Opening this week – October 20th
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There are some quality movies coming out this week. There are especially a couple of Oscar shots as well. Flags of Our Fathers is from the Oscar-hungry Clint Eastwood. I swear that is all that this guy cares about is getting that freakin trophy. Then there is the Coppola film called Marie Antoinette. It could be really good, but that doesn’t make me any more excited about it. The Prestige is the one that I am most excited about. I mean, it is like Batman Begins 1 1/2. I am so stoked about this flick. I think it is going to be really good. Or at least that is what I hope for. Then you have Tim McGraw and horses and a digitally remastered halloween film. So take your pick of the first 3 and leave the last 2 alone. That is my advice for the weekend movie schedule.
Flags of our Fathers – It
is the most memorable photograph of World War II, among the greatest
pictures ever taken. The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for photography
and one of the most-reproduced images in the history of photography,
the picture has inspired postage stamps, posters, the covers of
countless magazines and newspapers, and even the Marine Corps War
Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.
"Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima," a picture taken by Associated Press
photographer Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945 depicts five Marines
and one Navy Corpsman raising the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi. The
image served as a counterpoint for one of the most vicious battles of
the war: the fight to take Iwo Jima, a desolate island of black sand
barely eight square miles that would prove a tipping point in the
Pacific campaign. Lasting more than a month, the fight was a bloody,
drawn-out conflict that might have turned the American public against
the war entirely, had it not been for the photo, which was taken and
published five days into the battle.
The photograph made heroes of the men in the picture as the three
surviving flag-raisers were returned to the U.S. and made into props in
the government’s Seventh War Bond Tour. Uncomfortable with their new
celebrity, the flag-raisers considered the real heroes to be the men
who died on Iwo Jima; still, the American public held them up as the
best America had to offer, the supermen who conquered the Japanese…
…and then, just as quickly as it had arrived, the glory faded. For
two of the surviving flag-raisers, life became a series of compromises
and disappointments; for the third, happiness came only by shutting off
his war experiences and rarely speaking of them ever again.
"Flags of Our Fathers" is a human drama of friendship and love,
sacrifice and manipulation, set against the violent conflict of the
battle of Iwo Jima. Two-time Academy Award®-winning director Clint
Eastwood focuses equally on the war and home, crosscutting between the
viciousness of the battle and the manufactured propaganda campaign and
careful manipulation of the image that followed – issues that remain
prevalent today. As "Flags of Our Fathers" shows how the photograph
became the very beginning of celebrity worship, the film questions our
need to create and celebrate heroes, sometimes at a cost.
DreamWorks Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures present a Malpaso/Amblin
Entertainment production, "Flags of Our Fathers." Directed by Clint
Eastwood, the screenplay is by William Broyles, Jr. and Paul Haggis,
based on the book by James Bradley with Ron Powers. Clint Eastwood,
Steven Spielberg, and Robert Lorenz produce the film.
The Prestige – From
acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan ("Memento," "Batman Begins"),
comes a mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads
them on a life-long battle for supremacy full of obsession, deceit and
jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.
From the time that they first met as young magicians on the rise,
Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) were
competitors. However, their friendly competition evolves into a bitter
rivalry making them fierce enemies-for-life and consequently
jeopardizing the lives of everyone around them. Full of twists and
turns, "The Prestige" is set against the backdrop of
turn-of-the-century London, the exceptional cast includes two-time
Oscar® winner Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson and David Bowie.
Marie Antoinette – Oscar®-winning
Sofia Coppola brings to the screen an imaginative interpretation of the
life of France’s legendary teenage queen Marie Antoinette. When
betrothed to King Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the naïve Marie
Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) enters the opulent French court which is
steeped in conspiracy and scandal. Without guidance, adrift in a
dangerous world, the young girl rebels against the isolated atmosphere
at Versailles and becomes France’s most misunderstood monarch.
Flicka – In
"Flicka," a contemporary motion picture adaptation of Mary O’Hara’s
beloved novel "My Friend Flicka," 16-year-old Katy McLaughlin (Alison
Lohman) dreams of fulfilling her family legacy by working on her
father’s ranch in modern-day Wyoming. But Katy’s father (Tim McGraw)
wants more for her, insisting that Katy go to college. Katy finds a
wild mustang, which she names Flicka, and sets out to make her a riding
horse. But Flicka and Katy are more alike than she could have imagined.
Like Katy, Flicka has a disdain for authority and is not about to give
up her freedom without a fight.
The principal character in the book and in its two motion picture
incarnations was an adolescent boy. But this new version tells the
story through the eyes of headstrong Katy McLaughlin. Katy is enrolled
in a private school on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming, but her heart
is with her sprawling family ranch in the state’s remote mountain
region. Katy returns home to the ranch, and soon becomes enamored of a
wild mustang filly she finds in the mountain woods. She names the
long-legged, ebony horse Flicka, or "beautiful young girl," in Swedish.
But Katy’s rancher father, the equally-willful Rob, sees nothing but
trouble coming from the untamed animal and discourages his daughter
from keeping her. Nonetheless, conflicted by a need to harness her own
wild ways yet stay true to a free spirit within, Katy sets out to break
through to Flicka and transform her into a riding horse.
Despite her father’s disapproval, Katy goes on and forms an unbreakable
bond with the wild horse. Her relationship with Flicka becomes a
catalyst for change for the entire McLaughlin family, which is at a
major crossroads: Katy’s dad is considering selling the ailing ranch,
brother Howard (Ryan Kwanten) wants to leave Wyoming for college in
Boston, and her mother Nell (Maria Bello) is fighting to keep her
family from falling apart.
Can Katy ultimately tame her beloved Flicka and prove everyone wrong
about the wild-hearted mustang? Will Rob find a way to support his
daughter yet still keep her safe through this momentous life passage?
And can the McLaughlins hold onto the ranch that they’ve worked so hard
to maintain throughout a sea of social and economic change?
The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D – Tim
Burton’s holiday classic, "The Nightmare Before Christmas," makes a
return to the big screen this holiday season in stunning Disney Digital
3D™. The dazzling new make-over of the musical-fantasy was led by the
film’s original filmmaking team of Academy Award® nominated
writer/producer Tim Burton ("Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,"
"Corpse Bride") and director Henry Selick ("James and the Giant Peach")
as well as the talented technical wizards at Industrial Light + Magic.
Audiences will get closer than ever to Halloweentown’s beloved Pumpkin
King, Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon), as he attempts to
take over the Christmas holiday. Against the advice of Sally (voiced by
Catherine O’Hara), a lonely rag doll who has feelings for him, Jack
enlists three mischievous trick-or-treaters – Lock, Shock, and Barrel –
to help him kidnap Santa Claus. Jack eventually realizes his mistake
but has to contend with the evil Oogie Boogie before he can make things
right and restore the Christmas holiday. Fueled by an unforgettable
Grammy® nominated soundtrack featuring ten ghoulishly delightful songs
by Oscar® nominee Danny Elfman ("Corpse Bride," "Big Fish") who also
provided the singing voice for Jack, "Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before
Christmas 3D" combines the Oscar® nominated artistry of stop-motion
animation with brand new state-of-the-art digital technology to create
a unique and entertaining movie-going experience that is sure to become
a modern holiday tradition.