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April 2014

Books on Screen

April 2014

We made it through the winter, and we’re finally looking at some vaguely spring-like weather, which means two things: that outside is not just a hellish state you have to bear to get from one warm room to another, and that “Game of Thrones” is finally back. So put your heavy coats in storage because spring is coming, and so are plenty of great books on screen!

First things first. April is known to be a quiet month for movies; we’re post-awards, and studios are saving their big blockbusters for the summer. But silent can also be deadly --- specifically in the form of America’s favorite screen siren, Scarlett Johansson, who plays a literal man-eater in Jonathan Glazer’s unsettling Under the Skin. Based on the book of the same name, it’s about an alien who assumes human form to pick up men and take them back to her lair in order to seduce and kill them.

If you love ScarJo but disturbing arthouse/sci-fi hybrids aren’t your thing, you can catch her as the Black Widow in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In this follow-up to 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, bland hunk Chris Evans plays the patriotic captain, who’s just trying to live like any normal, blandly handsome former soldier turned superhero. Trouble, of course, finds him, and he has to team up with some other Marvel characters to defeat some Marvel villains and save civilization as we know it. Or at least as Marvel knows it.

If you’re looking for something lower key, check out Joe, the gritty, moving drama that’s making a real case for Nicolas Cage’s comeback (I know, I know, insert Nic Cage joke here…).

However, the major news this month is the season four premiere of “Game of Thrones.” Fans of the scheming inhabitants of Westeros need something to tide them over while George R. R. Martin takes his sweet time writing THE WINDS OF WINTER (book six in A Song of Ice and Fire), and HBO is ready to deliver. Post-Red Wedding, the show left fans in a state of emotional turmoil (I was nearly catatonic for a week after the episode aired), and although we can hardly expect wrongs to be righted and happily ever afters all around, we can look forward to revenge plots, unruly dragons, unlikely alliances, and way more Jon Snow. There are plenty of other great shows to watch between Sundays, including ABC’s “Resurrection”  and NBC’s smart and still underwatched “Hannibal.”

You know what they say: April showers bring…me to the movie theater. If I’m not rewatching last Sunday’s “Game of Thrones” episode again. Catchy, right?
 

--- Written and compiled by Emily Hoenig


 

In Theaters:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Cast: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp and Hayley Atwell, Robert Redford, Samuel L. Jackson
Director: Anthony and Joe Russo
Distributor: Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Release Date: April 4th (wide)
Based On: CAPTAIN AMERICA: Winter Soldier by Ed Brubaker, illus. by Steve Epting and Michael Lark

After the cataclysmic events in New York with The Avengers, Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier finds Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, living quietly in Washington, D.C. and trying to adjust to the modern world. But when a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague comes under attack, Steve becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue that threatens to put the world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Widow, Captain America struggles to expose the ever-widening conspiracy while fighting off professional assassins sent to silence him at every turn. When the full scope of the villainous plot is revealed, Captain America and the Black Widow enlist the help of a new ally, the Falcon. However, they soon find themselves up against an unexpected and formidable enemy --- the Winter Soldier. 

 

Under the Skin
Cast: Scarlett Johansson,  Jeremy McWilliams, Lynsey Taylor Mackay
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Distributor: A24 Films
MPAA Rating: R
Release Date: April 4th (limited). April 11th (wide)
Based On: UNDER THE SKIN by Michel Faber

A voluptuous woman of unknown origin combs the highway in search of isolated or forsaken men, luring a succession of lost souls into an otherworldly lair. They are seduced, stripped of their humanity, and never heard from again. Based on the novel by Michel Faber, this film examines human experience from the perspective of an unforgettable heroine who grows too comfortable in her borrowed skin, until she is abducted into humanity with devastating results.

 

Joe
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Tye Sheridan
Director: David Gordon Green
Distributor: Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions
MPAA Rating: R
Release Date: April 11th (limited)  
Based On: JOE by Larry Brown

An ex-con, who is the unlikeliest of role models, meets a 15-year-old boy and is faced with the choice of redemption or ruin.

 

The Railway Man
Cast: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jeremy Irvine, Stellan Skarsgård
Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
MPAA Rating: R
Release Date: April 11th (limited), April 18th (wide)
Based On: THE RAILWAY MAN: A POW’s Searing Account of War, Brutality and Forgiveness by Eric Lomax

During World War II, Eric Lomax is a British officer who is captured by the Japanese in Singapore and sent to a POW camp, where he is forced to work on the Thai-Burma Railway. During his time in the camp, Lomax is tortured by the Kempetai primarily for building a radio.

Years later and still suffering the psychological trauma of his wartime experiences, with the help of his wife Patti and best friend Finlay, Lomax decides to find and confront one of his captors. He returns to the scene of his torture after he has tracked down Japanese officer Takashi Nagase "in an attempt let go of a lifetime of bitterness and hate."

 

Heaven is for Real
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Kelly Reilly, Connor Corum, Margo Martindale, Thomas Haden Church
Director: Randall Wallace
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
MPAA Rating: PG
Release Date: April 16th (wide)
Based On: HEAVEN IS FOR REAL by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent

Based on the #1 New York Times bestselling book of the same name, Heaven is for Real brings to the screen the true story of a small-town father who must find the courage and conviction to share his son’s extraordinary, life-changing experience with the world.

The film stars Academy Award nominee and Emmy award winning actor Greg Kinnear as Todd Burpo and co-stars Kelly Reilly as Sonja Burpo, the real-life couple whose son Colton (newcomer Connor Corum) claims to have visited Heaven during a near death experience. Colton recounts the details of his amazing journey with childlike innocence and speaks matter-of-factly about things that happened before his birth…things he couldn't possibly know. Todd and his family are then challenged to examine the meaning from this remarkable event.

 


 

On TV:

“Game of Thrones”
Cast: Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke
Network: HBO
Season 4 Premiere: Sunday. April 6th at 9pm ET
Based On: A STORM OF SWORDS by George R. R. Martin

Summers span decades. Winters can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne rages on. It stretches from the south, where the heat breeds plots, lusts and intrigues; to the vast and savage eastern lands; all the way to the frozen north, where an 800-foot wall of ice protects the kingdom from the dark forces that lie beyond. Kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars, lords and honest men…all play the ‘Game of Thrones.’

 

"Turn" 
Cast: Jamie Bell, Seth Numrich, Heather Lind, Kevin McNally
Network: AMC
Series Premiere: Sunday. April 6th at 9pm ET
Based On: WASHINGTON'S SPIES: The Story of America's First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose

Based on Alexander Rose’s book WASHINGTON’S SPIES, AMC’s “Turn” tells the untold story of America’s first spy ring. A historical thriller set during the Revolutionary War, “Turn” centers on Abe Woodhull, a farmer living in British-occupied Long Island who bands together with his childhood friends to form the Culper Ring --- an unlikely team of secret agents who not only went on to help George Washington turn the tide of the war but also gave birth to modern spycraft.

 

“Resurrection”
Cast: Omar Epps, Frances Fisher, Matt Craven, Devin Kelley
Network: ABC
Air Dates: Sundays at 9pm ET
Based On: THE RETURNED by Jason Mott

The people of Arcadia, Missouri are forever changed when their deceased loved ones suddenly start to return. An eight-year-old American boy wakes up alone in a rice paddy in a rural Chinese province with no idea how he got there. Details start to emerge when the boy, who calls himself Jacob, recalls that his hometown is Arcadia, and an Immigration agent, J. Martin Bellamy, takes him there. The home he claims as his own is occupied by an elderly couple, Henry and Lucille Langston, who lost their son, Jacob, more than 30 years ago. While they look different, young Jacob recognizes them as his parents. Those closest to the family try to unravel this impossible mystery --- but this boy who claims to be the deceased Jacob knows secrets about his own death that no one else knows.

 

“About a Boy”
Cast: David Walton, Minnie Driver, Benjamin Stockham, Al Madrigal
Network: NBC
Air Dates: Tuesdays at 9pm ET
Based On: ABOUT A BOY by Nick Hornby

After writing a hit song, Will Freeman was granted a life of free time, free love and freedom from financial woes. He's single, unemployed and loving it. So imagine his surprise when Fiona, a needy single mom and her oddly charming 11-year-old son, Marcus, move in next door and disrupt his perfect world.

 

“Hannibal”
Cast: Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne, Mads Mikkelsen, Caroline Dhavernas, Hettienne Park, Scott Thompson, Aaron Abrams, Lara Jean Chorostecki
Network: NBC
Air Dates: Fridays at 10pm ET
Based On: RED DRAGON by Thomas Harris

The dark and haunting series "Hannibal" returns for a second season with more shocking revelations and psychological cat and mouse games. Will Graham is locked in a mental asylum accused of Hannibal Lecter's crimes. Now that Will sees Hannibal for what he truly is, he faces a fight to prove his own sanity and convince those closest to him he is innocent of murder. Jack Crawford is dealing with his own feelings about Will and whether his protégé is in fact a cold-blooded killer. Looking for answers, Jack turns to Hannibal, a man he has come to trust. With Will locked up, Hannibal becomes Jack's new consultant on cases. Hannibal is torn between self-preservation and his desire to keep Will close to him, despite advice from his psychiatrist, Bedelia Du Maurier, to stay away. 

The deadly dance between these characters continues to turn in startling and unexpected ways, in a season that will show that nothing can ever be the same again.

 

"The Vampire Diaries"
Cast: 
Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, Steven R. McQueen, Kat Graham, Candice Accola
Network: The CW
Air Dates: Thursdays at 8pm ET
Based On: The Vampire Diaries series by L.J. Smith

In the tumultuous fourth season of "The Vampire Diaries," the world of Mystic Falls was turned upside down when the beautiful and compassionate Elena Gilbert came face-to-face with her worst nightmare --- life as a vampire. While Elena struggled to control her new powers and the overwhelming thirst for blood, the astonishing news that a cure for vampirism may actually exist reached Damon and Stefan Salvatore, the two vampire brothers who love her. Their search for the cure leads the brothers, along with Elena’s brother Jeremy and her best friends Bonnie and Carol, to a horrifying confrontation with the ancient and all-powerful immortal, Silas, who has been entombed with the cure for more than 2,000 years. But Elena isn’t the only vampire who longs to return to life as a human, and the question of who will take the cure is resolved in the heart-stopping season finale, along with moments of unexpected joy, unspeakable sorrow, and a confession of true love.

The series heads into its fifth season with some characters headed off to college, a newly cured vampire trying to survive as a human, and a shocking Salvatore secret.

 


 

On DVD:

Philomena
Cast: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan
Director: Stephen Frears
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
MPAA Rating: R
DVD Release Date: April 15th
Based On: PHILOMENA by Martin Sixsmith

Philomena is the true story of one mother’s search for her lost son.

Falling pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena was sent to the convent of Roscrea to be looked after as a “fallen woman”. When her baby was only a toddler, he was taken away by the nuns for adoption in America. Philomena spent the next 50 years searching for him in vain.

Then she met Martin Sixsmith, a world-weary political journalist who happened to be intrigued by her story. Together they set off for America on a journey that would not only reveal the extraordinary story of Philomena’s son, but also create an unexpectedly close bond between them.

 

The Invisible Woman
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas
Director: Ralph Fiennes
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
MPAA Rating: R
DVD Release Date: April 15th
Based On: THE INVISIBLE WOMAN: The Story of Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan by Claire Tomalin

Nelly, a happily-married mother and schoolteacher, is haunted by her past. Her memories, provoked by remorse and guilt, take us back in time to follow the story of her relationship with Charles Dickens with whom she discovered an exciting but fragile complicity.

Dickens --- famous, controlling and emotionally isolated within his success --- falls for Nelly, who comes from a family of actors. The theatre is a vital arena for Dickens --- a brilliant amateur actor --- a man more emotionally coherent on the page or on stage, than in life. As Nelly becomes the focus of Dickens' passion and his muse, for both of them secrecy is the price, and for Nelly a life of "invisibility."

 

Labor Day
Cast: Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin, Gattlin Griffith, Tobey Maguire
Director: Jason Reitman
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG-13
DVD Release Date: April 29th
Based On: LABOR DAY by Joyce Maynard 

Labor Day centers on 13-year-old Henry Wheeler, who struggles to be the man of his house and care for his reclusive mother Adele while confronting all the pangs of adolescence. On a back-to-school shopping trip, Henry and his mother encounter Frank Chambers, a man both intimidating and clearly in need of help, who convinces them to take him into their home and later is revealed to be an escaped convict. The events of this long Labor Day weekend will shape them for the rest of their lives.