Let’s be honest: Anyone who pretends this weekend isn’t all about the Avengers movie is in for a sad awakening. Unless you’re so determined to find counter-programming that you’re going to see a movie without any super-powered characters punching robots in the face — and if that’s your plan, you should have no trouble getting your ticket. Godspeed.
Avengers: Age of Ultron: With Joss Whedon pulling their strings, Earth’s mightiest heroes reunite to battle the aforementioned android adversary and a pair of mysterious mutants powered people. It’s fun, but it’s not fun-fun, if you know what I mean.
Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police: This one, by contrast, is no fun at all — just a boring, intermittently pleasant slog through Andy Summers’ life before, during and after his membership in one of England’s most important bands. (Well, if you ask Sting.)
Far from the Madding Crowd: Thomas Vinterberg directs Carey Mulligan, Michael Sheen and Matthias Schoenaerts in a new adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel. It’s barely been five years since the last one, but Glenn says Mulligan makes it all worthwhile.
Preggoland: Susan fell hard for writer-star Sonja Mitchell’s phony-parenthood comedy at TIFF; I’m looking forward to catching up to it when I finally clear the spring festival circuit. Sigh.
Ride: Helen Hunt gets back behind the camera for a dramedy about a New York editor who follows her adult son (Brenton Thwaites, of Oculus and Son of a Gun) into Los Angeles’ surfer culture. Susan likes some of it, I think.
Roar: Umm.
Songs She Wrote About People She Knows: Kris Elgstrand’s odd character piece has been on a shelf since TIFF 2013 ;last year (thanks, Don!). Susan has some issues with it, but on the whole I think she’s glad it’s finally getting out there.
So there we are. You’re gonna see the Marvel movie, right? I kinda thought so.
Apparently Scarberia doesn’t merit counterprogramming…at least not pretty, Hardy-based counterprogramming. 🙁 I miss Kennedy Commons; they could usually be counted on to pick up movies like this. (I’m actually looking forward to both Avengers and Far From the Madding Crowd, but I’m eclectic.)
Songs She Wrote About People She Knows was at last fall’s TIFF, so it hasn’t been on the shelf all that long.
Thanks! I thought so too, but was sternly told “2013!” so often that I started to believe it myself.
Okay, so Roar sounds like even better counterprogramming. I’ll have to try to catch one of its showings. The cat-loving and this-oughta-be-a-train-wreck parts of me are both working overtime to get me to see this one.
Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it. “Good” and “bad” are meaningless classifications here. So it’s got that going for it, I guess.