Women play key roles in this week’s new films. These leading ladies are femme fatales, sleuths, actresses and scientists. Margot Robbie plays a hustler alongside Will Smith in his latest film.
An accomplished con man gets a taste of his own medicine in Focus. When he gets a little too involved with his hot young protégé, he decides to break it off. Three years later, she sees him at a car race and spoils his scheme. Will Smith and Margot Robbie star in the one hour and forty-four minute comedic action film. It’s rated R for language, sex and violence.
Scientists try to bring the dead back to life in The Lazarus Effect. When one researcher accidentally dies, another tests the experiment on her. Their attempt to revive her unleashes evil. The PG-13 horror film stars Olivia Wilde, Sarah Bolger, Mark Duplass, Evan Peters and Donald Glover. It runs for one hour and twenty-three minutes.
An actress hires a mysterious young woman to be her assistant in Maps to the Stars. Recently out of a psych ward, the young woman is looking to start anew and does not inform her Hollywood family members that she’s in town. The limited released comedic drama highlights the troubles of celebrity and stars Academy Award winner Julianne Moore, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, and Mia Wasikowska. The one hour and fifty-two minute film is rated R for violence, sex, nudity, language and drugs.
Salma Hayek plays a woman on a mission to survive in Everly. A mob boss and his enforcers are threatening her life and won’t let her leave her apartment. The limited released thriller runs for one hour and thirty-two minutes. It’s rated R for violence, nudity, sex and language.
A young woman tries to get behind the death of her elderly neighbor in Wild Canaries. Even though her fiancé thinks the woman’s passing is nothing out of the ordinary, she believes it was murder and goes on a mission to find the killer and, in the process, learns secrets about her Brooklyn apartment building and its inhabitants. The unrated romantic comedy is playing in limited theaters for one hour and forty-two minutes.
A man seeks revenge for the murder of his family in The Salvation. His retribution puts him in the cross hairs of a gang leader. The limited released drama runs for one hour and twenty-nine minutes. It’s rated R for violence.
A young family is haunted by the legends of their new town in Out of the Dark. When their daughter disappears, the couple is confronted by little ghost children. The limited released film stars Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman and Stephen Rea. The horror film runs for one hour and thirty-two minutes. It’s rated R for violence and terror.
A British soldier is accidentally left behind after a riot in Belfast, Northern Ireland in ’71. The deserted young man struggles to figure out who is friend and who is his enemy while trying to survive in the volatile area. The limited released drama runs for one hour and thirty-nine minutes. It’s rated R for violence and language.
A young woman dreams of living her life like those in her favorite telenovela in Ana Maria in Novela Land. Her wish comes true when she magically switches places with the actress in the soap opera. As the novela heads towards its finale, she must figure out how to get out of her fantasy world and back into the real world. The unrated, comedic drama is playing in limited theaters for one hour and thirty-three minutes.
Take a look beyond the camera and into the mind of a filmmaker in My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Nicolas Winding Refn’s wife chronicles his life and creative struggles while on location shooting Only God Forgives with Ryan Gosling. The PG-13 documentary plays in limited theaters for fifty-eight minutes.
The struggle young women go through after they are sexually assaulted is the focus of the documentary Hunting Ground. The PG-13 film shines a light on college campuses that disregard the allegations their female students make and pretend the incidents never happened. The one hour and forty-two minute film is available in limited theaters.
A woman convinces her friend to flirt with her boyfriend to see if he will go astray in A La Mala. Soon, the aspiring actress finds herself being hired by other women to test their men. Everything goes well until she starts to fall for one of them. The limited released Spanish language film is subtitled in English. The PG-13 romantic comedy plays for one hour and forty-six minutes.
Just as in many of this week’s new releases, women play a major part in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, debuting in theaters on March 6. Another film entering the box office race next week is Hugh Jackman’s action film, Chappie.
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