Cake
I gather Jennifer Aniston campaigned to earn herself an Oscar nod for this role, but it didn’t happen. I suspect it’s not because she didn’t give a solid performance, but the film around her isn’t much to write home about. For my full review, please go here.
Now that the Academy Award nominees have been announced, still playing or reopening in town to capitalize on those nominations are: American Sniper, Birdman, The Imitation Game, Inherent Vice, Into The Woods, Selma, The Theory of Everything, Wild, and Big Hero 6.
And of the Oscar nominees that have yet to show up in local cinemas, I have good news:
Still Alice, starring Best Actress nominee Julianne Moore, is scheduled to open February 13. Mr Turner, up for a few awards (though nothing for its snubbed star, Timothy Spall), opens here February 20.
Mortdecai
It’s been awhile since a high-profile vehicle for such a big star has shown up with so much bad buzz. I mean, really atrocious. Johnny Depp is making some peculiar choices with his career of late. Maybe it doesn’t help that the love-her-or-hate-her Gwyneth Paltrow is also part of it. The other night on a late-night talk show, co-star Ewan McGregor said the film was in the style of the old Peter Sellers Pink Panther movies. A farce, eh? When was the last time we saw a quality one of those?
The Boy Next Door
From the looks of it, a boiler-plate Fatal Attraction-style thriller with the roles reversed: Jennifer Lopez plays the 40-something party prone to temptation and stalked by her boy-toy fling, Ryan Guzman. The trailer is more gag-filled than creepy, but whatever works, I suppose.
Strange Magic
Lucasfilm’s animated and family friendly take on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with the voices of Alan Cumming and Alfred Molina.