http://youtu.be/z2E7M0obSN4
Above is a video review of The Skeleton Twins, Pride, and Gone Girl, and a preview of what’s opening this week: The Judge, Dracula Untold, My Old Lady, and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Or scroll down to read on.
The Judge
Robert Downey Jr. and his wife have a production company, and this is its first effort. The film stars RDJ as a hotshot lawyer who has to return to his home town to defend his estranged father, Robert Duvall, from a murder charge. Fathers and sons, oil and water, you know how it is. Advance reviews have been mixed, but a cast that includes the two Bobs, Vera Farmiga, and Vincent D’Onofrio? There’ll be somebody worth watching.
Dracula Untold
The trailer for this picture makes it look like one of those overstuffed CGI-laden epics a la Clash of the Titans or The Immortals. Accordingly, I am not psyched. Luke Evans plays the famous bloodsucker as a human. Yes, this is a prequel! We get to find out how Vlad became Dracula. Apparently he needed the power of the undead to protect his family and his people. Or something. Are they turning one of the great creatures of literature into a superhero? That poster certainly smacks of a certain caped crusader, doesn’t it?
My Old Lady
I saw this at the Atlantic Film Festival, and you can read my complete review here. The film stars Kevin Kline as a penniless American who inherits a Parisienne apartment from his absent and unloved father, along with the elderly woman who comes with the place. She’s played by Maggie Smith, and her daughter is Kristin Scott Thomas. What starts as a romantic comedy swiftly becomes a turgid melodrama. Kline plays his character as stalkery, smug and irredeemable, and I never warmed up to him, nor to the movie.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
A Disney family comedy starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner, based on a children’s book series, written by Judith Viorst. The first book was published back in the early 70s, and I gather it’s much beloved.
