"THE IMPOSTER" In Theatres July 13th 2012

Runtime: 1 hr. 35 min.

Genres: Documentary

Documentary filmmaker Bart Layton uses vivid reenactments to tell the tale of a Texas family whose prayers are answered when their missing teenage son returns home after nearly four years, and the mystery that begins to emerge as the newcomer's actual identity comes into question. San Antonio, Texas: 1994. A local teen vanishes from his parents' own home. As the clues run cold over the next three years, his grieving family continues to fear the worst. Incredibly, they later receive word that their son has been found in Spain. Despite being  tortured by his abductors, he miraculously appears to be in good health. But the more questions that inspectors ask, the less his answers seem to add up. And while his tattoos match those of the kidnapping victim, that's just about where the resemblance ends. Meanwhile, everyone but the victim's family seems to recognize that something is amiss. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Coming Soon "TRISHNA" jULY 13TH 2012

FULL SYNOPSIS

Michael Winterbottom's Trishna, a modern retelling of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Ubervilles, stars Freida Pinto as the title character, a young Indian woman who meets Jay (Riz Ahmed), the son of a rich real-estate man. He convinces her to come work in a hotel owned by his father, and because her family is in desperate need of money -- and he's charming and handsome -- she accepts. While things go well at first, she becomes pregnant and is forced to leave the job. Although Trishna tries to make it on her own as a dancer, Jay eventually returns and attempts to sweep her off her feet again. Trishna played at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

RED LIGHTS In Theatres July 13th 2012

 SYNOPSIS

Rated: Language and Some Violence

Runtime: 1 hr. 53 min.

Genres: Suspense/Thriller

Buried director Rodrigo Cortes follows up his claustrophobic sophomore feature with this tale of two paranormal investigators who encounter unimaginable terror while attempting to debunk a world-renowned psychic whose powers put all others to shame. Dr. Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and her partner Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy) have built their careers on exposing the so-called "red lights" used by fraudulent psychics to assert their abilities. When blind mystic Simon Silver (Robert De Niro) emerges from his 30-year retirement and sparks a public frenzy, Buckley sees exposing Silver as the ultimate challenge. Matheson, sensing that her ambitious colleague is about to get in over his head, strongly advises him to drop the investigation at once. But Buckley persists, and with the help of his star pupil (Elizabeth Olsen), he plots to expose Silver before the entire world. Unfortunately, Buckley has not only underestimated Silver's telepathic abilities, but his famous target's vengeful and unforgiving nature as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

SAVAGES In Theatres July 6th 2012

Drama ,Suspense/Thriller
Runtime 2 hr 10 Min

Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone adapts author Don Winslow's best-selling novel into this all-star ensemble crime drama about a pair of peaceful, Laguna Beach marijuana dealers who are targeted for extortion by the ruthless Mexican Baja cartel. Ben (Aaron Johnson) is a devout Buddhist and dedicated philanthropist, and his best friend Chun (Taylor Kitsch) is a former mercenary who trained as a Navy SEAL. They may not seem like major drug dealers, but  they make a comfortable living selling top-quality marijuana. And they share more than just a profitable business; their mutual girlfriend Ophelia (Blake Lively) is more than enough woman for the two ambitious young entrepreneurs to handle. But just as Ben and Chun are feeling like they're on top of the world, their blissful life of lawless hedonism threatens to yield dire repercussions. The Mexican Baja cartel wants a piece of the action, and their cruel leader Elena (Salma Hayek) has dispatched her top hatchet man Lado (Benicio Del Toro) to ensure that she gets it. When the cartel kidnaps Ophelia and threatens to kill her unless Ben and Chun comply, the desperate pot dealers enlist the aid of a shady DEA agent (John Travolta) to try and avert a tragedy. Emile Hirsch and Uma Thurman also star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

"CRAZY EYES" In Theatres July 6th 2012

FULL SYNOPSIS

Drama
Runtime: 1 hr. 35 min.

One of those glamorous L.A. people with too much money and too much time on his hands, Zach (Lukas Haas) looks like he’s living the Hollywood dream. There’s a steady stream of beautiful women coming in and out of his posh home in the hills, and every night he makes his way through the hottest nightspots for a party that never ends. A divorcée with a 5-year-old son, Zach has become a master at seducing women without ever getting too close. But all that’s about to change — he’s met a girl he calls “Crazy Eyes”she’s not like anyone he’s ever met before. Flirty but withholding, intelligent but damaged, she’s the one woman Zach can’t have, so naturally he wants her above all others. While Zach’s hard-partying lifestyle — aided and abetted by his bartender pal Dan (Jake Busey) — threatens to go off the rails, family concerns begin to play a major role in Zach’s life.

What Is a Darker Superman?

Zack Snyder and screenwriter David Goyer actually mean when they say that this version of Superman will be “darker” than past incarnations. This is all in an attempt to make the character “relevant” again. Does that mean that the character, the circumstances, the villains or simply the tone will be taken to a darker degree than previous incarnations? My honest answer is that I expect all of the above, but to varying degrees.

Since Superman achieved such amazing success as the #1 comic book hero for over 40 years, his writers were certainly on the right track for the times. As the first-ever superhero in 1938, his comics and merchandise sales along with success in other media like radio and television made him into an icon. Eventually Batman became more popular, as did other heroes from other companies like Spider-Man and The X-Men. Before the character’s death in 1992, a good friend of mine told me about how people would make fun of him for liking Superman. Of course once he died, they were jealous that he had all of the lead-up comics sitting in a hold box at his local comic store.
Thanks to the success of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, Warner Brothers seems to be trying to copy the darker, grittier realism with other major characters like Superman. But that can be a slippery slope because Superman isn’t like Batman. Although they were good friends in the comics from the 40’s-70’s, when John Byrne recreated Superman for the comics in 1986, he set them at odds with each other because their methods would necessarily have to be so opposite. Superman can fly and is bulletproof, so how hard would it be to stop the likes of Catwoman or Two-Face? And Batman would have a much harder time taking on someone like Brainiac or Darkseid who could probably crush him with bare hands. The fact that Batman gets the job done by using fear and intimidation, plus that he is effectively a criminal vigilante working outside the law, meant that the first thing Superman tried to do when they met was arrest him and take him to jail. If they are so completely different, what are some of the ways that the success of the Batman films feed into success with Superman?
My friend Frankie Addiego pointed out to me the other day that we should notice that nobody ever asks if Mickey Mouse or Dick Tracy are “still relevant” even though neither have starred in movies in a long time. If Superman had such a drastic influence on every other superhero in comics, shouldn’t his relevance already be implicit?by jeffrey taylor

Box Office Report: 'Ted' Breaks Records

Here's your weekend box office returns (new releases bolded):
1. Ted - $54.1 million
2. Magic Mike - $39.1 million
3. Brave - $34.0 million
4. Madea's Witness Protection - $26.3 million
5. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted - $11.8 million
6. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - $6.0 million
7. Prometheus - $4.9 million
8. Moonrise Kingdom - $4.8 million
9. Snow White and the Huntsman - $4.4 million
10. People Like Us - $4.3 million
That sound you hear is the collective applause, high fives and heavy sighs around the offices of Universal and Warner Bros. today. Both studios have had less than stellar summers which has put the first-run columns of their books more in the red than any others this year.
Echoes of The Hangover are reverberating in connection to the teddy bear comedy having the highest opening weekend for an "R"-rated non-sequel comedy. A lot of subheadings there, but there is still plenty of good news in the numbers to look out for after Ted and Magic Mike become the first R-rated duo to open the box office #1-2 in their first weekend since The American and Machete did it with $13.1 & $11.4 million back on Labor Day weekend 2010
In that list being bandied about, your top five R-rated non-sequel openings now looks like this:
Ted ($52.5 million), The Hangover ($44.9), Scary Movie ($42.3), 21 Jump Street ($36.3), Wedding Crashers ($33.9).byerik childress