10 Films To See In March - Page 2 of 2

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“Song To Song”
Synopsis: Two intersecting love triangles. Obsession and betrayal set against the music scene in Austin, Texas.
What You Need To Know: As with any Terrence Malick film, the above synopsis no doubt does very little to explain the actual experience of seeing it. We’ve been running mostly cool on late era Malick, a feeling not helped by his last couple of features, “Knight Of Cups” and “To The Wonder.” But this modern day story of love set in the Austin music scene does seem like it could break the mold, even if the trailer has all the bells and whistles we now associate with this ever-prolific era of Malick films. Perhaps the musical milieu of his new movie will show a different side of the filmmaker. There’s also a great cast that we also hope isn’t lost in all the artful images and searching narration, including Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, and Natalie Portman. The film will also open SXSW.
Release Date: March 17th (Limited)

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“Beauty and the Beast”
Synopsis: An adaptation of the Disney fairy tale about a monstrous-looking prince and a young woman who fall in love.
What You Need To Know: Director Bill Condon recently confirmed that Disney‘s live-action adaptation of “Beauty and the Beast” will feature an “exclusively gay moment” that will focus on LeFou (played by Josh Gad) – the studio’s first-ever openly gay character. That’s all well and good, but what about the movie itself, yet another of Disney’s live action remakes from the vault of animated classics (the original was the first animated film nominated for best picture Oscar, so it’s tough shoes to fill)? With the trailers racking up over 15 million YouTube views, anticipation for the remake is poised to rival the original, so let’s hope it meets those expectations.
Release Date: March 17th

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“Life”
Synopsis: An international space crew discovers life on Mars.
What You Need To Know: Things will not go well in space in the upcoming “Life,” which brings together Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson for a sci-fi thriller. From the pens of “Deadpool” writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and directed by Daniel Espinosa (“Safe House,” “Easy Money“), the action takes place on board an international space station where things take a turn for the worst. With effects that look almost “Gravity”-level awesome mixing with a solid cast and a creepy story, here’s hoping this “original” story can be every bit as great as it sounds. And Sony seems confident, slotting the picture to close SXSW.
Release Date: March 24th

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“Wilson”
Synopsis: A lonely, neurotic and hilariously honest middle-aged man reunites with his estranged wife and meets his teenage daughter for the first time.
What You Need To Know: Another recent Sundance title from this year that’s already been fast-tracked for release this month, this one is from graphic novelist Daniel Clowes‘ source material and his script adaptation, starring Woody Harrelson as the titular character. When our critic saw the film at the festival, he stated that “on its own merits — divorced from the source — ‘Wilson’ is just fine. It’s a fairly standard meandering indie comedy, where character quirks and a general underdog spirit keep everything just removed enough from reality to be non-threatening. And Harrelson appears to be having a blast in a role that he really does make his own, playing Wilson as a mostly benign weirdo who has a certain zestful spirit, and may even be right about the alienation of today’s wired-up, over-connected society… This “Wilson” is sweet and pleasant and occasionally riotously funny.”
Release Date: March 24th (Limited)

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“Ghost In The Shell”
Synopsis: A cyborg policewoman attempts to bring down a nefarious computer hacker.
What You Need To Know: Scarlett Johansson leads the sci-fi/anime style action movie playing the perfect soldier who discovers a profound lie that changes her outlook forever. Based on the internationally acclaimed Japanese manga “The Ghost in the Shell,” this long-in-the-works version has seen many directors come and go, but it’s finally set to arrive in theaters, with Rupert Sanders (“Snow White And The Huntsman“) in the director’s chair and a wonderful, eclectic cast featuring Pilou Asbæk, Takeshi Kitano, Michael Pitt and Juliette Binoche, but not without some controversy over the whitewashing of the lead character. Johansson has gone on record to address the issue, suggesting that her role as the cyborg Major doesn’t find her playing another ethnicity: “I certainly would never presume to play another race of a person,” she said. “Diversity is important in Hollywood, and I would never want to feel like I was playing a character that was offensive.”
Release Date: March 31st

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Honorable Mentions:

Need your crazy action movie fix this month? Why not give “Headshot” a chance? Starring “The Raid” lead actor Iko Uwais, an incredibly gifted physical actor, who we said “delivers the bone-breaking, gravity defying flurry of kicks, punches, eye gouges, and throat throttling you’ve come to expect… At least in fits and starts, ‘Headshot’ is never lacking for explosive action scenes, and starts off with a bang.”

Michael Shannon may not have won an Oscar last week, but we bet he will some day. In the mean time, you can catch him in the basketball drama “Wolves,” which we said “manages to combine two disparate, often cliché-driven stories — the sports narrative and the addiction tale — into a film that is slightly more than the sum of its parts… Removing the sport from the equation still leaves a solid if predictable drama about the pressures of growing up and the challenges of a complex family dynamic, boosted by yet another great performance from Shannon.”

TABLE 19

With a story from Mark and Jay Duplass, starring Anna Kendrick, Tony Revolori, Stephen Merchant, Lisa Kudrow, and Craig Robinson, and directed by Jeffrey Blitz (“Spellbound,” “Rocket Science“),”Table 19” centers on a woman who, after being dumped by the best man, attends a wedding anyway and sits at the dreaded singles table, unceremoniously relieved of her maid of honor duties.

Director/writer/star Kris Avedisian turns the man child archetype on its head in his new film, “Donald Cried.” Executive produced by David Gordon Green, Jody Hill, and Danny McBride, the film follows two former childhood best friends who reconnect, and discover their lives couldn’t be more different.

Before I Fall - Still 1We calledBefore I Fall” a “stylish ‘Groundhog Day‘ with YA movie life lessons” when we saw it at Sundance this year. “The Zookeeper’s Wife” pairs up Jessica Chastain with some cute zoo animals, as directed by Niki Caro (“Whale Rider,” “McFarland“), the film is based on the 2007 book by Diane Ackerman about husband and wife zookeepers who convinced a Nazi zoologist to let them keep running their property as a pig farm, all while using the vast space to hide Jews escaping persecution and death. “The Sense of an Ending” is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Julian Barnes, telling a story of love, memory, and regret, and the upcoming film seems to capture the feel of the book, and is blessed with an incredible cast.

And to end things with the arthouse scene, there’s the deeply uncomfortable Greek character study “Suntan,” about a frumpy doctor on a tourist island who falls a little too hard for one of his younger patients. Things get weird from there. French filmmaker Francois Ozon likes to keep his audience on their toes, and his last three pictures are a good example of how he likes to switch things up each time around. 2012’s comedy/mystery “In The House” was followed by 2013’s provocative erotic drama “Young & Beautiful,” and 2014’s “The New Girlfriend” was a transgender melodrama. And now comes “Frantz” which sees Ozon shifting gears and going black and white for this WWI tale.