Movies in Theaters This Friday, September 20, 2013: Prisoners, Rush, Battle of the Year, and More
First off, time for me to eat crow. Last week, I said Insidious: Chapter 2 wouldn’t be a box office hit. Turns out I was way off and now it looks like new movies will have stiff competition. Ultimately, I think Chapter 2 will lose out to the biggest release of this weekend, but I could be wrong (again).
And that big new release is Prisoners. One thing working against the crime thriller is its rating, but with draws like Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, it’s hard to pick against Denis Villeneuve’s (Incendies) newest film. For those unaware, it’ll follow a man trying to find his two missing daughters, who appears to go to great lengths to track down the kidnapper.
Rush also is a name-dropping film with plenty of starpower behind it. The problem is it technically releases in limited theaters before expanding nationwide next Friday. Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) directs Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds) in the Formula-1 biopic (based on a true story).
Back to the wide releases, Prisoners only has to really worry about Battle of the Year – a 3D b-boying movie that stars Josh Holloway (Paranoia), Josh Peck (Drillbit Taylor), and the always-lovable Chris Brown. My guess is it will be a nonfactor.
There are plenty of limited releases worth mentioning. Enough Said, which technically released on the 18th, is the late James Gandolfini’s (HBO’s The Sopranos) final film after his recent passing. It also stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus (NBC’s Seinfeld).
Thanks For Sharing, the unusual story about a 12-step program for sex addicts includes a great cast (Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Josh Gad).
A Single Shot – starring Sam Rockwell (Seven Psychopaths) and C.O.G. – an adaptation of David Sedaris’ novel – also have name recognition behind them.
The rest of the limited releases are After Tiller, The Colony, Generation Iron, Haute Cuisine, IP Man: The Final Fight, Newlyweeds (released on the 18th as well), My Lucky Star, Plus One, The Short Game, and Zaytoun.
Note: two movies – Jerusalem and The Wizard of Oz IMAX 3D will also be available.
Battle of the Year is the Olympics of break dancing, a tournament held every year that attracts all the best teams from around the world, but the Americans haven’t won in fifteen years. Los Angeles Hip Hop mogul and former B-Boy Dante (Alonso) wants to put the country that started the Sport back on top. He enlists his hard-luck friend Blake (Holloway), who was a championship basketball coach, to coach his team. Armed with the theory that the right coach can make any team champions, they assemble a Dream Team of all the best b-boys across the country. With only three months until Battle of the Year, Blake has to use every tactic he knows to get twelve talented individuals to come together as a team if they’re going to bring the Trophy back to America where it started. Inspired by the actual World championship held yearly in France.
When Keller Dover’s daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?
The tragic death of a beautiful young girl starts a tense and atmospheric game of cat and mouse between hunter John Moon and the hardened backwater criminals out for his blood.
AFTER TILLER intimately explores the highly controversial subject of third-trimester abortions in the wake of the 2009 assassination of practitioner Dr. George Tiller. The procedure is now performed by only four doctors in the United States, all former colleagues of Dr. Tiller, who risk their lives every day in the name of their unwavering commitment toward their patients. Directors Martha Shane and Lana Wilson have created a moving and unique look at one of the most incendiary topics of our time, and they’ve done so in an informative, thought-provoking, and compassionate way.
In the first ever film adaptation of David Sedaris’ work, a cocky young man travels to Oregon to work at an apple farm. Out of his element, his lifestyle and notions are picked apart by everyone who crosses his path.
Forced underground by the next ice age, a struggling outpost of survivors fight to preserve humanity against a threat even more savage than nature.
A divorced and single parent, Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) spends her days enjoying work as a masseuse but dreading her daughter’s impending departure for college. She meets Albert (James Gandolfini) – a sweet, funny and like-minded man also facing an empty nest. As their romance quickly blossoms, Eva befriends Marianne (Catherine Keener), her new massage client. Marianne is a beautiful poet who seems “almost perfect” except for one prominent quality: she rags on her ex-husband way too much. Suddenly, Eva finds herself doubting her own relationship with Albert as she learns the truth about Marianne’s Ex. ENOUGH SAID is a sharp, insightful comedy that humorously explores the mess that often comes with getting involved again.
GENERATION IRON – examines the professional sport of bodybuilding today and gives the audience front row access to the lives of the stars of todays international bodybuilding arena – Phil Heath, Branch Warren, Kai Greene, Dennis Wolf, Victor Martinez, Hidetada Yamagishi as well an ambitions newcomer Ben Pakulski and a European sensation Roelly Winklaar on their journey to the Olympia.
Each of the athletes has a story to tell of their life, journey, aspiration and motivation. They have been through up and downs, overcoming the toughest judges in the world as they’ve entered the stages around the world and flexed their muscles for eager fans. To their fans, they are more than superstars – they are Olympian Gods.
Outside of the gym and the brutal training, the cameras chronicle the iron men through their most intimate moments in life as they prepare for the mental challenges that lay ahead. As Arnold once said – “Bodybuilding is as much physical as it is mental.” All of the athletes are unique in their own way. They come from different paths. They engage different methods, routines, interests, endeavors and even hobbies. But one factor unites them all – their competitive drive and relentless ambition to rise to the top. But only the best man will be crowned at the Mr. Olympia stage. This is the long awaited true story of dedication, discipline, rivalry, defeat, victory, redemption and triumph.
Hortense Laborie is a celebrated chef living in the Perigord region. To her great surprise, the President of the Republic appoints her as his personal cook. She accepts reluctantly but once she has accepted her nomination, Hortense works her heart and soul to produce both a stylish and authentic cuisine. For a while, she manages to impose herself thanks to her sturdy character and despite the jealousies she arouses among the other chefs. For a while only, unfortunately for her and for… the President.
In postwar Hong Kong, legendary Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man is reluctantly called into action once more, when what begin as simple challenges from rival kung fu styles soon draw him into the dark and dangerous underworld of the Triads. Now, to defend life and honor, he has no choice but to fight one last time…
Broke, going nowhere in love, and stuck in a dead-end job, Sophie (Zhang Ziyi) finds escape in her own comic book creations. But when she wins a competition for a prize trip to Singapore, her life is suddenly turned upside in the best way possible. Here she meets the man of her dreams: David (Leehom Wang), the handsome super-spy from her own comics who is hot on the tracks of a crime boss. Before she can even pack her luggage, off they jump from the Marina Bay Sands Skydeck and the chase is on for a lip-shaped key to a billion-dollar diamond capable of destroying the world, one country at a time. From Beijing to tropical high-tech Singapore, to the outback fishing villages of Hong Kong to a stunning gondola finale in the mazes of Venetian Macao’s canals, My Lucky Star is an extravagant comedy raising the bar on love and adventure.
Lyle is a repo-man, an often perilous and/or heart breaking enterprise. His sole companion is his girlfriend Nina, an unemployed, capricious, dreamer. To dull the stress of their daily lives, they self-medicate with marijuana. But what should be a match made in stoner heaven turns into a love triangle gone awry in this dark comedy about addiction.
Three college friends hit the biggest party of the year, where a mysterious phenomenon disrupts the night, quickly descending into a chaos that challenges their friendships — and whether they can stay alive.
Two-time Academy Award® winner Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon) teams once again with two-time Academy Award®-nominated writer Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen) on Rush, a spectacular big-screen re-creation of the merciless and legendary 1970s Formula 1 rivalry between gifted English playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth of The Avengers, Thor) and his disciplined Austrian opponent, Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl of Inglourious Basterds, The Bourne Ultimatum).
Set against the sexy and glamorous golden age of racing, Rush portrays the exhilarating true story of the charismatic Hunt and the methodically brilliant Lauda, two of the greatest rivals the world of sports has ever witnessed. Taking us into their personal lives and clashes on and off the Grand Prix racetrack, Rush follows the two drivers as they push themselves to the breaking point of physical and psychological endurance, where there is no shortcut to victory and no margin for error.
Olivia Wilde (TRON: Legacy) and Alexandra Maria Lara (The Reader) co-star in the epic action-drama as, respectively, Suzy Miller and Marlene Lauda, the loves of James and Niki’s lives who watched and feared as the men rocketed toward possible death.
The best 7 year old golfers from around the world descend on the world famous Pinehurst Golf course in North Carolina to determine the next world champion and who might become golf’s next phenomenon. Most of these young prodigies have been holding clubs since before they could walk and are better by the time they are six than most people will be in their lifetime. This is the breeding ground for the PGA and the stakes are huge. The short game follows 9 young golfers vying for the title of ‘world champion’.
On the surface Adam (Mark Ruffalo), an over-achieving environmental consultant, Mike (Tim Robbins), a long-married small-business owner, and Neil (Josh Gad), a wisecracking emergency-room doctor, have little in common. But all are in different stages of dealing with addiction. Confident and successful in his career, Adam is afraid to allow love back into his life, even if that means losing a chance to start over with smart, beautiful and accomplished Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow); Mike’s efforts to control his wife, Katie (Joely Richardson), and son, Danny (Patrick Fugit), as tightly as he does his impulses are tearing the family apart; and Neil is still deeply in denial when befriended by Dede (Alecia Moore), who has just begun to take her own small steps back to health. As they navigate the rocky shores of recovery, Adam, Mike and Neil become a family that encourages, infuriates and applauds each other on the journey toward a new life.
Beirut, 1982: a young Palestinian refugee helps an Israeli fighter pilot escape from PLO captivity because he wants to visit his ancestral family home. En route through war-torn Lebanon their relationship develops into a close bond.
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