Out this week is kid’s film, “Standing Ovation”, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, “Valhalla Rising” (Which I swear has been released several times this year to theaters in various numbers.), and last but not least, “Inception”. But there are seven other films out this weekend.

 

 

“The Wild Hunt” is a take on the idea that men are always capable of becoming whatever they can pretend to be. What at first seems to be a comedy about live action role players who take their game a little too seriously quickly descends into human chaos when the players refuse to allow a female player to leave the game when her boyfriend shows up to talk with her. The Shakespearean role playing game they are playing in the woods over a long weekend turns ugly fast.

 

“Kisses” is an award-winning film about two children living in Ireland who run away to Dublin together. There they face a new freedom they’ve never known, but also the very terrifying dangers of the adult world. Will they make it on their own or be forced to return to their unhappy homes? This is no kid’s movie, it’s full of rich characterization and an uplifting message about love and commitment.

 

“Tere Bin Laden” is an irreverent comedy about a Pakistani news reporter desperate to emigrate to the U.S. When he finds himself getting nowhere fast, he undertakes a plot to create phony video messages from Bin Laden. In the reading, I’m sure this plot sounds horribly tasteless. But if you find and watch the preview, you’ll feel completely different about the film when you understand it’s tone. I think it’s one to watch for, even if you wait until you can rent it. 

 

“Operation: Endgame” is a movie that I’m surprised to find has not been better advertised. It features several well-known comedians surprisingly cast as assassins and former assassins pitted against each other in a locked down building. I’m interested to see how many people will find this one by accident and what their take will be on it genre-wise. If you see this, please open up a discussion on it in our forums here.

 

“Juliet” is actually a film based on an as-yet-unpublished novel of the same name. The film follows the same plot as the book, jumping back and forth from medieval Siena to current day as a woman discovers that she may be related to someone who inspired the most famous love story of all time.

 

“A Small Act” is the stunning documentary that follows the story of a Kenyan man who had his education sponsored by a mysterious stranger. Years later, after he graduated from Harvard Law School, he finds himself desperate to enact a similar type of change for others that was done for him, specifically in the realm of education.  

 

“The Contenders” is a film about a weekend dinner party gone awry when one of the guests suddenly and unexpectedly dies in the middle of the party. This proves to be a revealing event, as several of the guests at the party are already in deep turmoil and the party then becomes like an open forum for discussion on matters from live to love to death and beyond.