If Tom Cruise’s “Knight and Day” doesn’t conquer the box office this weekend — and it’s looking like it might not — at least there’s plenty of other movies opening to jockey for placing second to “Toy Story 3”. Let’s check them out!
“Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky”: Jan Kounen’s other Chanel biopic — which played TIFF just days before Anne Fontaine’s “Coco Avant Chanel” opened last fall — stars Anna Mouglalis and Mads Mikkelsen as the titular historical figures. Susan and Jason found it sumptuously appointed but dramatically middling.
“Cyrus“: Jay and Mark Duplass drag name actors into their strange little world, come up with something just as intimate and fascinating as “The Puffy Chair” and “Baghead”. Not quite the comedy it’s being pitched as, but awfully funny all the same.
“Grown Ups“: The last time Adam Sandler and Kevin James got together, they gave the world “Paul Blart, Mall Cop”. Before that, “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry”. So this lightweight comedy which casts them (and Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider) as high-school buddies turned middle-aged schlubs is easily the best thing they’ve ever done. Backhanded praise indeed.
“Love Ranch“: Helen Mirren is a lovely woman, and she must love her husband very, very much to have chosen to make this particular picture with him. That’s all I’m saying.
“This Movie is Broken“: Bruce McDonald and Don McKellar reunite for their first rock project since “Highway 61” — a fusion of concert movie and scripted drama that follows two people through Toronto on the day of last year’s Broken Social Scene blowout at Harbourfront. It’s a little uneven, but when it clicks, it’s exhilarating.
And that, my friends, is everything. If you’re in Toronto, don’t even think about venturing downtown this weekend; stock up on canned food and shotguns, fortify your basement and wait for the G20 to blow out of town on Monday. Me, I’ll be hiding under the bed.