I have to apologize for not mentioning End of Watch in last week’s column. With the number of movies opening and everything I had to mention, I completely missed it.
The cop action-drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña was the number one movie last weekend, with both audiences and critics giving it good reviews.
Having already opened the Toronto International Film Festival, Looper is garnering universal acclaim from critics. In this futuristic action thriller, time travel is possible but outlawed. However, it is available on the black market and when they want to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years in the past and that is where a looper like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is waiting to make the hit.
Joe is getting rich being a hired gun, but the mob decides to close the loop and sends his future self (Bruce Willis) back in time for assassination.
If you have not seen a movie in the Xtreme auditorium at the new Landmark 8 in West Kelowna, this might be the one. Rottentomatoes.com calls it a thought-provoking and thrilling delivery of an original blend of futuristic sci-fi and good old-fashioned action.
Hotel Transylvania is where monsters and their families can live it up without humans to bother them. Owned and operated by Dracula, he invites some of the world’s most famous monsters—Frankenstein and his bride, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, the Wolfman and family, Bigfoot, The Blob and many others—to celebrate his daughter Mavis’ 118th birthday.
However, the party is crashed by an unexpected visitor in the form of an ordinary human named Jonathan.
Hotel Transylvania features the voices of Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Jon Lovitz, Cee Lo Green, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon and David Spade. It opens in 3D (with 2D performances) at both the Landmark Grand 10 and the Landmark 8.
If you are a fan of writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s films like There Will Be Blood, Magnolia and Boogie Nights, you will be interested The Master, opening at the Paramount Theatre.
For the uninitiated, be warned that Anderson’s films are magnificent, but challenge the viewer to not just watch his movies but become involved with them. Set in post Second World War America, The Master is the story of a Naval veteran (Joaquin Phoenix) who is struggling to adjust to post-war life. His battles with post traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism lead him to charismatic intellectual (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who has recently created a faith-based organization.
Although the faith begins to gain a fervent following, the veteran finds himself questioning both the belief system he has embraced and his mentor.
Also starring Amy Adams and Laura Dern, The Master has courted controversy because the faith-based organization in the movie shares more than a few similarities to the Church of Scientology.
And finally, I have to mention that a 30-year-old movie is still having success in theatres. Raiders of the Lost Ark is heading into its third week at the Grand 10 and is opening for a one-week run at the Landmark 8.
