Mr Turner
A look at the late life of the legendary British landscape painter JMW Turner, played here by Timothy Spall. The director is Mike Leigh, known for his humanist, kitchen-sink movies such as Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake, and Another Year. His last period drama about great British artists of the Victorian era was Topsy Turvy, which told of Gilbert and Sullivan’s efforts to create the Mikado, and I enjoyed it more than Mr Turner. I think Spall is terrific as Turner, and I liked the conceit of how Leigh makes the imagery resemble Turner’s paintings, but I just didn’t love the film. Go here for my more detailed review from the Atlantic Film Festival.
Jupiter Ascending
A space opera from the Wachowski siblings, still justly celebrated for their second picture, The Matrix, is a grand and fitfully entertaining fantasy, but I was disappointed that it wasn’t more fun, and that its heroine isn’t much more than a damsel in distress. You can check out my full review here.
The Seventh Son
Jeff Bridges is sure making some interesting career decisions lately. His last two movies were big-budget fantasy pictures that didn’t do very well—RIPD and The Giver. Now he’s in this sword and sorcery epic, opening during the February release wasteland, generally a time when studios dump movies they don’t have a lot of confidence in. Even with Julianne Moore one of the solid cast, The Seventh Son is getting single digit ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.
Zero Motivation
Carbon Arc Cinema is back, screening unusual and excellent films at the Museum of Natural History that Cineplex isn’t bringing to the multiplex. On Friday night at 7pm they’re showing Zero Motivation, an Israeli comedy about female recruits in the IDF. Here’s the trailer:
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water
Ummm… did anyone ask for another one of these? The last theatrically released Spongebob movie came out in 2004. Someone must still love the sponge.