There is still not much going on at the local multi-plex, so now is still the time to head out and get one of these DVDs, or perhaps just add them to your Netflix queue.
While the doldrums at the movie theaters are going to be coming to an end relatively soon. Once the Academy Awards have come and gone, Hollywood starts looking at the current movie year again, and then starts getting serious about releasing some good movies. Spring is generally the time when the movie studios want to get a jump on things and start putting out the big films.
In the meantime, however, now is a very good time to catch up on movies that you might have missed at the theaters last year. This week at least two movies that have generated critical praise and awards buzz come out. One of them is directed by Academy Award-winner Clint Eastwood and another stars the lesser-known Olsen sister. There’s also a comedy starring Ben Stiller and a feel-good movie about a women’s basketball team starring Academy Award nominee Ellen Burstyn.
Tower Heist - Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Gabourey Sidibe, Alan Alda. It turns out that the wealth business man, played by Alda, has been running a Ponzi scheme, causing the money and life-savings of a number of hard-working blue-collar people to just vanish. Stiller plays one of those working-stiffs who decides that the best way to get back at Alda is by breaking into his penthouse and stealing a car made of solid gold. They then have to manage to sneak this car down while, outside, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is going on. Critics were harsh on this one, directed by Brett Rattner. Rated PG-13.
J. Edgar - Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Judi Dench. Another biopic featuring the chameleon-like DiCarpio as one of the most enigmatic men who has ever lived and been a crucial part of American history. This one is helmed by Clint Eastwood. This movie follows the career of J. Edgar Hoover, the man who created the FBI as we know it today. Along the way he also managed to gather intelligence about some of the most powerful men in the country and then use his power to carry out personal vendettas against those he did not like or felt were a danger to the country. Also, he may have been a closeted homosexual. All of this is explored in this biopic by one of the most praised actors and movie directors in Hollywood, although this film received decidedly mixed reviews upon its release. Rated R.
Martha Marcy May Marlene - Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson, John Hawkes. A movie that stars Elizabeth Olsen, the younger sister of the famous Olsen Twins, in a daring role that has earned her praise, awards and an Oscar nomination. Olsen plays a girl who has just left a cult. The cult breaks down its followers by brainwashing and using sex as a method of control. She has escaped the cult and is now living with her sister, played by Paulson, trying to fit back into society. Was she really allowed to escape? Does she really want to return to society? Will the cult try to get her back? A psychological thriller that has been praised by critics. Rated R.
The Mighty Macs - Carla Gugino, Ellen Burstyn, Marley Shelton. The feel-good family movie that comes to DVD this week. Carla Gugino (known by many kids from the Spy Kids films) plays a girl’s basketball coach named Cathy Rush in this film set in the early 1970s. She comes to an all-girls Catholic school to coach their team, even though the team has no gym to play in and no uniforms. Even the school is having financial trouble and threatens to be sold. She decides that this tiny school and its fledgling program has what it takes to win a national championship. Rated G.
Photo courtesy of Morguefile.com
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