Here we are now at the beginning of the fall movie season. The big juicy movies that we’ve been waiting for are just around the corner, but we’re not quite there yet. Last week’s holiday weekend was financially very underwhelming at the box office, and this weekend will likely be slightly better, though probably not by much.
The buzziest release of the week is The Visit, the new horror film from writer/director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) that many hope will be a return to form for the filmmaker. After he burst onto the scene with his big Academy Award-nominated drama about that boy who saw dead people, Shyamalan was celebrated as the next big thing — only to see his career fade after he made a string of critical flops, culminating in The Last Airbender and After Earth, by which point the auteur had become a totally anonymous director-for-hire. The Visit certainly looks like a promising new direction for Shyamalan — a found-footage film about two children who go to visit their grandparents, only to be warned that something is wrong with Grandma and they must absolutely not leave their bedroom after 9:30 p.m.
Also opening in wide release this week is The Perfect Guy, a sexy thriller about a woman (Sanaa Lathan) who gets involved in a dangerous — and possibly deadly — love triangle involving her too-good-to-be-true new boyfriend (Michael Ealy) and her ex (Morris Chestnut), who has resurfaced in her life. The film appears to be an attempt by studio Screen Gems to recreate the success of last year’s No Good Deed, which was another thriller released in September with attractive black leads (Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson). The Perfect Guy trailer seemingly gives way too much away, but hopefully there remain a few exciting surprises.
The final wide release of the week (though only opening in 878 theatres) is 90 Minutes in Heaven, a new Christian drama from director Michael Polish, who was an indie sensation 15 years ago with Twin Falls Idaho and Northfork, made with twin brother Mark. The film, starring Hayden Christensen and Kate Bosworth, tells the real-life story of a man who is pronounced dead after a car crash, but then comes back to life an hour and a half later, claiming that he’d been to Heaven. Christian films often do very well at the box office — look no further than War Room, the reigning #1 film. I haven’t heard much about this film, and it isn’t even opening in Montreal, where Flickophile.com is based, but it seems like the kind of film that can do well if it taps successfully into the faith-based demographic.
Among the films opening in limited release this week is Wolf Totem, a 3D Chinese film about a young student who is sent to Mongolia and learns about the government threat to the wolf population. Another highlight is Sleeping with Other People, a new rom-com from writer/director Leslye Headland (Bachelorette), which premiered at Sundance earlier this year. The film stars Jason Sudeikis as a genial womanizer and Alison Brie as a serial cheater; the two become friends and help each other fix their cheatin’ ways, then naturally they fall in love. This one sounds a bit too formulaic for me, but I guess we shall see. Time Out of Mind, which premierered at TIFF last year, is the new film from Oren Moverman (The Messenger) where Richard Gere plays a homeless man who wants to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter. There’s also Coming Home, the new drama from celebrated Chinese auteur Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers). But the new film of the week that I am most excited about is Goodnight Mommy, an Austrian horror film about twin boys who grow concerned about their mother when she begins acting strangely after undergoing plastic surgery on her face.
Have a great weekend at the movies. What are you planning to see?
