Movies in Theaters This Friday, December 5, 2014: The Pyramid, Wild, Top Five, and More
I’ve been understandably giddy about the slate of releases from October up until last weekend. There’s been a long line of anticipated releases that haven’t, for the most part, disappointed. Looking ahead, December still has a lot of offerings. Movies like The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and Unbroken are two wide releases off the top of my head I can’t wait for.
This weekend, though, shouldn’t be included in that conversation. Coming off Thanksgiving – a notoriously big moviegoing weekend – this week’s slate only has one wide release. And it’s a horror movie: The Pyramid. If you haven’t heard a lot about this movie up to this point, you aren’t alone.
That doesn’t mean the weekend is completely lost, however. Jean-Marc Vallee’s (Dallas Buyers Club) film adaptation Wild has a lot going for it. I’ve heard nothing but good things from fans of the memoir so I’m interested to see it once it gets a wider release.
Top Five also releases in limited theaters (with a scheduled expansion starting next weekend). The film is directed by and stars Chris Rock and tells the tale of a comedian that wants to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor.
There are a few other limited releases worth seeking out. For one, Dying of the Light stars Nicolas Cage as a CIA agent that goes rogue to punish a past torturer. Next, I wanted to mention Murder of a Cat (and not just because of its title). Billed as comedy-thriller, this seems almost like a parody. It stars Nikki Reed (Twilight), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), and Greg Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine). Lastly, I wanted to bring your attention to Miss Julie because it, too, has a great cast. This adaptation stars Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell.
The rest of the limited movies are: By the Gun, Come to my Voice, Comet, Eastern Boys, The Green Prince, Life Partners, Pioneer, and Voice of a King.
Enjoy your weekend!
A team of U.S. archaeologists unearths an ancient pyramid buried deep beneath the Egyptian desert. As they search the pyramid’s depths, they become hopelessly lost in its dark and endless catacombs. Searching for a way out, they become desperate to seek daylight again. They come to realize they aren’t just trapped, they are being hunted.
Nick Tortano is a smooth-talking, ambitious criminal from the streets of Boston. After years spent working for and idolizing the Italian gangsters he finally proves himself to the boss and becomes a made man. However, once inside, Nick conflicts with a moneymaker for the Mafia and begins to drive a wedge between him and Boss.
In a snowy Kurdish mountain village, in Turkey, an old woman Berfe and her young granddaughter Jiyan are troubled when the only man in the household, Temo, the son of one and the father of the other, is arrested by the local gendarme. The Commanding Officer has got the information that the villagers are hiding guns from them. It is announced that all the men in the village will be kept arrested until their family resigns and hands over the guns they are hiding. But the real trouble is there are no guns. Berfe and Jiyan will have to embark on a long journey in search of a gun which they could exchange for their beloved Temo.
Justin Long and Emmy Rossum are star-crossed lovers whose relationship blooms and unravels over the course of six years in this mysterious, dazzlingly original romance. When a chance encounter brings together the cynical Dell (Long) and the quick-witted Kimberly (Rossum), the stage is set for a tempestuous love affair that unfolds like a puzzle. As the film zigzags back and forth in time-from a meteor shower in LA, to an encounter in a Paris hotel room, to a fateful phone call-an unforgettable portrait of a relationship emerges. Sumptuously shot and boasting incredible chemistry between the leads, Comet is a one-of-a-kind cosmic love story.
Veteran CIA agent Evan Lake has been ordered to retire. But when his protégé uncovers evidence that Lake’s nemesis, the terrorist Banir, has resurfaced, Lake goes rogue, embarking on a perilous, intercontinental mission to eliminate his sworn enemy.
They come from all over Eastern Europe: Russia, Romania, Ukraine. They are Eastern boys. The oldest appear no more than 25; as for the youngest, there is no way of telling their age. They hang around the Gare du Nord train station in Paris. They might be prostitutes, but there is no way of knowing for certain. Muller, a discreet man in his late fifties has his eye on one of them – Marek. One afternoon, Muller gathers his courage and speaks to him. The young man agrees to come visit Muller the following day, at his place. However the next day, when the doorbell rings, Muller doesn’t have the faintest idea that he has fallen into a trap.
A Palestinian in Ramallah, Mosab Hassan Yousef grows up angry and ready to fight Israel. Arrested for smuggling guns at the age of 17, he’s interrogated by the Shin Bet, Israel’s security service, and sent to prison. But shocked by Hamas’s ruthless tactics in the prison and the organization’s escalating campaign of suicide bombings outside, Mosab agrees to spy for Israel. For him, there is no greater shame. For his Shin Bet handler, Gonen, there is no greater prize: “operating” the oldest son of a founding member of Hamas.
Straight Paige (Jacobs) and lesbian Sasha (Meester) are codependent best friends in their late 20s who have spent the last ten years acting more like wives than friends: they talk to each other on the toilet; they drive each other to the doctor. And as with any good marriage, they’re a perfect yin and yang. Until the night Paige meets TIM (Brody). Despite some superficial drawbacks (questionable facial hair, a penchant for quoting the movies everyone quotes), he’s the kind of guy you marry. As Paige and Tim’s relationship grows, the bond between Paige and Sasha inevitably shifts. Suddenly without a “partner,” Sasha is left to examine her own shortcomings and panic about her impending 30th birthday. Passive-aggressive conflict brews in their friendship until the girls must finally confront the question they’ve been avoiding: can their friendship survive growing up?
Over the course of a midsummer night in Fermanagh in 1890, an unsettled daughter of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy encourages her father’s valet to seduce her.
A man investigates the murder of his cat.
This conspiracy thriller is set in the early 80’s, the beginning of the Norwegian Oil Boom. Enormous oil and gas deposits are discovered in the North Sea and the authorities aim to bring the oil ashore through a pipeline from depths of 500 meters. A professional diver, Petter, obsessed with reaching the bottom of the Norwegian Sea has the discipline, strength and courage to take on the world’s most dangerous mission. But a sudden, tragic accident changes everything. Petter is sent on a perilous journey where he loses sight of who’s pulling the strings. Gradually he realizes that he is in way over his head and that his life is at stake.
Pulsing with the rhythm of his greatest stand-up, Chris Rock’s TOP FIVE takes things to the next level, reveling in the high and the low, and blending a star-studded comedic romp with an irresistible romance.
TOP FIVE digs under the surface of show business, politics, rap, and the exigencies of being black and famous today—holding it all up to the light in the way only Chris Rock can. Mingling echoes of Woody Allen and Dick Gregory with the energy of Kanye West and Jay Z, TOP FIVE is an original and radically new kind of American movie.
Bob Miller grew up in the Midwest (Chicago), but for the last last forty years he has been in Los Angeles, thrilling Kings fans with an accurate, honest, no-schtick “play-by-play” call. Miller started with the Kings in 1973 after being discovered by the great Chick Hearn. How many sports announcers can say they made it to the two fames? Miller is in the Hall of Fame for broadcasting and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has called two Stanley Cup championships for the Kings and is the most popular hockey announcer in the history of Los Angeles, if not the National Hockey League. Filmmaker Charlie Minn interviews the people closest to Miller, recounts his most memorable calls and allows Miller to do what he does best, tell a story. The ending of the film will show you a part of Miller perhaps nobody knows.
In Wild, director Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club), Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line) and Academy Award nominated screenwriter Nick Hornby (An Education) bring bestselling author Cheryl Strayed’s extraordinary adventure to the screen. After years of reckless behavior, a heroin addiction and the destruction of her marriage, Strayed makes a rash decision. Haunted by memories of her mother Bobbi (Academy Award nominee Laura Dern) and with absolutely no experience, she sets out to hike more than a thousand miles on the Pacific Crest Trail all on her own. WILD powerfully reveals her terrors and pleasures –as she forges ahead on a journey that maddens, strengthens, and ultimately heals her.
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