Photo: Lionsgate
- SXSW's Grand Jury Prize winner for Best Documentary, Peace Officer, hits the Ritz theaters on October 2. The documentary takes a critical look at the militarization of America's police forces through the eyes of William "Dub" Lawrence, who established his small town's first SWAT team, only to see that same team murdered his son–in–law during a controversial stand–off.
- Continuing its "Marvel vs. DC" movie series, Gregory College House is showing Superman, the original 1978 film about the god–like comic book figure. Stick around for some pulpy performances from a reasonably stacked cast, including Marlon Brando as Superman's father, Jor-El; Gene Hackman as an actually good version of Lex Luthor (before Kevin Spacey would ruin the character in that awful 2006 movie); and, of course, Christopher Reeve as the man in tights himself.
WHAT TO BRING UP IN FILM CLASS:
- Sicario is getting a ton of buzz as the little indie that could, having made over $390,000 from playing on just six screens in New York and L.A. Now that the movie will be getting an increasingly wide release, make sure to catch Emily Blunt as FBI agent Kate Macer, who plays a pawn in the War on Drugs, manipulated by her Department of Defense contractor handlers, Matt (Josh Brolin) and Alejandro (Benicio del Toro).
- Playing similar limited–release games, Everest was initially released exclusively in IMAX and premium theaters and made a ton of money; the trick would be to increase returns upon a wider release–– and boy, did it ever. The additional 2,400 screens raked in a little more than $13 million, taking the movie to the *peak* (Ed. note: mountain pun) of success. Tons of people are lining up to see Jake Gyllenhaal and co. die climbing a CGI mountain (that’s not a spoiler—the movie is based on Jon Krakauer’s 1997 book Into Thin Air about the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster) but we’ll see how this strategy really works when The Walk, Joseph Gordon–Levitt’s movie about walking a high–wire across the Twin Towers, adopts the same strategy.
WHAT TO STREAM:
- Difficult People just finished its first season on Hulu, and based on a casual survey of friends, it is criminally underwatched. I won’t call this a modern–day Seinfeld, but Julie Klausner and Billy Eichner do play two nihilist Jewish comedians who frequently point out (real and imaginary) faux pas while irritating everyone around them, so I also won’t not say that.
- The fourth season of Homeland comes to Netflix on October 12. I’ll be honest–– I have not watched this show since that disaster of a season two finale. But, season four is pretty widely considered a “getting back on the right track” season, and I’ll definitely be watching to see if that’s true.
Photo: Lionsgate
