American Sniper shattered too many January records to mention last weekend and with six Academy Award nominations and strong word-of-mouth, it will be the number one movie at the box office for a second week. The three new movies opening this week will likely not pose much of a challenge.
In The Boy Next Door, Jennifer Lopez stars as a divorced woman who enters into a romantic relationship with a young man who lives across her street. Ryan Guzman (Step Up Revolution, Pretty Little Liars) stars as the bright young man who smoothly charms himself into her life and work. After a passionate fling, she quickly begins to regret her actions as his cruel nature is slowly revealed and her life is turned upside down. Although The Boy Next Door looks to be in the familiar territory of Fatal Attraction, Lopez and Guzman will attract a new and younger audience.
Mortdecai stars Johnny Depp as the title character, a loopy art dealer who is enlisted to travel the world in search of a stolen painting that holds the clue to a Nazi cache of gold. Depp creates another unique character with a distinctive mustache, combined with slapstick comedy, silly characters and colourful locations. Rounding out the cast is Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Ewan McGregor and Paul Bettany.
Strange Magic is an animated film produced by George Lucas which is inspired by William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. This fantasy adventure follows a goblin, an elf, a fairy and other creatures in a quest for a powerful potion. Featuring the vocal talents of Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Maya Rudolph and Even Rachel Wood, it also features hit songs from the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s.
Oscar nominees playing
If you are wanting to catch up on your Oscar-nominated movies, here is a rundown of what is playing where as of Friday, January 23: American Sniper (6 nominations) is at the Grand 10 & Xtreme; Imitation Game (8 nominations), Foxcatcher (5 nominations) & Wild (2 nominations) are all at the Paramount; Theory of Everything (5 nominations), Whiplash (5 nominations), Into the Woods (3 nominations) and Selma (2 nomination) are all at the Grand 10; and last but not least, Boyhood (6 nominations) and Unbroken (3 nominations) are showing at the Encore, West Kelowna.
