Halloween Weekend Movies: Something Wicked This Way Comes

After the cluttered fiasco at the box office last weekend, how worried do you think the Hollywood studios must be this weekend? Three wide releases take the stage and it’s difficult to tell if any will be successful.

The Weinstein Company intended to release the Bradley Cooper kitchen comedy ‘Burnt‘ onto a limited number of screens last weekend, but pulled out at the last minute to give the film a wide release this weekend instead. Despite minimal advertising, it’s actually opening on the most screens (2,400). Cooper stars as an up-and-coming chef whose personal life has destroyed his career. After hitting rock bottom, he reforms and seeks the cooking success that he failed to obtain in his past life. The promising cast includes Sienna Miller, Daniel Brühl, Omar Sy, Emma Thompson, Uma Thurman, Lily James and Alicia Vikander.

Warner Bros. has the second-widest release with the 2,200-screen debut of ‘Our Brand Is Crisis‘. Director David Gordon Green once again tackles a new genre with this satirical political drama. Based on the idea behind the award-winning 2005 documentary of the same name, Sanda Bullock stars as a has-been campaign strategist who’s known for giving it her all – for better or worse. When approached about working for a Bolivian presidential candidate, she takes the job when she learns that the competition’s campaign is headed by her arch rival (Billy Bob Thornton). The tone may be a little wonky at times, but Bullock, her supporting cast and Green’s approach make the film ultimately worthwhile. Anthony Mackie, Ann Dowd, Joaquim de Almeida, Scoot McNairy and Zoe Kazan co-star.

On 1,500 screens, the director of ‘Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones‘ delivers an R-rated horror comedy in the vein of ‘Zombieland’. ‘Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse‘ stars Tye Sheridan and a couple of unknown boys as scouts who try to survive and save their hometown from a zombie outbreak. The supporting cast includes David Koechner, Cloris Leachman, Blake Anderson and Patrick Schwarzenegger.

On a limited scale, Sony has a similar R-rated horror comedy of its own. From a no-name director, ‘Freaks of Nature‘ features a large and promising cast. Mackenzie David, Denis Leary, Vanessa Hudgens, Keegan-Michael Key, Bob Odenkirk, Joan Cusack, Mae Whitman and Patton Oswalt star in this over-the-top tale where humans must defeat invasions of vampires, zombies and aliens all at once.

Also in limited release is Gaspar Noé’s most recent shock-drama, ‘Love‘, which tells the story of an American guy and his French girlfriend who decide to invite another girl into their highly sexual relationship. Of course, things don’t go as expected. However, you can expect the usual amount of graphic Gaspar Noé sex, in 3D this time.

1 comment

  1. EM

    Time to return to the classics. Last night I attended a screening of the silent Phantom of the Opera (with live pipe organ) and a midnight showing of the 1977 Japanese psychedeliafest House a.k.a. Hausu.

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