Movies in Theaters Friday, February 21, 2014: 3 Days to Kill, Pompeii, and More
As we distance ourselves from the much maligned holiday that is Valentine’s Day, we also distance ourselves a bit from the romantic comedies. Although I have nothing against Endless Love, Winter’s Tale, and About Last Night (simply because I haven’t seen them), it is nice to see a little more action in the agenda.
That action comes by the way of wide releases 3 Days to Kill and Pompeii.
3 Days to Kill is an action thriller that stars Kevin Costner, Amber Heard (The Rum Diary), and Hailee Steinfeld (Ender’s Game). It’ll tell the story of a CIA agent that is looking to get medical treatment if he can just do one last job. Seriously…that is part of the logline. It’s directed by McG (This is War).
Pompeii, on the other hand, is an action disaster movie about a gladiator trying to save himself (and his love) after a deadly volcanic eruption. So yeah…these premises aren’t the best. At least Pompeii stars Kit Harington (HBO’s Game of Thrones) and Kiefer Sutherland (FOX’s 24).
In limited release, there are a couple I thought I’d mention. The Wind Rises – a movie that will make an appearance at next month’s Academy Awards – finally hits U.S. theaters (with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, and more voicing). The Wind Rises isn’t the only nominated film this week, though. The Palestinian film Omar also releases.
In Secret, which stars Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene) and Tom Felton (Harry Potter), is the third limited release I thought I’d mention. It is based on Emile Zola’s novel ‘Therese Racquin’.
The rest of the list includes Aaha Kalyanam, Barefoot, Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, Highway, and Holy Ghost People.
Enjoy whichever movie you see!
In this heart pounding action-thriller, Kevin Costner is a dangerous international spy, who is determined to give up his high stakes life to finally build a closer relationship with his estranged wife and daughter, whom he’s previously kept at arm’s length to keep out of danger. But first, he must complete one last mission – even if it means juggling the two toughest assignments yet: hunting down the world’s most ruthless terrorist and looking after his teenage daughter for the first time in ten years, while his wife is out of town.
Set in the Roman city of Pompeii in the year AD 79, Milo (Kit Harington) is a slave turned invincible gladiator who finds himself in a race against time to save his true love Cassia (Emily Browning), the beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant who has been unwillingly betrothed to the corrupt Roman Senator Corvis (Kiefer Sutherland). As Mount Vesuvius erupts, Milo must fight his way out of the arena in order to save his beloved as the once magnificent Pompeii crumbles around him.
Finance and romance can never go hand in hand. This is the story of a focused and determined Shruti and a fun-loving, carefree Shaktivel, who by chance become partners in their very own wedding planning business. Together, their friendship and business, enters the ups and down of the lavish Chennai weddings. And while trying to find themselves, Shruti and Shakti discover each other and realize that rule book cannot be followed always.
The “black sheep” son (Scott Speedman) of a wealthy family meets a free-spirited but sheltered woman (Evan Rachel Wood). To convince his family that he’s finally straightened out his life, he takes her home for his brother’s wedding, where an improbable romance blooms as she impresses everyone with her genuine, simple charms.
The uncompromising Tony and Emmy Award-winner is showcased both on and off stage via rare archival footage and intimate cinema vérité.
A girl. A city girl – young, full of life – is on the highway at night. With her fiancé. They are about to get married in four days. Suddenly, her life is swung away from the brocade and jewelery of marriage to the harsh brutality of abduction. Her life will never be the same again. The same night, the gang is in panic. The girl is a big industrialist’s daughter. His links in the corridors of power make ransom out of the question. They are doomed. But the leader of this group is adamant. For him sending her back is not an option. He will do whatever it takes to see this through. But as the days pass by, the scenery changes, the light changes, the sun sets and rises and the air changes, she feels that she has changed as well. Gradually, a strange bond begins to develop between the victim and the oppressor. It is in this captivity that she, for the first time, feels free. She does not want to go back but she also doesn’t want to reach where he is taking her.
In this psychological thriller, nineteen-year old Charlotte enlists the help of alcoholic ex-Marine Wayne to find her estranged sister who has gone missing deep in the Appalachian Mountains. Their search leads them to the Church of One Accord and an enigmatic snake-handling preacher named Brother Billy, who’s devoted congregation of outcasts knowingly risk injury or death seeking salvation in the Holy Ghost. What Wayne and Charlotte uncover during their time on the mountain – about themselves and the nature of faith – will shake them to their core, as the mystery of Charlotte’s sister and her fate unravels…
Set in the lower echelons of 1860s Paris, Therese Raquin, a sexually repressed beautiful young woman, is trapped into a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille, by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin. Therese spends her days confined behind the counter of a small shop and her evenings watching Madame play dominoes with an eclectic group. After she meets her husband’s alluring friend, Laurent, she embarks on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences.
Omar (Adam Bakri) is a Palestinian baker who routinely climbs over the separation wall to meet up with his girl Nadja (Leem Lubany). By night, he’s either a freedom fighter or a terrorist — you decide — ready to risk his life to strike at the Israeli military with his childhood friends Tarek (Eyad Hourani) and Amjad (Samer Bisharat). Arrested after the killing of an Israeli soldier and tricked into an admission of guilt by association, he agrees to work as an informant. So begins a dangerous game-is he playing his Israeli handler (Waleed F. Zuaiter) or will he really betray his cause? And who can he trust on either side?
In “The Wind Rises,” Jiro (voice of Joseph Gordon-Levitt) dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes, inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni (voice of Stanley Tucci). Nearsighted from a young age and unable to be a pilot, Jiro joins a major Japanese engineering company in 1927 and becomes one of the world’s most innovative and accomplished airplane designers, earning the respect of prominent industry greats, including Hattori (voice of Mandy Patinkin) and Kurokawa (voice of Martin Short). The film chronicles much of Jiro’s life, depicting key historical events, including the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Great Depression, the tuberculosis epidemic and Japan’s plunge into war. Jiro meets and falls in love with Nahoko (voice of Emily Blunt), and grows and cherishes his friendship with his colleague Honjo (voice of John Krasinski). Writer and director Hayao Miyazaki pays tribute to engineer Jiro Horikoshi and author Tatsuo Hori in this epic tale of love, perseverance, and the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world.
From Studio Ghibli, “The Wind Rises” is slated for limited release in North American theaters on Feb. 21, 2014, and expanded release on Feb. 28, 2014, under the Touchstone Pictures banner.
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