Reel News: Week of 11/5 — Skyfall, Smashed, The Sessions, Arthur Christmas

Theatrical Releases This Week

Skyfall
Director: Sam Mendes
PG-13; 145 mins
Trailer

In Skyfall, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. (Synopsis by the Official Site)

Check out my review on The Dagger later this week.

Smashed
Director: James Ponsoldt
R; 85 min
Trailer

Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Charlie (Aaron Paul) are a young married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of music, laughter and drinking…especially the drinking. When Kate?s drinking leads her to dangerous places and her job as a school teacher is put into jeopardy, she decides to join AA and get sober. With the help of her friend and sponsor Jenny, and the vice principal at her school, the awkward, but well intentioned, Mr. Davies, Kate takes steps toward improving her health and life. Sobriety isn?t as easy as Kate had anticipated. Her new lifestyle brings to the surface a troubling relationship with her mother, facing the lies she?s told her employer and calls into question whether or not her relationship with Charlie is built on love or is just boozy diversion from adulthood. (Synopsis by Sony)

While predictable, this film manages to handle the subject matter without giving in to the drama of it all. Kudos to Winstead for an outstanding performance.

The Sessions
Director: Ben Lewin
R; 95 mins
Trailer

Based on the poignantly optimistic autobiographical writings of California-based journalist and poet Mark O’Brien, The Sessions tells the story of a man confined to an iron lung who is determined – at age 38 – to lose his virginity. With the help of his therapists and the guidance of his priest, he sets out to make his dream a reality. (Synopsis by Fox Searchlight)

Previously reviewed on The Dagger.

DVD Releases This Week

Arthur Christmas
Director: Sarah Smith
PG; 97 mins
Trailer

The 3D, CG-animated family comedy Arthur Christmas, an Aardman production for Sony Pictures Animation, at last reveals the incredible, never-before seen answer to every child’s question: ‘So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?’ The answer: Santa’s exhilarating, ultra-high-tech operation hidden beneath the North Pole. But at the heart of the film is a story with the ingredients of a Christmas classic – a family in a state of comic dysfunction and an unlikely hero, Arthur, with an urgent mission that must be completed before Christmas morning dawns. (Synopsis by Sony Pictures)

A witty script and plenty of action keep the story lively. Largely overshadowed by traditional holiday fare, it is worth watching. It may have come out on DVD too early to start the holiday season—unless you’re my mother, who has already dug out the “Frosty the Snowman” VHS.