Short and Sweet: see these films this week!
Be bold. Be brave. Be epic
KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS
Rated PG / 101 minutes
KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS is a stop-motion fantasy action adventure film, by Travis Knight, with a voice cast that includes Academy Award winners Matthew McConaughey and Charlize Theron and Academy Award nominees Rooney Mara, Ralph Fiennes and Brenda Vaccaro — with Art Parkinson as Kubo.
In this epic fantasy, kindhearted Kubo ekes out a humble living while devotedly caring for his mother in their sleepy shore-side village. It is a quiet existence – until a spirit from the past catches up with him to enforce an age-old vendetta. Suddenly on the run from gods and monsters, Kubo’s chance for survival rests on finding the magical suit of armor once worn by his fallen father, the greatest samurai the world has ever known. Summoning courage, Kubo embarks on a thrilling odyssey as he faces his family’s history, navigates the elements and bravely fights for the earth and the stars.
Produced by LAIKA, the studio behind Coraline, ParaNorman, and The BoxTrolls, these filmmakers are innovators in the stop-motion field, committed to fusing state-of-the-art technologies with handmade animation and time-old traditional techniques.
KUBO looks like a film to expand these boundaries even further, with even more dramatic camera work, elaborate visuals, and epic-scale storytelling.
In a year full of animation marvels, KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS will likely be an Academy Award contender, if not a winner, so be sure to go out of your way this week to see this emotional and exhilarating story.
“Laika CEO Travis Knight is determined to keep pushing the technological and artistic envelope for stop-motion. Knight is making his directorial debut with this film after serving as lead animator on the studio’s three previous features, and his first film looks incredibly ambitious and dramatic … with a thread of kid-accessible humor.”
–Tasha Robinson, The Verge
SULLY
Rated PG-13 / 96 minutes
From Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood (American Sniper, Million Dollar Baby) comes Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama Sully, starring Oscar winner Tom Hanks (Bridge of Spies, Forrest Gump) as Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger.
On January 15, 2009, the world witnessed the “Miracle on the Hudson” when Captain “Sully” Sullenberger glided his disabled plane onto the frigid waters of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard. However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and his career.
Sully also stars Aaron Eckhart (Olympus Has Fallen, The Dark Knight) as Sully’s co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, and Oscar nominee Laura Linney (The Savages, Kinsey, Showtime’s The Big C) as Sully’s wife, Lorraine Sullenberger.
Eastwood is directing the film from a screenplay by Todd Komarnicki, based on the book Highest Duty by Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow.
“Great performances in tense, quietly powerful true story.”
— Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media
