Larry Mantle is joined by KPCC film critics Claudia Puig, Henry Sheehan and Charles Solomon to discuss this week’s new films, including The Five-Year Engagement, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Raven, Safe, and more. TGI-FilmWeek!
Guests:
Claudia Puig, film critic for KPCC and USA Today
Henry Sheehan, film critic for KPCC and henrysheehan.com
Charles Solomon, animation critic for KPCC, author and historian for amazon.com
Films Reviewed:
The Five-Year Engagement
A couple repeatedly pushes back their wedding date.
Starring: Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt and Alison Brie
Written by: Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller
Directed by: Nicholas Stoller
R
Universal Pictures
The Pirates! Band of Misfits (in 3-D)
The captain of a ship yearns to win the Pirate of the Year award.
Starring: Hugh Grant, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton and Martin Freeman
Written by: Gideon Defoe
Directed by: Peter Lord
PG
Columbia Pictures
The Raven
Edgar Allan Poe teams up with a detective to solve murders.
Starring: John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve and Brendan Gleeson
Written by: Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare
Directed by: James McTeigue
R
Relativity Media
Safe
A cage fighter rescues and protects a young Chinese girl.
Starring: Jason Statham, Robert John Burke, Chris Sarandon, Anson Mount
Written and directed by: Boaz Yakin
R
Lionsgate
Headhunters
A headhunter and art thief’s double-life begins to intersect.
Starring: Aksel Hennie, Synnove Macody Lund and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Written by: Lars Gudmestad and Ulf Rybergand
Directed by: Morten Tyldum
R
Magnolia Pictures
Bernie
A funeral director is charged with a wealthy widow’s murder.
Starring: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey
Written by: Richard Linklater and Skip Hollandsworth
Directed by: Richard Linklater
PG-13
Millennium Entertainment
Sound of My Voice
A couple plans to infiltrate a cult and expose its leader.
Starring: Brit Marling, Christopher Denham and Nicole Vicius
Written by: Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij
Directed by: Zal Batmanglij
R
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Mamitas
A bookish girl sees through a cocky high schooler’s façade.
Starring: E.J. Bonilla, Veronica Diaz-Carranza and Jennifer Esposito
Written and directed by: Nicholas Ozeki
R
Screen Media Films.