MoviefiedNYC’s Opening in February

Directed by Steve Pink (Hot Tub Time Machine) and written by Leslye Headland (Bachelorette), About Last Night is a contemporary remake of the David Mamet film of the same name from 1986. The story follows two couples as they find new love, journeying from the bar to the bedroom and are eventually put to the test in the real world. Kevin Hart (The Five Year Engagement, Think Like a Man) stars with Regina Hall, Michael Ealy and Joy Bryant in tow. I’m losing track of how many films Kevin Hart has made this past year. This is one hard working man. 

Writer-director Shana Feste (Country Strong) tells the story of a privileged girl and a charismatic boy whose instant desire sparks a love affair made only more reckless by parents trying to keep them apart. I’m waiting for the Lifetime release. 

Mark Waters (Mean Girls, Freaky Friday, Mr. Popper’s Penguins) directs Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters adapted from Richelle Mead’s bestselling series of young adult books. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, half human/vampire, guardians of the Moroi, peaceful, mortal vampires living discretely within our world. Her legacy is to protect the Moroi from bloodthirsty, immortal Vampires, the Strigoi. 

Winter’s Tale is the directorial debut of Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind). It’s a fantasy romance set in a mythic New York City and spanns more than a century.  Colin Farrell plays a thief who falls in love with a dying young woman (Jessica Brown Findlay) after he breaks into her palatial home on Manhattan’s West Side. But Russell Crowe plays a gangster boss hell-bent on making sure Farrell doesn’t end up happy. This is a story of miracles, crossed destinies, the age-old battle between good and evil, and of course never-ending love. And yet I’m still not sure what to make of this.

Following in Liam Neeson’s (Taken) career footsteps, we have Kevin Costner (Field of Dreams, Dances with Wolves) continuing on a bit of a comeback after Man of Steel and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. 3 Days to Kill is directed by McG (This Means War, Terminator Salvation, Charlie’s Angels) and written by Luc Besson (Taken, The Transporter) and Adi Hasak (From Paris with Love). Costner is a dangerous international spy, determined to give up his high stakes life to finally build a closer relationship with his estranged wife and daughter. But first, he must complete one last mission (cue over the top dramatic music), which requires hunting down the world’s most ruthless terrorist while having to look after his teenage daughter (Hailee Steinfeld) for the first time in ten years. Sound familiar?

Barefoot is a very quirky romantic comedy starring Evan Rachel Wood and Scott Speedman. As is pretty much the usual, it’s about two people at odds who eventually fall in love after being brought together. The cast includes J.K. Simmons, Treat Williams and Kate Burton. This doesn’t look that bad, but doesn’t look that good either. Barefoot is directed by Andrew Fleming (The Craft, Nancy Drew, Hamlet 2) from a screenplay written by newcomer Stephen Zotnowski.

Legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) final animated film, will be called Kaze Tachinu or The Wind Rises. It’s an adaptation of Miyazaki’s most recent color comic as well as a novel by Tatsuo Hori, about the man who designed the Zero Fighter airplane which was used in World War II. At the very least, the visuals alone are reason enough to get excited for this movie. Good luck at the Oscars! 

Liam Neeson (Unknown) reunites with director Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown) for Non-Stop. The danger lies 40,000 feet in the air as Neeson plays a U.S. Marshal tasked with negotiating a mutli-million dollar payment to an unknown terrorist or the passengers on his flight will be killed one by one every 20 minutes. A simple straight forward plot, I’m just curious as to how this bad guy is killing people on a plane with nobody noticing.

I wonder what this one is about? Son of God is directed by Christopher Spencer (The Bible) from a script co-written by Colin Swash, Nic Young & Richard Bedser (all writers of The Bible). Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado portrays the role of Jesus as the film spans from his humble birth through his teachings, crucifixion, and ultimate resurrection. The film features a score by Hans Zimmer.