Henry Cavill in Immortals, opening this Friday (Nov 11).
Movie preview – Immortals, J. Edgar, Jack and Jill
- by Shawn Conner
It looks like another lame week for new releases as the studios save their big films for the holidays. The latest from director Tarsem Singh, a movie about a political figure no one likes or cares about, and a new Adam Sandler movie that begs the question “Why does this man have a successful movie career?” are just a few of the bonbons awaiting you at your local multiplex.
Immortals – The dialogue, at least in the trailer, is terrible; but the visuals are stunning. Immortals is from the producers of 300 (nothing to break about there) and director Tarsem Singh, who made the similarly gorgeous-looking movies The Cell (with Jennifer Lopez) and the superior The Fall. Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) stars, along with Freida Pinto (Rise of the Planet of the Apes). It’s 3D (of course), full of armour and CGI effects; unfortunately, the story apparently doesn’t live up to the images. “Tarsem Singh may well be an artistic visionary,” writes Neil Smith of Total Film. “Unfortunately, his sense of storytelling here is vision-impaired.”
Movie trailer – Immortals:
J. Edgar - For the life of me, I have no idea why anyone would want to make a movie out of the life of the mostly reviled, once powerful head of the FBI. But Clint Eastwood did, and here it is, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Naomi Watts. Steven Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer calls J. Edgar “an arduous trek through the history books”; Lawrence Toppman of the Charlotte Observer wonders, “What’s the motivation for the earnest, handsome, well-acted, unenlightening, workaday J. Edgar in 2011?”
Movie trailer – J. Edgar:
Jack and Jill - It is tempting to fill this paragraph about the new Adam Sandler movie – in which Sandler plays both brother and sister – with snark. However, we’ll let other people do that for us. “Jack and Jill is total bust, a stupefyingly unfunny and shamelessly lazy farce packed with cringe-worthy jokes and overt product placement”, writes Peter Travers (Rolling Stone); the movie “… goes from conventionally terrible to surrealistically awful”, says Frank Swietek (One Guy’s Opinion). Sounds like a contender for worst movie of 2011 to us! (It’s currently sitting at an astonishing-even-for-Adam-Sandler approval rating of 0 per cent.) Also sucked into this mess: Katie Holmes, Al Pacino (seriously). Interestingly, a few critics have also noted the movie’s shameless product placement.
Movie trailer – Jack and Jill:
London Boulevard – The directorial debut from William Monahan, screenwriter of Martin Scorsese‘s The Departed, London Boulevard is a crime drama co-written by Monahan and novelist Ken Bruen. Alas, their combined writing might seems to have worked against them, with critics complaining of an overstuff script with undeveloped subplots. London Boulevard, which stars Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley, stands at a 30 per cent approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes. “There is too much to be absorbed in too little time and not enough tissue connecting abbreviated, sometimes unnecessary subplots,” writes the New York Times‘ Stephen Holden.
Movie trailer – London Boulevard:
We Were Here – A documentary about the AIDS crisis and San Francisco, We Were Here is Metacritic’s top-rated movie of the year (so far – it still has to go up against Jack and Jill). It’s at Vancity Theatre Nov 11 – 17. We Were Here screening info.
Trailer – We Were Here:
Get Along – The Rio Theatre screens a preview of a new DVD featuring three short films, entitled “States”, “India” and “For the Most Part” – about Tegan and Sara, the Canadian twin-sister pop-rock act. Tickets at the official Tegan and Sara website.
Trailer – Get Along (Tegan and Sara):
Méliès, The Cinemagician – Vancity pays tribute to pioneering French filmmaker Georges Méliès, credited with discovering stop motion and double exposure techniques and making the first science fiction movie, “Voyage to the Moon” (1902). Méliès, the Cinemagician features music, narration, magic and several of Melies’ hundreds of short films. This special all-ages presentation is Nov 12 at 7:30 p.m. Visit the Vancity Theatre website for tickets.
Hell and Back Again – Combat photojournalist Dangfung Dennis put together this documentary not just about his month in Helmand Province embedded with a U.S. marine company, but also the coming home of one of the soldiers wounded in action. Hell and Back Again screening information.
Trailer – Hell and Back Again:
