Streaming Picks
Ashton Kutcher stars in the biopic Jobs as the entrepreneur and Apple founder, now available on Netflix. Amistad, starring Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins, tells the story of a mutiny aboard a slave ship and is also available to stream. The classic pick of the week is Rocky (because you don't really need a good reason to watch Rocky other than the fact that it's Rocky). And for the kids, try in The Muppets Take Manhattan, in which the Muppets try to take their variety show to Broadway.
Critics Roundup
Indiewire calls Dom Hemingway, which premieres today, a "resoundingly empty star vehicle." Jude Law "acts his heart out for a role that has no heart." According to the NYTimes, it is a "violent British comedy about a gangster" and a "bright shiny bauble with next to no lasting power."
Under the Skin, starring Scarlett Johansson, is a bold and cinematic adaptation of Michael Faber's science fiction book. Johansson plays an alien that seduces men in Scottish cities and towns. The Dissolve praises director Jonathan Glazer's work as "he resists the temptation to turn this alien's story into what it means to be human." The A.V. Club says the plot unfolds "uniquely" from the perspective of Laura, the alien, which is part of what makes it a "ferociously original thriller."
In the new documentary The Unknown Known, we learn about former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld's love of language as he reads from some of the hundreds of memos he sent out at the Pentagon, nicknamed his "snowflakes." A.O. Scott for the NYTimes says the film is "a probing and unsettling inquiry into the recent political and military history of the United States, but it is also a bracing and invigorating philosophical skirmish." But The Dissolve calls Errol Morris' new work "fundamentally pointless." So, unless Rumsfeld was before your time, "it's fascinating to watch a man give away so little for so long, but you learn nothing you didn't already know."
Movie News
Many are anticipating Mad Men's final season's premiere and some have even written reviews. But beware, you might find some "mild spoilers." Mad Men premieres on AMC on April 13.
A new adaptation of the Ten Commandments is in the works. With Bruce Cohen and Bob Weinstein producing, 10 different filmmakers will each direct an episode that gives each commandment a modern interpretation. Read more about it here on Indiewire.
Zack Snyder has cast another star in a role for the new Superman/Batman movie – award-winning actress Holly Hunter will join Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Jesse Eisenberg, and more. Read more here.
On April 24, at a charity event in Los Angeles for Film Independent, Quentin Tarantino will be casting and directing a reading a live-reading of his new screenplay, The Hateful Eight. Read more here and here.
Heather Cate is a spring intern with Christianity Today Movies and a student at The King's College in New York City.
