Here Are All the Movies Opening Today, March 20; What Will You See?
Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, March 20. (Synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.)
Wide
The Divergent Series: Insurgent
Director: Robert Schwentke
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Naomi Watts, Maggie Q, Kate Winslet, Jai Courtney, Zoë Kravitz, Ray Stevenson, Octavia Spencer, Suki Waterhouse, Rosa Salazar, Daniel Dae Kim, Mekhi Phifer
Synopsis: “Beatrice Prior must confront her inner demons and continue her fight against a powerful alliance which threatens to tear her society apart.”
Criticwire Grade Average: C+ (5 reviews)
Do You Believe?
Director: Jonathan M. Gunn
Cast: Mira Sorvino, Sean Astin, Alexa PenaVega, Delroy Lindo, Andrea Logan White, and Cybill Shepherd
Synopsis: “A dozen different souls—all moving in different directions, all longing for something more. As their lives unexpectedly intersect, they each are about to discover there is power in the Cross of Christ … even if they don’t believe it. Yet. When a local pastor is shaken to the core by the visible faith of an old street-corner preacher, he is reminded that true belief always requires action. His response ignites a faith-fueled journey that powerfully impacts everyone it touches in ways that only God could orchestrate.”
The Gunman
Director: Pierre Morel
Cast: Sean Penn, Javier Bardem, Ray Winstone, Jasmine Trinca, Peter Franzen
Synopsis: “An international operative named Martin Terrier wants out of the game, so he can settle down with his longtime love. The organization he works for has other plans in mind, and he is forced to go on the run across Europe.”
Criticwire Grade Average: C- (6 reviews)
Limited
Accidental Love
Director: Stephen Greene
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Biel, James Marsden, Catherine Keener, Paul Reubens, Kirstie Alley, James Brolin, Tracy Morgan, Malinda Williams, Kurt Fuller, David Ramsey, Michael Harding, Olivia Crocicchia, Conrad Goode
Synopsis: “A small town waitress gets a nail accidentally lodged in her head causing unpredictable behavior that leads her to Washington, DC, where sparks fly when she meets a clueless young senator who takes up her cause – but what happens when love interferes with what you stand for?”
Theatrical Release: Limited
Amour Fou
Director: Jessica Hausner
Cast: Christian Friedel, Birte Schnoeink, Stephan Grossmann, Katharina Schüttler, Sandra Hüller, Holger Handtke, Barbara Schnitzler, Alissa Wilms, Peter Jordan, Paraschiva Dragus, Gustav Peter Wöhler, Marie-Paul von Roesgen, Marc Bischoff
Synopsis: “Young poet Heinrich wishes to conquer the inevitability of death through love, yet is unable to convince his sceptical cousin Marie to join him in a suicide pact. It is whilst coming to terms with this refusal, ineffably distressed by his cousin’s insensitivity to the depth of his feelings, that Heinrich meets Henriette, the wife of a business acquaintance. Heinrich’s subsequent offer to the beguiling young woman at first holds scant appeal, that is until Henriette discovers she is suffering from a terminal illness.” [Cannes Film Festival]
Criticwire Grade Average: A- (11 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York
Backcountry
Director: Adam MacDonald
Cast: Missy Peregrym, Jeff Roop, Eric Balfour, Nicholas Campbell
Synopsis: “An urban couple camps in the wilderness and get hopelessly lost. Without food or water, they struggle to find their way back. When they enter a predatory bear’s territory, their trip turns into a horrific tale of tragedy, will, and survival.” [Toronto International Film Festival]
Criticwire Grade Average: B (6 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York (opens in Los Angeles on March 27th)
Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police
Director: Lauren Lazin & Andy Grieve
Cast: Sting, Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers
Synopsis: “Against all odds, The Police conquer the world in the 70s and 80s with their innovative music. We follow guitarist Andy Summers during his triumph with the Police, which he admits being started at the Dutch Pinkpop Festival. We also see the inevitable demise and the remarkable resurrection of the band at the beginning of the 21st century.”
Theatrical Release: New York (opens in Los Angeles on April 3rd)
Danny Collins
Director: Dan Fogelman
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Al Pacino, Josh Peck, Michael Caine, Katarina Cas, Annette Bening
Synopsis: “Inspired by a true story, Al Pacino stars as aging 1970s rocker Danny Collins, who can’t give up his hard-living ways. But when his manager uncovers a 40 year-old undelivered letter written to him by John Lennon, he decides to change course and embarks on a heartfelt journey to rediscover his family, find true love and begin a second act.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B- (4 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York and Los Angeles (expands to various cities on March 27th)
Growing Up and Other Lies
Director: Darren Grodsky & Danny Jacobs
Cast: Adam Brody, Wyatt Cenac, Wyatt Cenac, Josh Lawson, Amber Tamblyn, Lauren Miller, Scott Adsit, Jon Glaser
Synopsis: “After living for years as a struggling artist in New York City, Jake is calling it quits and returning home to Ohio. On his last day in the city, he persuades his three oldest friends – Billy, Rocks and Gunderson – to help him retrace their greatest adventure together: a walk down the entire length of Manhattan.”
Theatrical Release: New York
Jauja
Director: Lisandro Alonso
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Ghita Nørby, Viilbjork Agger Malling, Adrian Fondari, Esteban Bigliardi, Brian Patterson
Synopsis: “The Ancient Ones said that Jauja was a mythological land of abundance and happiness. Many expeditions tried to find the place to verify this. With time, the legend grew disproportionately. People were undoubtedly exaggerating, as they usually do. The only thing that is known for certain is that all who tried to find this earthly paradise got lost on the way.” [Cannes Film Festival]
Criticwire Grade Average: B+ (16 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
Director: David Zellner
Cast: Rinko Kikuchi, Nobuyuki Katsube, Nathan Zellner, David Zellner, Shirley Venard, Kanako Higashi, Ayaka Onishi, Mayuko Kawakita, Yumiko Hioki, Brad Prather
Synopsis: “A lonely Japanese woman becomes convinced that a satchel of money buried in a fictional film is, in fact, real. Abandoning her structured life in Tokyo for the frozen Minnesota wilderness, she embarks on an impulsive quest to search for her lost mythical fortune.”
Criticwire Grade Average: A- (25 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York, Los Angeles and Seattle (expands to various cities throughout the beginning of May)
La Sapienza
Director: Eugène Green
Cast: Fabrizio Rongione, Ludovico Succio, Arianna Nastro, Christelle Prot Landmann
Synopsis: “In the long-awaited new film from French auteur Eugène Green, a brilliant architect seeks spiritual and artistic renewal during a life- changing voyage to Italy to study the work of the great 17th century architect Francesco Borromini.” [Toronto International Film Festival]
Criticwire Grade Average: A- (8 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York (opens in Santa Fe on May 8th and Miami on May 15th)
Lost and Love (Shi Gu)
Director: Peng Sanyuan
Cast: Andy Lau, Boran Jing, Sandra Ng, Tony Leung Ka Fai
Synopsis: “After losing his two-year-old son, Lei (Andy Lau) begins a fourteen-year-long quest in search of his missing child. On the road, he makes a stop at a repair shop where he comes across a young repairman, Ceng, who was also kidnapped at the age of four. Robbed of the life he was meant to live, Ceng can only vaguely remember snippets of home — a chain-link bridge, bamboo trees, and his mother’s long braids.”
Theatrical Release: Various (including New York and Los Angeles, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Edmonton, Montreal, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver)
She’s Lost Control
Director: Anja Marquardt
Cast: Brooke Bloom, Marc Menchaca, Robert Longstreet, Dennis Boutsikaris, Laila Robins, Tobias Segal, Roxanne Day, Ryan Homchick, Robert Longstreet
Synopsis: “Ronah works as a sexual surrogate, teaching inhibited men what they fear most: intimacy. Her clients are referred to her by a psychotherapist. She and one of their number casually make the bed where they will sleep together; later on she lets him show her his new business idea on his laptop as if they were best friends. Such scenes are interspersed with hotel hallways, claustrophobic shots of Manhattan’s urban canyons, hassles with workmen, cries for help from Ronah’s brother she chooses to ignore, even as he tells her that their mother has disappeared. It is impossible to identify when exactly she loses control. She’s clearly not been able to get a handle on her new, auto-aggressive client Johnny with his soft voice, his intelligence, his occasional mocking remarks. She starts to fall in love with him instead.” [Berlin International Film Festival]
Criticwire Grade Average: B (7 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York
Spring
Director: Justin Benson & Aaron Scott Moorhead
Cast: Lou Taylor Pucci, Nadia Hilker, Francesco Carnelutti, Nick Nevern, Jeremy Gardner, Vinny Curran, Shane Brady, Chris “Cage” Palko
Synopsis: “After his mother dies, Evan tries to drown his pain in beer at the bar where he works, drinking with his friends Tommy and Mike. On his way to the bathroom, Evan bumps into a wanna-be thug, but the inconsequential moment quickly escalates when the guy picks up a bottle. Evan beats the shit out of him. The bar owner fires Evan, leaving him with few options (and the possibility of legal action from the asshole he beat up). Evan makes a spur of the moment decision to fly to Italy to get away from his problems. Once in Italy, Evan makes fast friends with Tom and Sam, two boisterous Brits seemingly on a mission to drink all the beer in Italy. The three rent a car and head down the coast to a small tourist town on the water. While drinking with the boys, he sees a beautiful woman, but his attempts to get a date with her fail. When the Brits leave for Amsterdam, Evan stays behind and finds a room in exchange for work with an old farmer. He runs into the stunning woman again and manages to get himself a date, and then another, but it soon becomes clear that she has dark secrets that may destroy them both.” [Fantastic Fest]
Criticwire Grade Average: A (6 reviews)
Theatrical Release: Various (including New York and Los Angeles, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Santa Cruz)
Tracers
Director: Daniel Benmayor
Cast: Marie Avgeropoulos, Taylor Lautner, Adam Rayner, Rafi Gavron, Sam Medina, Luciano Acuna Jr., Doua Moua
Synopsis: “After he crashes his bike into a super-sexy stranger named Nikki, Cam is introduced to her crew — a team that uses parkour to pull off heists. Hoping to alleviate his deepening debt to a violent crime gang, Cam quickly joins the group. As the stakes get higher with more dangerous side ventures, the payouts get bigger. Cam must use every ounce osf his skill to stay alive as the crew’s heists grow more daring with each job, and gang enforcers breathe relentlessly down his neck.”
Theatrical Release: Various (including New York and Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, DC
The Walking Deceased
Director: Scott Dow
Cast: Tim Ogletree, Joey Oglesby, Dave Sheridan, Troy Ogletree
Synopsis: “Join the Sheriff with his son, and a motley crew of survivors as they weather confrontations with zombies, meet up and then leave their tattered camp–a partially destroyed shopping mall. The group journeys to the supposed Safe Haven Ranch seeking shelter from the owners, a fascinating and diabolical older couple. Along for the ride with the still-human survivors is a lone zombie who begins to see and develop his human side when he hooks up with the brash female lead.”
Theatrical Release: Various (including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle)
Zombeavers
Director: Jordan Rubin
Cast: Bill Burr, Rachel Melvin, Cortney Palm, Hutch Dano, Jake Weary, Rex Linn, Lexi Atkins, Peter Gilroy
Synopsis: “An action-packed horror/comedy in which a group of college kids staying at a riverside cabin are menaced by a swarm of deadly zombie beavers. A weekend of sex and debauchery soon turns gruesome as the beavers close in on the kids. Riding the line between scary, sexy and funny, the kids are soon fighting for their lives in a desperate attempt to fend off the hoard of beavers that attack them in and around their cabin.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B (5 reviews)
Theatrical Release: Various (including New York and Los Angeles, Columbus, Denver, Seattle and Tuscon)
Missed last week? Here are all the releases from the weekend of March 13th.
