Tuesday, Jan. 20: Cake screens as part of the New York Film Critics Series
6:30 p.m. @ Fox-Bay Cinema Grill
Purchase tickets here.
Seemingly out of nowhere to snag Jennifer Aniston a Golden Globe nomination (which led to our daily hand-wringing think piece about the state of the cinema) is the drama, Cake. In it, Aniston plays a woman plagued both by chronic pain (for which she attends a support group) and visions of a woman from that group who committed suicide. Even if the reviews have not suggested the film as one of 2014’s best, Aniston’s performance has received across-the-board praise for inhabiting the soul of a wounded character and not relying on acting histrionics to convey the underlying hurt. A special one night-only screening to be followed by a pre-taped interview with Aniston about the project. Who knows when or if this will see a substantial release in the Milwaukee area, so take advantage of this special opportunity.
Friday, Jan. 23: The Boy Next Door, Mortdecai, Strange Magic & Mr. Turner all open locally
Check local listings for showtimes/pricing.
A real mixed bag this week in big releases, with two films that don’t inspire confidence, one film that nobody knew existed until very recently, and one film that is fantastic and is entirely deserving of your support. We’ll start with the shrug-worthy, and what’s more shrug-worthy a Jennifer Lopez thriller that looks like it was ripped from the headlines of a Lifetime movie that ripped from a headline that happened three to five years ago. Even if the premise feels like a high five sent through a time machine from the ‘90s, movies like this can work pretty well if they embrace their sleaze and don’t take themselves too seriously while at the same time not going all Snakes on a Plane with it. That’s a tough high wire act to pull off, so we’ll have to wait and see if this manages it.
Speaking of weird throwbacks, Mortdecai. Already having supplied itself for an endless parade of social media ribbing, this Johnny Depp-does-a-weird-voice-and-has-strange-facial-hair-again-oh-goodie picture is kind of befuddling. Who exactly are they courting with a movie like this? Add to the fact that it’s rated R, you have the makings of something I absolutely have to see. It might be a hidden gem, or it might be a full-scale disaster. Either way, it’ll be worth catching even if the trailer is almost unspeakably awful.
A new family option drops this week as well, the LucasFilm produced animated musical adventure, Strange Magic. A story of warring factions of fairies, goblins, elves and other assorted fantasy creatures all battling over a magical potion, it features a rotating soundtrack of hits from the past handful of decades in support of its story. The trailer makes it look like kids will like it, and parents will catch up on their sleep, but I’ve been wrong before and hope that is the case here!
And finally, a film well-worth seeing in Mr. Turner. Mike Leigh is a phenomenal filmmaker (Happy-Go-Lucky, Topsy-Turvy, Naked), and he’s turned in another gem here with this biopic following the life and time of British artist J.M.W. Turner, played exquisitely by Timothy Spall. I won’t say too much (review coming this Friday), but this is far superior to the majority of biopics we were force-fed last year, and I’m very pleased to see the film receive some Oscar recognition, even if it is in technical categories (and even if they gave us this year’s Adele Dazeem with “Dick Poop” at the nomination announcements).
Saturday, Jan. 24: The Days of Thrills and Laughter
7 p.m. @ The Church in the City, 2648 N. Hackett Ave. ($3)
Finally this week, a compilation film that celebrates thrillers and comedies of the silent film era. Showing entire one-reel shorts as well as extended clips from feature-length films, the movie doesn’t have much to say about these clips beyond the fact that they are worthy of celebration. If you love silent cinema, this will be like catnip to you, a look back at what made these films so entertaining and continues to do so to this day. Enjoy a brief snippet of what you have to look forward to below.
