What to watch in cinemas this week | Oct. 17-23
Union, Anora, Smile 2, Goodrich, In Liebe Eure Hilde, The Apprentice, and Back to the Future Part II.
Each week I provide a somewhat-curated list of films to see in cinemas. Meant as more of a resource than weekly essay, you can refer to this series whenever you feel like going to the movies. Also, can check out previous weeks’ selections because those films might still be in theaters.
(Note: Wow, did you see Joker 2’s box office collapse? Amazing how much this movie absolutely tanked, a pure Todd Phillips middle finger to: Warner Bros., those who took part in the production, and the audience.
And I respect that!
Who would want to get all chummy with the media conglomerate lording over films-as-content, the talent creating your vision, and a infantilizing public who all mis-interpreted the first film? Good for Phillips in taking his creative destiny in his own hands, where now he has to start from square one again.
I know that all sounds bad, but it’s good for us: Joker 2 will be pulled from cinemas weeks earlier than expected, which will clear space for the films mentioned in this In Cinemas series (please share with your friends but also your grandma over Facebook, who actually has the free time to hit those matinee showings).
As this weekly is quite new, I’ll be tinkering with things here and there, so if something strikes you as particularly good or needs fixing, please let me know.
Recommendation of the week
Union (Stephen T. Maing and Brett Story)
is a documentary about the efforts of the Amazon Labor Union to organize the Staten Island fulfillment center. You may or may not have read the headlines of this battle a couple years ago, the doc takes you inside the workers’ groups in a fly-on-the-wall style. Unfortunately, it’s only playing in select cities across the USA without plans for future/farther releases.
American-releases
Anora (Sean Baker)
would have probably been my Recommendation of the week if I had seen it earlier. (Maybe I’ll do that when it’s released wide.) It won the Palme d’Or and is currently on a very very solid awards trajectory as there are no Barbenheimer front-runners this year.
Plot bio: Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.
Smile 2 (Parker Finn)
is this year’s Horror-Halloween sequel release. Don’t ask me if it’s good or bad, and this applies to all horror films quite frankly.
Plot bio: About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.
Goodrich (Hallie Meyers-Shyer)
looks to be a Michael Keaton, Mila Kunis dramedy two-hander, for which we’ve all been breathlessly waiting. Seems like the producers and/or distributors are getting this out while everyone has Keaton on the brain, possibly as an awards putsch for him. (This film will go nowhere with a company titled Ketchup Entertainment distributing it—absolutely foul.)
Plot bio: Andy Goodrich’s life is upended when his wife enters a rehab program, leaving him on his own with their young kids. Goodrich leans on his daughter from his first marriage, Grace, as he ultimately evolves into the father Grace never had.
The director is the daughter of Nancy Meyers, so the juice might possibly be there.
German-releases
In Liebe, Eure Hilde (Andreas Dresen)
was one of the few Berlinale films in competition I failed to watch. It’s about a couple who participated in an anti-Nazi resistance group, but in particular focuses mostly on Hilde Coppi (played by Liv Lisa Fries, Babylon Berlin).
Plot bio: Berlin, 1942: it was the most beautiful summer for Hilde – madly in love with Hans and joyfully pregnant. But amid the passion there is grave danger. Hans becomes involved in the anti-Nazi resistance, with a group of young people who will later be called the “Red Orchestra”. Despite the huge risks, Hilde decides to get involved herself but is arrested by the Gestapo and gives birth to her son in prison. Now in a desperate situation, Hilde develops a quiet inspirational strength, but she only has a few months left with her son.
The Apprentice (Ali Abbasi)
is opening in Germany, and I wrote about it last week for the American release. Audiences like it more than the critics, but didn’t show up at the box office. It faces that awkward position of being neither for Trump fans nor for anti-Trumpers, which is why I think this film could perform well overseas. Most people in Europe see the guy as a clown spectacle, so a movie isn’t a far stretch. (I’ll be seeing it this week with a mostly German audience and will test the temperature in the room.)
Special mentions
Back to the Future Part II (Robert Zemeckis)
will be back in time, I mean in theaters for only a couple of days (Oct. 19 and 21) for its 35th anniversary. While it isn’t as thrilling/fun as the first part, it rehashes enough of it through doubles that you’d get the same jolt none the less. I would certainly check it out!
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