There are two Must See movies this weekend:
- Before Midnight, the year’s best romance continuing the story of Ethan Hawke’s Jesse and Julie Delpy’s Celine from Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.
- Stories We Tell, Sarah Polley’s brilliant documentary about discovering her family’s secrets.
Both films are on my Best Movies of 2013 – So Far .
The absorbing and thought-provoking eco-terrorism thriller The East is also supposed to be opening today (but I can’t find a theater playing locally).
The other best bets in theaters include:
- The Iceman is a solid true-life crime movie with an outstanding performance by Michael Shannon.
- Mud, the gripping and thoughtful story of two Arkansas boys embarking on a secret adventure with a man hiding from the authorities – learning more than they expected about love and loyalty. Mud is also one of the best movies of 2013.
Also out right now:
- HBO’s Behind the Candelabra is familar territory but entertaining, with Michael Douglas’ all-out re-creation of Liberace.
- Kon-Tiki is a faithful, but underwhelming account of a true life 5,000 mile raft trip across the Pacific.
The compelling documentary The Central Park Five from Ken Burns, et al, is available streaming from Amazon Instant and other VOD providers. Also available on VOD, Greetings from Tim Buckley is a film for those who want to see an actor depict interior conflict with very little external action. PBS is broadcasting the unexpectedly beautiful documentary Detropia, about the city of Detroit’s collapse and decay.
I haven’t yet seen the indie Kings of Summer, reputed to be this year’s Moonrise Kingdom, which opens this weekend. You can read descriptions and view trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.
My DVD/Stream of the Week is the psychological thriller Side Effects. Side Effects is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Vudu,YouTube and GooglePlay.