KPCC film critics Peter Rainer and Wade Major join Larry to review the week’s new film releases including Captain America: The First Avenger, Friends With Benefits, Another Earth, A Little Help, Good Day for It, Sarah’s Key, Passione, and more. TGI-FilmWeek!
Guests:
Peter Rainer, film critic for KPCC and Christian Science Monitor
Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and BoxOffice.com
Films Reviewed:
Captain America: The First Avenger
A scrawny soldier volunteers for a secret project and is transformed into a patriotic superhero.
Starring: Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, and Hayley Atwell
Written by: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Directed by: Joe Johnston
Rated: PG-13
Paramount Pictures
Friends With Benefits
A pair of platonic friends deals with the complications of attempting guilt-free sex.
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Patricia Clarkson and Jenna Elfman
Written by: Keith Merryman, David A. Newman and Will Gluck
Directed by: Will Gluck
Rated: R
Screen Gems
A Little Help
A woman weaves a web of bizarre lies to take care of her son after the death of her spouse.
Starring: Jenna Fischer, Chris O’Donnell, Daniel Yelsky and Rob Benedict
Written and directed by: Michael J. Weithorn
Rated: R
Freestyle Releasing
The Tree
After the death of her husband, a widow and her children face grief, loss and life changes.
Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marton Csokas, Morgana Davies and Aden Young
Written and directed by: Julie Bertuccelli
Not rated
Zeitgeist Films
Passione
(Laemmle Music Hall)
An exploration of the music and musicians of Naples, Italy.
Starring: Max Casella, James Senese and Gennarro Cosmo Parlato
Written by: John Turturro and Federico Vacalebre
Directed by: John Turturro
Not rated
Unknown distributor
Sarah’s Key
A journalist’s life becomes intertwined with a young girl whose life was shattered by the Nazi occupation of France.
Starring: Kristin Scott Thomas, Melusine Mayance and Niels Arestrup
Written by: Serge Joncour
and Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Directed by: by Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Rated: PG-13
The Weinstein Company
Another Earth
A physics student and a composer’s lives cross pass in a tragic accident on the night a phantom planet is discovered.
Starring: William Mapother, Brit Marling and Jordan Baker
Written by: Brit Marling and Mike Cahill
Directed by: Mike Cahill
Rated: PG-13
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Good Day for It
A man forced to abandon his family years prior risks his life to be reunited with them.
Starring: Robert Patrick, Hal Holbrook and Samantha Mathis
Written by: Nick Stagliano and James Canfield Wolf
Directed by: Nick Stagliano
Rated: R
Industrial Entertainment
DVDs
Hey, Boo: Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird
Starring: Mary Badham, Tom Brokaw and Rosanne Cash
Directed by: Mary Murphy
Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune
Starring: Joan Baez, Arthur Gorson and Tom Hayden
Directed by:Kenneth Bowser
Dumbstruck
Starring: Bob Ashman, Maria Ashman and Robert J. Ashman
Directed by: Mark Goffman
Limitless
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel and Abbie Cornish
Directed by: Neil Burger
Desert Flower
Starring: Liya Kebede, Sally Hawkins and Craig Parkinson
Directed by: Sherry Horman