Opening This Week: “Wreck-It Ralph” and “Flight”
Posted on October 29, 2012 at 3:59 pm
This week, a new film from Disney pays tribute to the early years of video games, when designers were limited to 8 bits and you had to go to the arcade and pay in quarters. “Wreck-It Ralph” is a fictional game that feels completely authentic, and the story is about what happens when Ralph gets tired of being the bad guy and visits some other games to try to become a hero. John C. Reilly plays Ralph and Sara Silverman plays a bratty little girl from another game. There are many in-jokes and appearances from classic video game characters in what has been called the “Roger Rabbit” of computer games.
Coincidentally, the director of “Roger Rabbit” also has a movie opening up this week. Robert Zemeckis has spent the past few years making motion-capture animated films like “Mars Needs Moms,” “Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” and “Beowulf.” He’s back to live action for the first time in more than a decade with “Flight,” starring Denzel Washington as a pilot who is first acclaimed as a hero when he saves the passengers after his plane crashes, and then is the subject of an investigation.
that takes the reader back and forth through six different stories from the past, present, and future, mixed up with philosophy, history, science, and puzzles. This is a dream project for the Wachowskis, the sibling duo behind the “Matrix” films, and Tom Twyker of “Run Lola Run.” From an 18th century seagoing vessel to a 1930’s musician, a 1970’s reporter, a present-day publisher, and a future society with clones, the story is ambitious, demanding, and provocative.
is a memoir by Richard “Frosty” Hesson about mentoring a young surfer named Jay Moriarity who wanted to learn to surf the gigantic waves known as “mavericks” and his commitment to living life with “joy and purpose.” “Chasing Mavericks” is the story of the friendship between the two surfers, directed by Curtis Hanson (“LA Confidential,” “Wonder Boys”).
, who wrote and directed. Keep an eye out for Ezra Miller, who was extraordinary in “We Need to Talk About Kevin” and “City Island.” Finally, summer might be over but there’s always another comic-book movie. This week there’s “Dredd 3D” is a remake of 
, a campy Sylvester Stallone film based on 
It isn’t screening for critics, so it’s fair to assume they’re not expecting any Oscars for this one.
concert. Reviews of both will be posted in a few hours.