New To Theatres This Weekend: Angels & Demons, Management, The Brothers Bloom

Posted by on May 14th, 2009   Filed under: New Releases

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It’s another weekend with only one major new release, but multiplexes are going to start to get crowded now with Ron Howard’s Angels & Demons going up against both X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Star Trek. Does Star Trek have any hope of staying #1 for two weeks in a row? Rian Johnson’s The Brothers Bloom is also out this weekend, but only in a few theatres to start… it will expand over the next few weeks. As always, there’s a rom-com alternative for the ladies too: Management starring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn.

Note: I’m going to be away for the long weekend, so I’ll leave this post as sort of an open thread to discuss whatever you guys want. Feel free to post any breaking news stories in the comments, or if you see Angels & Demons, share your thoughts below.



  • Finally the trailer for The Road is released. All though the trailer is not very good, the post apocalypse world looks great. My guess is that this is just a case of a poorly made trailer. Still looking forward to the film in October.

    http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810037227/video/13468775/

  • Hannes

    Do you guys think Mark Ruffalo looks like a young Vincent D’onofrio?

  • Matt

    Film Ape,
    thanks for that trailer. I’ve been looking forward to The Road for a very long time. Though, I’m not sure that it was such a good idea to include the wife on the journey. Who’s Robert Duvall going to play anyway? I didn’t like the apocalypse shots either. It felt a little like The Day After Tomorrow or The Happening. And The Road isn’t supposed to be about that. It’s supposed to be about a father and his son facing adversity as they try to reach a better place. It’s supposed to be somewhat intimate. But the woods shot and the traveling and fighting were awesome. I’m still excited and looking forward to it. Just hoping they keep the apocalyse stuff and the wife to a minimum and background info.

    Hannes,
    Yes, Mark Ruffalo totally looks like a young Vincent D’onofrio.

    On a seperate note, All of the characters and the overall look of Big Man Japan make me really nauseous. I really don’t know why.

    On another seperate-er note, I don’t plan on seeing Angels and Demons because I got through about halfway of the book and the writing was so predictable, choppy, and sophomorish that I just couldn’t go on without feeling it was a giant waste of my time. On the other hand I just saw about 20 of the first minutes of The Da Vinci Code and that was actually pretty clever and intriguing. So maybe this is a case where the movie is better than the book. Thoughts?

  • Matt

    (Spoilers to anyone who has not read The Road)

    I think that The Road trailer is just poorly made and meant to deceive those who have not read the book. Theron is not shown traveling with The Man and The Boy, so it can be assumed that like in the book she does not. She is a good actress, and has a decent amount of popularity and it makes sense to convince the regular movie goers that she is a main character in the movie. That being said, I have not seen the film, so maybe her character has been embellished. I agree that the opening shots looked a lot like The Day After Tomorrow and The Happening, but the later scenes looked great. I loved director John Hilcoats last endeavour The Proposition and I really feel that the film will be nothing like the trailer. In response to your Angels and Demons comment, your plan to skip it is a wise one. To see a full review, click on my name.

  • Matt

    Film Ape,
    I feel like the producers wanted a larger audience and they decided that the movie should have a larger feel about itself. So they threw in some cheap special effects and Charlize Theron. I really hope that doesn’t tarnish the movie as a whole too much. And those elements can even be beneficial for the movie as long as it’s not overdone and overbearing.
    I think the trailer was done badly only in terms of what I was expecting from The Road trailer. But if the goal was to deceive the public that it’s a big budget blockbuster and atract a larger audience then it may succeed. I just hope that audiences realize how dark the thematic material is.
    I have not seen The Proposition yet, but based on your recomendation i plan to.
    I read your A&D review and found it very entertaining. I just wish it had been longer and more in depth.
    “…Robert Langdon, a human being that seems incapable of not saying what he is thinking.” I’m sure you could give us one example without ruining the “explosive” plot.
    “…if Ron Howard butchered the novel Angels and Demon it would still be better than the film version of The Davinci Code.” Are you saying you liked the book? Were there any noticable differences? How was the movie version butchered?
    What is so bad about the acting of almost everyone involved?
    I certainly don’t mean to call you out or criticize. I just feel that your review would have been even better if the questions posed above were answered. I’m also sorry that I responded here on Filmjunk, but I couldn’t leave a comment on your blog for some reason. Browser issues of something.
    Anyway, keep up the good work.

  • Matt

    (Angels and Demons spoilers)

    I did enjoy the book, even though I would not hold it to any high literary standards. I did not enjoy The Davinci Code novel, and I find that the general consensus is that A&D is better than TDC. There were many noticeable differences in the film when compared to the book. I do try to consider the film as its own entity, but here are some major differences. In the beginning of A&D (the book) it focuses in on a CERN particle accelerator facility that has created anti-matter. A priest/scientist is murdered and branded with the sign of the illuminati and the anti-matter is stolen. The theme of science coexisting with religion is introduced. This is the most intriguing part of the book. The anti-matter then becomes the device that holds the Vatican hostage, and the book becomes a race against time mystery. The film shows the particle accelerator facility for about five minutes, just long enough to introduce the anti-matter and then have it stolen. In the book it is the CERN facility that brings in Robert Langdon who is an expert at symbology. In the movie it is the Vatican. The female lead Vittoria who is a scientist for CERN is a strong character in the book, but is not developed at all in the movie. That is my biggest complaint. She goes from being a character as important as Robert Langdon, to being an insignificant side character. As for the acting, all involved just seem to phone in their characters. Whether Tom Hanks is looking at statues, or a cardinal being burned alive his facial expression never changes. Ewan Mcgregor who is a very good actor has this sort of brooding attitude for the whole film that did not work for me. Other supporting characters just fall into stereotypes. Stellan Skarsgard is the hardnosed no nonsense Vatican Police commander. Pierfrancesco Favino is his sympathetic Inspector. There was no range or ark for any of the characters. Robert Langdon’s annoying dialogue consists mostly of him running around and explaining catholic history to anyone who is listening. My favourite moment (and this is not verbatim) was when he gets stumped looking for a certain church. He ask a tour guide if so and so (can’t remember name) might have built a church. She can only think of one, and with an exaggerated eye brow raise Hanks says “One that’s exactly what I need” or something like that.

  • I’ve watched the first five minutes of The Da Vinci Code. Maybe I’ll watch the rest of it this weekend.

    I read that Ron Howard thinks he followed the book too closely when he made The Da Vinci Code. Ironically, he chose to deviate from the book Angels & Demons even though it was more of a straight thriller and generally considered better than the first book as Film Ape has pointed out.

    Hannes, now that you brought it up, I’m sure Mark Ruffalo and Vincent D’onofrio will be cast as brothers in an upcoming film.

    Anyone have any thoughts about the Cannes Film Festival going on now?

  • I enjoyed “Angels & Demons” for what it was. Ron Howard’s style is simply vanilla. His style is that he has no style. It was definitely better than “The Da Vinci Code.”

  • Matt

    Thanks Film Ape,
    I knew most of the plot already, so I didn’t need all of that, but thanks for your clarification anyway.
    The trailer for Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus came out today on Yahoo. If you haven’t seen it already, do yourself a favor and check out this Cheese-tastic spectacle.
    http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810073256/video/13484452

  • Toe Fu

    My hopes were crushed as I was looking forward to the original release date of The Road this past fall. It will be a long wait until the fall. I’ve read the majority of Cormac’s books and even though The Road places towards the lower end of my favorite spectrum, my spark of excitement still shines blowtorch tight. A knife wielding Omar is the icing on the apocalyptic cake. Give that man some Honey-Nut!

  • modesilver

    NEW SHERLOCK HOLMES TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4K3aM5H5KM

    looks amazing. i’m looking forward to this.

  • Matt

    Looks like a fun movie. Felt a lot like Iron Man. And the fistfight looked very much like Guy Richie’s Snatch. That came out wrong. But you know what I mean.