Movies in Theaters This Friday, May 10, 2013: The Great Gatsby, Peeples, Stories We Tell, and More
A week after a truly record-breaking weekend, a classic literary adaptation by one of Hollywood’s most eccentric directors will try to take down Iron Man.
Jay Gatsby vs. Tony Stark.
The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!) will be released in 3D and 2D nationwide. The romantic drama, an adaptation of the famous novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan (An Education) and Tobey Maguire. You can check out my defense of the film here.
The only other wide release belongs to Peeples. Tina Gordon Chism directed the film that was produced by Tyler Perry. It’s about a rich family that has their family reunion interrupted with a surprise engagement announcement.
In limited release, there are nine more (according to my count).
Sarah Polley (Away from Her) releases her newest documentary, titled Stories We Tell, about the filmmaker’s life, which includes the fact that she was the product of an extramarital affair. So far, the reviews have been very positive.
Aftershock, the Eli Roth-produced (he also stars in it) horror will also be available.
The rest of crop includes And Now a Word from our Sponsor, Divorce Invitation, He’s Way More Famous Than You (review here), Java Heat, No One Lives, Sightseers, and the sports documentary Venus and Serena.
Enjoy your weekend!
“The Great Gatsby” follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.
Sparks fly when Wade Walker (Craig Robinson) crashes the preppy Peeples annual reunion in the Hamptons to ask for their precious daughter Grace’s (Kerry Washington) hand in marriage. Wade might be a fish-out-of-water among this seemingly perfect East Coast clan, but he’s not about to let himself flounder. Instead, in a wild weekend of fun, dysfunction and hilarious surprises, Wade is about to discover there’s room for all kinds of Peeples in this family, no matter their differences. Writer and first-time director Tina Gordon Chism (writer of DRUMLINE) joins forces with Tyler Perry to present a laugh-out-loud look at the family ties that freak us out . . . but bind us together with love.
In Chile, a group of travelers who are in an underground nightclub when a massive earthquake hits quickly learn that reaching the surface is just the beginning of their nightmare.
And Now a Word from our Sponsor
An advertising CEO wakes up in the hospital speaking only in ad slogans.
DIVORCE INVITATION centers on Mike Christian, a happily married man who runs into his high school sweetheart Alex, and after all these years, sparks still fly. When Mike is determined Alex is his true soul mate, he realizes he has a huge problem-he signed an iron-clad pre-nuptial agreement and his wife will not let him out of the marriage..
When once-up-and-coming indie film starlet Halley Feiffer loses her boyfriend, her agent and her career in one fell swoop she finally realizes that something in her life has got to change… she has to become WAY MORE FAMOUS! Armed with a stolen script and two pitchers of sangria, Halley enlists the help of her brother Ryan and his boyfriend to make her own movie, starring herself (of course) as herself, and any A-list celebrity she can land along the way. From seducing the Karate Kid to kidnapping Hollywood’s biggest name in comedy, Halley will stop at nothing to get her movie made even it means hurting the only people who truly care about her.
A Muslim detective teams with an American posing as a graduate student to find the man behind a series of deadly terrorist bombings in Indonesia.
A ruthless criminal gang takes a young couple hostage and goes to ground in an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. When the captive girl is killed, the tables are unexpectedly turned. The gang finds themselves outsmarted by an urbane and seasoned killer determined to ensure that no one lives.
Chris (Steve Oram THE MIGHTY BOOSH) wants to show Tina (Alice Lowe GARTH MARENGHI’S DARK PLACE) his world and he wants to do it his way – on a journey through the British Isles in his beloved Abbey Oxford Caravan. Tina’s led a sheltered life and there are things that Chris needs her to see – the Crich Tramway Museum, the Ribblehead Viaduct, the Keswick Pencil Museum and the rolling countryside that accompanies these wonders in his life.
But it doesn’t take long for the dream to fade. Litterbugs, noisy teenagers and pre-booked caravan sites, not to mention Tina’s meddling mother, soon conspire to shatter Chris’s dreams and send him, and anyone who rubs him up the wrong way, over a very jagged edge…
In this inspired, genre-twisting new film, Oscar®-nominated writer/director Sarah Polley discovers that the truth depends on who’s telling it. Polley is both filmmaker and detective as she investigates the secrets kept by a family of storytellers. She playfully interviews and interrogates a cast of characters of varying reliability, eliciting refreshingly candid, yet mostly contradictory, answers to the same questions. As each relates their version of the family mythology, present-day recollections shift into nostalgia-tinged glimpses of their mother, who departed too soon, leaving a trail of unanswered questions. Polley unravels the paradoxes to reveal the essence of family: always complicated, warmly messy and fiercely loving. Stories We Tell explores the elusive nature of truth and memory, but at its core is a deeply personal film about how our narratives shape and define us as individuals and families, all interconnecting to paint a profound, funny and poignant picture of the larger human story.
Ever since Venus and Serena Williams started playing in tennis tournaments, they’ve provoked strong reactions – from awe and admiration to suspicion and resentment. They’ve been winning championships for over a decade, pushing the limits of longevity in such a demanding sport. How long can they last? In Venus & Serena, we gain unprecedented access into their lives during the most intimidating year of their career. Over the course of 2011, Venus grappled with an energy-sapping autoimmune disease while Serena battled back from a life-threatening pulmonary embolism. Neither Venus nor Serena let their adversities hold them back. They drew their greatest strength from each other.
Follow me on Twitter @jmacle