GSCENE 45
FILM
BY MICHAEL HOOTMAN
12 YEARS A SLAVE
Dir: Steve McQueen
Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael K
Williams, Michael Fassbender
Plot: In the antebellum United
States, Solomon Northup, a free
black man from upstate New York,
is abducted and sold into slavery.
Word on net: “Powerful, almost classical drama from British director...
the seminal film about slavery that Hollywood feared to tackle.” )
“Brutally powerful and emotionally devastating.” ) “Not always easy
to sit through, but most definitely vital and profound.” ) “It took a
Brit to get the job done: a nightmare snapshot of plantation life from
the viewpoint of an American slave.” ) “Ejiofor gives a performance
for the ages.”
HOW TO MAKE MONEY
SELLING DRUGS
Dir: Matthew Cooke
Stars: Freeway Ricky Ross, Susan
Sarandon, David Simon
Plot: Ten easy steps show you how
to make money from drugs,
featuring a series of interviews
with drug dealers, prison
employees, and lobbyists arguing
for tougher drug laws.
Word on net: “Highly entertaining
and informative look at the war on
drugs, offers a tongue-in-cheek
manual of how to become a cartel
leader.” ) “Vital, cogent and
impressive.” ) “Yet another
persuasive argument for a new
approach to a still-urgent national
issue.” ) “Explores profiteering
made by major US corporations as
the Drug War continues.”
Word on net: “Stiller has proven
he can be much funnier... the
emotional dimension ultimately
makes the film feel more
substantial.” ) “Employs
hackneyed and mawkish methods
to achieve a false sense of
joyfulness.” ) “Winning blend of
surreal fantasy, droll comedy and
poignancy.”
president of South Africa.
Word on net: “With the
magnificent Elba to anchor it, the
film gradually achieves a sort of
grandeur.” ) “Largely too tasteful
and conventional to offer much
insight into the remarkable man it
wishes to celebrate.” ) “Story and
plot are flawed, but are easily
overshadowed by the lead
performances.”
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
Dir: John Wells
Stars: Meryl Streep, Dermot
Mulroney, Julia Roberts
Plot: A family crisis brings a group
of sisters back to the Oklahoma
house they grew up in, and to the
dysfunctional woman who raised
them.
THE INNOCENTS
Dir: Jack Clayton
Stars: Deborah Kerr, Michael
Redgrave, Peter Wyngarde
Plot: A young governess for two
children becomes convinced that
the house and grounds are
haunted. Reissue for the horror
classic based on Henry James' The
Turn Of The Screw.
Word on net: “It pokes and
occasionally stabs, but doesn't
twist the knife as much as it
should.” ) “There are so many
reveals, twists and turns that they
all end up feeling desperate.” )
“Vastly enjoyable theatrical
banquet, if perhaps not a profound
one.” ) “Brutal, heart-wrenchingly
impressive film.”
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Word on net: “Catches an eerie,
spine-chilling mood right at the
start and never lets up on its grim,
evil theme.” ) “Stylish, intelligent
and creepy.” ) “Cinematic story
telling at its finest, where word
and image are perfectly married.”
) “Sinister Victorian ghost movie
is a British cinema classic.”
THE SECRET LIFE
OF WALTER MITTY
MANDELA: LONG
WALK TO FREEDOM
Dir: Ben Stiller
Stars: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig,
Adam Scott
Plot: A day-dreamer escapes his
anonymous life by disappearing
into a world of fantasies filled with
heroism, romance and action.
Dir: Justin Chadwick
Stars: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris,
Terry Pheto
Plot: A chronicle of Nelson
Mandela's life journey from his
childhood in a rural village
through to his inauguration as the
first democratically elected
Dir: Joel and Ethan Coen
Stars: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan,
John Goodman
Plot: A week in the life of a young
singer as he navigates the
Greenwich Village folk scene of
1961.
Word on net: “It's the movie's
profound undercurrent of sadness
that gets to you.” ) “A marvelous,
surreptitiously soulful movie.” ) “A
melancholic, sometimes cruel,
often hilarious counterfactual
version of music history.” ) “A
conjuring act of near-magical
conviction, an ode to the artistic
spirit that's as uncompromising as
the troubled genius it chronicles.'
ALSO OUT
) Keanu Reeves stars in 47
RONIN as one of a band of samurai
set out to avenge the death and
dishonor of their master at the
hands of a ruthless shogun.
) Vince Vaughn takes the title
role in DELIVERY MAN in which
he's fathered 533 children through
anonymous donations to a fertility
clinic 20 years ago. Now he must
decide whether or not to come
forward when 142 of them file a
lawsuit to reveal his identity...
) Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy and
Miranda Otto star in I,
FRANKENSTEIN in which the
creature finds himself caught in an
all-out, centuries old war between
two immortal clans.
FILM C O M P E T I T I O N