It can be hard to keep up with what's going on in the world of movies and television. We're here to help out.
Each week, in the CT Movies Quick Take, we'll check up on how the critics are responding to a couple recent releases, update you on the biggest movie news, and suggest a few picks to stream at home on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. One quick read, and you'll be caught up for the week.
Streaming This Weekend
Amazon just added The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) and Only God Forgives (2013) to their lineup. (See our review of Place here.) But if you've had enough of Ryan Gosling, we also recommend Arcadia (2012). Winner of the 2012 Berlin Film Festival, the film is a coming-of-age story that follows the road trip a dad and his kids make together as he moves his family across the country to California. Arcadia is also available for streaming on Amazon.
Critic Roundup
The verdict is in: critics hate R.I.P.D. Everyone was hoping for some kind of Men in Black magic, but the movies are so dissimilar in execution that it makes their similarity in storyline downright offensive. The film currently has a 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has received scathing reviews from The New York Times, The Washington Post, and RogerEbert.com, just to name a few. The consensus is that Ryan Reynolds just isn't all that interesting, and poor Jeff Bridges is trying to play "an undead Rooster Cogburn from True Grit" (says Steven Boone for RogerEbert.com) that the filmmakers think should be hilarious. It isn't.
The new Netflix television show Orange is the New Black has been widely reviewed since its recent debut, and is enjoying generally positive feedback. The show, created by Weeds creator Jenji Kohan, is a based on a memoir by Piper Kerman about her time serving 15 months in prison due to a one-time participation in drug trafficking ten years prior. The New Yorker's Emily Nussbaum recently reviewed the show, contrasting it with the less favored Ray Donovan. Nussbaum calls it "the love child of Oz and The L Word." The New York Times gave it a slightly more hesitating thumbs up, pointing out some cliches in the show's portrayal of prison life. But both critics said the diversity of characters and actresses that Orange showcases make it worthwhile and interesting, and that even if the show lags at times, it's still funny and enjoyable.
Film News
Hot trailers right now include Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock, and The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear directed by Tinatin Gurchiani (named Best Director at Sundance 2013).
Thanks to Man of Steel screenwriter David S. Goyer's comments at a recent Comic-Con panel, fans everywhere are buzzing with speculation on the sequel to the Superman film. Goyer's words were, "We're actually not sure whether the title is Superman vs. Batman or Batman vs. Superman." Yes, apparently Batman will be joining the cast of the next Superman installment. Commence showdown [EW].
In casting news, Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3, In Good Company) is reportedly in talks to join the Christopher Nolan project Interstellar [Deadline]. Nat Wolff and Laura Dern have joined the cast of The Fault in Our Stars, based on the best selling John Green novel, with Wolff as Isaac and Dern as the mother of Hazel Grace [EW]. A remake of the 1982 horror flick Poltergeist is in the works from MGM and Fox 2000, with Rosemarie DeWitt recently set to star [Deadline]. And just for kicks: word from Latino Review that Disney is in talks with Zac Efron and Ryan Gosling for their Star Wars VII installment has fans clawing their eyeballs and prophesying doom over the franchise. Make of that what you will.
