YOUR GUIDE TO THIS WEEK’S NEW CINEMA RELEASES

Slim pickings this week…  

TOP PICK TO SEE

Top of the very average list of movies this week is LOVE & MERCY. In the 1960s, Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson struggles with emerging psychosis as he attempts to craft his avant-garde pop masterpiece. In the 1980s, he is a broken, confused man under the 24-hour watch of shady therapist Dr. Eugene Landy. The Hollywood Reporter’s John DeFore describes it as ‘A deeply satisfying pop biopic whose subject’s bifurcated creative life lends itself to an unconventional structure.’ I’ll post my review shortly.  

OTHERS TO SEE

The Thomas Hardy classic, FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD has arrived on screen. In Victorian England, the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak, a sheep farmer; Frank Troy, a reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood, a prosperous and mature bachelor. I haven’t read the book, but the trailers look beautiful. Total Film praises it as ‘Fresh enough to engage newcomers, respectful enough to appease scholars, this is – for genre fans – pure period-drama porn.’ So, for all you lovers of period drama, this one’s for you! I’ll see you at the cinema!  

MAYBE/MAYBE NOT

I didn’t think the first Ted movie was very good, and I doubt TED 2 will be any good either. In fact, most sequels are usually worse. In this one, Newlywed couple Ted and Tami-Lynn want to have a baby, but in order to qualify to be a parent, Ted will have to prove he’s a person in a court of law. Chicago Sun-Times’s Richard Roeper supports my expectations when he says Ted 2 feels like far too many other sequels: born of box office expectations more than a bona fide reason to return to the characters we loved the first time around. See it if you really must.

That’s it for this week. See you at the movies!

*NOTE* Movie summaries are adaptations of movie summary on IMDB. Opinions are mine unless credited.