They have done Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal together, so any time Steven Spielberg teams with Tom Hanks, you can expect a great movie. Their latest is Bridge of Spies and it is based upon the true story of American attorney James B. Donovan who was tasked with negotiating the release of a U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers who was shot down over Russia at the height of the Cold War. Also starring Alan Alda, Bridge of Spies is already garnering critical acclaim with 90% of critics giving it a positive review.
Another visionary director has his latest coming out this weekend. Guillermo del Toro is best known for Hellboy, Pacific Rim and the visually stunning Pan’s Labyrinth. His latest is Crimson Peak, starring Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska. Del Toro describes the film a “ghost story and gothic romance” about a young woman in the late 19th century whose heart is stolen by a seductive stranger and is swept away to a house atop a mountain of blood-red clay. She soon discovers that her charming new husband is not who he appears to be and his home harbours ghostly, mysterious entities which he is desperately and fiercely trying to hide.
A spooky movie for the kids this weekend is Goosebumps. Based upon the series of children’s horror fiction novellas by R.L. Stein and later a TV series in the 1990s, the movie features Jack Black as a fictionalized R.L. Stein whose stories of ghosts and monsters are safely locked up in his manuscripts. When one of his books is unintentionally opened, every ghost and monster contained within is released. It is directed by Rob Letterman, who also helmed Shark Tale, Monsters vs. Aliens and Gulliver’s Travels.
Two very different movies are opening at the Paramount Theatre this weekend: Woodlawn and Beeba Boys. Woodlawn is a spiritual sports drama that is based upon the true story of the 1973 Woodlawn High School Football team in Birmingham, Alabama, a town torn apart by racism and hate. When the team shows that they can rise above the racism, the result is the largest high school football game ever played in Birmingham. The cast includes Sean Astin, C. Thomas Howell and Jon Voight.
Beeba Boys is from Indo-Canadian film director Deepa Mehta—best known for her Elements Trilogy, Bollywood/Hollywood and Midnight’s Children. Beeba Boys is inspired by the true story of a loving single father, a dutiful son and proud observant Sikh. But he is also a gangster managing a team of stylish, charismatic, brutal and unforgiving young men trying to survive in the criminal underground in Vancouver.
