Weekend Movies: Into the Fire

Following the huge Thanksgiving success of the ‘Hunger Games’ sequel and Disney’s ‘Frozen’, this week has no big new films debuting to compete with those. However, that doesn’t mean you should sit this weekend out. We’re going full steam ahead into awards season!

Crazy Heart‘ director Scott Cooper has the only new wide release of the weekend. ‘Out of the Furnace‘ opens on just north of 2,000 screens. The bleak crime drama stars Christian Bale as a prison inmate whose brother (Casey Affleck) goes missing after getting involved with a notoriously violent group of gangsters. Upon his release, when law enforcement fails to turn any results, he decides to take matters into his own hands. Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard and Willem Dafoe co-star.

Starting small on just four screens this week is the Coen brothers’ latest drama, ‘Inside Llewyn Davis‘. Oscar Isaac leads the film about a folk singer in the early 1960s. Despite his talent, he’s not really an entertainer. His pessimism and other self-deprecating traits keep him from success. Even though Llewyn Davis is hardly a likable character, watching his life tank in a downward spiral is mesmerizing. Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and (of course) Coen stalwart John Goodman co-star.

Already available on VOD services, ‘The Last Days on Mars‘ will play on an unannounced number of screens (probably not many). The intense-looking sci-fi thriller appears to be a mix of ‘Alien‘, ‘Sunshine‘ and ‘Europa Report‘. While sampling the surface of Mars, a crew of astronauts stumbles across on unknown enemy that threatens the survival of the entire crew. Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas and Olivia Williams are the most notable names of this ensemble.

5 comments

  1. I liked Crazy Heart a lot, but I haven’t heard a single good thing about Out of the Furnace. In fact, there’s a lot of buzz that it’s one of the worst movies of the year.

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