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Morality Plays
Director James Mangold (Walk the Line, Identity) brings us the first remake of the new year, 3:10 to Yuma an update of the 1957 film of the same name. Christian Bale (Batman Begins, The Prestige) plays a struggling farmer and Civil War veteran who could earn enough money to keep his farm if he helps escort Russell Crowe (Master and Commander, Cinderella Man) to trial. Crowe is the dangerous gang leader Ben Wade, and as the rest of his gang closes in, the escorts begin to weigh the dangers of their situation against what they have to gain.
Kevin Bacon (Mystic River, The Woodsman ) plays a father seeking revenge on the gang that murdered his son in Death Sentence, the new film from James Wan (Saw).
Sunshine is the new science fiction suspense film by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Late). As the sun begins to fade and life on Earth is threatened with extinction, a team of scientists journey to detonate a nuclear device inside the sun with hopes of reigniting it. Experiencing the hard line between light and dark, Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, The Wind That Shakes the Barley), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, Cellular ), Cliff Curtis (Fracture, Live Free or Die Hard), and Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Supercop) begin to question whether they have the right to alter the natural lifespan of the sun.
The other sci-fi picture this week is Dragon Wars, where two dragons fight to control the destiny of mankind. Our two new horror films are White Noise 2, in which Nathan Fillion (Serenity, Waitress) tampers with the line between life and death, and Joshua, where a nine year old boy has a macabre reaction to his new infant sister.
Though many films get touted as "this year's Napoleon Dynamite," New Zeland's Eagle vs Shark, comes closer than most, as awkward Lily and Jarrod (Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords) meet and and court in a particularly Dynamite way. Anna Faris (Scary Movie, My Super Ex-Girlfriend) consumes a plate of her roommate's "special" cupcakes in Smiley Face, where she has a series of mind-altered misadventures, directed by Greg Araki (The Doom Generation, Mysterious Skin).
A poor Sicilian farmer and an English noblewoman meet during their voyage to America in The Golden Door, and their romance is tested as they face the challenges of Ellis Island at the dawn of the 20th century. A Brothers Grimm-stlye fairytale, Wool 100% is a Japanese fable involving two elderly sisters and the girl they find, endlessly knitting a sweater from red yarn.
A teenage girl finds a friend in an unlikely place in The Eye of the Dolphin, and Animal Planet has released Growing Up Arctic, following the development of a walrus, a seal, a polar bear, and a penguin.
The only new TV show on the shelves this week is The Richies, where a group of con artists pose as a middle-class family, starring Eddie Izzard (The Velvet Goldmine, Mystery Men) and Minnie Driver (Ella Enchanted, Grosse Pointe Blank).
