Film Friday (9/12): This Week's New Movies & Trailers

Metacritic
Updated

Opening this weekend

Nationwide releases . The Drop R DRAMA Trailer

James Gandolfini's final film role comes in the English-language debut from Bullhead director Michaël R. Roskam, which finds noted author Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island) adapting his own short story, "Animal Rescue." The real star, however, is Tom Hardy, who is earning raves for his performance as a bartender caught up in a local crime ring.

. Dolphin Tale 2 PG FAMILY/DRAMA Trailer

The 2011 family- and dolphin-friendly movie Dolphin Tale gets a somewhat inferior sequel with most of the cast returning.

. No Good Deed PG-13 THRILLER Trailer

This thriller starring Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson was not screened in advance for critics. The few who have seen it this morning don't like the film all that much.

Notable limited releases . Bird People NR FOREIGN/DRAMA/FANTASY

A Cannes hit, director Pascale Ferran's first feature in 7 years is a somewhat fantastical look at the isolated lives of Gary, an American engineer played by The Good Wife's Josh Charles, and Audrey (Anais Demoustier), a hotel chambermaid at an airport hotel on the outskirts of Paris.

. The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them R DRAMA

Originally screened at festivals as two separate films back-to-back—but now condensed down into a single feature—Ned Benson’s debut explores the dissolution of a marriage from the perspective of Eleanor (Jessica Chastain) and Connor (James McAvoy). The original separate (and superior) Her and Him versions will also get a limited theatrical release next month.

. The Skeleton Twins R DRAMA

SNL vets Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig successfully transition to more serious roles in this well-received Sundance entry about estranged siblings who reunite after one of them attempts suicide.

. Stray Dogs NR FOREIGN/DRAMA

Tsai Ming-liang’s latest feature, the story of an impoverished family struggling to survive in Taipei, won the the Grand Jury Prize at last year’s Venice Film Festival, where his lengthy takes and disregard for conventional narrative resulted in a few walk-outs along with all of the praise.

Additional limited releases . 108 Stitches R COMEDY

. Altina NR DOCUMENTARY

. Alumbrones NRDOCUMENTARY

. Archaeology of a Woman NR DRAMA

. At the Devil's Door NR HORROR

. Atlas Shrugged III: Who Is John Galt? PG-13 OBJECTIVIST DRAMA

. Believe PG DRAMA/SPORTS

. Faith Connections NR DOCUMENTARY

. Finding Fanny NR FOREIGN/DRAMA/COMEDY

. The Frontier NR DRAMA/FAMILY

. The Green Prince NR DOCUMENTARY

. Honeymoon R HORROR/SCI-FI/THRILLER

. I Am Eleven NR DOCUMENTARY

. Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed NR FOREIGN/DRAMA

. The Man on Her Mind NR ROM-COM

. The Pirates NR FOREIGN/ACTION/COMEDY

. Pump NR DOCUMENTARY

. The Quitter NR DRAMA

. Smiling Through the Apocalypse: Esquire in the 60s NR DOCUMENTARY

. Swearnet: The Movie NR COMEDY

. Take Me to the River PG DOCUMENTARY/MUSIC

All movies now in theaters... | Recent DVD/Blu-ray releases... | Recent streaming releases...

New trailers and updates for upcoming films

The Homesman

When The Homesman premiered at Cannes this year, it received generally strong reviews. But unlike Tommy Lee Jones’ directorial debut, 2005’s The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, it didn’t win any awards despite that praise for both Jones and lead actress Hilary Swank. The film follows a claim jumper (Jones) who joins a pioneer woman (Swank) in transporting three troubled women from Nebraska to Iowa. The three women are played by Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto and Sonja Richter, and Meryl Streep also stars. Look for The Homesman in select theaters beginning November 14th.

Keanu Reeves is John Wick

If the John Wick trailer teaches us anything, it’s that you don’t kill Keanu Reeves’ dog, and you don’t steal his car. Because he will get revenge ... on everyone, and everything. Chad Stahelski, a stunt man and Reeves’ double in The Matrix, makes his directorial debut with this tale of an ex-hitman coming out of retirement, and he has a strong supporting cast at his disposal, including Willem Dafoe, Ian McShane, Bridget Moynahan, Adrianne Palicki, Jason Isaacs, and Game of Thrones’ Alfie Allen (playing a character not far removed from Theon Greyjoy/Reek). John Wick opens on October 24, 2014.

A first look at Serena

Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle co-stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence reunite in Serena, a depression-era tale set in North Carolina, where Cooper’s George Pemberton marries Lawrence’s titular character and struggles to maintain control of his timber empire. Directed by Susanne Bier (Love Is All You Need, In a Better World), the film has languished in post-production after shooting in 2012, but we finally have the first trailer prior to the film's premiere at the London Film Festival (and its UK opening next month). There's still no word on a North American release date.

Fury gets a UK trailer

Writer-director David Ayer (Sabotage, End of Watch) leaves contemporary times for his latest, Fury, which goes back to the Second World War. Ayer’s first produced script was the World War II submarine drama U-571, but this time he’s decided to enclose his cast (Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Peña, and Jon Bernthal) on land, in a Sherman tank. This new UK trailer has plenty of action, but it also focuses on the relationship between Pitt’s Wardaddy and an inexperienced soldier played by Lerman. The film opens on October 17th.

Jennifer Lopez sleeps with The Boy Next Door

Directed by Rob Cohen (Alex Cross, The Fast and the Furious), The Boy Next Door stars Jennifer Lopez as a teacher who has a fling with her neighbor, Ryan Guzman, who is supposedly still in high school. If you can buy that, then you can probably also suspend your disbelief when he turns out to be a psycho. John Corbett plays Lopez’s husband, and Kristin Chenoweth also stars. See it in theaters beginning January 23, 2015.

Girlhood

Water Lilies and Tomboy director Céline Sciamma’s latest coming of age tale, Girlhood, was lauded by critics at Cannes this year with lead actress Karidja Touré earning heaps of praise for her performance as Marieme, a teenage girl in the suburbs of Paris who falls in with a gang and struggles to find her own identity. Could the two best reviewed movies of the year be Boyhood and Girlhood? You never know, but a step in the right direction would be a release date, and right now there’s no word on when Strand Releasing will distribute the film in the U.S.

Felony

Opening on October 17th, Felony is an Australian thriller about three detectives embroiled in one crime. Joel Edgerton commits vehicular manslaughter. Tom Wilkinson tries to cover it up, and Jai Courtney wants to expose them both. Matthew Saville directs from a script written by Edgerton, and Melissa George has a supporting role. Look for it on iTunes beginning September 16th and in select theaters on October 17th.

Short takes

Chris Evans is Playing It Cool with Michelle Monaghan, Aubrey Plaza, Anthony Mackie, Topher Grace, and Luke Wilson in this rom-com previously titled A Many Splintered Thing.

The Devil’s Hand follows five young Amish girls who are accused of being Satan’s children. See it on VOD or in theaters beginning October 10th.

Check out the first trailer for The Town That Dreaded Sundown, a remake of the 1976 horror film of the same name.

News and notes

  • Now You See Me 2 can be seen in theaters on June 10, 2016.

  • Matt Damon will reunite with his Margaret director, Kenneth Lonergan, to make Manchester-by-the-Sea, the story of a plumber forced to return to his hometown to take care of his brother’s 16-year-old son. - THR

  • Scoot McNairy has joined Sandra Bullock in David Gordon Green’s adaptation of Our Brand Is Crisis. - Variety

  • Todd Haynes will direct Reese Witherspoon in a biopic about singer/actress Peggy Lee. - THR

  • Morgan Freeman will play an “iconic civil rights lawyer” in Seth MacFarlane’s Ted 2. - Variety

  • Also on tap for Freeman: the role of Ildarian in Timur Bekmambetov’s remake of Ben-Hur. - Deadline

  • Paul Greengrass is the favorite to direct Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill in their drama about the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. - Deadline

  • Drew Barrymore has replaced Rachel Weisz and will star alongside Toni Colette, Dominic Cooper, Paddy Considine, and Jacqueline Bisset in Catherine Hardwicke’s Miss You Already. - Variety

  • Theo James will reprise his Underworld: Awakening role in the next film in the Underworld series. Kate Beckinsale will not return. - THR

  • Orlando Bloom and Michael Douglas have joined Noomi Rapace in Michael Apted's thriller Unlocked. - Variety

  • Katie Holmes will star in and make her directorial debut with an adaptation of Annie Weatherwax’s novel All We Had. - Variety

  • Justin Marks, the writer of Jon Favreau’s upcoming live-action version of The Jungle Book, will script Top Gun 2. - THR

  • Elizabeth Olsen will play Hank Williams’ wife Audrey Mae opposite Tom Hiddleston in the Hank Williams biopic I Saw the Light. - Variety

  • Latino Review reports that Warner Bros. is looking for writers to adapt the DC comic Legion of Superheroes.

  • Albert Brooks will join Will Smith and Alec Baldwin in director Peter Landesman’s adaptation of Jeanne Marie Laskas’ GQ article on NFL concussions. - Variety

  • Director Zack Snyder posted a picture of the new Batmobile.

  • 23 Jump Street has a writer (Rodney Rothman). Could Jenko and Schmidt be going to medical school? - Deadline