CinePhillyist

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

Most Likely to Actually Be Good: Blindsight
This film is about six blind Tibetan teenagers who set out to climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest with the help of an experienced blind mountain climber. Which sounds like the plot of either a really terrible comedy, or a really ridiculous melodrama, but in fact this is a documentary. Wow. Looks totally fascinating, and as of this writing it's got a 100% freshness rating over on Rotten Tomatoes, so we'd say it's worth a try.
Trailer - Freshness
Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse

Chicago 10
The 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago featured violent, televised riots that polarized the nation. Eight of the most vocal anti-war activists involved were brought to trial the next year, and this film tells the story of that trial, using animation and archival footage. (If you want to know how they got the 10 in the title with only 8 defendants, you have to remember to add in the two defense attorneys.) Hank Azaria, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Nick Nolte, Jeffrey Wright, and Roy Scheider provide voice acting. The trial was apparently quite a circus, so this should be an interesting movie; plus, the critics like it!
Trailer - Freshness
Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse

Funny Games
Filmmaker Michael Haneke remakes his own film from 1997, about a family who head to their remote summer cabin for a fun getaway only to find themselves the subject of a series of cruel, twisted games when two psychopathic young men arrive to torture them. Apparently it's meant to be a commentary on the use of violence in entertainment. This time around, Naomi Watts and Tim Roth play the unfortunate couple. Reviews are a bit mixed, but they all seem to agree, if you're planning on going, be ready for a harrowing experience.
Trailer - Freshness
Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse

The Counterfeiters
This film adaptation of the fact-based book The Devil's Workshop won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, which is probably why it's finally hit the screens at the Ritz. It's about a team of counterfeiters assembled by the Nazis from prisoners in the concentration camps as part of a plan to create millions in fraudulent pounds and dollars in order to destabilize the economies of the Allies. The counterfeiters understandably experience many pangs of conscience. It sounds like an interesting story, and reviews are very good. Plus, there's that whole Oscar thing. Definitely worth a trip to the theater.
Trailer - Freshness
Showing at: Ritz Five

Most Likely to Be a Ton of Fun: Doomsday
In this futuristic action thriller from writer/director Neil Marshall, of The Descent fame, an entire country is walled off and quarantined when a deadly sickness known as the Reaper virus hits. Thirty years later, the virus suddenly resurfaces outside of the quarantined zone, and an elite team is assembled and sent into the walled-off country to try to find a cure. We've been impressed by Marshall's work so far, and this premise sounds pretty fascinating. Plus, the ads remind us of the Mad Max movies, and we love those movies. For all of these reasons, we definitely want to see this movie, even though as of this writing it has no freshness rating, which is usually a pretty bad sign.
Trailer - Freshness
Showing at: UA Riverview, The Bridge

Horton Hears a Who!
This 20th Century Fox computer-animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss' beloved story tells the story of an elephant who hears a cry for help coming from a tiny speck of dust floating through the air. He thinks there might be life on the speck and does what he can to help, despite the fact that everybody thinks he's crazy. Jim Carrey plays Horton and Steve Carrell plays the Mayor of Whoville. Carol Burnett, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Amy Poehler, and Jaime Pressly provide other voices. Padding out a very short Dr. Seuss story into a nearly two hour long movie sounds like a terrible idea, and indeed the ads for this don't make it look interesting at all. But the critics generally agree that it's a good movie, and that it stays true to Seuss' tale, so... what do we know?
Trailer - Freshness
Showing at: UA Riverview, The Bridge

Most Likely to Suck: Never Back Down
It's the Mixed Martial Arts movie we've all been waiting for! Well, we're sure somebody's been waiting for it, anyway. A young man looking for a way to fit in gets introduced to the world of MMA, finds a mentor in Jean Roqua (Djimon Hounsou), and then starts fighting his way toward victory. We're thinking he probably makes it. This film looks cliched, ridiculous, melodramatic, and all around terrible—and the reviews aren't so good, either. Avoid!
Trailer - Freshness
Showing at: UA Riverview

Cleo from 5 to 7
As part of its continuing celebration of its 30th birthday, the International House is screening movies from the Janus Films collection. This Saturday the selection is a black and white French film from 1962 which chronicles 90 minutes of nearly real time with pop singer Cleo Victorie as she awaits the results of a doctor's test for cancer. It's the story of a woman's journey with the city of Paris as metaphor and visual centerpiece. We're generally against French movies from the '60s, but this is a famous and critically acclaimed piece of film history, so we'll make an exception and recommend it.
Freshness
Showing at: The International House

Image via Internet Movie Poster Awards Gallery