What will you be watching this weekend? Killing Them Softly, Boardwalk Empire, Lawless, Dexter, ParaNorman and Men in Black 3

Finally! The work week is over and you’ll have some free time to relax, crack a cold one, pop that corn and nuke some ‘chos all in the noble pursuit of cinematic entertainment! Every Friday we’d like to hear what everyone will be watching over the weekend, whether it be on TV, DVD and Blu-ray or in theaters.

So what’s on your movie agenda this weekend? Here’s what I’m thinking about watching…

IN THEATERS…

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD despite having a ridiculously long-winded title is one of my favorite flicks in the past several years, so when I heard that director Andrew Dominik and Brad Pitt were reteaming to make a modern mob movie I was excited. Now that KILLING THEM SOFTLY is finally hitting screens this weekend I can barely contain myself.

I’m always a sucker for a good mob flick and it’s been a while since the last great one I saw, probably 2010’s ANIMAL KINGDOM, and if this trailer is anything to go off of KILLING THEM SOFTLY seems to also have a healthy amount of dark comedy thrown into the mix. While the plot seems simple enough, a couple of thugs get it into their heads that they can rip-off a mob enforced underground casino resulting in Brad Pitt‘s old-school shotgun wielding character being sent in to clean up the mess, if it’s anything like Dominik and Pitt’s previous collaboration it’s going to be something pretty amazing. It can’t hurt that they throw in a couple talented wiseguys like Ray Liotta and James Gandolfini either and I’ve always found Richard Jenkins (STEP BROTHERS, CABIN IN THE WOODS) to be hilarious.

Our own Chris Bumbray really dug KILLING THEM SOFTLY going as far as to namedrop Scorsese in his review, be sure to check that out here! Besides that this weekend is a little slow theatrically but it’s only the quiet before the storm, come December it’s going to be a typhoon of cinematic awesomeness.

Check out all of the THEATRICAL RELEASES right here

 

ON TELEVISION…

I was criminally behind in my BOARDWALK EMPIRE viewing but over the past week I got myself back up to speed and not a moment too soon with the third season of HBO historical crime drama coming to a close this Sunday. This season has been particularly brutal to certain characters (some who are now taking dirt naps) and Nucky Thompson’s criminal empire is in some pretty dire straights to say the least. With Nucky more or less one step ahead of a rival gangster’s kill squad with a $25,000 price on his head you’d think things couldn’t get any more tense … then in walks Al Capone. If you’re looking for me on Sunday I’ll be in front of the tv waiting to see how this all plays out, place your bets now.

Well I can say that as far as DEXTER characters go Ray Stevenson‘s turn as a vengeful Eastern European mob kingpin has been one of the best in the series so far. I found it harder and harder to root against him as the season went on and I think the only other nemesis of Dex’s that could rank higher would still be John Lithgow‘s Trinity Killer from the fourth (and still best) season. It would seem that last weeks episode wrapped up the main storyline for this season but there are still a couple of subplots that have not born fruit yet and it looks like these last couple of episodes could still pack a hell of a punch.

Last week’s episode of THE WALKING DEAD was particularly revealing about the true nature of “The Governor” and while it’s good to finally catch a glimpse of what a menacing character he can be I am mostly excited because a showdown between him and Rick Grimes is imminent. The two men have a lot in common but the traits that set them apart will make all of the difference and there is going to be a bit more than a little bloodshed over those differences in the coming episodes. Oh, also I think it’s a safe bet some more walkers show up.

 

ON DVD & BLU-RAY…

I’ve always had a soft spot for stop-motion animation so it’s a given that I’ll finally be checking out PARANORMAN this weekend on Blu-ray. As far as kid’s movies go this one seemed to pander less and revel more in its spookiness than other animated monster flicks like HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA and it has zombies. Zombies are cool. PARANORMAN also gave me an early Tim Burton vibe, moreso than even FRANKENWEENIE, so I feel it’s something I need to check out.

While BOARDWALK EMPIRE has us on the subject of prohibition era criminal hijinks it seems appropriate that LAWLESS hit DVD and Blu-ray shelves this week. This flick, directed by John Hillcoat (THE PROPOSITION) follows the Bondurant brothers played by Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf and Jason Clarke, and their bootlegging operation. Between a brutal lawman (an eyebrowless Guy Pearce) wanting a cut of the brother’s profits and a competitor (Gary Oldman) not afraid to kill to get ahead things get a little bit crazy. I expect some choice words and lots of bullets being shared, this ain’t no Dukes of Hazzard.

I went into MEN IN BLACK 3 pretty cynical, I didn’t expect to enjoy it that much after all of the behind the scenes junk I had heard. Despite the fact that they apparently started filming before they even had a finished script MIB3 was surprisingly great and had a lot more heart than I could have possibly anticipated. If they never made another MEN IN BLACK movie I would be more than content for this to be the way the franchise ended. It’s also worth noting that Josh Brolin totally steals the show as a young Agent Kay. Brolin doesn’t simply mimic the stoicism of Tommy Lee Jones, he becomes him entirely.

Check out all of the DVD/BLU-RAY RELEASE DATES/COVERS right here

 

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU WILL BE WATCHING THIS WEEKEND BELOW!