CinePhillyist

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend.

Most Likely to Rule: Into Great Silence - A documentary about the remote Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps, on the occasion of its opening its doors to the public for the first time since being founded by St. Bruno in 1084. The director adapted himself to the ascetic lifestyle of the monks and captured their lives here without voice-over, musical score, interviews, or archival footage. Maybe it's just because we're weird, but that sounds really fascinating to us.
Trailer
Showing at: Ritz Five

Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams - A single mother is struggling to support her daughter in the Grbavica district of Sarajevo, a neighborhood once used as an internment camp during the Yugoslav wars. Things become more complicated when questions about the girl's father bring out some damaging truths about what happened during the war years. Sounds intense and interesting.
Trailer
Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse

Most Likely to Suck: The Condemned - A movie about where we all expect reality shows will eventually end up: a competition where condemned killers fight to the death on a remote island, and the sole survivor is then allowed to go free. Sort of like Running Man. This one stars Stone Cold Steve Austin as the main character (who we assume was wrongly convicted or something), with Vinnie Jones co-starring. That it has a wrestler in the main role is not a good sign, although we can't help being attracted to the story. Could be some mindless fun. But it's definitely the film coming out this weekend that's least likely to be good.
Trailer
Showing at: The Riverview, The Bridge

The Invisible - David Goyer directs this supernatural thriller which is sort of like Ghost, except it's a kid and he's not quite dead (as Monty Python would say). So he has to find out who beat him and left him for dead before his time runs out. Essentially he's trying to solve his own almost-murder whilst invisible, intangible, and inaudible to everyone around him. Sounds interesting! We'd watch it.
Trailer
Showing at: The Riverview

Kickin' It Old Skool - Jamie Kennedy plays a guy who wakes up in present day after being in a coma since 1986 - a coma brought on by a freak break-dancing accident. So of course Kennedy's character is still an '80s kid at heart, so in order to get back the girl of his dreams (now engaged to his grade school nemesis) and win the money back that his parents spent on his medical care, he needs to get the old crew together and bust a move. We're generally not a fan of Jamie Kennedy, but we have to admit, this sounds like a pretty brilliant idea for a movie. We're intrigued in spite of ourselves.
Trailer
Showing at: The Riverview

Next - The latest sci-fi thriller adaptation of a Philip K. Dick short story, this one stars Nicolas Cage as a guy who can see a few minutes in the future due to (what else?) cruel government experiments. He managed to escape his tormentors (sort of) and is using his gifts as a Las Vegas magician. Until one day he sees Los Angeles being destroyed by a nuclear holocaust and the government asks for his help to save the city. The movie also stars Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel, and Peter Falk. This one looks intriguing, but the track record of film adaptations of Philip K. Dick books - not to mention films starring Nicolas Cage - is pretty hit-and-miss, so we kind of suspect this one will suck. Although that wouldn't stop us seeing it if a friend was going...
Trailer
Showing at: The Riverview, The Bridge

From the Tsars to the Stars - This weekend, the I-House is doing a mini-film festival of Russian fantasy films. Things start off tonight with a screening of Zero City, a very surreal and absurdist film about an engineer sent to a small town to perform a simple job, only to be plunged into a series of insane events. Saturday's screenings start with Wladaslaw Starewicz's 1912 stop-motion animated film (The Cameraman's Revenge) that tells a classic story of adultery and revenge, starring bugs. Following that is a space film wherein human astronauts come upon a lone survivor of an alien spaceship who asks for their help in restoring her severely polluted home planet. It's screening here under the rather excellent title To the Stars by Hard Ways, but was shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000 as Humanoid Woman. That it was on MST3K is a bad sign, but it could be fun anyway. On Sunday, the I-House wraps things up with Ruslan and Ludmila, an epic fantasy about a guy fighting his way past dwarfs and witches to get his feisty, resourceful bride back from the impish sorcerer who kidnapped her on their wedding night. It's supposed to be crazy, inventive, and visually stunning. Sounds awesome!
Showing at: International House

Image via Zeitgeist Films