New in Theaters This Week for 03/16/18



Welcome to a recurring feature here at The Nerd Mentality. As movie lovers, we often scramble to find all the films coming out in a given week. We thought we would take some of the guesswork out of it for our readers. We’ll be showcasing both wide and limited releases. So sit back watch some trailers and you might find something new to go watch this weekend. These films are what’s New in Theaters This Week for 03/16/18, shown in totally random order, because why not? Showtimes are linked on the titles so you can see if it is playing near you.

A gripping political thriller inspired by the true events of the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight en route from Tel Aviv to Paris, the film depicts the most daring rescue mission ever attempted. The Untitled Entebbe Project brings the longstanding conflict between Israel and Palestine into focus by recounting the heroic military mission while also exploring the nuanced perspectives of both sides. Forty years after the event that gripped the world, its consequences are still be discussed. As The Guardian wrote last spring, “Entebbe would become a byword for military daring…A raid that lasted a total of 99 minutes would live on for decades.”

The film that Joe is working on is his passion project. But both the film and Joe are becoming a little more than strange. His pregnant wife, Joanne, who has supported him on the project is getting worried but not as worried as she ought to be.

Filmed over three years in China and the U.S., MAINELAND is a multi-layered coming-of-age tale that follows two affluent and cosmopolitan teenagers as they settle into a boarding school in blue-collar rural Maine. Part of the enormous wave of “parachute students” from China enrolling in U.S. private schools, bubbly, fun-loving Stella and introspective Harry come seeking a Western-style education, escape from the dreaded Chinese college entrance exam, and the promise of a Hollywood-style U.S. high school experience. As Stella and Harry’s fuzzy visions of the American dream slowly gain more clarity, they ruminate on their experiences of alienation, culture clash, and personal identity, sharing new understandings and poignant discourses on home and country.

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Lara Croft, the fiercely independent daughter of a missing adventurer, must push herself beyond her limits when she finds herself on the island where her father disappeared. From Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Tomb Raider is the story that will set a young and resolute Lara Croft on a path toward becoming a global hero. The film stars Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, The Danish Girl) in the lead role, under the direction of Roar Uthaug (The Wave), with Oscar-winner Graham King (The Departed) producing under his GK Films banner. The film’s production begins on the heels of the 20th anniversary of the wildly popular videogame franchise from Square Enix, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal. Tomb Raider also stars Dominic West (Money Monster, 300), Walton Goggins (The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained) and Daniel Wu (AMC’s Into the Badlands).

In Ramen Heads, Japan’s reigning king of ramen, Osamu Tomita takes audiences deep into his world by revealing every single step of his obsessive approach to creating the perfect soup and noodles along with his relentless search for the highest-quality ingredients. In addition to Tomita, the film also profiles five other notable ramen shops, each with its own philosphy and flavor, exemplifying the various different aspects of the ramen world. Mixing in a brief rundown of ramen’s historical roots, the film gives viewers an in-depth look at the culture surrounding the unique and beguiling dish.

When aspiring filmmaker David (Brandon Polansky) is mandated by a judge to attend a social program at the Jewish Community Center, he is sure of one thing: he doesn’t belong there. But when he’s assigned to visit the Brooklyn Bridge with the vivacious Sarah (Samantha Elisofon), sparks fly and his convictions are tested. Their budding relationship must weather Sarah’s romantic past, David’s judgmental mother (Jessica Walters), and their own pre-conceptions of what love is supposed to look like. Under the guise of an off-kilter New York romantic comedy, Keep the Change does something quite radical in offering a refreshingly honest portrait of a community seldom depicted on the big screen. Rarely has a romcom felt so deep and poignant. Thoroughly charming and quite funny, the film’s warmth and candor brings growth and transformation to the characters, and ultimately, to us.

I Can Only Imagine (Lionsgate / Roadside Attractions)

It’s the song that brings ultimate hope to so many … often in the midst of life’s most challenging moments. Amazingly, the song was written in mere minutes by MercyMe lead singer Bart Millard. In reality, those lyrics took a lifetime to craft.

Tessa Thompson, Academy Award(R) winner Melissa Leo, and Whoopi Goldberg lead a dynamite ensemble cast in this alternately rollicking and poignant comedy from director Laurie Collyer (the acclaimed Sherrybaby). In between caring for her mother (Goldberg), a young woman (Thompson) works part time at a prison. The rookie guard gets a chance to prove her mettle when she’s tasked with accompanying a hell-raising inmate (Leo) on an emergency furlough to visit her dying mother. But things soon spiral out of control, sending the pair on a hilarious, surprising, and ultimately touching road trip. With Oscar(R) winner Anna Paquin, Édgar Ramírez, and La La Anthony.

March, 1918. C-company arrives to take its turn in the front-line trenches of norther France, led by the war-weary Captain Stanhope (Claflin). With a German offensive imminently approaching, the officers (Bettany, Graham, Sturridge) and their cook (Jones) use food and the memories of their lives before the war to distract themselves, while Stanhope soaks his fear in whisky, unable to deal with the dread of the inevitable. A young officer, Raleigh (Butterfield), arrives fresh out of training and abuzz with the excitement of his first real posting – not least because he is to serve under Stanhope, his former school house monitor and the object of his sister’s affections. Each man is trapped, the days ticking by, the tension rising and the attack drawing ever closer…

Allure (Samuel Goldwyn / Orion Pictures)

Laura (Evan Rachel Wood) works as a house cleaner for her father’s company but her personal life is not so pristine. Rough around the edges, looking for love in all the wrong places, her heartbreaking behavior points to hardships of the past. One day on the job, in yet another house, Laura meets Eva (Julia Sarah Stone), a quiet teenager unhappy with her disciplined life. In Eva, Laura rediscovers an innocent tenderness. In Laura, Eva finds a thrilling rebel who can bring her into unknown territories. The mutual attraction soon morphs into obsession as Laura convinces Eva to run away and secretly come live with her, perilously raising the stakes for the young, impressionable girl as Laura’s emotional instability becomes increasingly clear. As their world closes in, they must unearth certain truths to find a way out.

Everyone deserves a great love story. But for seventeen-year old Simon Spier it’s a little more complicated: he’s yet to tell his family or friends he’s gay and he doesn’t actually know the identity of the anonymous classmate he’s fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life-changing. Directed by Greg Berlanti (Dawson’s Creek, Brothers & Sisters), written by Isaac Aptaker & Elizabeth Berger (This is Us), and based on Becky Albertalli’s acclaimed novel, LOVE, SIMON is a funny and heartfelt coming-of-age story about the thrilling ride of finding yourself and falling in love.

Everyone knows everyone in Huntsville. So when tattooed, sweet-talking Josie (Sophie Turner) struts into town, heads turn. Striking up relationships with young punk Gator and loner Hank (Dylan McDermott), she quickly becomes a hot topic of local gossip. But her true intentions for showing up in this small, southern community are far more sinister as her dark past comes to light.

Demon House (Freestyle Digital Media)

As mass hysteria breaks-out over an alleged demonic possession in an Indiana home, referred to as a Portal to Hell, “Ghost Adventures” host and paranormal investigator Zak Bagans buys the house, sight unseen, over the phone. He and his crew then become the next victims of the most documented case of demonic possession in US history…the house of 200 demons.

Ellie, a recovering drug addict, has just moved to a new city with her two teenage children. She has struggled to stay sober in the past and is determined to make it work this time, finding a stable job and regularly attending her meetings. Unfortunately, new friends, a new job, and the chance of a new life, can’t keep Ellie from slipping once again. Her life changes when she meets Christopher – a different kind of addict – which forces her daughter and son to accept a new version of Ellie.

TNM Notes: There actually has not been a trailer released. I’m still including since it will have a one week run in Hollywood and some people will get the chance to see it. For the rest of us, rumor has it that it will be available on Netflix 3/31/18.

Jennifer Conrad is a small-town girl starting over in the big city. Fleeing an abusive relationship, all she wants is a chance to begin again. But it is hard to start over when something is eating you while you sleep … one painful bite at a time.

Grieving her mother’s death and her own failing marriage, Lexi boards a plane from London to Los Angeles in search of the estranged father who abandoned her when she was three years old. Based out of a seedy Hollywood motel, she follows a tenuous trail of breadcrumbs, collecting numbers and addresses in the hopes that one will lead to her father, while establishing unexpected connections along the way. A stranger in the City of Angels, Lexi’s reckless searching leads to cautious discoveries in an atmospheric and introspective quest.

Tracy thinks she has it all — until she catches her boyfriend cheating on her with a man. As their relationship starts to deteriorate, she soon finds unexpected solace when she befriends a group of quirky residents in her Los Angeles neighborhood.

When an outcast teen, Tatiana, gets a school assignment to write a letter to a person she admires, she jokingly writes to a foreign dictator named Hector because she likes his fashion sense. Hector takes to the admiration, and the two become unlikely pen pals, however, when Hector has to flee his country during a coup, he seeks refuge in the house of his only remaining friend.

By French law, people who are admitted to a psychiatric hospital without their consent must be evaluated by a judge within 12 days to determine whether they are fit to be released or must continue treatment.

Rebellious, quick-witted Erica Vandross (Zoey Deutch) is a 17-year-old firecracker living with her single mom Laurie (Kathryn Hahn) and mom’s new boyfriend Bob (Tim Heidecker) in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley. When Bob’s mentally unbalanced son Luke (Joey Morgan) arrives from rehab to live with the family, Erica finds her domestic and personal life overwhelmed. With Luke and her sidekicks Kala (Dylan Gelula) and Claudine (Maya Eshet) in tow, Erica acts out by exposing a dark secret of high-school teacher Will (Adam Scott), with perilous results; their teenage kicks become a catalyst for growing up in unexpected and unpredictable ways.

Hopefully, you found some interesting trailers and maybe plan to see a film you normally wouldn’t have. New in Theaters This Week for 03/16/18 brought to you by The Nerd Mentality! Check back each week by bookmarking our Now Playing tag.