A Viewer's Guide to Weekend Movies: A Maze of Tombstones Is Where Hollywood Leaves You
Remember those days when not many movies out in theaters? This is not one of those days! There are so many new movies out this weekend! Seventeen, to be exact. So let's get cracking.
In Theaters
Four new wide releases this week, though Tusk is more a mid-size release. Like the large sedan of movie releases. The Kevin Smith-directed horror film is a little early for Halloween, but maybe the fall weather has gotten you in the spirit? (You could always get a Pumpkin Spice Latte instead?) The biggest release of the week is the moderately well-reviewed The Maze Runner, starring Teen Wolf twink Dylan O'Brien. Though O'Brien is a good actor – far better than his filmography would suggest – our David Sims thinks this movie just doesn't quite go far enough to escape the young-adult ghetto.
This Is Where I Leave You also finally gets released this week after feeling like it's been out for ages. A 45% rating on Rotten Tomatoes doesn't exactly inspire confidence, but the cast is pretty impressive. You can find someone to love in this set of actors, right? Finally, Liam Neeson is doing his Taken/Unknown/The Grey thing in A Walk Among the Tombstones. If you liked the others, you'll probably like this one! You know what you're getting at this point.
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In Limited Release
Bizarrely, there are 13 new limited releases out this weekend. It's not really some new fall trend – there are more small movies premiering over the next couple of weeks, sure, but nothing even close to this number. We're just gonna highlight a couple: first, the Nick Cave documentary 20,000 Days on Earth. It played at Sundance and is enjoying a very healthy 98% approval rating on RT.
Elsewhere, if you expected a thriller with Matthew Crawley from Downton Abbey to be bad, you would be wrong! Dan Stevens apparently knocks it out of the park in The Guest, and we're all pleasantly surprised. Also killing it this week: Mia Wasikowska in Tracks, co-starring opposite Adam Driver. We just covered three movies out of 13 – this is a great week for those of you who ever get independent movies at your local theater!
Streaming on Netflix
You guys like Silver Linings Playbook, right? Big critical and commercial hit? Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar-winning performance? Bradley Cooper doing his career-best work? Jacki Weaver looking concerned in a few scenes? Well, it's on Instant Watch now. So if you're hankering to watch an entire film designed to win its lead actress an Oscar that does some kind of cool things along the way, you now have that option!
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Video on Demand
The surprisingly good Godzilla remake from earlier this year is on demand now. You won't feel anything for the human characters, but boy, will you have fun.
Frida also joins the on demand lineup this week, which is kind of great. It's easy to forget how great Salma Hayek is – though did you not see Savages? She's kind of great in Savages, y'all. She gets what that movie is better than anyone else in it, and she's unafraid to turn that dial to 11 and keep going.
Anyway, back on point: Frida was Hayek's only Oscar-nominated performance, the Academy quickly deciding they preferred her best friend Penelope Cruz (nominated thrice, with a well-earned win for Vicky Cristina Barcelona) over her. But it's never a bad time to revisit Hayek's strong work in this movie.
Or you could watch Savages! I promise, it's worth it. Salma is waiting to have dinner with you and talk about how much she loved her performance. It's one of her favorite subjects.
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Movies on TV
Tonight at 9 p.m., Showtime is airing The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II. Saturday, HBO is airing The Secret Life of Walter Mitty at 7 p.m. Which, you know, those are choices. (You should watch Savages instead. Come over, we have a copy you can watch!)
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2014/09/a-viewers-guide-to-weekend-movies-a-maze-of-tombstones-is-where-hollywood-leaves-you/380506/
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