What’s New in Theaters

This weekend, if I’m going to the movies, I’m going to the Cleveland International Film Festival.  There are some amazing films showing.   And, they seem to have added screenings of some of the most popular from this week.  But, here is a look at the new films from the last two weeks that are out in theaters.

Let’s start with the big one.  Monsters vs. Aliens is the latest animated feature from Dreamworks.  In it, a meteorite hits earth, and a little girl becomes a ginormous woman, voiced by Reese Witherspoon.  She is taken by the government, of course, and finds a ragtag group of monsters who’ve been hidden for years.  It’s cute.  It’s marketed.  It’s also in 3-D, if you can get it.  Monsters vs. Aliens is rated PG for sci-fi action, some crude humor and mild language.  Sure, the movie’s really for kids, but for grown ups, there’s a fun viral aspect to the marketing.  Click here to check out the Top Secret Conspiracy!

Word of advice, if you’re a normal family, not like a Marilyn Manson or Addams Family, you probably don’t want to move into a house that used to me a mortuary!!!  In The Haunting in Connecticut, the Campbells have to move to a new house, because their son has some health problems.  Unfortunately, the new place has had a lot of dead people in it, and they begin to experience the supernatural.  Virginia Madsen stars.  I like that the film people have been opening it with events that include seances and psychics and ghost stories.  The Haunting in Connecticut is rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of terror and disturbing images.  I’m just disturbed by the poster for the movie, that stuff coming out of the kid’s mouth!  Evil!

John Cena is trying to pull a The Rock and get into the movies.  He gets a starring role in 12 Rounds.  Renny Harlin directs.  Cena plays Detective Danny Fisher.   His girlfriend gets kidnapped by an ex-con he busted, and he has to perform 12 tasks to get her back.  As if.  12 Rounds is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action.

I am really looking forward to checking out The Great Buck Howard.  It’s in limited release.  If you’re of a certain age, as I am, you remember seeing The Amazing Kreskin do his thing on The Tonight Show.  And, it was astounding.  Now, we’re getting to see a little behind the curtain, with shows like The Mentalist.  Here’s an even better glimpse, as John Malkovich plays a great illusionist on the decline.  The story is focused on young Troy Gable, who takes a job as an assistant to The Great Buck Howard.  He is played by Colin Hanks, who I have loved since Roswell.  And his disapproving father is played by… Tom Hanks!  Amazing cast.  You will recognize them all.  The Great Buck Howard is rated PG for some language, including some suggestive remarks, and a drug reference.

The documentary, Brothers at War, is in limited release.  Producers chose to open it in the Cleveland area, because of a high number of families with members serving in the Iraq War.  Jake Rademacher sets out to show the effects of war and military service on families.  His two brothers are in the service, and in making the film, he is trying to find out why they are called to enlist.  Jake gets unprecedented access to troops on location.  As it shows real soldiers during a real war, you can expect some language and some violent images.  Brothers at War is rated R.  On the official site, they’re looking for stories of other families who’ve felt the impact of this war.

Crossing Over is finally in Cleveland.  I’m still unsure why the film is in limited release, with the star power of Harrison Ford and Ashley Judd and Ray Liotta.  It’s a kind of Traffic or Crash, with interwoven stories that focus on the border crossing between Mexico and the United States.  Crossing Over is rated R for pervasive language, some strong violence and sexuality/nudity.  You might want to wait for the director’s cut DVD.  Wayne Kramer wrote and directed the movie, with a right to final cut.  But, reportedly, Harvey Weinstein bullied him to edit the movie from 140 minutes to 113 by threatening to keep the film out of theaters and send it straight to DVD.

I have already established in my reviews that I think I Love You, Man is the funniest movie of the year, so far.  The boy loved it too.  We laughed out loud, a lot.  And, I was only slightly uncomfortable seeing it with him once.  There’s some frank sex talk, but nothing lewd is shown.  Paul Rudd plays the most adorable metrosexual.  He’s not a man’s man, he likes girls, as lovers and friends.  So, when he gets engaged to the equally adorable Rashida Jones, he’s at a loss to find enough dudes to fill out the wedding party.  As he looks for a Best Man, he meets Jason Segel, who may or may not be Best Man material.  All the supporting characters are great.  And, Segel’s personal love of the Music of the Universe (aka Rush) gets some play.  I Love You, Man is rated R for pervasive language, including crude and sexual references.

Julia and Clive have a bit of a thing going on, don’t they?  There has been a lot of attention paid to bromances lately, guys who do a lot of films together.  What do they call two actors, one boy and one girl, who have screen chemistry, but nothing outside of work that we know of, and multiple films, going on?  Duplicity?  Julia Roberts and Clive Owen are corporate spies with a steamy past who team up again to con/rip off their bosses.  But, if we’re to believe the trailers, one or both of them might be conning/ripping off the other.  Sparks and flirtations.  Duplicity is rated PG-13 for language and some sexual content.  Paul Giamatti advisory.  Love him.

Last week, the number one movie at the box office was a harmless family flick called Knowing.  When we see the trailers on TV, I think it looks like the latest National Treasure movie.  The baby keeps saying it’s Ghost Rider.  The shocking thing is that Alex Proyas directs this very commercial movie.  He has done highly stylized films like Dark City, The Crow and I, Robot.  Nicholas Cage plays a teacher whose son gets a paper out of a time capsule and somehow figures out that it predicts every major disaster.  So, of course, they try to stop them.  Suspenseful mayhem ensues.  Knowing is rated PG-13 for disaster sequences, disturbing images and brief strong language.  What do you want to bet the brief strong language is just as the disaster sequences begin.  Just a thought.

Hah!  Super Capers!  It’s been out for over a week, and I’ve never heard of it!!  Written by, directed by and maybe even starring, Ray Griggs, Super Capers is about a nice guy with no powers who joins a clueless group of heroes to fight a bad guy.  I honestly just don’t know anything about it!  Super Capers is rated PG for mild language, some rude humor and brief smoking.  If you see it, please let me know what you think!!

What's New in Theaters

This weekend, if I’m going to the movies, I’m going to the Cleveland International Film Festival.  There are some amazing films showing.   And, they seem to have added screenings of some of the most popular from this week.  But, here is a look at the new films from the last two weeks that are out in theaters.

Let’s start with the big one.  Monsters vs. Aliens is the latest animated feature from Dreamworks.  In it, a meteorite hits earth, and a little girl becomes a ginormous woman, voiced by Reese Witherspoon.  She is taken by the government, of course, and finds a ragtag group of monsters who’ve been hidden for years.  It’s cute.  It’s marketed.  It’s also in 3-D, if you can get it.  Monsters vs. Aliens is rated PG for sci-fi action, some crude humor and mild language.  Sure, the movie’s really for kids, but for grown ups, there’s a fun viral aspect to the marketing.  Click here to check out the Top Secret Conspiracy!

Word of advice, if you’re a normal family, not like a Marilyn Manson or Addams Family, you probably don’t want to move into a house that used to me a mortuary!!!  In The Haunting in Connecticut, the Campbells have to move to a new house, because their son has some health problems.  Unfortunately, the new place has had a lot of dead people in it, and they begin to experience the supernatural.  Virginia Madsen stars.  I like that the film people have been opening it with events that include seances and psychics and ghost stories.  The Haunting in Connecticut is rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of terror and disturbing images.  I’m just disturbed by the poster for the movie, that stuff coming out of the kid’s mouth!  Evil!

John Cena is trying to pull a The Rock and get into the movies.  He gets a starring role in 12 Rounds.  Renny Harlin directs.  Cena plays Detective Danny Fisher.   His girlfriend gets kidnapped by an ex-con he busted, and he has to perform 12 tasks to get her back.  As if.  12 Rounds is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action.

I am really looking forward to checking out The Great Buck Howard.  It’s in limited release.  If you’re of a certain age, as I am, you remember seeing The Amazing Kreskin do his thing on The Tonight Show.  And, it was astounding.  Now, we’re getting to see a little behind the curtain, with shows like The Mentalist.  Here’s an even better glimpse, as John Malkovich plays a great illusionist on the decline.  The story is focused on young Troy Gable, who takes a job as an assistant to The Great Buck Howard.  He is played by Colin Hanks, who I have loved since Roswell.  And his disapproving father is played by… Tom Hanks!  Amazing cast.  You will recognize them all.  The Great Buck Howard is rated PG for some language, including some suggestive remarks, and a drug reference.

The documentary, Brothers at War, is in limited release.  Producers chose to open it in the Cleveland area, because of a high number of families with members serving in the Iraq War.  Jake Rademacher sets out to show the effects of war and military service on families.  His two brothers are in the service, and in making the film, he is trying to find out why they are called to enlist.  Jake gets unprecedented access to troops on location.  As it shows real soldiers during a real war, you can expect some language and some violent images.  Brothers at War is rated R.  On the official site, they’re looking for stories of other families who’ve felt the impact of this war.

Crossing Over is finally in Cleveland.  I’m still unsure why the film is in limited release, with the star power of Harrison Ford and Ashley Judd and Ray Liotta.  It’s a kind of Traffic or Crash, with interwoven stories that focus on the border crossing between Mexico and the United States.  Crossing Over is rated R for pervasive language, some strong violence and sexuality/nudity.  You might want to wait for the director’s cut DVD.  Wayne Kramer wrote and directed the movie, with a right to final cut.  But, reportedly, Harvey Weinstein bullied him to edit the movie from 140 minutes to 113 by threatening to keep the film out of theaters and send it straight to DVD.

I have already established in my reviews that I think I Love You, Man is the funniest movie of the year, so far.  The boy loved it too.  We laughed out loud, a lot.  And, I was only slightly uncomfortable seeing it with him once.  There’s some frank sex talk, but nothing lewd is shown.  Paul Rudd plays the most adorable metrosexual.  He’s not a man’s man, he likes girls, as lovers and friends.  So, when he gets engaged to the equally adorable Rashida Jones, he’s at a loss to find enough dudes to fill out the wedding party.  As he looks for a Best Man, he meets Jason Segel, who may or may not be Best Man material.  All the supporting characters are great.  And, Segel’s personal love of the Music of the Universe (aka Rush) gets some play.  I Love You, Man is rated R for pervasive language, including crude and sexual references.

Julia and Clive have a bit of a thing going on, don’t they?  There has been a lot of attention paid to bromances lately, guys who do a lot of films together.  What do they call two actors, one boy and one girl, who have screen chemistry, but nothing outside of work that we know of, and multiple films, going on?  Duplicity?  Julia Roberts and Clive Owen are corporate spies with a steamy past who team up again to con/rip off their bosses.  But, if we’re to believe the trailers, one or both of them might be conning/ripping off the other.  Sparks and flirtations.  Duplicity is rated PG-13 for language and some sexual content.  Paul Giamatti advisory.  Love him.

Last week, the number one movie at the box office was a harmless family flick called Knowing.  When we see the trailers on TV, I think it looks like the latest National Treasure movie.  The baby keeps saying it’s Ghost Rider.  The shocking thing is that Alex Proyas directs this very commercial movie.  He has done highly stylized films like Dark City, The Crow and I, Robot.  Nicholas Cage plays a teacher whose son gets a paper out of a time capsule and somehow figures out that it predicts every major disaster.  So, of course, they try to stop them.  Suspenseful mayhem ensues.  Knowing is rated PG-13 for disaster sequences, disturbing images and brief strong language.  What do you want to bet the brief strong language is just as the disaster sequences begin.  Just a thought.

Hah!  Super Capers!  It’s been out for over a week, and I’ve never heard of it!!  Written by, directed by and maybe even starring, Ray Griggs, Super Capers is about a nice guy with no powers who joins a clueless group of heroes to fight a bad guy.  I honestly just don’t know anything about it!  Super Capers is rated PG for mild language, some rude humor and brief smoking.  If you see it, please let me know what you think!!