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The week’s movie openings: a varied lot

Dan

Looks as if there will be a little something for every Spokane-area movie fan this week. Following are what’s opening at AMC’s River Park Square Theatres (AMC and Wandermere should have the bigger releases, too):

“Fighting”: Channing Tatum (“Step Up,” “Stop-Loss”) stars as a New York street kid, handy with his fists (and elbows), who is enticed into the world of bare-knuckle martial arts. At stake are big money, romance with a sexy woman (Zulay Henao) and, possibly, life itself. Tatum’s appeal is that, though monosyllabically studly, he actually can imbue a kind of self-deprecating humor.

“Earth” (opens on Wednesday): The companies that put this project together, from Disney to the BBC, spent a lot of money on it. As the Variety review stated, “Five years in the making, 4,500 days in the field at 200 locations, 250 days of aerial photography: The statistics are more than impressive.” In one form or another, it already has shown on television (the “Planet Earth” series), has been made available on DVD and is now being released on the big screen. Though the film overall may boast a familiar feel, this is likely to be the best format in which to experience such rich visuals.

“Obsessed”: How many ways can they tell the “Fatal Attraction” tale? The twist this time comes from injecting race into the mix. A successful businessman (Idris Elba of HBO’s “The Wire”) attracts the attention of a white temp coworker (Ali Larter), who does what she can to break up his marriage to, uh, Beyoncé? Yeah, that works.

“The Soloist”: Here’s the movie that we’ve been seeing trailers for since, it seems, the previous century. Based on a true story – uh-oh – it stars Robert Downey Jr. as Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez who writes a column about a street person played by Jamie Foxx. Turns out the character is a former musical prodigy named Nathaniel Ayers, and Lopez ends up befriending him, despite Ayers’ obvious mental problems. Oh, and Lopez got a book out of the deal. Also a movie.

“Informers”: This is a curious pickup for Spokane, being one of only 400 runs across the country. But that’s how things tend to work here. We go for weeks with nothing but mainstream stuff to see, and then something small and potentially interesting plops onto the scene with nary an advance word. Based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis – uh-oh – the film stars an ensemble cast of actors portraying characters living, loving and partying hearty in 1980s-era Los Angeles. It all may add up to, uh, less than zero, but at least you’ll be able to watch the likes of Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke, Winona Ryder, Brad Renfro and Chris Isaak.

Happy viewing.

Below: The trailer for “Fighting.”

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Movies & More." Read all stories from this blog