Friday’s openings redux: a small game of sniping

Turns out, other than a couple of “Surfs: The Lost Village” second-run screenings, only one other national release is coming to the area on Friday. The additional screening is as follows:

“The Wall” : Doug Liman directed this films about two U.S. soldiers (John Cena and Aaron Taylor-Johnson) getting pinned down by an unseen sniper and struggling to survive. Not a video game (though someone is probably working on a version for gamers to play on their phones).

Some critical comments:

David Erlich , IndieWire: “Smaller than the sum of its stones, this taut psychological thriller is still sturdy enough, and every bit as compelling as some studio fare 10 times its size.”

Alan Scherstuhl , Village Voice: “Liman, for all his action acuity, struggles to make lying behind a wall exciting.”

Peter Debruge , Variety: “Taylor-Johnson … gives a terrific performance under extreme conditions, totally convincing as a man alternating between panic and trust in the practical discipline of his training.”

That’s it for Friday. For the moment, at least.