Jack the Giant Slayer is based upon the Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant Killer fairy tales.
This re-imagining is courtesy of director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects and X-Men) starring Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies, About a Boy) as a young farmhand who accidentally opens a gateway to the world of giants. An ancient war restarts as the giants, thought only of as legend, try to reclaim the world they lost centuries ago.
The young man is forced into battling the unstoppable giants for a chance at the love of a princess and to become a legend himself.
Also starring Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane and Bill Nighy, it was co-written by Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher), who won an Academy Award for writing The Usual Suspects.
The writers of The Hangover are back, this time in the director’s chair, for 21 and Over, which looks like their previous effort but instead of a bachelor party, it is the celebration of a 21st birthday. On the eve of straight-A student Jeff Chang’s important medical school interview, his two best friends take him out for his birthday. But what was supposed to be a quick beer turns into a night of humiliation, overindulgence and debauchery.
Even more than The Hangover, it reminds me of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, and being compared to those two movies is both a blessing and a curse because it has a lot to live up to as far as party movies go.
It is hard not to snicker at the title of The Last Exorcism Part II because its predecessor should have been called The Second-Last Exorcism or even better: The Penultimate Exorcism.
Whatever the case, the first movie was made for $2 million and grossed $68 million so a sequel was inevitable.
Whereas the first movie was made as “found footage” (like The Blair Witch Project), Part II tells a more traditional horror tale, continuing the story of Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell) who is trying to start a new life but the evil force that possessed her is back with new horrific plans.
Hyde Park on Hudson tells the story of when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor host King George VI and his wife at their country estate in Hyde Park, New York.
The 1939 Royal visit was the first ever to the United States for a reigning English monarch, during which King George was hoping to bolster American support for the United Kingdom on the eve of the Second World War.
But international affairs must be juggled with the complexities of FDR’s domestic establishment as his wife, mother and mistress all conspire to make the Royal weekend an unforgettable one.
Critics have praised Bill Murray for his performance as the president under the direction of Roger Michell (Notting Hill, Morning Glory). It shows exclusively at the Paramount Theatre.
