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Angels and Demons

Angels and Demons

Director: Ron Howard

Cast: Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgård, Pierfrancesco Favino, Armin Mueller-Stahl

(Sony; US theatrical: 15 May 2009 (General release); 2009)

Official Site

First, he took on the supposed biological lineage of one Jesus Christ. It made The Da Vinci Code a multimedia mega-million dollar smash. Now Dan Brown’s back, with a prequel that discusses the Church’s knowledge as to the true origins of life on Earth, and a horrific massacre used to cover it up. Tom Hanks and Ron Howard are returning as well (thankfully, the former has seen a decent hairdresser this time out), and Ewan McGregor and Stellan Skarsgård are on hand to add some thrills to this big budget mainstream adaptation. While the previous movie of Brown’s work was universally reviled as one of the worst of 2006, it did make a boatload of cash. And with Brown working on yet another Robert Langdon title for release later this year (The Lost Symbol, about Freemasonry), we can pretty much guarantee a return to this territory sometime in 2012, right?

Management

Director: Stephen Belber

Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn, Woody Harrelson, Fred Ward

(Samuel Goldwyn Company; US theatrical: 15 May 2009 (Limited release); 2009)

This critic has been told that former Friend Jennifer Aniston now makes movies. He’s been informed that she’s been in some rather popular titles—Marley and Me, The Breakup, Bruce Almighty—and that many in the fanbase think she is a fine actress. Sadly, a clear bias against said star makes this reviewer an untrustworthy source regarding this latest leap back toward Good Girl indie cred. It was made by Stephen Belber (Tape). It has Steve Zahn. Still, that Aniston issue…

O’Horten

Director: Bent Hamer

Cast: Bård Owe, Espen Skjønberg, Ghita Nørby, Henny Moan

(Sony Pictures Classics; US theatrical: 15 May 2009 (Very limited release); 2007)

Official Site

Foreign films always try to sneak in during the Summer and keep the arthouse crowd from going cinematically stir crazy. Sometimes, it works. Other times, the fare is so obscure that it fails to resonate with even the most devoted outsider film fan. Here we have a Norwegian export from 2007 centering on a retired train driver who some how winds up with a dead doctor’s dog. It all sounds so deadpan and overdrawn. Who knows.