Movies in Theaters This Friday, November 8, 2013: Thor: The Dark World, The Book Thief, and More
It seems like it was just last week we had a huge release. Oh wait, it was. Even though Ender’s Game owned last weekend’s box office, Thor: The Dark World made international waves, racking up a bunch of money. Now it’s time for it to land in U.S. theaters.
Thor: The Dark World returns Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, and Kat Dennings while switching to HBO’s Game of Thrones’ Alan Taylor. This time Loki will be on the other side of things…or so it appears. I’m cautiously excited for this movie and if you want to know why, check out my Comic-Con panel summary from this past summer.
That does it for wide releases this week, but there are a few notable limited ones:
The Book Thief, which stars Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech) and newcomer Sophie Nelisse looks like 2013’s overcoming-adversity-during-World-War-II-drama. Brian Percival (The Old Curiosity Shop) directed the movie and it is based on Markus Zusak’s novel of the same name.
How I Live Now is the other movie based on a book. It stars Saoirse Ronan (The Host) and is directed by Kevin Macdonald (Marley). I also wanted to mention Justin Long (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) stars in not one, but two movies coming out today. He’s in Ted Koland’s Best Man Down and Kat Coiro’s A Case of You. The latter also features names like Evan Rachel Wood, Sienna Miller, Brendan Fraser, and Peter Dinklage, so that’s a positive.
The rest of the limited releases are The Armstrong Lie, Ass Backwards, Go for Sisters, Great Expectations, The Motel Life,, and Reaching for the Moon.
Enjoy your long weekend!
Thousands of years ago, a race of beings known as Dark Elves tried to send the universe into darkness by using a weapon known as the Aether. But warriors from Asgard stop them but their leader Malekith escapes to wait for another opportunity. The warriors find the Aether and since it can’t be destroyed, they try to hide it. In the present day, Jane Foster awaits the return of Thor but it’s been two years. He’s trying to bring peace to the nine realms. Jane discovers an anomaly similar to the one that brought Thor to Earth. She goes to investigate and finds a wormhole and is sucked into it. Thor wishes to return to Earth but his father, Odin refuses to let him. Thor learns from Heimdall, the one who can see into all of the realms that Jane disappeared. Thor then returns to Earth just as Jane returns. But when some policemen try to arrest her, some kind of energy repulses them. Thor then brings her to Asgard to find out what happened to Earth. When it happens again, they discovered that while Jane disappeared, she crossed paths with the Aether and it entered her. Malekith upon sensing that the time to strike is now seeks out the Aether. So he attacks Asgard and Thor’s mother is killed protecting Jane. Odin wants to keep Jane on Asgard so Malekith will come. But Thor disagrees with his plan so with his cohorts, he decides to take Jane away. And he enlists the aid of his brother, Loki. Problem is can Thor trust Loki.
The Amrmstong Lie
In 2009 Alex Gibney was hired to make a film about Lance Armstrong’s comeback to cycling. The project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted, and re-opened after Armstrong’s confession.
“The Armstrong Lie” picks up in 2013 and presents a riveting, insider’s view of the unraveling of one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of sports. As Lance Armstrong himself says: “I didn’t live a lot of lies, but I lived one big one.”
Ass Backwards is the story of two co-dependent best friends who fancy themselves as high powered stylish New York City gals – even though they share a water bed, sell their eggs for cash and think a table at Starbucks is a corner office. These loveable losers take a road trip back to their hometown to claim the beauty pageant crown that eluded them as children and discover that ignorance really is bliss.
When their obnoxious and over-served best man, Lumpy (Labine) unexpectedly dies at their destination wedding in Phoenix, bride and groom Kristin (Weixler) and Scott (Long) are forced to cancel their honeymoon and fly home to the snowy Midwest to arrange for his funeral. But when they arrive they realize that there was a lot more to their friend than met the eye.
Based on the beloved bestselling book, THE BOOK THIEF tells the inspirational story of a spirited and courageous young girl who transforms the lives of everyone around her when she is sent to live with a new family in World War II Germany.
Bernice (LisaGay Hamilton) and Fontayne (Yolonda Ross) grew up so close people said they could “go for sisters”, but time sent them down different paths. Twenty years later, those paths cross: Fontayne is a recovering addict fresh out of jail, and Bernice is her new parole officer.
When Bernice’s son Rodney goes missing on the Mexican border, his shady associates all in hiding or brutally murdered, Bernice realizes she needs someone with the connections to navigate Rodney’s world without involving the police… and turns to her old friend. The pair enlist the services of disgraced ex-LAPD detective Freddy Suárez (Edward James Olmos) and plunge into the dim underbelly of Tijuana, forced to unravel a complex web of human traffickers, smugglers, and corrupt cops before Rodney meets the same fate as his partners.
A humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.
Set in the near-future UK, Ronan plays Daisy, an American teenager sent to stay with relatives in the English countryside. Initially withdrawn and alienated, she begins to warm up to her charming surroundings, and strikes up a romance with the handsome Edmund (George MacKay). But on the fringes of their idyllic summer days are tense news reports of an escalating conflict in Europe. As the UK falls into a violent, chaotic military state, Daisy finds herself hiding and fighting to survive.
Based on the popular novel by Willy Vlautin, THE MOTEL LIFE is a searing and profound examination of brotherhood set in the timeless Sierra Nevadan frontier. Frank (Emile Hirsch) and Jerry Lee Flannigan (Stephen Dorff) work odd jobs, drink hard, and drift from motel to motel. Their only escape is through Frank’s fantastic stories and Jerry Lee’s rich illustrations. Everything changes when Jerry Lee is involved in a hit-and-run accident, which forces the brothers across the state to the home of Frank’s old flame, Annie (Dakota Fanning). While the two seem safe from the law, Jerry Lee’s insatiability and all-consuming guilt render their future increasingly uncertain. Like an outlaw country song, this directorial debut from real-life brothers Gabe & Alan Polsky finds beauty and hope in a world of casinos, gun shops, dive bars, and in the simple people who inhabit them. The film features animation by Mike Smith.
Frustrated poet Elizabeth Bishop travels to Brazil and encounters the beguiling architect Lota de Macedo Soares. Initial hostilities make way for a complicated yet long-lasting love affair that dramatically alters Bishop’s relationship to the world around her. Anchored by magnificent lead performances from Miranda Otto and Glória Pires, Reaching for the Moon is an intimate snapshot of the search for inspiration, wherever and however you find it.
