Glenn Close in The Wife
Peppermint R
Pierre Morel repeats his winning formula from Taken, directing Jennifer Garner as vigilante Riley North. She seeks justice denied when a drive-by shooting takes the lives of Riley’s husband and young daughter. Unwilling to either take a bribe or to accept the judge’s ruling of “insufficient evidence,” Riley disappears to learn and train in an array of killing skills. Five years later, Riley resurfaces to exact her revenge. As for Garner, before marrying Ben Affleck, having three children and making credit card commercials, the actress cut her teeth as a kick-ass punisher on TV’s “Alias.” Here, she returns to her roots and still appears to have the chops. (Lisa Miller)
The Wife R
Joan (Glenn Close) is the organizer and facilitator behind her famous husband, Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce). They are in Stockholm, where he is about to receive the Nobel Prize for literature as a “master stylist” whose stories are populated by “intensely real” characters. She has turned a tolerant eye to his many affairs, but a nosy, unauthorized biographer threatens to reveal the big secret: She has seen his covert coauthor, a situation born from love and the 1960s literary milieu where “lady writers” were still accorded little respect. The Wife is an emotionally complicated story where love is inseparable from resentment, complicity and comfort. Close is radiant and charming, and Pryce plays it “intensely real.” (David Luhrssen)
The Nun R
This fifth entry into the “Conjuring” series is a spin-off featuring a demonic nun from earlier chapters. The film stars Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene, notable because Taissa is the real-life sister of Vera Farmiga, who appears as the mother in The Conjuring. Despite years of nightmares featuring a demonic nun, Irene becomes a novitiate nun. Then, she accompanies Father Burke (Demian Bichir) to investigate a nun’s suicide at a monastery located near the Vatican. Extra shocks should result from filming in the IMAX format. Irene’s reasons for, first, becoming a nun, and second, for prowling ancient, dank, corridors where bad things have happened, are questions I’m counting on this horror series to address. (L.M.)
God Blessed the Broken Road PG
Young mother Amber Hill (Lindsay Pulsipher), suffers a crisis of faith (and financial hardship) following the death of her soldier husband in Afghanistan. This film’s official synopsis claims to “combine elements of faith, country music and stock car racing while paying tribute to those who serve in the U.S. military.” Could it be this targeted check list represents four major groups that writers Jennifer Dornbush and Harold Cronk hope to reach? It’s their job to create compelling realities, but if they can do it four times in one film, they are a powerhouse. (L.M.)
