Here Are All the Movies Opening Today, September 26. What Will You See?
Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, September 26. (Synopses provided by distributor unless noted otherwise.)
Asmodexia
Director: Marc Carreté
Cast: Lluís Marco, Clàudia Pons, Irene Montalà, Silvia Sabaté, Mireia Ros
Synopsis: “Eloy de Palma is an exorcist pastor roaming the darkest corners of the country with his granddaughter Alba. Their mission is to help those possessed by The Evil One, an infection of the soul that is spreading fast. Each exorcism is tougher than the one before, and every battle reveals a piece of Alba’s forgotten past – an enigma that if unconcealed could change the world as we know it.”
Theatrical Release: New York
Believe Me
Director: Will Bakke
Cast: Sinqua Walls, Alex Russell, Miles Fisher, Max Adler, Nick Offerman, Johanna Braddy, Christopher McDonald, Zachary Knighton
Synopsis: “Sam (Alex Russell) stands on stage as thousands of fans go wild. Smart, charismatic, handsome, he moves them with his message, and when he calls for donations to his charity, the money pours in. Only thing is, Sam doesn’t believe a word he’s saying. Just months earlier, Sam was a typical college senior focused on keg stands, hookups and graduation. But when a surprise tuition bill threatens his dream of law school and leaves him thousands of dollars in the hole, he’s forced to think outside the box. Convincing his three roommates they can make a killing exploiting the gullible church crowd, the guys start a sham charity and begin campaigning across the country, raising funds for a cause as fake as their message.”
Theatrical Release: Various (including New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix and Tampa)
Björk: Biophilia Live
Director: Peter Strickland & Nick Fenton
Synopsis: “In 2011, Icelandic artist Björk released her eighth full-length studio album Biophilia, yet the Biophilia project has continued beyond an album into performances, interactive applications, educational programs, and now a concert film. Working with co-directors Peter Strickland and Nick Fenton, Björk created this concert film for the Biophilia world tour’s final performance, at Alexandra Palace in London. In addition to the always fascinating Björk herself, the performance features an angelic Icelandic choir, Austrian percussionist Manu Delago, and numerous unusual instruments. In the film, the performance is juxtaposed with collages referencing tectonic plates, DNA, the moon, mushrooms, and many other objects of scientific interest.” [Karlovy Vary International Film Festival]
Theatrical Release: Various
The Boxtrolls
Director: Graham Annable & Anthony Stacchi
Cast: Isaac Hempstead Wright, Ben Kingsley, Elle Fanning, Simon Pegg, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Tracy Morgan, Richard Ayoade, Laraine Newman
Synopsis: “Cheesebridge, a posh Victorian-era town obsessed with wealth, class and the stinkiest of fine cheeses. Beneath its charming cobblestone streets dwell the Boxtrolls, foul monsters who crawl out of the sewers at night and steal what the townspeople hold most dear: their children and their cheeses. At least that’s the legend residents have always believed. In truth, the Boxtrolls are an underground cavern-dwelling community of quirky and lovable oddballs who wear recycled cardboard boxes the way turtles wear their shells. The Boxtrolls have raised an orphaned human boy since infancy as one of their dumpster-diving and mechanical junk-collecting own. When the Boxtrolls are targeted by a villainous pest exterminator who is bent on eradicating them as his ticket to Cheesebridge society, the kind-hearted band of tinkerers must turn to their adopted charge and an adventurous rich girl to bridge two worlds amidst the winds of change – and cheese.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B+ (12 reviews)
Theatrical Release: Wide
Days and Nights
Director: Christian Camargo
Cast: Katie Holmes, Ben Whishaw, Allison Janney, Jean Reno, William Hurt, Christian Camargo, Michael Nyqvist, Cherry Jones, Russell Means, Juliet Rylance, Mark Rylance
Synopsis: “Reckless desire wreaks havoc over one Memorial Day weekend, as a family comes face to face with the volatile and fragile nature of love. The film centers around Elizabeth (Allison Janney), a movie star, who brings her paramour Peter (Christian Camargo) to her lakeside estate to visit her family on Memorial Day weekend. The household includes her ailing brother (William Hurt), her artist son (Ben Whishaw), his ethereal muse (Juliet Rylance), the family doctor (Jean Reno) and the estate’s custodian (Russell Means), the careless caretaker (Michael Nyqvist) and his wife (Cherry Jones), their temperamental daughter (Katie Holmes) and her long suffering ornithologist husband (Mark Rylance) – the keeper of the sacred land where a bald eagle is trying to raise its young. During the weekend a disastrous turn of events leads the family from dysfunction to heartbreak and, ultimately, salvation.”
Theatrical Release: New York
The Equalizer
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Denzel Washington, Chloe Grace Moretz, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, Haley Bennett, Johnny Messner, Marton Csokas
Synopsis: “A former black ops commando who faked his death for a quiet life in Boston comes out of his retirement to rescue a young girl and finds himself face to face with Russian gangsters.”
Criticwire Grade Average: C+ (16 reviews)
Theatrical Release: Wide
Field of Lost Shoes
Director: Sean McNamara
Cast: David Arquette, Jason Isaacs, Nolan Gould, Luke Benward, Zach Roerig, Mary Mouser
Synopsis: “Based on a true story of the American Civil War, culminating at the Battle of New Market in May 1864, a group of teenage cadets, sheltered from war at the Virginia Military Institute, must confront the horrors of an adult world when they are called upon to defend the Shenandoah Valley.”
Theatrical Release: Various (including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Columbia, Columbus, Houston, Jacksonville and Richmond)
Fishing Without Nets
Director: Cutter Hodierne
Cast: Abdikani Muktar, Abdi Siad, Abduwhali Faarah, Abdikhadir Hassan, Reda Kateb, Idil Ibrahim
Synopsis: “In Somalia, principled, young husband and father Abdi turns to piracy to support his family. While his wife and child wait for him in Yemen, an outdated and fragile satellite phone is his only connection to all he truly values. Abdi and his fellow pirates hit the high seas and capture a French oil tanker, demanding a hefty ransom. During the long, tedious wait for the cash to arrive, Abdi forges a tentative friendship with one of the hostages. When some of the pirates resort to violence, Abdi must make dramatic choices to determine his course.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B+ (7 reviews)
Theatrical Release: Los Angeles (opens in New York on October 3rd)
Good People
Director: Henrik Ruben Genz
Cast: James Franco, Kate Hudson, Anna Friel, Omar Sy, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Spruell, Michael Jibson, Oliver Dimsdale, Diana Hardcastle
Synopsis: “Tom and Anna Reed, a young American couple, fall into severe debt while renovating Anna’s family home in London. As the couple faces the loss of their dream to have a house and start a family, they discover that the tenant in the apartment below them is dead, and he’s left behind a stash of cash—$400,000 worth. Though initially hesitant, Tom and Anna decide that the plan is simple: all they have to do is quietly take the money and use only what’s necessary to get them out of debt. But when they start spending the money and can’t seem to stop, they find themselves the target of a deadly adversary—the thief who stole it—and that’s when very bad things start happening to good people.”
Theatrical Release: Limited
Hellaware
Director: Michael M. Bilandic
Cast: Keith Poulson, Sophia Takal, Kate Lyn Sheil, Brent Butler
Synopsis: “Aspiring but less than ambitious photographer Nate clumsily navigates the New York City art world in a post-grad haze, waiting for his breakthrough project to fall into his lap. During a drug-fueled wormhole through the annals of YouTube, Nate discovers his next subjects when an arbitrary click lands him on a crude music video by the Young Torture Killaz—an Insane Clown Posse knock-off group of jaded Delaware teens with a lot to scream about—and the inspiration (and exploitation) flows.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B (6 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York
JIMI: All is By My Side
Director: John Ridley
Cast: André Benjamin, Imogen Poots, Adrian Lester, Ruth Negga, Hayley Atwell
Synopsis: “OutKast’s André Benjamin stars as Jimi Hendrix in this revealing biopic from writer-director John Ridley (“12 Years A Slave”). Covering a year in Hendrix’s life from 1966-67 as an unknown backup guitarist playing New York’s Cheetah Club to making his mark in London’s music scene up until his Monterey Pop triumph, the film presents an intimate portrait of the sensitive young musician on the verge of becoming a rock legend.” [SXSW Film Festival]
Criticwire Grade Average: B- (11 reviews)
Theatrical Release: Various (including New York and Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC)
Lilting
Director: Hong Khaou
Cast: Ben Whishaw, Cheng Pei-Pei, Andrew Leung, Peter Bowles, Naomi Christie, Morven Christie
Synopsis: “The sudden death of a young London man named Kai leaves his headstrong Chinese-Cambodian mother, Junn, and his boyfriend, Richard, each in a personal and profound state of grief. Feeling a strong sense of responsibility toward Kai’s only family member, Richard reaches out to Junn, who has been biding time in an assisted-living home. Though Junn speaks little English, her dislike of Richard is plain, and she meets him with stony resistance. Since they share no common language, Richard hires a translator to facilitate communication, and the two improbable relatives attempt to reach across a chasm of misunderstanding through their memories of Kai.” [Sundance Film Festival]
Criticwire Grade Average: B+ (13 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York (expands to Los Angeles on October 3rd and various other cities throughout the month)
The Little Bedroom
Director: Véronique Reymond & Stéphanie Chuat
Cast: Michel Bouquet, Florence Loiret Caille, Eric Caravaca
Synopsis: “When Edmond (Michel Bouquet), a man quickly facing the loss of his independence, is placed in a care facility after taking a bad fall, he discovers that his son has sold his apartment. Determined to reclaim his autonomy, he leaves the care facility with Rose (Florence Loiret Caille), an empathetic nurse still suffering from the loss of her unborn child. She takes him into her home to allow him the measure of freedom he deserves. Through this new living situation they develop a bond, which helps them move forward with their lives. However, the unlikely friends must face the consequences when Edmond is reported missing.”
Theatrical Release: New York (opens in Los Angeles on October 3rd)
Plastic
Director: Julian Gilbey
Cast: Ed Speleers, Will Poulter, Alfie Allen, Sebastian de Souza, Emma Rigby, Thomas Kretschmann, Graham McTavish
Synopsis: “The story of intelligent and brazen Sam (Speleers), who leads a ring of recruited university students to become credit card thieves to supplement their income. They inadvertently rob a notorious gangster named Marcel (Kretschmann) and are then forced to up their game 10 times the amount stolen with interest. They take their scam on the road to Miami, the city of “high stakes” to pay off their debt. After a series of unfortunate mistakes, Sam’s team falls short of their debt and they set their sights on a daring jewelry heist. Sam now needs to finish the scam, while turning the tables on Marcel before everyone in the team goes down.”
Theatrical Release: Limited
Pride
Director: Matthew Warchus
Cast: Bill Nighy, George MacKay, Dominic West, Andrew Scott, Imelda Staunton, Paddy Considine, Ben Schnetzer, Faye Marsay, Jessie Cave, Shane Salter, Chris Overton, Larissa Jones
Synopsis: “It’s the summer of 1984 – Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is on strike. At the Gay Pride March in London, a group of gay and lesbian activists decides to raise money to support the families of the striking miners, and later sets off in a mini bus headed for a mining village in deepest Wales to make their donation in person. And so begins the extraordinary story of two seemingly alien communities who form a surprising and ultimately triumphant partnership.” [Director’s Fortnight]
Criticwire Grade Average: A- (8 grades)
Theatrical Release: Limited
Smiling Through the Apocalypse: Esquire in the 60s
Director: Tom Hayes
Synopsis: “Exploring the revolution in journalism sparked by the turbulence of the 1960s, Smiling Through the Apocalypse is the story of maverick editor Harold T.P. Hayes, who made Esquire magazine a galvanizing force in American culture. A leading architect of the ‘New Journalism’, Hayes granted unprecedented journalistic freedom to the most talented artists and writers of the time including Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese, Nora Ephron, Peter Bogdanovich, Gore Vidal, Diane Arbus, Norman Mailer, and George Lois. Forging Esquire’s pop-cultural capital with provocative covers and controversial reportage, Hayes transformed the magazine into a rigorously curated reflection of the American zeitgeist. In Smiling Through the Apocalypse, filmmaker Tom Hayes – Harold’s son – paints a portrait of editorial genius using the voices and images of the iconic writers, photographers and artists who, with Hayes at the helm, brought Esquire to the vanguard of the cultural revolution.”
Theatrical Release: Los Angeles
The Song
Director: Richard Ramsey
Cast: Alan Powell, Ali Faulkner, Caitlin Nicol-Thomas, Danny Vinson, Kenda Benward, Landon Marshall, Jason Bynum
Synopsis: “The film follows aspiring singer-songwriter Jed King (Alan Powell) as he struggles to catch a break and escape the long shadow of his father, a country music legend. After reluctantly accepting a gig at a local vineyard harvest festival, Jed is love-struck by the vineyard owner’s daughter, Rose (Ali Faulkner), and a romance quickly blooms. Soon after their wedding, Jed writes Rose “The Song,” which becomes a breakout hit. Thrust into a life of stardom and a world of temptation in the form of fellow performer Shelby Bale (Caitlin Nicol-Thomas), Jed’s life and marriage begin to fall apart.”
Theatrical Release: Wide
The Two Faces of January
Director: Hossein Amini
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Oscar Isaac, David Warshofsky, Daisy Bevan, Aleifer Prometheus
Synopsis: “In the summer of 1962, on holiday in Greece, a glamorous American couple–played by Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst–meet a penniless young Yale dropout turned tour guide, played by Oscar Isaac. This, however, being an adaptation of a novel by Patricia Highsmith, creator of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train, no one is quite who they seem to be. Soon enough Mortensen is dragging a corpse down the corridor of his luxury hotel, and these three not-so-innocents abroad are thrown together in a tangled web of jealousy, deceit and danger, with the Greek police in hot pursuit.” [LA Film Festival]
Criticwire Grade Average: B (14 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York and Los Angeles (expands to various cities nationwide throughout October)
Two Night Stand
Director: Max Nichols
Cast: Miles Teller, Kid Cudi, Analeigh Tipton, Jessica Szohr
Synopsis: “A snowstorm forces two people who made an online connection to unwillingly extend their one-night stand.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B- (4 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco and Washington, DC
Missed last week? Here are all the releases from the weekend of September 19th.
