Photos from Associated Press
This weekend, four highly anticipated movies are scheduled to be released.
Natalie Portman, who won a Golden Globe for best actress in a drama for her role in Black Swan, tries out a completely different project in “No Strings Attatched,” a romantic comedy about two friends who decide to start sleeping together.
No matter what your taste in movies, there is a movie coming out this weekend to match a wide variety of tastes.
No Strings Attatched (R)
What it’s about: Two lifelong friends, Emma and Adam, decide to take their relationship from best friends to…better friends. Emma’s nonchalant attitude about hooking up with Adam clash with Adam’s growing feelings for Emma. Despite Emma’s stressful career as a doctor (compelling her to pursue a casual relationship with her best friend), she finds herself falling for his goofy antics.
What to look for: One of the funniest parts of the movie, where Adam makes a mix to help Emma and her friends through a tough week.
Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Natalie Portman, Kevin Kline, Greta Gerwig and Cary Elwes
The Way Back (R)
What it’s about: Based on a true story, a small group of convicts escapes from The Gulag prison camp in 1940s Siberia. Reputed to be the world’s most brutal prison system (ever wonder where all those “I’m-in-the-middle-of-nowhere Siberia references come from?) people died in these prisons from malnutrition and brutal torture. Despite the hopelessness of their situation, a military officer from the camp leads the group in an escape attempt that will take them more than 4,000 miles to freedom in India.
What to look for: During one stretch where the characters encounter a thin layer of melting ice over a river, the only girl in the group runs across, fearing that she won’t be able to swim.
Starring: Dragos Bucur, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Alexandru Potocean, Saoirse Ronan, Gustaf Skarsgard, Mark Strong and Jim Sturgess.
The Company Men (R)
What it’s about: Bobby, Phil and Gene, three higher-up company executives lost their jobs when a bad economy takes its toll on the company. After their abrupt change of career plans, the men and their families try to adjust as they make ends meet.
What to look for: Bobby’s new career as a construction worker, under the authority of his new condescending boss, teaches him about what he and his family need.
Starring: Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Costner.
The Housemaid (R)
What it’s about: This film, a favorite of critics at the Cannes Film Festival, is about Jung-Jae Lee, a young South Korean woman who lands a job as a maid in the house of a rich family in town. After some time passes, she falls into an affair with Eun-yi, the husband and father of the household. The situation takes a dark turn when Eun-yi’s wife discovers her husbands affair, with some disastrous and dark consequences.
What to look for: Jung-Jae’s transformation from an innocent to, quite literally, a homewrecker.
Starring: Do-yeon Jeon and Jung Jae-Lee.