Movies in Theaters This Friday, November 15, 2013: The Best Man Holiday, Nebraska, and More
November 15th is a light opening day for new movies. At first, you might seem puzzled because November is a spawning ground for movies vying for contention in the various awards shows. However, then you look ahead to next weekend and it’s very easy to see why everyone is afraid of that weekend. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire plans to destroy the box office from then until Christmastime. Mix in holdovers like Ender’s Game and Thor: The Dark World, and this was pretty much a no-go for all wide releases…
…except The Best Man Holiday. The sequel to the 1999 comedy (also starring Taye Diggs, Terrence Howard, and Regina Hall) is again directed by Malcolm D. Lee. It returns the gang after 15 years and by the looks of the trailer (full disclosure: I haven’t seen the first movie), it’ll be a movie about rekindling some romances.
Although The Best Man Holiday is the only wide release, there are a few limited ones you should try to seek out. Nebraska, the latest effort from Alexander Payne (The Descendants), has been received positively since it premiered on the film festival circuit earlier this year. Everything I’ve read has praised Bruce Dern’s (Coming Home) performance. The movie also stars Will Forte (NBC’s Saturday Night Live), and I’m hoping for a wider release in the coming weeks.
Charlie Countryman and Sunlight, Jr. both feature castmembers that are familiar. Countryman stars Shia LaBeouf and Evan Rachel Wood (Across the Universe). The romantic comedy/action film is directed by Fredrik Bond. Sunlight, Jr., on the other hand, stars Norman Reedus (AMC’s The Walking Dead) and Naomi Watts (J. Edgar), and is a drama directed by Laurie Collyer (Sherrybaby). Jr. is the only movie of this weekend I’ve already seen and I can praise its authenticity. However, it’s definitely not a heartwarmer.
The rest of the limited releases are 12-12-12, Cold Turkey, Dear Mr. Watterson, and Faust.
Oh, wait, how could I forget the Hunger Games parody The Starving Games? Yeah, that movie somehow exists and released yesterday.
Enjoy the calm before The Hunger Games storm!
After nearly 15 years apart, Taye Diggs (television’s Private Practice), Nia Long (Soul Food), Morris Chestnut (Kick-Ass 2), Harold Perrineau (Zero Dark Thirty), Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow), Sanaa Lathan (Contagion), Monica Calhoun (Love & Basketball), Melissa De Sousa (Miss Congeniality) and Regina Hall (Scary Movie franchise) reprise their career-launching roles in The Best Man Holiday, the long-awaited next chapter to the film that ushered in a new era of comedy. When the college friends finally reunite over the Christmas holidays, they will discover just how easy it is for long-forgotten rivalries and romances to be ignited. Malcolm D. Lee returns to write and direct this sequel to his directorial debut. Sean Daniel (The Mummy franchise) will produce alongside Lee for The Sean Daniel Company.
A behind-the-scenes look at the televised benefit concert to raise relief funds for victims of Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
A guy falls for a woman who’s claimed by a violent crime boss.
Thanksgiving get-together for the eccentric Turner clan, presided over by eminent scholar and patriarch, POPPY (Peter Bogdanovich), turns into a disastrous holiday weekend when black sheep daughter NINA (Alicia Witt) pays her first visit home in 15 years. Nina immediately clashes with stepmother, DEBORAH (Cheryl Hines), and competes with her siblings (Ashton Holmes and Sonya Walger) for Poppy’s affection – and money. Over three days, the family gradually disintegrates over who will get Poppy’s money – only to discover Poppy has his own bad news to share…
COLD TURKEY is about what happens when you set a match to a powder keg. It’s about honesty. It’s about love. It’s about trying your best. Ultimately, it’s about the kind of emotional terrorism that only families can inflict upon one another.
Dear Mr. Watterson is a documentary film about the impact of the best comic strip in the history of the universe: Calvin & Hobbes.
A version of the German legend in which a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge.
“NEBRASKA” is a father and son road trip, from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska that gets waylaid at a small town in central Nebraska, where the father grew up and has scores to settle. Told with deadpan humor and a unique visual style, it’s ultimately the story of a son trying to penetrate his impenetrable father.
A Florida couple deals with an unexpected pregnancy while holding minimum wage jobs.
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