Movies
Now on Home Video: ‘Now You See Me 2,’ George Clooney in ‘Money Monster’
Now You See Me 2
Now You See Me 2
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Daniel Radcliffe, Lizzy Caplan, Jay Chou, Sanaa Lathan, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman
Director: Jon M. Chu
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Motion Picture Rating: PG-13
Synopsis from Summit Entertainment: THE FOUR HORSEMEN [Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan] return for a second mind-bending adventure, elevating the limits of stage illusion to new heights and taking them around the globe. One year after outwitting the FBI and winning the public’s adulation with their Robin Hood-style magic spectacles, the illusionists resurface for a comeback performance in hopes of exposing the unethical practices of a tech magnate. The man behind their vanishing act is none other than WALTER MABRY [Daniel Radcliffe], a tech prodigy who threatens the Horsemen into pulling off their most impossible heist yet. Their only hope is to perform one last unprecedented stunt to clear their names and reveal the mastermind behind it all.
Available on Amazon and iTunes
Love & Friendship
Love & Friendship
Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, and Stephen Fry
Director: Whit Stillman
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating: PG
Synopsis from Roadside Attractions and Amazon Studios: LOVE & FRIENDSHIP is an adaptation of young Jane Austen’s novella Lady Susan, believed to have been written in the mid 1790s but revised up to a fair copy prepared in 1805 and finally published by her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, in 1871.
Set in the 1790s, earlier than most Austen tales, LOVE & FRIENDSHIP concerns beautiful young widow Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) who has come to Churchill, the estate of her in-laws, to wait out colourful rumours about her dalliances circulating through polite society.
Whilst ensconced there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and for her daughter, Frederica, played by Morfydd Clark.
Chloë Sevigny, who starred with Beckinsale in Stillman’s The Last Days of Disco (1998), plays Lady Susan’s friend and confidante Alicia Johnson, with Stephen Fry as her husband, the “very Respectable” Mr. Johnson.
The waters are troubled by the arrival at Churchill of the handsome, eligible Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel) and silly but cheerful — and very rich — Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett).
Lady Susan’s designs are vehemently opposed by the DeCourcy clan: Reginald’s sister, Catherine DeCourcy Vernon (Emma Greenwell); his mother, Lady DeCourcy (Jemma Redgrave) and father, Sir Reginald DeCourcy (James Fleet). But Susan’s brother-in-law, magnanimous Charles Vernon (Justin Edwards), prefers to see her, and everyone, with a benevolent regard.
After a series of dramatic turns at Churchill, Lady Susan finally risks destruction when her jealous rival, Lady Lucy Manwaring (Jenn Murray), arrives in London to make a shocking revelation, leading to the denouement of denouements.
Available on Amazon and iTunes
A Bigger Splash
A Bigger Splash
Stars: Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes and Dakota Johnson
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Motion Picture Rating: R
Synopsis from Fox Searchlight Pictures: Rock legend Marianne Lane (Tilda Swinton) is recuperating on the volcanic island of Pantelleria with her partner Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) when iconoclast record producer and old flame Harry (Ralph Fiennes) arrives with his daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson) and interrupts their holiday, bringing with him an A-bomb blast of nostalgia from which there can be no rescue. A Bigger Splash is a sensuous portrait of desire, jealousy and rock and roll, under the Mediterranean sun.
Available on Amazon and iTunes
Money Monster
Money Monster
Stars: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Jack O’Connell
Director: Jodie Foster
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Motion Picture Rating: R
Synopsis from Sony Pictures: In the real-time, high stakes thriller, George Clooney and Julia Roberts star as financial TV host Lee Gates and his producer Patty, who are put in an extreme situation when an irate investor who has lost everything (Jack O’Connell) forcefully takes over their studio. During a tense standoff broadcast to millions on live TV, Lee and Patty must work furiously against the clock to unravel the mystery behind a conspiracy at the heart of today’s fast-paced, high-tech global markets.
Available on Amazon and iTunes
The Darkness
The Darkness
Stars: Kevin Bacon, Radha Mitchell, David Mazouz, Lucy Fry, Matt Walsh, Jennifer Morrison, Ming-Na Wen and Parker Mack
Director: Greg McLean
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Motion Picture Rating: PG-13
Synopsis from Universal: From the producers of The Purge and Insidious, comes this terrifying supernatural thriller starring Kevin Bacon (TV’s The Following) and Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill). When their young son (David Mazouz, TV’s Gotham) brings home five mystical stones he found on their family’s camping trip to the Grand Canyon, Peter (Bacon) and Bronny (Mitchell) begin to notice strange things happening in their house. Having awakened dark forces bound to the rocks, the family fights for survival as malicious demons feed off their fears and threaten to destroy them.
Available on Amazon and iTunes
The Meddler
The Meddler
Stars: Susan Sarandon, Rose Byrne and J. K. Simmons
Director: Lorene Scafaria
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Motion Picture Rating: PG-13
Synopsis from Sony Pictures: With a new iPhone, an apartment near the Grove, and a comfortable bank account left to her by her beloved late husband, Marnie Minervini has happily relocated from New Jersey to Los Angeles to be near her daughter Lori, a successful (but still single) screenwriter, and smother her with motherly love. But when the dozens of texts, unexpected visits, and conversations dominated by unsolicited advice force Lori to draw strict personal boundaries, Marnie finds ways to channel her eternal optimism and forceful generosity to change the lives of others – as well as her own – and find a new purpose in life.
Available on Amazon and iTunes
All the Way
All the Way
Stars: Bryan Cranston, Bradley Whitford, and Ray Wise
Director: Jay Roach
Genre: Biography, Drama
Television Rating: TV-14
Synopsis from HBO Films: All The Way offers a riveting behind-the scenes look at President Lyndon B. Johnson’s tumultuous first year in office after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Staking his presidency on what would be an historic unprecedented Civil Rights Act, Johnson finds himself caught between the moral imperative of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the expectations of the southern Democratic Party leaders who brought Johnson to power. As King battles to press Johnson while controlling more radical elements of the Civil Rights Movement, Johnson navigates the bill through Congress, winning a landslide victory against Barry Goldwater, but causing the South to defect from the Democratic Party.
Available on Amazon
Equals
Equals
Stars: Nicholas Hoult and Kristen Stewart
Director: Drake Doremus
Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Motion Picture Rating: PG-13
Synopsis from A24: In this gripping and emotional sci-fi romance from acclaimed director Drake Doremus (Like Crazy), Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult play Nia and Silas, two people who work together in a futuristic society known as “The Collective.” A seemingly utopian world, “The Collective” has ended crime and violence by genetically eliminating all human emotions. Despite this, Nia and Silas can’t help noticing a growing attraction between them, leading them to a forbidden relationship—at first tentative, but then exploding into a passionate romance. As suspicion begins to mount among their superiors, the couple will be forced to choose between going back to the safety of the lives they have always known, or risk it all to try and pull off a daring escape.
Available on Amazon and iTunes
Genius
Genius
Stars: Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Dominic West and Guy Pearce
Director: Michael Grandage
Genre: Biography, Drama
Motion Picture Rating: PG-13
Synopsis from Lionsgate: A stirring drama about the complex friendship and transformative professional relationship between book editor Maxwell Perkins (who discovered F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway) and Thomas Wolfe.
Available on Amazon and iTunes
Nina
Nina
Stars: Zoe Saldana, David Oyelowo, Ella Thomas, and Mike Epps
Director: Cynthia Mort
Genre: Biography, Drama
Motion Picture Rating: Not Rated
Synopsis from RLJ Entertainment: She was one of the century’s most extraordinary talents, a 15-time Grammy nominee and Grammy Hall of Fame Recipient; her mesmerizing songs and passionate politics combined to make her the unforgettable Nina Simone (Zoe Saldana). But fame and fortune came with a price, and her later years were riddled with depression, alcohol abuse and isolation. Rediscovering the meaning of her life and work took courage, strength and one true friend: Clifton Henderson (David Oyelowo), the man who started out as her assistant and eventually became her loyal manager. With Clifton’s encouragement, the “high priestess of soul” began a courageous journey back to her music … and, eventually, herself.
Available on Amazon and iTunes
The Ones Below
The Ones Below
Stars: Clémence Poésy, David Morrissey, and Stephen Campbell Moore
Director: David Farr
Genre: Thriller
Motion Picture Rating: R
Synopsis from Magnolia Pictures: THE ONES BELOW is a dark, modern fairy tale in which the lives of two couples become fatally intertwined. Kate (Clémence Poésy) and Justin (Stephen Campbell Moore) live in the upstairs flat of a London house. Thirty-something, successful and affluent, they are expecting their first baby. All appears well on the surface though Kate harbors deep-rooted fears about her fitness to be a mother and her ability to love her child. One day, another couple, Jon (David Morrissey) and Theresa (Laura Birn), moves in to the empty apartment below. They are also expecting a baby and, in stark contrast to Kate, Theresa is full of joy at the prospect of imminent motherhood. Pregnancy brings the women together in a blossoming friendship as Kate becomes entranced by Theresa’s unquestioning celebration of her family-to-be. Everything changes one night at a dinner party in Kate and Justin’s flat. Kate begins to sense that all is not as it seems with the couple below. Then a tragic accident throws the couples into a nightmare and a reign of psychological terror begins.
