STORY BY NED LEEBRICK-STRYKER
Fall break is almost here, and I couldn’t be more excited. Finally, I can return to home cooked meals, sleeping in late and having a clean bathroom.
But what I care the most about is access to a movie theater. I don’t have a car in Des Moines, so it’s always a struggle if I want to head over to the multiplex to catch a flick. Back home in Minnesota, I can take a bus that’ll zip me over to the AMC in five minutes, so I am going to take advantage of that.
There’s a lot out that I’ve been meaning to see. When I step foot in that overpriced, gigantic behemoth that they call a theater, you can bet I’m not staying for just one.
“The Equalizer” looks like it could be a great guilty pleasure. It’s based off a TV show from the 80s and from the little research I did, looks nothing like it. Denzel Washington stars, playing some kind of retired badass, which makes me happy. The violence looks stylized and extreme and the story looks fast and frenetic. I haven’t seen a good, action for the sake of action, movie in a long time and this will probably fit the bill.
Speaking of a badass, Liam Neeson can easily claim that title. From “The Grey” to “Taken,” Neeson has become quite the action star in recent years. “A Walk Among The Tombstones” will probably keep that trend going. This time, Neeson plays a retired NYPD cop who now works as a private investigator and is tasked with finding a murderer and yada yada yada. Who cares, really? Just give me some cool lines to quote or scenes to reenact and I’ll be more than happy. Neeson has been generating some buzz for his performance, so this is definitely on my list.
If I’m in the mood for something lighter, “The Boxtrolls” actually looks really fun. It’s from Laika, the studio behind “Coraline” and “ParaNorman.” It uses that “Wallace and Gromit” stop-motion style of animation, which usually dazzles and scares me at the same time. The story is about the aforementioned Boxtrolls who live underground and, of course, are terribly scary to people who don’t know that they’re funny, cute and harmless little fellas. Ben Kingley’s character wants to get rid of them and I’m sure hilarity ensues. I haven’t seen a good ol’ family film in a while and this one will do just fine.
“Gone Girl” is what I’ll see first. Oh, boy, am I excited to go to this one. David Fincher, the guy behind “Fight Club” and “The Social Network” directs, which is sign enough that this is going to be fantastic. Ben Affleck stars as a man accused of murdering his wife, played by Rosamund Pike, but everything is not how it seems. I’ve tried to stay away from most information about this picture because I know I’ll be surprised more than once while sitting through it. If Fincher is behind it, there will no doubt be twists and turns, shocks and thrills. Count me in.
