This weekend is the best damn weekend for movies I’ve seen in quite a while. I’ve been talking about how this summer has been a largely disappointing movie season, but somehow they got things together in order to send off the summer with a bang. Yesterday, I told you all why you should see You’re Next (and why I couldn’t say much about it). That opens today, along with The World’s End the new film from Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and the rest of the guys who helped to make Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I’ll have a full review for you later, but in the meantime, the short version is that The World’s End is incredibly funny, satisfyingly warm, and even surprisingly moving; Edgar Wright is one of our most interesting young filmmakers, and his newest film does not disappoint. Both movies come highly recommended and you really NEED to see at least one of them in a theater this weekend.
In addition to the two big wide-release movies, Woody Allen’s newest film Blue Jasmine expanded to 1,200 theaters this weekend; it’s even playing in Salt Lake City, which means it’s probably playing near where you live too. I have yet to see it, but I’ve been hearing really excellent things. Also, for my friends in Salt Lake, there are two films – opening at the Broadway Center Theatre downtown – that have been playing for a few weeks in the larger markets, but are finally making their way here. I recently saw The Spectacular Now, and I very much enjoyed it. It’s a deeply moving coming of age story with some career making performances from Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. The other film is Blackfish the semi-controversial documentary about the killer whales at SeaWorld, specifically Tilikum, the orca who infamously was involved in the deaths of three people. I have not seen this film either, but again, I have been hearing very good things.
If you’re not in Salt Lake, check to see if those two are playing anywhere near you, as well as keep an eye out for Short Term 12 .
This weekend there are five highly acclaimed films being released in the Salt Lake area, which means if you live virtually anywhere else in North America you should have at least as many options. No matter what your interests, there’s no excuse to not see at least one of them. There really is something for just about everyone this weekend, and all of your options are good ones. That is, unless you consider The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones an option, which it is not*. This is an unprecedentedly great weekend for movies, take advantage of it.
*This movie has an approval rating of 14% on Rotten Tomatoes**. It’s based on a Harry Potter fan fiction. Don’t see this movie.
**I’m well aware that Tomatometer scores are not gospel, but they can be useful, especially when it comes to the extreme ends of the scale. 14% means almost everyone thought it was at least pretty bad. Like I said, don’t see The Mortal Instruments.
David Daut 