Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast
New Releases for 9/02/11
Apollo 18 (R)
Starring: Lloyd Owen, Warren Christie
Directed by: Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego
Conspiracy theorists should love this one (they still think Capricorn One was based on reality). The idea is that a super secret NASA mission returned to the moon’s surface and discovered a murderous secret—which you have to see the long hidden video tapes (aka this movie) to discover.
not available for critics
The Debt (R)
Starring: Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Claran Hinds, Jessica Chastain
Directed by: John Madden
In the summer of 1966, three Mossad agents captured a Nazi war criminal in East Berlin. Flash forward to 1997 when a long buried secret comes to haunt the team. Unfortunately, the secret is all too obvious to the audience and suspense suffers. Great performances, but someone should have studied Hitchcock a little bit more.
2 pieces of Helen Mirren tries for an Oscar toast
Shark Night 3-D (R)
Starring: Sinqua Walls, Alyssa Diaz, Sara Paxton
Directed by: David R. Ellis
Bikinis, bimbos, blood and sharks in 3-D. Need I say more to have you know this is designed for the teen-age boy demographic?
not available for critics
Senna (R)
Starring: Ayrton Senna, Reginaldo Leme, Alain Prost
Directed by: Asif Kapadia
The brief and fiery life of Brazilian race car driver Ayrton Senna is the focus of this exciting doc made from grainy 1980’s newsreel footage. Rising to stardom in go-kart racing, Senna graduates to formula one where he wins his first Grand Prix and starts a deadly rivalry with fellow McLaren teammate Alain Prost. Fighting with race officials over safety rules, this mercurial superstar cuts as many corners as he can get away with to win races. Filled with harrowing crashes in blood-spattering detail, this fast-paced film isn’t for the faint of heart, but offers an insider’s view of this mano-y-mano sport.
3 and 1/2 pieces of archival documentary toast
Saving Private Perez (PG-13)
Starring: Miguel Rodarte, Geraldo Teracena
Directed by: Beto Gomez
One of the most expensive movies ever made in Mexico, this comedy is shaped for Latino audiences. After the brother of a drug trafficker joins the U.S. Army to gain American citizenship goes missing in Iraq, his mother sends his former gang on a mission to find her lost son. Played broadly for laughs, the underlying message of Hispanic pride carries the film along.
3 pieces of Televisa-style toast
The Future (R)
Starring: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, David Warshofsky
Directed by: Miranda July
A young woman wrestles against self-inflicted performance anxiety after she vows to create thirty YouTube dancing videos in thirty days. Lost in his own laptop, her boyfriend mumbles platitudes in between e-mails for tech support. Realizing they need something radical in their lives, they adopt a ….cat. Paw-Paw, said cat, narrates part of the story, the boyfriend discovers he has the power to freeze time, and the girl keeps falling further and further out of love. Fans of independent film should love this.
3 pieces of it looks like they plan a sequel toast
NEW ON DVD
Prom (PG)
Starring: Aimee Teegarden, Thomas McDonell, Siu Yin Chang, De’Vaughn Nixon
Directed by: Joel Nussbaum
Do dewy-eyed girls still dream of prom dresses and teen-age rebels still style their hair and ride motorcycles? They do in this Disneyfied version of a high school rite of passage. Everyone has perfect skin, smiles while reciting jokes that aren’t funny and prances around like they were in a stage production at one of the firm’s amusement parks. It’s as lame as the “Starry Night” prom theme.
1 and 1/2 pieces of A Disney Channel TV special toast
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family (PG-13)
Starring: Isaih Mustafa, Loretta Divine, Shad “Bow Wow” Moss, Tyler Perry
Directed by: Tyler Perry
Madea’s niece Shirley, tries to gather the family together to let them know some disastrous medical news, but egos and personal priorities intrude.
Tyler Perry does not show previews to critics and I still haven’t seen it