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)

OPENING THIS WEEK: 9/20/2013

After a lull a few weeks back the schedule is back to being crowded with five new films and an early preview of the Buffalo International Film Festival - screening Company in honor of Buffalo's Curtain Up!

at the Art House

Short Term 12 - The buzz amongst the bloggophere is the SXSW hit Short Term 12 is a powerful winner. A drama centered around a women (Brie Larson), a supervisor at a home for at-risk teens. This looks like another powerful drama about young folks, following the wonderful The Spectacular Now.
screening: Dipson Amherst

Thanks for Sharing - An ensemble comedy directed by Stuart Blumberg (co-writer of The Kids Are All Right) about a group of recovering sex addicts. Staring Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim Robins, Patrick Fugit and P!nk.
screening: Dipson Eastern Hills

Salinger - Exploring the legend of JD Salinger, filmmaker Shane Salerno aims to demystify literature's most mysterious figure featuing interviews with like A-list celebrities (Phillip Seymore Hoffman, Edward Norton, John Cusack) and modern literary figures (including Tom Wolfe)
screening: Dipson Eastern Hills

at the Multiplex

Prisoners - From Canadian director Denis Villeneuve (whose last film is the breathtaking epic Incendies), Prisioners, has been garnering Oscar buzz out of Toronto. An ensemble drama staring Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, Paul Dano, Melissa Leo, Maria Bello and Paul Dano - I've told although the trailer appears to tell it all, it's just scratching the surface of the 155 minute drama. This will probably be amazing....

Screening: Dipson Market Arcade, Dipson Flix, Regal Transit, Regal Hollywood 12, Regal Quaker Crossing, Transit Drive In, Regal Elmwood, AMC Maple Ridge

Battle of the Year 3D - Starring rapper / wife beater Chris Brown - Battle of the Year 3D probably delivers what it promises: great dancing, decent music and likely sequences worth of the 3D upcharge (Dance movies - although rarely good - are perhaps the best in 3D). It will probably deliver exactly what it sets out to...

Screening: Dipson Flix, Regal Quaker Crossing, Regal Transit, AMC Maple Ridge, Regal Hollywood 12, AMC Maple Ridge

in the Cheap Seats

Monsters University (7/10)

The Heat (4/10)

White House Down (7/10)

The Conjuring (7/10)

The Way Way Back (8/10)

Continuing

Lee Daniel's The Butler (8/10)

Blue Jasmine (8/10)

Elysium (7/10)

Fruitvale Station (7/10)
Instructions Not Included (7/10)

We're The Millers (6/10)

The World's End (7/10)
The Spectacular Now (8/10)
The Family (7/10)
In A World (7/10)
Insidious: Chapter 2 (4/10)

OPENING THIS WEEK: 9/13/2013

Indeed it's a happy Friday the 13th with six new movies gracing Buffalo screens including Insidious: Chapter II (because a horror film is a requirement) - it doesn't have quite the same buzz as James Wan's previous feature The Conjuring (which arrives at discount theatres while continuing its first run release at a few screens). On the special screenings side there's much to see - including The Rep - at the Screening Room, about a Toronto reparatory house (if you're recovering from TIFF), Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity at the Buffalo Film Seminars, and Squeaky Wheel's West Side Stories, a series of local documentaries about Buffalo's West Side by youth filmmakers (1:30PM on Sunday at the Burchfield Penny). Also of note - at the art house we have three very different new features - all directed by women - - and One Direction: This is Us allegedly getting a re-release in a "extended fan cut". Oh boy.

Here's what arrives this week:

at the Art House

Austenland - a comedy from the wife of Napoleon Dynamite, Jerusha Hess has Keri Russell as a Jane Austin fan going on a retreat to an Austen-inspired ranch.

Screening: Dipson Eastern Hills

Blackfish - The chilling story of Tilikum, a killer whale that lives up to his name and the aftermath. Intimate and chilling this film has gotten an awful lot of buzz - and protest from Sea World.

Screening: Dipson Eastern Hills

In A World - actress Lake Bell writes, directs and stars as a struggling voice over artist, daughter of the voice over king in this Sundance award winning comedy.

Screening: Dipson Amherst

at the Multiplex

The Family -Bobbie De Niro stars as a Mafia boss forced to uproot his family to France in this action comedy directed by Luc Besson and co-staring Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones. This looks fun.

Screening: Regal Elmwood, Dipson Flix, Regal Walden Galleria, Regal Transit Road, AMC Maple Ridge, Regal Hollywood 12, Regal Quaker Crossing, Transit Drive In

Insidious: Chapter 2 - The cast (Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson) is back in this sequel which sees this poor family experiencing even more misfortune, poor folks.

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

The Ultimate Life - a faith-based drama staring Lee Meriweather, Peter Fonda and Bill Cobbs about a young man who heads to a mission trip to Haiti after a nasty family lawsuit.

Screening: Regal Transit Center 18

in the Cheap Seats

Red 2 (7/10)

Monsters University (7/10)

The Heat (4/10)

White House Down (7/10)

The Conjuring (7/10)

The Way Way Back (8/10)

Continuing

Lee Daniel's The Butler (8/10)

Blue Jasmine (8/10)

Despicable Me 2 (7/10)

The Conjuring (7/10)

Elysium (7/10)

Fruitvale Station (7/10)
Instructions Not Included (7/10)

The Grandmaster (7/10)

We're The Millers (6/10)

Kick-Ass 2 (4/10)

The Spectacular Now (8/10)
You're Next (7/10)

The World's End (7/10)
The Spectacular Now (8/10)

OPENING THIS WEEK: 7/26/2013

Queen City screens are graced with four new films this weekend - including Kings of Summer which has its Buffalo debut in the cheap seats (over at MovieLand 8). Rather fitting for the race debate currently happening in the country, Fruitvale Station opens wide (although not at Market Arcade?!?) - and of course the two big national releases (Wolverine and The To Do List).

@ The Multiplex

Fruitvale Station - From first time director Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan stars in the true story of Oscar Grant, who was killed in 2008 by a BART police officer who allegedy was reaching for his taser (he had the dude pinned, why did he need a taser?). Despite cell phone video that widely circulated of the incident the officer, Johannes Mehserle was given a lenient two year sentence. Fruitvale Station looks like an electric day in the life drama....

Screening: Dipson Amherst, Regal Elmwood, Regal Quaker Crossing, Regal Galleria, Regal Hollywood 12, Regal Transit Center

The To Do List - An all alt-comic cast star in a comedy about Brandy (played by Aubrey Plaza) an over achiever who make it a goal to lose her virginity to a lifeguard - this one looks hilarious. Co-staring Bill Hader, Alia Shawkat, Rachel Bilson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Andy Samberg and Clark Gregg and written & directed by Funny or Die director Maggie Carey.

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

The Wolverine - I'm not sure this needs an introduction, directed by James Mangold - Hugh Jackman returns as The Wolverine - following his origin story X-Man Origins: Wolverine from 2009. This time the action is in 3D.

Screening: Dipson Market Arcade, Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Walden Galleria, AMC Maple Ridge, Regal Transit, Regal Quaker Crossing, Regal Hollywood, Transit Drive In, Aurora Theatre

in the Cheap Seats

Kings of Summer - From another online helmer, Jordan Vogt-Robert's The Kings of Summer is a comedy about a group of kids who rebel aginst the adults and return to the wild, building their own home and starting a new life. This Sundance hit was originally titled Toy's House - and stars Nick Robinson, Nick Offerman, Gabriel Basso, Erin Moriarity, Megan Mullally and Moises Arias.

Screening: MovieLand 8

Unfinished Song (7/10)

Reparatory Screenings

The Godfather - Screening Room

Continuing

The Conjuring (7/10)

Despicable Me 2 (7/10)

Girl Most Likely (6/10)

The Heat (4/10)

Monsters University (7/10)

Red 2 (7/10)

The Way Way Back (8/10)

White House Down (7/10)

OPENING THIS WEEK: 7/17/2013 & 7/19/2013

Two new art house flicks that opened last week won't be sticking around to make room for some new digital files uploading (see we can't say unspooling anymore with the Market Arcade and Movieland 8 as our only 35MM houses in town)...including count em' four new flicks in the multiplex and two new ones (although one ought to cross over soon enough - - they've been screening it multiple times in town) art house flicks. The aforementioned Way Way Back we've seen and its delightful summer fun.

@ The Art House (Friday)

The Way Way Back - Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's delightful summer comedy/drama follows young Duncan (Liam Jones) through a memorable summer at a Massachusetts resort town as he fights for attention from his mom (Toni Collette) at her new boyfriend's (Steve Carell) beach house. The Sundance hit co-stars Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Maya Rudolph and Sam Rockwell as an operations manager at a local water park who shows Duncan the ropes.

Screening: Dipson Amherst, Dipson Eastern Hills

Girl Most Likely - From Shari Spriner Berman & Robert Pulcini, Kristin Wiig stars as a failed New York playwright who after a manic episode ends up in the care of her mom (Annette Bening) and some how at the Jersey Shore, the trailer made me laugh -

Screening: Regal Quaker Crossing, Dipson Amherst

@ The Multiplex (Wednesday)

Turbo - Looks like another recycled kids movie, Ryan Reynolds (big week for this guy) voices Turbo, a snail that, after a freak accident is now fast as lightening. I think we've seen this movie a few times (and will be seeing it again with Planes before the summer is over). 

Screening: Dipson Market Arcade, Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Transit, Regal Walden, Regal Hollywood 12, Regal Quaker Crossing, Transit Drive In, Palace Hamburg

(Thursday night)

The Conjuring - from James Wan, this one chronicling the real life Paranormal investigators, The Warrens (played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) allegedly was so scary the MPAA wouldn't grant it a PG-13 rating... Wan has my interest for sure.

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

R.I.P.D. - Oh it's a cheap shot to say R.I.P.D. looks D.O.A. - I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, it has Jeff Bridges....right...right... (also staring Ryan Reynolds, again in 3D)

Screening: Dipson Market Arcade, Dipson Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Transit, Regal Walden, Regal Hollywood 12, Regal Quaker Crossing, Transit Drive In

R.E.D. 2 - Alright, another sequel no one asked for! Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and Anthony Hopkins are back as Retired, Extremely Dangerous - - if Unfinished Song is too tame for you - here's your flick.

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

Reparatory Programing

The Godfather - a newly restored digital print is being showcased at The Screening Room this weekend.

The Cheap Seats

The East (8/10) - MovieLand 8

Continuing (our reviews)

Monsters University (7/10)

White House Down (7/10)

The Heat (4/10)

Despicable Me 2 (7/10)

An Unfinished Song (7/10)

OPENING THIS WEEKEND: 7/12/2013

This week we get six, count em' six new movies hitting the B. Lo - including an all new line up at the Amherst Theater (thanks Dipson Theaters!) - it's going to be a very busy weekend for us at Buffawood.... (we'll do our best to keep up)

@ The Art House

Dirty Wars - at Dipson Amherst

This looks like one very powerful look and timely look about the reporting of whistleblower Jeramy Scahill - inspired by his book Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield; although this does look like the kind of documentary that, if you've been closely following the news, you already know the story.

Unfinished Song - at Dipson Amherst

The art house appears to be taking a hint from Hollywood - Unfinished Song looks an awful lot like TWC's Quartet - this time around with Terrance Stamp. Gemma  co-stars in the film directed by Paul Andrew Williams (known best for his very gritty 2006 film London to Brighton). It looks like a pleasant enough alternative to Pacific Rim.

Fill the Void - at Dipson Amherst

The buzz has been solid for this elegant-looking Israeli drama about a young women that declares her independence from her ultra Orthodox Hasidic community - this award winner has garnered comparisons to Jane Austin. 

20 Ft. From Stardom at Dipson Eastern Hills

Also on VOD, 20 Ft from Stardom chronicles the life of a few behind-the-lead singers - the pain and the joys. Directed by seasoned music documentarian Morgan Neville.

@ The Multiplex  (*early screenings on Thursday night in select theaters)

Grown Ups 2 at Dipson Market Arcade, Regal Quaker Crossing, Regal Elmwood, Regal Walden Galleria, Regal Quaker Crossing, Dipson Flix, Regal Transit Center, Regal Hollywood

I genuinely enjoyed the first Grown Ups outing, Grown Up 2 looks like more of the same, but again no complaints from me. It looks like a fun enough summer comedy that should tide you over until the excellent The Way Way Back arrives in Buffalo theaters. Since everybody from the first one is back, I'm looking forward to some 90s SNL nostalgia.

Pacific Rim at Dipson Market Arcade, Regal Quaker Crossing, Regal Elmwood, Regal Walden Galleria, Regal Quaker Crossing, Dipson Flix, Regal Transit Center, Regal Hollywood

Michael Bay took a break this year, directing the (low budget for him) Pain and Gain, leaving Guillermo del Toro (who makes this one worth looking forward to) to helm what essentially looks like a transformers movie. The early reviews haven't been kind - but I'm sure the movie will offer some fun.

@ The Cheap Seats (our reviews)

The Bling Ring (7/10)

The East  (8/10)

Continuing (our reviews)

Despicable Me 2 (7/10)

The Heat (4/10)

Monsters University (7/10)

White House Down (7/10)