Movies Released August 17, 2012

Friday, August 17

93 mins

ParaNorman PG

About a 13-year-old protecting his small town from a zombie attack.
Casey Affleck, Sam Fell, Tempestt Bledsoe, John Goodman, Anna Kendrick, Leslie Mann, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Adventure Comedy Animation Stop-Motion
103 mins

The Expendables 2 R

Sylvester Stallone told the LA Times that if The Expendables does well, investors would likely fund a sequel for which he has "an idea ready to go." He did not reveal any plot details though.
Jean-Claude Van Damme, Liam Hemsworth, Mickey Rourke, Simon West, Jet Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone
Action Sequel
116 mins

Sparkle PG-13

The youngest sister in a sibling singing trio becomes a sensation but suffers conflict and tragedy in the process.
Debra Martin Chase, Mike Epps, Whitney Houston, Cee-Lo Green, Carmen Ejogo, Tika Sumpter, Michael Beach, Salim Akil
Drama Remake Musical
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84 mins

The Day R

A group of five survivors armed with shotguns, axes and machetes wander the back roads of a ravaged landscape looking for refuge in The Day, a look into a post-apocalyptic future. As war ravages humanity, destroying civilization and most of life on earth, the survivors realize they must do whatever it takes to stay alive. Lost, starving, and exhausted, they seek shelter in a seemingly safe abandoned farmhouse. However, while searching for food and resources, they unwittingly set off a trap signaling to their ruthless predators laying in wait to begin their deadly attack. With food and ammunition dwindling, the group must make a desperate final stand--over a 24 hour period--battling for their ultimate survival.
Ashley Bell, Doug Aarniokoski, Cory Hardrict, Luke Passmore, Shawn Ashmore, Michael Eklund, Dominic Monaghan, Shannyn Sossamon
Action Thriller Sci-Fi
108 mins

Cosmopolis R

A 28-year-old multimillionaire is chauffeured across Manhattan for a haircut but the journey takes 24 hours due to a presidential visit, anti-globalization demonstrations, and a celebrity funeral. Stuck in traffic, the reclusive financial wizard anxiously monitors the value of the yen on the limo's computer. Using the car as his office, he summons advisers from nearby shops and restaurants, as he discusses imminent financial ruin with his broker.
David Cronenberg, Robert Pattinson, Paulo Branco, Paul Giamatti, Howard Shore, Juliette Binoche, Mathieu Amalric, Samantha Morton
Drama

Why Stop Now? R

The unhealthy relationship between a drug-addicted mother and her college-bound son set on the day of his interview at Julliard and her planned arrival in rehab.
Ron Nyswaner, Phil Dorling, Melissa Leo, Jesse Eisenberg, Tracy Morgan
Drama Comedy
93 mins

Chicken with Plums

Tehran 1958 – Nasser Ali Khan, the most celebrated violin player, has his beloved instrument broken. Unable to find another to replace it, life without music seems intolerable. He stays in bed and slips further and further into his reveries from his youth to his own children’s futures. Over the course of the week that follows, and as the pieces of this captivating story fall into place, we understand his poignant secret and the profundity of his decision to give up life for music and love.
Golshifteh Farahani, Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi, Eric Caravaca, Mathieu Amalric, Edouard Baer, Maria de Medeiros, Chiara Mastroianni
Drama
New York / Los Angeles
2 / 5
Play Trailer Buy / Rent
99 mins

Side by Side

Join Keanu Reeves on a tour of the past and the future of filmmaking in Side by Side. Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium. Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood masters, such as James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Soderbergh, and many more.
James Cameron, Keanu Reeves, George Lucas, Christopher Kenneally, Martin Scorsese, Robert Rodriguez, Walter Murch, David Fincher
Documentary
79 mins

Death by China NR

A documentary feature that pointedly confronts the most urgent problem facing America today – its increasingly destructive economic trade relationship with a rapidly rising China. Since China began flooding U.S. markets with illegally subsidized products in 2001, over 50,000 American factories have disappeared, more than 25 million Americans can’t find a decent job, and America now owes more than 3 trillion dollars to the world’s largest totalitarian nation. Through compelling interviews with voices across the political spectrum, Death by China exposes that the U.S.-China relationship is broken and must be fixed if the world is going to be a place of peace and prosperity.
Peter Navarro
Documentary
Los Angeles
2 / 5
More Info Buy / Rent
139 mins

Beloved

A romantic musical drama spanning three decades as it follows a mother and daughter's misadventures in love. In the freewheeling Paris of the '60s, young Madeleine (Ludivine Sagnier)--who has gone from selling shoes to sleeping with men for money--falls for a handsome Czech doctor, Jaromil (Rasha Bukvic), whom she soon marries and joins in Prague. A baby daughter is born, but Jaromil's infidelities and the arrival of Russian tanks in Prague lead Madeleine back to France--though the love between them still burns. Thirty years later in London, we follow Madeleine's daughter, Vera (Chiara Mastroianni), who has fallen in love with a musician (American actor Paul Schneider) who is incapable of devoting himself to her, while her ex (Honore regular Louis Garrel) still pines for her. Meanwhile in Paris, a re-married Madeleine (Catherine Deneuve) has rekindled her love affair with Jaromil (Milos Forman).
Paul Schneider, Christophe Honoré, Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Ludivine Sagnier, Louis Garrel, Milos Forman
Drama Romance Musical

Friday, August 17