Opening this week:
Gloria Bell Sebastián Lelio's English-language remake of his well-received 2013 Chilean drama Gloria is being billed as a "reimagining" – which is just about the nicest way I've ever heard of saying "nearly shot-for-shot remake, but with nobody talking funny." This time, it's Julianne Moore as the middle-aged divorcée trying to negotiate a new relationship with a paintball instructor. Lelio has compared Moore's interpretation of the character to jazz music, telling The Hollywood Reporter, "You'll feel the spirit of the original story but it'll be reinvigorated and vital." Gee, and I thought jazz was just an excuse to play a bunch of wrong notes. Find out what our Thaddeus McCollum thought of this Moore-y melody at orlandoweekly.com. (R; tentatively scheduled to open Friday at Enzian Theater, Maitland)
Also playing:
Birds of Passage Colombian directors Ciro Guerra (Embrace of the Serpent) and Cristina Gallego show us what happens to ancient tradition when people of the Mayuu tribe get on board with the drug trafficking of the 1960s and 1970s. Everybody begins dressing better, says the smart money, but don't knock it: It sent Tony Soprano's daughter to college. Or, as the saying goes, Mayuu live in interesting times. (NR; playing at Enzian)
Climax Sangria laced with LSD is the catalyst for the members of a dance troupe to fly into a murderous frenzy of jealousy, sadism and lust. If you've ever dated a dancer, you know that this is pretty much what it's like all the time. But it's also just another day at the office for filmmaker Gaspar Noé, whose movies like Irrèversible and Love haven't exactly shied away from exploring the seedy underbelly of human behavior. Speaking of which, anybody want tickets to the ballet? I got a comp. (R; playing at Regal Winter Park Village Stadium 20 & RPX and AMC Dine-In Disney Springs 24)
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase Not a sequel to the 2007 Emma Roberts vehicle Nancy Drew, this new take on the timeless girl sleuth was brought to us by producer Ellen DeGeneres. In the title role is Sophia Lillis, whose Beverly Marsh in the forthcoming It: The Second Part will reportedly escape the literary character's destiny of being gang-banged in a sewer. So now Roberts gets to stay the bad girl because she played a witch on TV. (PG; playing at AMC Dine-In Disney Springs 24)
No Manches Frida 2 The 2016 movie No Manches Frida, a Mexican remake of a German film about wacky schoolteachers, was a substantial box office hit in the U.S. So now we have ourselves a sequel, which shakes up the formula by having the instructors in question haul their young charges to the beach. Hey, it worked as a brief vignette in Summer School. And as we all know, anything Mr. Shoop dallied with deserves to be milked for all it's worth. We miss you, Anna Maria! (R; in Spanish with English subtitles; playing at AMC Dine-In Disney Springs 24)
