OPENING THIS WEEK: 9/27/2013

Lots of new movies to check out this weekend - with six new films hitting Queen City screens with something for everybody - quite literally. For the dudes we get Ron Howard's Rush (sadly its got nothing to do with a certain Canadian band), Don Jon - as if one movie about sex addicts in town wasn't enough, and Metallica: Through the Never in IMAX 3D. For the kids it's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. Finally the ladies get two flicks - Baggage Claim with a hilariously bad quotable trailer ("I need your pockets, out your pockets" and "that man could have had INTERGALACTIC travel booty") and the much smarter looking (and more mainstream looking than her previous films) Nicole Holofcener's Enough Said. See you at the multiplex (and arthouse!)

at the Arthouse

Enough Said - Nicole Holofcener is one of the most preceptive directors working in Indiewood, Enough Said may be her breakout film. Featuring James Gandolfini in one of his last roles and Julia-Louis Dreyfus as empty nesters who start dating, unfortunately her new pal (played by Holofcener alum Catherine Keener) is his ex-wife. 

Screening: Dipson Amherst, Dipson Eastern Hills

at the Multiplex

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 - Filling in a missing family film niche is really more of the same, in 3D of course. 

Screening: Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria, Regal Quaker Crossing, Regal Hollywood 12

Rush - With buzz coming out of Toronto this looks like an exciting, handsomely made action film from Ron Howard and writer Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon). 

Screening: Regal Elmwood, Regal Transit, Regal Quaker Crossing, Regal Hollywood 12, Regal Walden Galleria, 

Don Jon - You've seen the internet meme - a picture of Joseph Gordon Levitt - the caption "Writes, directs and stars in a movie as a sex addict - girlfriend played by Scarlett Johansson". To be fair his dad is played by Tony Danza. Even after Thanks for Sharing (a flawed but interesting) this Sundance hit looks great, with buzz that its far more charming than it ought to be.

Screening: Dipson Amherst, Regal Elmwood 16, Regal Walden Galleria, AMC Maple Ridge, Regal Hollywood 12, Dipson Flix, Regal Quaker Crossing,

Baggage Claim - Paula Patton (Mrs. Robin Thicke) stars as a flight attendant haunted by ex-boyfriends. This could either be hilarious or terrible, or a little bit of both (my vote is for the later). Get ready for some international - no - intergalactic travel booty. Trey Songz as co-stars as her ex, and in like real life, he's leaning on his successful girlfriend ("she crazy.....cra...zy"). Ugh.

Screening: Dipson Market Arcade, Regal Transit, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker Crossing, Regal Walden Galleria, AMC Maple Ridge, Regal Hollywood 12

Metallica Through the Never: An IMAX 3D Experience - A young man is entranced into a world of violence in a kind of Wizard of Oz, metal style. Could be fun - in addition to Lars it stars Dane DeHaan. Directed by the very stylish Nimrod Antal.

Screening: Regal Transit

in the Cheap Seats

Monsters University (7/10)

The Heat (4/10)

White House Down (7/10)

The Conjuring (7/10)

The Grandmaster (7/10)

You'r 

Continuing

Lee Daniel's The Butler (8/10)

Blue Jasmine (8/10)

Elysium (7/10)

We're The Millers (6/10)

The Family (7/10)
Insidious: Chapter 2 (4/10)
Prisioners (8/10)
Thanks for Sharing (6/10)

[Review: IN THEATRES] INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED (7/10)

A charming comedy from Mexico, Instructions Not Included is a fable wrapped in a sitcom with an awful lot of heart (and a little raunchy). This PG-13 rated comedy I think appeals to all – perhaps at times it tries a little too hard but I had a smile on my face the whole time. Staring and directed by Eugenio Derbez, Instructions Not Included is the story of an Acapulco playboy Valentine (Derbez). Conditioned by his father to be brave from a young age, he’s lead the life of a player – bedding beautiful women every night of the week – sometimes two at once. Eventually this life catches up with him, he’s bored and then Julie (Jessica Lindsey) drops off little Maggie, his “daughter”.

It takes a village but Valentine has not time for that – he finds a photograph of Julie taken in LA and sets off to return Maggie to her. When Maggie edges too close to a pool Valentine jumps in to save her, luckily in front of a Hollywood producer, Frank Ryan (Daniel Raymont) and he’s quickly offered a job as a stuntman. Eight years passes and Maggie has grown into an extraordinary bi-lingual young lady, played by Loreto Peralta in a star-making role. A wonderful, tender portrait of this little family, we see the sacrifices Valentine makes for Maggie including jumping from 13 stories to save face (in a messy translation/negotiation situation). Julie ultimately comes back into the picture, now a successful lawyer in New York City, in a domestic partnership with Renee (Alessandra Rosaldo). The film touches upon multiple issues including the US-Mexico border (although this film makes it easier to cross than the US-Canada border - - it speeds past realism) and same sex parents who are accepted even if Julie isn’t from the get go the most likable.

The film progress beyond what you think it is, deeper if not emotionally manipulative like a fable. From the title sequence you know what you are getting. The direction is high energy, employing a lot of tricks I’ve seen used in Bollywood (more than Hollywood) but the film is delightfully upbeat and spirited throughout, given what we know once all the clues come together. Effective and likable, it’s no wonder this movie has been a big box office hit – cracking the top 5 on less than 400 screens, it’s expanded to Regal Elmwood (it was number 3 last weekend). Worth seeking out if you’re in the mood for an entertaining, light sitcom and aren’t afraid of subtitles.

Screening: Regal Elmwood

[Review: ON TV] BATTLEDOGS (5/10)

Alexander Yellen’s shot in Buffalo, made for the SyFy channel Battledogs is perhaps one of the better SyFy original movies – again underscoring one problem I have: why can’t Buffalo play itself? Taking place in New York City (and shot at the new, yet virtually unused Niagara Falls Airport – which fills in for JFK) the film inserts a few stock images in a landscape that is otherwise Buffalo. These include the harbor, downtown, and the Central Terminal (filling in for Wards Island).

The cast is first rate, while the plot is quite simple. Ariana Richards stars as a nature photographer who comes in contact with a killer wolf whom implants a tooth – she becomes patient zero. After freaking out at JFK (which in this world the Port Authority has transferred management to NFTA – one of the Buffalo touches that remain) she’s taken to quarantine at Wards Island (the central terminal). Craig Sheffer plays Major Brian Hoffman, a researcher looking for patient zero, while Dennis Haysbert plays Lt. General Christopher Monning who is interested in the wolves as instruments of war (hence the title Battledogs!)

Truth be told the movie is what it is, as a “Buffalo classic” it proves just how a production dollar goes here in Buffalo (even if it kind of, sort of, passes for New York City – if you squint). On a half million-dollar budget with a supporting cast that includes Bill Duke (as the president), Erie Hudson (as head of security at the NFTA run JFK), and Kate Vernon as another honest doctor – Battledogs is silly entertainment. This is why people watch the SyFy channel – it has a few decent bloody scenes and a lot of less than realistic looking CGI – but its fun to see your hometown – along with a few actors from town - on the big screen – even if the movie is pretty much exactly what it is.