Bridge of Spies The Coen brothers worked on the screenplay for this Steven Spielberg Cold War drama, in which a Brooklyn lawyer (Tom Hanks) works to gain the freedom of American pilot/spy Francis Gary Powers. You remember Powers: He was the guy who was shot down over the Soviet Union and became the center of an international controversy. (We called it "the U-2 incident" back before that term referred to Bono's luggage.) Production note: Shot on the one block in Brooklyn that hasn't gotten a Pinkberry since 1960. (PG-13)
Crimson Peak Hey, Guillermo del Toro actually made another movie! And of course, it isn't one of the ones he said he was going to make that you actually wanted to see. In place of The Haunted Mansion or Justice League Dark, step right up and settle for Crimson Peak, a melding of Gothic romance and Gothic horror in which a young bride discovers that her new husband's family is harboring an otherworldly secret. Try not to dwell on how comfortable they'd probably all feel living in the Haunted Mansion. Or what a great case this would make for the Justice League Dark. Did I mention I'm bitter? Trivia note: One of two films opening wide this week with a novelist as a major character. Bonus trivia note: The only film opening wide this week in which we are expected to be surprised that marrying Tom Hiddleston has a downside. (R)
Freeheld See review.
Goosebumps In the mood for a brilliant analogy? Then try this one on for size: R.L. Stine is the Bernie Sanders of supernatural youth fiction. I mean, think about it – they're both sincere, visionary, homely little Jews who did the heavy lifting so a blond shiksa could waltz in and reap the real benefits. (And yes, that does indeed make J.K. Rowling Hillary Clinton, because each rose to the apex of her field without a man around the house.) Stine seldom gets the credit he deserves for having used the cheap thrills of genre narrative to get young people invested in reading before they had ever heard of Harry Potter. So it's reassuring to know there's still enough interest in his work to justify a feature film. The Goosebumps movie centers on a massive attack by some of Stine's most fearsome creations, including Slappy the Dummy, the Giant Praying Mantises and the Invisible Goy (I mean, uh, "boy"). And even if the movie itself ends up sucking sawdust, it does my heart good to know that the thing even exists. In fact, it almost makes we wish there was going to be another Twilight movie, just so I could explain why Stephenie Meyer is the Elizabeth Warren of crap. (PG)
