GCFC welcomes "Little Evil" to Cleveland

[Press release from the Greater Cleveland Film Commission.]

The Greater Cleveland Film Commission (GCFC) is excited to announce that the feature film "Little Evil" has begun shooting in Northeast Ohio.

Eli Craig, the man behind the cult horror comedy "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil," will direct "Little Evil" from his own screenplay.  Starring Adam Scott and Evangeline Lilly, the story follows Gary (Scott), who just married Samantha (Lilly) only to find out that her 6-year-old son is the Antichrist. Donald Faison and Chris D'Elia also will appear in the film, along with Brad Williams, Bridget Everett, Clancy Brown, Marcus Terrell Smith and Tyler Labine. Owen Atlas will be playing the young Antichrist.

Sleeping With Other People (opens in Cleveland October 2nd exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre)

[SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE opens in Cleveland on Friday October 2nd exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

He’s an affable womanizer who intentionally sabotages all his relationships by cheating whenever things start to get too serious. She’s obsessed with a married gynecologist who can’t make up his mind if he even wants to keep the affair going. Years ago they lost their virginity to each other. Now they meet up again at a 12 step program for people with sex addictions and wind up becoming platonic best friends. But could the connection between these two go deeper than just friendship? This is a romantic comedy, what do you think?

SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE is yet another one of those movies in which two characters spend almost the whole movie dealing with one contrivance after another before inevitably realizing what the audience has known all along: they’re perfect for each other. It’s a formula, to be sure, but one that continues to work, especially when you have two leads as winning as Jason Sudekis and Allison Brie are here. 

Black Mass

Review by Joseph Anthony

James “Whitey” Bulger is a bad man. Murder, extortion, narcotics and money laundering are just part of his rap sheet. For decades (when he wasn’t doing time at Alcatraz), Bulger was running the south side of Boston under the nose of the Italian mob. Getting drugs into the hands of Boston’s youth, exporting illegal arms to the people’s rebellion in Ireland, and killing anyone who might set off his sensitive paranoia, all while eluding capture by the FBI. Perhaps though, as BLACK MASS points out, eluding is the wrong word.

BLACK MASS tells us two tales over the course of three decades: one of Bulger’s activities, and the other of corruption within the FBI. Federal agent John Connolly, a childhood friend of Bulger, believes loyalty is everything - even if your job title requires arresting guys like Bulger. Connolly convinces his colleagues at the FBI to use Bulger as an informant; the FBI turns a blind eye to Bulger’s dealings in exchange for information that would help take down his enemy, the Italian mob.  Connolly is intoxicated by Bulger’s acceptance, something not easily won, and Connolly’s corruption within the bureau allows Bulger to do his worst.

Adam Scott Q&A at the Cedar Lee Theatre for "The Overnight" on July 3rd

[Press release from Cleveland Cinemas.]

 

Continuing not only its commitment of presenting the most interesting films to Cleveland but also of providing audiences rare, direct access to the key talent from these works, the Cedar Lee Theatre (2163 Lee Rd., Cleveland Hts.) will be hosting a live via Skype Q&A with ADAM SCOTT, star of the new comedy THE OVERNIGHT. The Q&A will take place following the 7:15 PM showing at the Cedar Lee on Friday, July 3^rd.

 

In THE OVERNIGHT Alex (Adam Scott), Emily (Taylor Schilling), and their son, RJ, have recently moved to Los Angeles's Eastside from Seattle. Feeling lost in a new city, they are desperate to find their first new friends. After a chance meeting with Kurt (Jason Schwartzman) at the neighborhood park, they gladly agree to join family pizza night at his home. But as it gets later and the kids go to bed, the family "playdate" becomes increasingly more revealing as the couples begin to open up.

 

The Overnight

Review by Milan Paurich

If Jason Schwartzman's Max Fischer from RUSHMORE had grown up to become an internet fetish porn mogul and moved to Los Angeles with his (French!) wife and young son, he could be Kurt in Patrick Brice's THE OVERNIGHT. That's my theory and I'm sticking with it. Of course, virtually every role Schwartzman has played since his breakthrough performance in Wes Anderson's 1998 masterpiece--many of them in other Anderson movies--has felt like an extension of uber-precocious nerd Max. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Certainly my abiding affection for Schwartzman-as-Max helped in navigating Kurt's considerable "ick factor." When we first make his acquaintance, Kurt is charming the pants off recently transplanted Seattle married couple Alex (Adam Scott) and Emily (Taylor Schilling from Netflix's "Orange is the New Black"). After an impromptu meeting in a Silver Lake park--their toddlers have just hit it off on the playground--Kurt impulsively invites mom, dad and RJ (RJ Hermes) over to his house for a playdate, both for the kids and their parents. Since Emily and Alex had been hoping to make some new friends, it's an offer they simply can't refuse.

Hot Tub Time Machine 2

Review by Bob Ignizio

It's not as if the original HOT TUB TIME MACHINE was a great movie, but it was an enjoyable nod to the kind of silly, raunchy, reality-be-damned comedies that were everywhere in the eighties. The story was nothing special, but it was coherent and had a heart. There were a number of laughs, and the cast (chiefly John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Cordry, and Clark Duke) was affable. No one really needed a second go around of the concept, stated in all the detail necessary in the film's title, but given that the first film was more fun than it probably had a right to be, this reviewer was open to the idea. Unfortunately, more than just John Cusack is missing from this sequel, which is more luke warm than hot.

The Guilt Trip

Review by Pete Roche

The passengers in road trip movies are usually best buds or soul-mates (THELMA & LOUISE), mismatched professionals (MIDNIGHT RUN), or happenstance polar opposites whose Oscar and Felix personalities test each others’ limits (PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, DUE DATE). 

THE GUILT TRIP tweaks the formula by setting salesman Andy Brewster (Seth Rogan) on a cross-country drive in a cramped car with his overbearing single middle-aged mother, Joyce (Barbara Streisand).  Organic chemist Andy must pitch the biodegradable cleaning agent he’s invented to wholesalers in several major markets from New Jersey to San Francisco.  He funded the project with his father's inheritance, so he’s determined to hide his lack of success from his proud mother.