This week, we have a couple of good, middle-of-the-road movies that might just catch your attention. Both are stories of survival, one takes place in the treacherous wilds of the Siberian gulag and the other, in the equally treacherous world of upper middle management, in the time of massive corporate downsizing.
With that, let's move on to the week's new movie releases:
by Slavomir Rawicz as well as first-person accounts as researched by Weir and executive producer Keith Clarke. This film has some star power to attract an audience, including Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess and Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, The Lovely Bones). Looking back at Weir's previous efforts, expect "The Way Back" to be another sweeping epic with filming locations in Bulgaria, Morocco and India. One big surprise I found was that this movie was made outside of the studio system, ie. not financed by one of the big Hollywood studios, making it an independent film. "The Way Back" is currently holding steady at a commendable 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
"Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) is living the American dream: great job, beautiful family, shiny Porsche in the garage. When corporate downsizing leaves him and co-workers Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) and Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones) jobless, the three men are forced to re-define their lives as men, husbands, and fathers.
Bobby soon finds himself enduring enthusiastic life coaching, a job building houses for his brother-in-law (Kevin Costner) which does not play to his executive skill set, and perhaps the realization that there is more to life than chasing the bigger, better deal. With humor, pathos, and keen observation, writer-director John Wells (the creator of "ER") introduces us to the new realities of American life."
), this film tries to answer the age-old question: Can you have sex without love getting in the way? A physical relationship without the emotional attachment. Well, we already have the answer to that and "No Strings Attached" is yet another romcom with beautiful-looking stars and not much substance. After her rousing virtuoso performance in "Black Swan," why Ms. Portman would so readily throw away her current credibility by starring in a film with Kutcher is beyond me. Anyone hoping for some R-rated stuff in this titillatingly titled film would be disappointed. Roger Ebert puts it best, stating, "It's more of a PG-13 playing dress-up." Critics are torn down the middle, as suggested by its 53% rating on RT. Here is the synopsis:"In this comedy, Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) are life-long friends who almost ruin everything by having sex one morning. In order to protect their friendship, they make a pact to keep their relationship strictly "no strings attached." "No strings" means no jealousy, no expectations, no fighting, no flowers, no baby voices. It means they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, in whatever public place they want, as long as they don't fall in love. The questions become - Can you have sex without love getting in the way? And can their friendship survive?"
, Thirst
and J.S.A. - Joint Security Area
. "The Housemaid" competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and comes to the U.S. courtesy of IFC Films. It has so far divided critics and comes in at a 47% rating on RT. Might be a great pick-up when it comes to Blu-ray. Here is the synopsis for this film:"Eun-yi is an innocent young woman who is hired as an upper class family housemaid, and is tasked to take care of the family's small daughter and her pregnant mother, Hae-ra. Byung-sik is an older housemaid who has been with this family for a long time and holds many secrets. But soon enough, the master of the house, Hoon, takes advantage of his social position by slipping into the new housemaid's bed. Hoon's visits become frequent and Byung-sik reports the affair to Hae-ra's mother Mi-hee, who plots to give Hae-ra the control over her husband. Soon Eun-yi becomes pregnant by Hoon and wants to keep the baby. This is discovered by the family and Eun-yi is forced by Mi-hee to have an abortion despite the young woman's pleas to let her keep the baby and leave the house. Her forced abortion turns Eun-yi's already fragile mental condition for the worse and she decides to take the matter into her own hands."