Sometimes there are so many releases it’s hard to choose the best, but here are some good ones: the surprising if i Stay, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, for the trekkers and non-Trekkers alike: To Be Takei and a sweet love story in Love is Strange. —Angela Ortíz
if i Stay
Gayle Forman’s best-selling novel comes to the screen. It could have been a sappy tearjerker, but it wasn’t–at least not for me. I really enjoyed the film for what it was; young romance, parenting, life, death and humor. There’s some good acting by the very talented Chloë Grace Moretz and British actor Jamie Blackley as the young lovers. The rest of the cast include Mireille Enos, Joshua Leonard, Liana Liberato, Aisha Hinds, and Stacy Keach.
Frank Miller’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Co-directed with Robert Rodriguez, Sin City is back with all the stylized graphics you would expect from the first one. The four stories that intertwine through the film work nearly seamlessly, and they all feature familiar characters from the original Sin City and many new ones. There’s some good acting by actors who did all their scenes against a green screen, and they have some of the coolest posters around. The large cast includes Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Powers Boothe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Eva Green, Dennis Haysbert, Martin Csokas, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Chung, Jamie King, Alexa Vega, Julia Garner, Christopher Meloni, Jeremy Piven, Ray Liotta, Juno Temple, Christopher Lloyd, Stacy Keach, and Jude Ciccolella.
To Be Takei
This documentary about the 76-year-old actor/activist George Takei is a moving look at the many roles played by the actor who has become an internationally beloved figure. The day-to-day life of George and his husband/business partner Brad Takei reveals George’s fascinating personal journey, from his childhood in a Japanese American internment camp, to his iconic and groundbreaking role as Sulu on Star Trek. Included in the documentary are some of his old friends and new, like William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, Dan Savage, Walter Koenig, and Howard Stern, who opens the film. Takei is someone to watch. With a large following (he even has six million Facebook Likes) and a personality to match, this film will show every fan, trekkers and non-trekkers alike, what it truly means To Be Takei.
Love is Strange
Is filmmaker Ira Sachs’ critically acclaimed gay romantic drama starring Alfred Molina and John Lithgow as the longtime partners (40+ years) who finally tie the knot in a lower Manhattan ceremony. But when Molina’s character (George) loses his job, the couple must sell their apartment. And that’s when their dynamics change—they end up having to live separately with friends and family.Also starring Marisa Tomei, Manny Perez, Cheyenne Jackson, and Darren Burrows. In limited release (Los Angeles and New York.)
