It’s Friday of Labor Day weekend and there’s plenty of new movies to watch without leaving your living room! Comedies, thrillers, docs, and the new Terry Gilliam movie!
Comedy from the creator of Mad Men, Matthew Weiner
Are You Here – in theaters now
Check out Liz’s review
Mad Men auteur Matthew Weiner makes his feature directorial debut with You Are Here, a mix of comedy and drama that stars Owen Wilson as Steve, a glib TV weatherman in Virginia who spends his free time picking up women or getting stoned with his deadbeat best friend Ben (Zach Galifianakis). When Ben learns that his father has died, he and Steve travel to the funeral and the reading of the will, where they discover that Ben has inherited an estate worth more than $2 million dollars while Ben’s sister Amy Poehler got some cash and thinks her brother is in no position to take care of their father’s business. Steve romances Ben’s father’s girlfriend (Laura Ramsey), while Ben tries to get his life in order. You Are Here screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.
Upbeat documentary
To Be Takei – in theaters now
Liz loved it! Check out her review
From outer space to Capitol Hill, from the silver screen to YouTube, the legendary George Takei has blazed his own trail while conquering new frontiers with a beaming trademark grin. To Be Takei is a hilarious, entertaining, and moving look at the many roles played by the eclectic 77-year-old actor and activist. His wit, humor, and grace have helped him to become an internationally beloved figure and internet phenomenon with 7-million Facebook fans and counting. The film offers unprecedented access to the daily life of George and his husband/business partner Brad Takei and chronicles George’s fascinating personal journey from Japanese American internment camps to his iconic and groundbreaking role as Sulu on “Star Trek,” and his rise as a pop culture icon. The film shows what it truly means to be Takei. Featuring interviews with the cast of the original “Star Trek,” the new “Sulu” John Cho, and more.
Indie Drama
Starred Up – in theaters now
Writer Jonathan Asser intelligently brings the brutality of British prison life to raw, unflinching life in this tense and unpredictable drama. Jack O’Connell (This Is England) plays Eric, a young offender so violent and volatile that he is ‘starred up’—prematurely moved to an adult prison. As he tries to keep his head down and navigate this new microcosm of societal codes and loyalties, Eric’s explosive nature is tested under the ceaseless gaze of guards and fellow inmates, one who turns out to be his estranged father, Neville (Ben Mendelsohn).
Supernatural Thriller
The Possession of Michael King – in theaters now
David Jung’s supernatural thriller The Possession of Michael King centers on an atheist filmmaker who is grieving his wife’s death when he decides to make a documentary disproving religion, spirituality, and the paranormal. To do so, he gets various mystics to try and harm him with curses and prayers, and eventually he discovers that his lack of belief may cost him his soul.
Adventure
Two Faces of January – in theaters September 26th
A wealthy American couple on a sightseeing tour of Athens draw a shady tour guide into a treacherous game of deception in this international thriller adapted from a novel by Patricia Highsmith. Athens, Greece: 1962. Charismatic Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) and his ravishing wife Colette (Kirsten Dunst) are soaking in the sights of the Acropolis when they cross paths with American-born tour guide Rydal (Oscar Isaac), whose instant charm and quick wit soon earn him an invitation to join the couple at dinner. A low-level con artist whose fluency in Greek helps him earn a healthy income on the side, Rydal fails to notice that his two new companions harbor some sinister secrets when he pays them a visit at their posh hotel, and stumbles upon Chester dragging an “unconscious” man down the hallway. Chester claims that he knocked the man out during a vicious attack, and after some convincing Rydal agrees to help him move the stranger out of the way. Meanwhile, his flirtations with Colette increasingly reciprocated by the sensitive beauty, Rydal’s paranoia begins to mount as he realizes that he has become inexorably linked to the mysterious couple. But the real game has only just begin, and as Rydal searches desperately for a way out, the trio embark on a chase that takes them first to Turkey, and later to Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, where the crowded back alleys serve as the stage for one final, fateful confrontation.
Life of Crime – in theaters
Two criminals (John Hawkes and Yasiin Bey) help a woman (Jennifer Aniston) take revenge on her husband after he refuses to pay a ransom fee when they kidnap her in this adaptation of the Elmore Leonard book, Switch. Dan Schechter directs from his own adapted script. The story features two of the same characters from the book that Jackie Brown was based on.
Something a little out there…
Zero Theorem – in theaters September 19th
Jeremy interviewed the screenwriter, Pat Rushin
The Zero Theorem is a sci-fi movie directed by Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys) that features a socially inept computer genius who delves into a mysterious project to discover the very purpose of existence itself. The Management at the computer genius’ organization continually interfere with his project and formulate a plan involving a love interest that may actually provide the very thing he was looking for in the first place.
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