Sometimes real life is more interesting than fiction and the people behind this week’s new releases hope you’ll agree. Half of the films are either true stories or based on real events, including a movie about one of the men behind the Apple brand.
Ashton Kutcher plays late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in the drama Jobs. The PG-13 film is based on real events and traces Jobs’ life back to his early days when he dropped out of college and began his company as a startup. It shows the ups and downs of the man that many consider to be one of the most influential people of the century. The two hour and two minute biopic co-stars Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, J.K. Simmons and Matthew Modine.
Get a look at American history through the eyes of a man who worked under eight presidents in Lee Daniels’ The Butler. The PG-13 film tells the story of butler Cecil Gaines, a man who experienced change both inside and outside the White House under the Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Kennedy, and the Johnson administrations among others. The dramatic biopic is based on real events and features an all-star cast of Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Terrence Howard, Minka Kelly, Lenny Kravitz, James Marsden, Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Redgrave, Liev Schreiber and Robin Williams. The film plays for two hours and twelve minutes.
The teenage superheroes are back for Kick-Ass 2. In the sequel to the hit 2010 film, Hit Girl and Kick Ass try to be just regular high school students, but they can’t completely stop themselves from fighting crime. When Hit Girl gets caught leaving her house, she is forced to retire, leaving Kick Ass on his own. As a result, he decides to join a group of amateur crime fighters led by ex-mobster Colonel Stars and Stripes. When the evil The Mother F%&*^r wreaks havoc around town, the group discovers that the only way to stop him is to get the help of Hit Girl. The one hour and forty-seven minute comedic action film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, John Leguizamo, Donald Faison and Jim Carrey. It’s rated R for violence, language, sex and nudity.
A young man is caught between two big shot tech company owners in Paranoia. In the PG-13 film, an entry level employee is given the opportunity to get rich and advance his career by spying on the competition. He soon finds himself at a rock in a hard place. His employer is threatening the life of his father if he stops being an informer, but by double crossing the other company, he is putting his life in danger. Liam Hemsworth, Gary Oldman, Amber Heard, Harrison Ford, Josh Holloway and Richard Dreyfuss star in the film. The dramatic thriller runs for one hour and forty-six minutes.
True love is put to the test in Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. When a husband takes the blame for a crime that his wife committed, he is sent to prison. Four years into serving his sentence, he escapes to reunite with his wife and the child he has never met. The unrated drama stars Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, and Ben Foster. It’s playing in limited theaters for one hour and forty-five minutes.
The making of the annual weeklong festival in the Nevada desert is shown in Spark: A Burning Man Story. Each year, thousands of people go to Burning Man to get away from their everyday lives and celebrate self-expression through music and art. The one hour and thirty minute documentary is unrated. It’s available in limited theaters.
A bunch of reality based films hit theaters this week, but that can’t be said for the following week when fantasy and horror enter the game. Next week, the fantasy film The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and the horror film You’re Next make their debut.
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