— Rick Davis
It is Super Bowl weekend and it garners so much attention that even Hollywood “blinks” and does not put any major releases against it. The only one new wide release, but there are few special events to check out.
The Winchester Mystery House is located in San Jose, California and is currently a tourist attraction, but was once the residence of Sarah Winchester, widow of famed gun magnate William Winchester, and is renowned for its size, its architectural curiosities and lack of any master building plan.
It is also supposedly the most haunted house in America. Since its construction in 1884, many have claimed the mansion is haunted by the ghosts of those killed with Winchester rifles. This and the stories surrounding Sarah Winchester’s mental health following the deaths of her husband and daughter and constant around the clock construction of the house until her death in 1922, make for the perfect setting for a horror movie.
Simply titled Winchester, this horror movie separates itself from others in its genre with Academy Award-winner Helen Mirren playing the grieving widow who is convinced that she is being tormented by the souls killed by guns and that the building of an enormous mansion will keep them at bay. When skeptical psychiatrist Eric Price (Jason Clarke) visits the estate to evaluate her state of mind, he discovers that her obsession may not be so far-fetched.
Opening at the Grand 10 is Forever My Girl, a romantic drama about a country musician who discovers he has a daughter with the woman he left at the altar eight years before.
During the month of February, Landmark Cinemas Xtreme is presenting the Movie Lovers Classic Series of action movies featuring a strong female character. This Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. is Luc Besson’s The Professional, starring a young Natalie Portman as a 12-year-old girl who is reluctantly taken in by professional assassin Léon (Jean Reno) after her family is murdered. Future movies include Kill Bill Volume 1 and Kill Bill Volume 2 in subsequent weeks, Quentin Tarantino’s classics starring Uma Thurman. Finally, the last weekend of February features Scarlett Johansson in Lucy, another of Luc Besson’s best. Each movie is $5 each but if you pre-purchase all four, it costs a total of $15. Check landmarkcinemas.com for more details.
Another special presentation this weekend is the latest in the Passport to the World travel series. Atlantic Journey: A Discovery of Coasts follows the everyday life and unusual adventures of a daring crew on an epic two-month journey across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Lucia 40 catamaran. Their journey starts at La Rochelle in France and they visit La Coruña in Spain, Lisbon in Portugal, Madeira and the Canary Islands before arriving at their final destination, the Island of Saint Martin in the French Antilles. It shows Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. at both Landmark Cinemas Grand 10 and Xtreme with another showing Monday at 7 p.m. at the Grand.
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