New in Theaters This Week for 05/11/18



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 05/11/18, shown in totally random order, because why not? Showtimes are linked on the titles so you can see if it is playing near you.

Champion (Well Go USA)

In this rousing crowd-pleaser, a former arm-wrestling champion raised in the US returns to South Korea for a tournament that could return him to glory. As he trains for the most intense fight he’s ever faced, he finds his life complicated by the appearance of the biological family he never knew.

Only three centuries ago, setting out to climb a mountain would have been considered close to lunacy. Mountains were places of peril, not beauty, an upper world to be shunned, not sought out. Why do mountains now hold us spellbound, drawing us into their dominion, often at the cost of our lives? From Tibet to Australia, Alaska to Norway armed with drones, Go-Pros and helicopters, director Jennifer Peedom has fashioned an astonishing symphony of mountaineers, ice climbers, free soloists, heliskiers, snowboarders, wingsuiters and parachuting mountain bikers. Willem Dafoe provides a narration sampled from British mountaineer Robert Macfarlane’s acclaimed memoir Mountains of the Mind, and a classical score from the Australian Chamber Orchestra accompanies this majestic cinematic experience.

The Seagull (Sony Pictures Classics)

THE SEAGULL is the heartbreaking and funny story of friends and lovers, all of whom are in love with the wrong person. The movie is timely in its depiction of the tragic consequences of narcissism, particularly on young dreams and romantic love.

Next Mother’s Day, Gabrielle Union stars as a woman who will stop at nothing to rescue her two children being held hostage in a house designed with impenetrable security. No trap, no trick and especially no man inside can match a mother with a mission when she is determined on Breaking In.

From visionary anime auteur Masaaki Yuasa comes a joyously hallucinogenic but family-friendly take on the classic fairy tale about a little mermaid who comes ashore to join a middle-school rock band and propel them to fame. Kai is talented but adrift, spending his days sulking in a small fishing village after his family moves from Tokyo. His only joy is uploading songs he writes to the internet. When his classmates invite him to play keyboard in their band, their practice sessions bring an unexpected guest: Lu, a young mermaid whose fins turn to feet when she hears the beats, and whose singing causes humans to compulsively dance – whether they want to or not.

Leon Vitali was a rising British television actor when Stanley Kubrick picked him for the role of Lord Bullingdon in Barry Lyndon. That first encounter with the famed auteur proved decisive — he swiftly resolved to devote the rest of his life working for the director, this time behind the scenes, and took on just about every job available: casting director, acting coach, location scouter, sound engineer, color corrector, A.D., promoter, and eventually restorer of Kubrick’s films. Tony Zierra’s affecting documentary profiles the devoted “filmworker” — Vitali’s preferred job title — as he enthusiastically recounts his days with the notoriously meticulous, volatile and obsessive director. The experiences brought both tremendous sacrifice and glowing pride. Filmworker celebrates the invisible hands that shape masterpieces, reminding us that behind every great director, there is a Leon Vitali. – Telluride Film Festival

When the Universe decides what it wants, it’s pointless to resist. With his family’s life at stake, Joseph Steadman finds himself the unwilling test subject of a maniacal scientist in a battle that could save the world, or destroy it.

SOLLERS POINT tells the story of Keith (McCaul Lombardi), a twenty-four-year-old newly released from prison and living with his father (Jim Belushi) under house arrest in Baltimore. Keith is struggling to reestablish himself, and break free of the bonds forged behind bars, within a community scarred by unemployment, neglect, and deeply entrenched segregation. His intentions are in the right place and he possesses an aggressive desire to get back on his feet, but as he taps into all his familiar resources, he finds that he may be reverting to his old ways.

Moll (Jessie Buckley, TABOO, WAR AND PEACE) is 27 and still living at home, stifled by the small island community around her and too beholden to her family to break away. When she meets Pascal, a free-spirited stranger, a whole new world opens up to her and she begins to feel alive for the first time, falling madly in love. Finally breaking free from her family, Moll moves in with Pascal (Johnny Flynn, CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA) to start a new life. But when he is arrested as the key suspect in a series of brutal murders, she is left isolated and afraid. Choosing to stand with him against the suspicions of the community, Moll finds herself forced to make choices that will impact her life forever.

Raazi (Agree), based on a true story, is an adaptation of Harinder Sikka’s novel “Calling Sehmat”, about a Kashmiri spy married to a Pakistani man during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. It depicts the journey of an ordinary Indian girl, under extraordinary circumstances. Sehmat (Aalia Bhatt), is sent to Pakistan in 1971, to source out any information she could, as war was becoming imminent between India and Pakistan.

A woman sets out to reclaim her life in this stirring, emotionally rich look at what it means to start over. Tara (Gemma Arterton), a housewife in suburban London, is living a life that is no longer hers: it belongs to her overworked, self-absorbed husband (Dominic Cooper); her young son and daughter; and the numbing routine of housework and childcare. In desperate need of a change, Tara one day makes a bold decision. Armed with a one-way ticket to Paris, she leaves everything behind to rediscover herself in a new city—but walking out on your life isn’t so simple… Built around a remarkable central performance from Gemma Arterton, The Escape is a perceptive, deeply compassionate portrait of a woman on the rocky road to becoming herself.

TNM Notes: Usually IFC films aren’t just in their place and are shown at a few other spots on release. Unfortunately, I can’t find any times so you may need to check your local sites if you are wanting to watch it this week. Showtimes.com has the full line-up for IFC Center and doesn’t even list this film.

South Korean Master Hong Sangsoo’s 21st feature as director, The Day After, is a mordantly comic tale of infidelity and mistaken identity. Book publisher Bongwan’s (Kwon Haehyo) marriage is on the rocks after his wife (Cho Yunhee) discovers the affair he’s been having with his assistant (Kim Saebyuk). Now that relationship is ending too and Bongwan’s new assistant, the sharp and sensitive Areum (Kim Minhee), on her first day in the office, is left to navigate the fallout of all the turnover in Bongwan’s life. With its ingeniously destabilizing leaps through time and stark black and white cinematography, The Day After begins as a darkly hilarious story of a man embroiled in extramarital entanglements but soon shifts—in a way only Hong can manage—into a heartfelt portrayal of a young woman on a quest for spiritual fulfillment.

Debut director Coralie Fargeat announces her stunning arrival, painting a crimson canvas of hypnotic beauty and bloody retribution in this razor-sharp feminist subversion of the revenge-thriller. Jen (fearlessly embodied by Matilda Lutz, RINGS) is enjoying a romantic getaway with her wealthy boyfriend which is suddenly disrupted when his sleazy friends arrive for an unannounced hunting trip. Tension mounts in the house until the situation abruptly––and viciously––intensifies, culminating in a shocking act that leaves Jen left for dead. Unfortunately for her assailants, Jen survives and reemerges with a relentless, wrathful intent: revenge. A white-knuckle tale of transgression and transformation, REVENGE gloriously blurs the lines of vengeance and survival while simultaneously delivering a ferocious dissection of gender and genre.

ANYTHING is an unconventional romance about Earl, a middle-aged widower who moves to Los Angeles to be with family, and who asserts his independence by renting an apartment in a sketchy neighborhood full of “colorful” characters. Most colorful of all is Frida, a transgender next door neighbor who happens to find Earl—the quintessential Southern Gentleman—just as exotic as he finds her. Forming a relationship that is at once unexpected and inevitable, this mismatched pair give each other much-needed trust, respect… and more. Starring John Carroll Lynch, Matt Bomer, and Maura Tierney.

Life Of The Party (Warner Bros. / New Line)

When her husband suddenly dumps her, longtime dedicated housewife Deanna (McCarthy) turns regret into re-set by going back to college…landing in the same class and school as her daughter, who’s not entirely sold on the idea. Plunging headlong into the campus experience, the increasingly outspoken Deanna—now Dee Rock—embraces freedom, fun and frat boys on her own terms, finding her true self in a senior year no one ever expected.

A look at Jean-Michel Basquiat’s life pre-fame, and how New York City, the times, the people and the movements around him formed the artist he became, BOOM FOR REAL weaves the story of Jean-Michel and the city with never before seen works, writings and photographs. Director Sara Driver worked closely and collaboratively with her friends and other artists who emerged from that scene: Nan Goldin, Jim Jarmusch, James Nares, Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quinones, Luc Sante and many others. As they participated in the film with their thoughts, period film footage, music, images, and anecdotes of their young friend, they helped visually tell the story of Jean-Michel’s downtown NYC –pre Aids, President Reagan, the real estate and art boom, and before anyone was motivated by money and ambition. The definition of fame, success and power were very different than today — to be a penniless but published poet was the height of success, until everything changed in the early 1980’s. This is New York City’s story before that change.

Class Rank follows teenagers Bernard, who lives with his quirky grandfather Oswald, and Veronica, a type-A personality with Ivy League aspirations who aims to step out from under her TV Producer-mother’s shadow. When Veronica approaches Bernard to run for the Board of Education, he sees it as a chance to reform the local school system to enable him to better care for his grandfather. Veronica meanwhile schemes to eliminate the class-ranking system to better her chances of getting into Yale. While wooing the local paper’s Editor in Chief for an endorsement, Bernard sees her as a potential partner for his grandfather. As Bernard and Veronica’s campaign progresses, the two discover the meaning of love and the importance of helping others.

Always at the Carlyle (Good Deed Entertainment)

While the walls at The Carlyle don’t talk, they definitely whisper. Matthew Miele’s Always at The Carlyle brings to life the untold stories of this legendary hotel as heard from the mouths of its own employees and top clientele, including George Clooney, Anjelica Huston, Tommy Lee Jones, Vera Wang, Anthony Bourdain, Roger Federer, Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Jon Hamm, Lenny Kravitz, Naomi Campbell and Elaine Stritch.

Rookie Cleveland detective Michael Connelly is desperate to escape from under the shadow of his late father, a detective convicted of a drug scandal within the department when Michael was a boy. When a million dollars’ worth of drugs are stolen from police custody and the detective on the case soon turns up dead, Michael begs his captain for the assignment and the chance to prove himself. But when his investigation points toward a crime network, Michael faces pressure to maintain the status quo as he plays a cat-and-mouse game with the powers that be, while under the watchful eye of a ghost-like assassin ensuring their secrecy.

Born Guilty (Freestyle Digital Media)

BORN GUILTY is the story of a lonely and frazzled New York social worker (Rosanna Arquette) who can’t resist the urge to intervene in her son Marty’s life. Meanwhile, Marty (Jay Devore) is trying to be creative in his advertising career and manage a romantic relationship at the same time, on top of constantly talking his mother off the ledge.

When Marty’s free- spirited Aussie pal Rawl (David Coussins) shows up, Marty hires Rawl to see Judy and restore her to health any way it takes. Director Max Heller’s heartfelt, ensemble comedy is filled with wry, sly, funny and sexy connections reminiscent of Nora Ephron, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, The Farrelly Brothers and Rob Reiner’s romantic concoctions.

What Haunts Us (Blue Fox Entertainment)

The 1979 class of Porter Gaud School in Charleston, S.C., graduated 49 boys. Within the last 35 years, six of them have committed suicide. When Paige Goldberg Tolmach gets word that another former student from her beloved high school has killed himself, she decides to take a deep dive into her past to uncover the surprising truth and finally release the ghosts that haunt her hometown to this day.

Measure of a Man (Great Point Media)

During the summer of 1976, fourteen-year-old Bobby Marks (Blake Cooper), insecure and overweight, must endure another tortuous family vacation at Rumson Lake. His summer job, tending to the palatial estate of the reclusive, enigmatic and overly demanding Dr. Kahn (Donald Sutherland) is backbreaking.

His parents (Judy Greer & Luke Wilson) appear on the verge of divorce; his sister Michelle (Liana Liberato) is forcing him to help conceal her clandestine rendezvous with the local pretty boy; and his best friend and kindred spirit Joanie (Danielle Rose Russell) is leaving for a month and won’t tell him why. On top of that, a crazy townie has focused his hatred of the rich summer people exclusively on Bobby. Over the course of this emotional rollercoaster of a summer, secrets are revealed, lessons are learned and Bobby comes to understand who he is and what makes up the true measure of a man.

Goodland (Parade Deck Films)

When the body of a drifter is discovered the same day a photographer arrives in a small farming community, the local sheriff is left to piece together a string of events that don’t add up.

TNM Notes: According to their Facebook it’s expanding next week to a bunch of places. The website has a decidely lack of information. It isn’t even updated with the current trailer.

Not included in this is the movie Terminal. I can find pictures of Margot Robbie on the red carpet for the premiere, but the film doesn’t have its own site, Twitter, or Facebook. RLJE Films isn’t promoting it much and doesn’t list showtimes on any of its sites either. So good luck finding where to see it in theaters.

Hopefully, you found some interesting trailers and maybe plan to see a film you normally wouldn’t have. New in Theaters This Week for 05/11/18 brought to you by The Nerd Mentality! Check back each week by bookmarking our Now Playing tag.