Here to take a look at the films coming out in wide and limited release this coming weekend. I’ll give you my thoughts to help you decide what’s worth checking out.
- Out of the Furnace – So it’s the start of a completely stacked month of December, and we get this more popcorn type thriller. I’m okay with that because it looks pretty interesting. The cast puts this a cut above what could just look a little generic. Christian Bale and Casey Affleck look right at home in this blue color story and you add in Harrelson, Whitaker, Shepard, and Dafoe to up the caliber on screen. I could possibly see this going the route of Killing Them Softly, with all the right ingredients failing to come together, but I am still very interested to see if it can entertain as much as the trailer leads on.
- Inside Llewyn Davis – I have to admit, the trailer doesn’t grab me right off the bat, but it’s the freaking Coen Brothers. I am also totally down for the folk music, especially with the actors performing themselves. I love seeing Oscar Isaac in this lead role (because I like him as an actor and also that beard) and the supporting players are interesting. Of course you have the usual suspect in John Goodman, and the critical darling Carey Mulligan, but the Coens have cast some smaller names. Justin Timberlake isn’t exactly small but he’s not synonymous with prestige films either, and Garrett Hedlund and Adam Driver are pretty under the radar. I am really hoping this isn’t too similar to A Serious Man, which is my least favorite Coen Brothers film, but my expectations are pretty as neutral as they can be for a movie that won the Grand Prix.
See where it’s playing in select theaters here - The Last Days On Mars – Hey, I can always go for a throwaway horror movie. I’m not sure anything could be as space awesome as Gravity but this has a The Descent/zombie/that scene in Prometheus where not-Tom Hardy is infected and runs back into the ship feel to it. Elias Koteas is criminally underused and apparently Liev Schreiber has been busy on Showtime’s Ray Donavon, but their involvement at least interests me a bit.
Available on VOD and see where it’s playing in select theaters here
