A slew of movies come out this week, with the usual mix of good, bad and mediocre. The real question is, have you seen all the Academy Award-winning movies? If not, you’re in luck: they are seeing new life at the box office because of that shiny gold man. So, will you seize the opportunity?
This week, The Evanston Century 12 is even playing The Counterfeiters, the winner for best foreign film (in a category that had some notable omissions). It’s an Austrian film about counterfeiters in a Nazi concentration camp.
The Other Boleyn Girl
Natalie Portman? Hot. Scarlett Johansson? Hot. And really, at the end of the day, what else do you need?
The two play the Boleyn sisters, Mary and Anne, who are put up by their father to seduce King Henry VIII. First Mary wins his love and bears his illegitimate child. Then Anne convinces him to dump both Mary and his wife, Katherine of Aragorn, for her. Let drama and cat-fighting ensue.
Although fit with a stunning cast, there’s too much drama to fit into two hours. But it’s nice to look at, nonetheless. “A sexy Tudor soap opera about the beautiful, sensual and tragic second wife of Henry VIII,” the New York Observer said.
Semi-Pro
It’s Will Ferrell and Andre 3000. It’s going to be bad, really bad. Please don’t see it. Please?
Chicago 10
An animated film based on the demonstration at the 1968 Democratic Convention, which led to the arrest and trial of eight protesters. With live footage of the events cut in, it’s powerful stuff.
“Chicago 10 is a reminder of a time when the counter-culture was out on the street making noise–a history lesson so removed from our present political climate, it feels almost like science fiction,” Slant Magazine said.
City of Men
From the producer of City of God comes City of Men. The story of two friends who are torn apart by a life of gangs, drug dealing and everything else that comes with the territory. It’s all been done before but done pretty well.
“City of Men is clunky and often contrived, but there’s something haunting about fatherless boys in a blighted place fumbling to teach themselves what it means to be a man,” New York Magazine said.
Oh, and it’s Portuguese.
Penelope
Christina Ricci plays an aristocratic heiress (a princess, if you will) who was born cursed with a pig’s nose. The only way to break the spell is to find her one true love (played by James McAvoy. You could certainly do worse.)
The modern-day fairy tale is getting old. I get it. Every girl wants to be a princess, that’s why they created My Size Whatever dolls. Yet the movie itself isn’t bad, even if the “love yourself and the world will love you back” theme makes me twitch, and not in a good way.
“Charming, low-key fable with sly modern twists,” the Hollywood Reporter said.