackson Rathbone, Nikki Reed, Maggie Grace. Directed by Bill Condon

It’s the beginning of the end of one of the most successful film franchises of the last decade. Few other pop culture items have polarized audiences as much as this. Young girls and their moms are rabid about it to the point of obsession. Young boys and their older brothers hate it with a passion as if the makers of the Twilight series burned their comic book collection or something. In any case, the wedding between Bella and Edward finally takes place, leading to a complication that threatens not only Bella’s life (as always) but also the fragile peace between vampire and werewolf.

See the trailer, clips, interviews, featurettes, promos and web-only content here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Romantic Fantasy

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

Happy Feet 2

(Warner Brothers) Starring the voices of Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon. Mumble, the dancing penguin from the first movie, now has a son of his own who is finding that he has two left feet. Like his father before him, Erik must now find his own way and his inner muse. However he might not get the chance as forces greater than he could have imagined put their world in peril and all the creatures of Antarctica will have to stand together – or fall separately.

See the trailer and a featurette here.

For more on the movie this is the website

Release formats: Standard, 3D, IMAX 3D

Genre: Animated Feature

Rating: PG (for some rude humor and mild peril)

Like Crazy

(Paramount Vantage) Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Alex Kingston. A British exchange student nearing the end of her student visa falls in love with an American and determines to stay with him, even though it violates the terms of her visa. When she’s caught and deported, the question becomes whether they will drift apart and find other people or if their love is strong enough to keep them together through the roughest of times.

See the trailer and promos here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Romance

Rating: PG-13 (for some sexual content and brief strong language)

The Skin I Live In

(Sony Classics) Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Marisa Paredes, Jan Cornet. After his wife is burned in a terrible car crash, a renowned plastic surgeon searches to create a new artificial skin that might have saved her. The closer he gets to success, the more his quest spirals into obsession with consequences that are unforeseen and just as terrible. This is the new film by Spain’s pre-eminent filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.

See the trailer, clips and a featurette here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Drama

Rating: R (for disturbing violent content including sexual assault, strong sexuality, graphic nudity, drug use and language)

Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos)

An embrace to take them away from the hideousness of the decor, at least for a little while.

(2009) Thriller (Sony Classics) Penelope Cruz, Lluis Homar, Blanca Portilla, Tamar Novas, Kiti Manver, Jose Luis Garcia, Chus Lampreave, Lola Duenas, Angela Molina, Ruben Ochandiano. Directed by Pedro Almodovar

We are all of us the sum total of all the people we have been in our lives. That which we are is a direct result of that which we were. In some cases, what we were is so far from what we are now that they are almost different lives.

Harry Caine – a clever play of Orson Welles’ Harry Lime (The Third Man) and Citizen Kane – is the pseudonym that Mateo Blanco (Homar) has taken. Blanco was once one of the world’s leading film directors, but a tragic auto accident robbed him of his sight. He is still a successful screenwriter, living in a Madrid apartment cared for by longtime personal assistant Judit Garcia (Portilla) and her sweet son Diego (Novas). Judit has deeper feelings for Mateo than just being his assistant, incidentally. This is neither here nor there in terms of the plot; it’s just the way it is.

Mateo although middle aged and blind, is still a bit of a playa – he just uses his disability to help get attractive women in the sack. He has evidently always been a ladies’ man. One day, while Judit is out of town on business, Mateo is approached by a young man calling himself Ray X (Ochandiano) who wants Mateo to write a film with a very specific plot. Mateo is intrigued until he realizes who Ray X is – and what he really wants. Diego, who hasn’t a clue, asks Mateo to tell him. Mateo gives him a story, the defining story of his life and of the last movie he ever directed, “Girls and Suitcases.”

It was the early 90s and Mateo was on top of his game. One of his producers, Ernesto Martel (Gomez), a wealthy industrialist arranges to have his mistress Lena (Cruz) granted a screen test. Mateo isn’t expecting much but does it to keep his investor happy. Instead, he is completely entranced by this beautiful woman whom he falls deeply in love with.

Soon, Martel begins to suspect that his mistress is cheating on him and sics his son on them to film everything they do, ostensibly in the mask of a documentary filmmaker capturing the making of the movie. And, if you haven’t figured it out by now, Martel’s son is none other than Ray X. Soon, the tension begins to escalate and Martel begins to show signs that he is willing to do anything to keep his mistress as his own – up to and including murder.

This isn’t typical of an Almodovar movie. For one thing, the story is told much more conventionally than in most of his films. However, his fondness for combining genres – in this case suspense, romance, film noir and even comedy – is very much in evidence here. This is the most Hitchcock-like of Almodovar’s movies; I can certainly see the master of suspense making a movie like that were he alive today, although knowing Hitchcock he’d have cast a blonde (someone like Naomi Watts) in the lead role.

Almodovar always seems to bring out the best in Penelope Cruz and this emerges as another great performance by the Spanish actress. She is certainly a victim in many ways in this movie, but she is also a victimizer, one who wraps men around her small fingers and uses her sexuality to get what she wants. When she finally finds a soulmate, she finds herself in a dilemma of her own making; only she knows what Martel is capable of and she is absolutely terrified.

I also like Homar, a veteran Catalonian actor from Barcelona (and who previously worked with Almodovar on Bad Education) who bears a slight resemblance to Kelsey Grammer here. He has two different roles to play; one the confident director, the other the embittered blind writer. The differences are subtle, but Homar pulls it off nicely.

Almodovar is fond of bright colors, and there are a whole lot of them here – apparently to his mind the Spain of the 1990s looked a lot like the Britain of the 1970s. There are a lot of reds in the movie and I don’t mean commies or retired assassins. I mean the shade of red; it is noticeable in nearly every scene.

People looking for Almodovar here will see glimpses of him but this is perhaps his most mainstream movie ever. People looking for a conventional suspense movie will finds glimpses of one but this is a bit on the art house side. I can say it is compellingly written, with well-drawn characters and an ending that while it doesn’t come from left field, at least is satisfactory enough. I’ve never been Almodovar’s biggest fan, but if you’re like me you might find this movie a bit more palatable than some of his other films which tend to be quirkier than this.

WHY RENT THIS: A very well-made thriller, not to Hitchcock-like standards but certainly in the style thereof. 

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: This is very different from Almodovar’s other movies; his fans may not care for it as much.

FAMILY VALUES: There’s sex, drugs and a little bit of rock and roll. There’s also some off-camera spousal abuse.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: This is the fourth collaboration between Cruz and Almodovar.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: There’s a fabulous feature that simply captures Almodovar directing Cruz and how the two have developed a kind of cinematic shorthand in their working relationship. There is also a short film ostensibly directed by Mateo Blanco.

BOX OFFICE PERFORMANCE: $31.0M on an unreported production budget; the movie was a hit.

FINAL RATING: 7/10

TOMORROW: 127 Hours