Welcome back to MSN at the Movies – this week will see
the release of three new films: Captain
Phillips, Machete Kills and Romeo & Juliet. We’ll also take a
look at what to check out on TV and Netflix.
In theatres
Paul Greengrass
(United 93, The Bourne Ultimatum) give us the true story of Captain Richard
Phillips (played by Tom Hanks) and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the
U.S. MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to have been hijacked in
two hundred years. It’s getting good
reviews and we
decided to take a look back at Hanks’ cinematic career. It’s not your basic
retrospective, no way, instead we
take a look at Tom’s onscreen accomplishments which include: uncovering the existence
of mermaids, running across America and going to space. Hanks for the memories. With Captain
Phillips and the upcoming releases of The
Fifth Estate and Diana, we
wondered if films based on real life events were more or less deserving of
acclaim, check that out here.
If you are
looking for something different, there’s Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills, which stars Danny Trejo,
Mel Gibson, Demian Bichir, Amber Heard, Michelle Rodriguez, Sofia Vergara,
Antonio Banderas, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexa Vega, Lady Gaga and Charlie Sheen (who is credited as Carlos Estevez, BTW). We’ve
got an interview
with Danny Trejo, where he confesses that he’s actually a mama’s boy.
Did you guys know that the character of Machete actually made his debut in
Rodriguez’s Spy Kids franchise? We
decided to take a look at some other minor
characters who got their own films (like Pete and Debbie from Knocked Up, and Aldous Snow from Forgetting Sarah Marshall).
Last week
we gave you a look at Romeo & Juliet on
location, the film hits screens this week and stars Hailee Steinfeld,
Douglas Booth, Ed Westwick, Damian Lewis and Paul Giamati. Before you check
this out with your date, you must know that Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) has made some changes to
Shakespeare’s text, but assures
everyone that “All the stuff you remember is all in, I don’t think we’ve
cut any line that is ever one of the quoted ones… About 70% of it is
Shakespeare anyway, because quite often we’ve shorted the scene but that doesn’t
mean we’ve altered the lines.” OK sure R&J 2013, you may be from the guy
responsible for Downton Abbey and
have Chuck Bass and former congressman Nicholas Brody in your movie, but my
generation had this one:
Yeah, Brody –
that’s crazy face Carrie Mathison:
Oh and I see
your Paul Giamatti and raise you PAUL RUDD:
So yeah.
There’s also The Right Kind of Wrong which premiered
at TIFF last month. The film fights against the usual romcom expectations and stars
a great bunch of TV favourites including SCTV’s
Catherine O’Hara, True Blood’s Ryan
Kwanten, The Vampire Diaries’ Sara
Canning, Mad TV’s Will Sasso and Chuck’s Captain Awesome himself, Ryan
McPartlin. You can check out our interview with O’Hara and Kwanten here.
At home
The week’s
biggest home release has got to be The
Hangover Part III which sends the Wolf Pack out on one last adventure. Joss
Whedon’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much
Ado About Nothing feauring Whedonites Tom Lenk (Buffy), Alexis Denisof (Buffy/Angel), Amy Acker (Angel), Nathan Fillion (Firefly), Fran Kranz (Dollhouse) and Clark Gregg (Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D.) is also out. Or
if you’re looking for some horror to prep for Halloween, there’s The Purge featuring Ethan Hawke and Lena
Headey. For something completely different, check out Room 237, Rodney Ascher’s documentary
about the perceived meanings in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.
On TV
The Movie
Network’s got a nice selection tonight with Wreck-It
Ralph (7:16 p.m. on TMN), Argo (9
p.m. on M Excess) and The Campaign (9:55
p.m. on M Fun). Tomorrow night, they’ve got Escape
from Planet Earth (7:15 on TMN) and The
Call (9 p.m. on TMN) while the spooky Mama
screens Sunday evening at 7:20 p.m. on M Excess.
Outside of the
premium film channels, there’s 17 Again (tonight
at 9 p.m. on W), Hot Tub Time Machine (tonight
at 10 p.m. on MuchMusic), Our
Idiot Brother (Saturday at 9 p.m. on W) and Old School (Saturday at 9 p.m. on Peachtree). Some of the recent
arrivals on Netflix include Marc Maron:
Thinky Pain (2013) and classics Monster’s
Ball (2001) and No Country for Old
Men (2007).
We’re giving
away copies of The Heat – head on
over here to
get the details. Good luck!
Off topic but
GIFs are universal and we love them so much – here’s Thanksgifing!
Which film(s) will you be checking out in theatres this weekend? What will
you be renting/streaming? Let us know in the comments.