Here we go again …
“Battleship“: Peter Berg’s SMASH BOOM action extravaganza is basically a “Transformers” movie for people who wish Michael Bay would get rid of all that character development and moral complexity. They’re welcome to it.
“Bernie“: Richard Linklater reunites with Jack Black (“The School of Rock”) for a very different character study — and one that proves very frustrating, thanks to its structural conceit. I mean, I love that we can still discuss Richard Linklater’s formal conceits, but this one doesn’t work.
“Marley”: Fresh from Hot Docs, here’s Kevin Macdonald’s all-encompassing two-and-a-half-hour documentary about the life of the reggae icon. Rad compares it to a really good joint, which is the sort of thing we can get away with at NOW.
“The Samaritan“: David Weaver tries his hand at pulp fiction with this thin thriller about an ex-con (Samuel L. Jackson) pulled back into the life. One quietly wonders whether Gil Bellows’ hammer is a nod to “Oldboy”, and what else in the movie might be as well.
“Turn Me On, Dammit!”: Phil calls Jannicke Systad Jacobsen’s Norwegian coming-of-age tale “an insightful comic gem that appeals to the secret pervert in all of us.” I cannot top that, so I’m not even going to try.
“Virginia”: Roundly derided at TIFF 2010, when it premiered as “What’s Wrong with Virginia?”, Dustin Lance Black’s directorial debut has not gotten any richer with age, says Susan.
“What to Expect When You’re Expecting”: I’d heard absolutely poisonous things about Kirk Jones’ ensemble gestation comedy, which does feature a lot of people that I like very much. (Matt Besser! Elizabeth Banks! Anna Kendrick! Thomas Lennon, who’s been making fun of his involvement with it for months now!) Rad says it’s not that bad … but it ain’t good, neither.
Also, “The Corridor” opens for a limited run at the Projection Booth. Not a bad little thriller, though it doesn’t handle its transition from one genre to another as smoothly as it thinks it does.
Look at all the entertainment! Go out and enjoy something! Or maybe just see “The Avengers” again. That sounds like a good thing to do.