The Little Prince (2015)
Genre: Animation/ Fantasy
Tempo Prediction: 3.5 stars
About: The timeless and classic tale is finally coming to the big screen this October. The Little Prince tells the story of a pilot crashing his plane in the desert and meeting a little boy from another planet.
Gossip: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of The Little Prince novella, disappeared in 1944 after taking off in an unarmed plane, his body was recovered in 1998.
Directed by: Mark Osborne
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Benicio Del Toro
Pan (2015)
Genre: Adventure, Family, and Fantasy
Tempo Prediction: 4.5 stars
About: The story of an orphan who is spirited away to the magical Neverland. There, he finds both fun and dangers, and ultimately discovers his destiny — to become the hero who will be forever known as Peter Pan.
Gossip: Director Joe Wright made the film for his 3 year-old son, Zubin.
Directed by: Joe Wright
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Jimmy Vee
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)
Genre: Horror
Tempo prediction: 3 stars
About: Strange events start to plague a family in their new home after they discover a video camera in the garage.
Gossip: The film was shot over the course of 45 days!
Directed by: Gregory Plotkin
Cast: Chris J. Murray, Brit Shaw, Ivy George,
Goosebumps (2015)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Family
Tempo Prediction: 4 stars
About: A teenager teams up with the daughter of young adult horror author R.L. Stine after the writer’s imaginary demons are set free on the town of Greendale, Maryland.
Gossip: Remember the popular novel series Goosebumps? This movie is an adaptation of those books!
Directed by: Rob Letterman
Cast: Odeya Rush, Halston Sage, Jack Black
===TEMPO REVIEWS===
Straight Outta Compton
The surviving, musically-successful members of Niggaz Wit Attitudes (NWA) produced a compelling story about the rise and undoing of NWA from their own points of view. Yes, this is a good cinematic history of a newer art form. The actor portrayals are very good with Jason Mitchell as Easy E, Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre, and O’Shea Jackson Jr. portraying his real-life father, Ice Cube. Yes, the story is biased in the producers’ favor.
So, should you see this movie? Maybe not. If you’ve ever listened to NWA lyrics, you have an idea that the group does not have a high or even middling view of women (though they claim their disgust is reserved only for some women). On this point, the movie can be accused of trying to sugar-coat history because viewers only get a small taste of the misogyny perpetrated by NWA in lyrics and in actions. Then again, maybe you should see this movie, before you decide anything.
Bottom line, it’s a good movie, and leaves the impression that it is a topical film. Those who observe race relations in the United States will be saddened by the reminder that many people still face the same unwarranted persecution that made headlines more than twenty years ago. Use this movie to stoke those “fight the power” feelings in your gut.
Catch it on Blu-ray: Amour Fou
Don’t let the title fool you, Amour Fou is not the French melodrama or mad-cap romcom you might have assumed it to be. This movie directed by Jessica Hausner, an Austrian and the closest it gets to melodrama is mocking it. What you’ll really be viewing when popping this disc into the player is a satirical take on selfishness and the lies we tell to make it more palatable to our conscience.
The story follows the young wife and mother Henriette (Birte Schnoeink) as she is preyed upon by the depressive Heinrich (Christian Friedel) in early 19th century Prussia. Discontent with the prospects for his life, Heinrich tries to find satisfaction in convincing young women to become his friends, and to prove their love to him by agreeing to a murder-suicide pact. Henriette, sensibly, is not on board with this kind of love affair, but her circumstances change in a way that make Heinrich’s offer more desirable.
Macabre as the plot sounds, Amour Fou is actually a pleasantly quirky film. In addition to presenting visually interesting scenes throughout, it is helped along by an entire cast that give delightfully quirky performances as a social circle the lower aristocracy of Prussia.
