Money Monster is a dramatic thriller directed by Jodie Foster. Playing out in real time, a cheerfully self-absorbed Financial News Network talking head Lee Gates (George Clooney) has his show (called Money Monster) hijacked by an angry viewer named Kyle (Unbroken’s Jack O’Connell) who shows up with a gun and a pair of bomb vests, looking for retribution after a bad stock tip from Gates led to him losing his home. (See full review).
Opens May 13. See listing.
Rating: NN
Dheepan is beautiful and furious. Following three Tamil refugees building new lives in France, it conveys the sensory experience of displacement – adjusting to new customs and languages feel like stumbling in the dark unfamiliar faces look judging, suspicious or mocking the guilt for what was left behind lives deep inside and the longing for a home seems hard-wired with a sense of defeat – but also makes room for humour and compassion. (See full review).
Opens May 13. See listing.
Rating: NNNNN
Kill Zone 2 is about half an hour too long, with a plot so convoluted it should come with a flow chart. But none of that matters, because once people start jumping across rooms to murder each other, it’s so much damn fun. Tony Jaa stars as Thai prison guard with an ailing daughter (Unda Kunteera Yhordchanng) whose only chance of survival is a bone-marrow transplant from Hong Kong cop Kit (Wu Jing), who’s landed in the guard’s prison after a botched hit – but because they don’t speak each other’s languages, neither man knows this. (See full review).
Opens May 13. See listing.
Rating: NNN
A Bigger Splash features Tilda Swinton as pop star Marianne, who’s recovering from throat surgery that prevents her from speaking and has retreated with her lover, Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts), to an idyllic Italian island where they loll on the beach, eat and make love. But when her obnoxious ex-boyfriend and record producer Harry (Ralph Fiennes) shows up with his (maybe) daughter (Dakota Johnson), the Garden of Eden gets disrupted by desire of all kinds – snakes, too. (See full review).
Opens May 13. See listing.
Rating: NNNN
Neon Bull finds grim economic commentary in the lives of a handful of Brazilians who work in a rodeo, tending bulls that are roped by flashy riders in the ring. Writer/director Mascaro (August Winds) focuses primarily on Iremar (Juliano Cazarré), a young man who’s the de facto patriarch of his little family of migrant workers. (See full review).
Opens May 13. See listing.
Rating: NNNN
Fire Song tells a familiar story, but it’s beautifully shot, heartfelt and demonstrates a real sensitivity to youth, LGBT and First Nations issues. On a northern Ontario reserve, bright teenager Shane (Andrew Martin) is at a crossroads. His sister has just committed suicide, and his mother (Jennifer Podemski) has sunk into a debilitating depression. (See full review).
Opens May 13. See listing.
Rating: NNNN
How To Plan An Orgy In A Small Town is a bit of a bait-and-switch, being an awkward sex comedy that reveals a surprisingly warm heart. Jewel Staite (Firefly) stars as Cassie Cranston, a big-city sex columnist who returns to her hometown of Beaver Ridge, Ontario, for her mother’s funeral and finds herself enlisted in the titular activity by a bunch of would-be swingers, among them her former rival (Lauren Lee Smith), a withdrawn music store owner (Jonas Chernick) and an old flame (Ennis Esmer). (See full review).
Opens May 13. See listing.
Rating: NNN
Sunset Song is an adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s novel about a young Scots woman (Agyness Deyn) maturing into adulthood, turned into a series of emotional grace notes by writer/director Davies. Deyn makes a striking lead as Chris Guthrie, who struggles to escape the shadow of her ferociously religious father (Peter Mullan, doing his Peter Mullan thing) and define herself as her own woman, even as she’s drawn toward a young man (Kevin Guthrie) from the village. (See full review).
Opens May 13. See listing.
Rating: NNNN
Available now on Netflix
American Ultra is a stoner spin on The Bourne Identity, with Jesse Eisenberg playing Mike Howell, a sweet-natured West Virginia pothead, convenience-store clerk and occasional cartoonist who discovers he’s a brainwashed CIA super-soldier – and that his former employers are trying their best to take him out. This would be annoying even if he wasn’t just about to propose to his girlfriend (Kristen Stewart). (See full review).
Rating: NNNN
Watch it here.
