It's back to being
a full schedule this week at the movies. There are a couple 3D
spectacles, one of which is a possible Oscar contender. Then there is
a for sure Oscar hopeful and a documentary about an inspiring person
who has accomplished more for the human race as a teenager than most
people do in their lives. Let's see what's available to us at the
theater this weekend.
Pan
Director: Joe
Wright
Writer: Jason Fuchs
Starring: Hugh
Jackman, Levi Miller, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara
This one got pushed
back from the middle of the summer. It seems a bit of a bizarre fit
for October, as a family story like something playing with the Peter
Pan mythos would appear perfect for the holiday season.
Scheduling aside, Pan is an exciting oddity, because it has
little to do with Peter Pan himself, focusing more on a young Captain
Hook (Garrett Hedlund). It's literature-adjacent, which partly
explains director Joe Wright's (Atonement, Anna Karenina)
attachment to the material, and the visual opportunities for such a
stylish filmmaker are numerous.
That said, Garrett
Hedlund has yet to really impress as a leading man. He's been solid
in supporting roles in Unbroken and Inside Llewyn Davis,
but he has yet to have a real breakout. Hugh Jackman does not often
indulge his scenery chewing side, though, so it should be fun to see
him be Blackbeard.
Freeheld
Director: Peter
Sollett
Writer: Ron
Nyswaner
Starring: Ellen
Page, Julianne Moore, Steve Carell, Michael Shannon
A dramatization of
the marriage equality movement, the based-on-a-true-story Freeheld
focuses on a couple, played by Julianne Moore and Ellen Page, who
fight for legal benefits when Moore's police officer character gets a
cancer diagnosis. The cast is full of excellence, especially Moore,
but my lack of familiarity with director Peter Sollett makes me file
this in the “intriguing but can't be off the charts exciting”
folder.
But hey, it has
Michael Shannon talking out of the side of his mouth. That's always
worth seeing.
He Named Me Malala
Director: Davis
Guggenheim
Featuring: Malala
Yousafzai, Ziauddin Yousafzai, Toor Pekai Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai is
a teenage girl from Pakistan who has survived the Taliban. She has
dedicated her life to giving the terrorist organization/wannabe
governmental body the middle finger by not only continuing her own
education, but by building schools around the world to improve
education opportunities for young girls. This documentary follows her
as she gets these schools going and speaks at the United Nations.
It's likely a “make you believe in humanity” situation.
The Walk
Director: Robert
Zemeckis
Writers: Robert
Zemeckis, Christopher Browne
Starring: Joseph
Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, James Badge Dale, Ben Schwartz
Back in the 1970s,
a kooky French man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) thought it would be a fun
idea to break into the World Trade Center and walk between the twin
towers on a tightrope. And now we get to see that in 3D, from the man
who brought us Back to the Future. It appears a little silly
and charming and a lot thrilling in the trailer sequences that have
been released so far.
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