Gimme Shelter

 , 101 m., 2013

Vanessa Hudgens (Agnes ‘Apple’ Bailey), Brendan Fraser (Tom Fitzpatrick), Rosario Dawson (June Bailey), James Earl Jones (Frank McCarthy), Dascha Polanco (Carmel), Stephanie Szostak (Joanna Fitzpatrick), Emily Meade (Cassandra), Ann Dowd (Kathy), Candace Smith (Marie Abeanni), Tashiana Washington (Destiny / Princess), Rachel Mattila Amberson (Nicky ‘Pink Friday’ (as Rachel Mattila)), Eddie Schweighardt (Dustin), Hector Lincoln (June’s Boyfriend), Sheila Tapia (Officer Ganz), Peter Epstein (Taxi driver). Directed by Ron Krauss and produced by Krauss and Jeff Rice. Screenplay by Krauss.

Ron Krauss’ Gimme Shelter, or (as it should be known) Apple Bailey’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, continues the ‘deglamification’ of former High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens.

Saving Mr. Banks

, 125 m., 2013

Emma Thompson (P.L. Travers), Tom Hanks (Walt Disney), Annie Rose Buckley (Ginty), Colin Farrell (Travers Goff), Ruth Wilson (Margaret Goff), Paul Giamatti (Ralph), Bradley Whitford (Don DaGradi), B.J. Novak (Robert Sherman), Jason Schwartzman (Richard Sherman), Lily Bigham (Biddy), Kathy Baker (Tommie), Melanie Paxson (Dolly), Andy McPhee (Mr. Belhatchett), Rachel Griffiths (Aunt Ellie), Ronan Vibert (Diarmuid Russell). Directed by John Lee Hancock and produced by Ian Collie, Alison Owen, Philip Steuer. Screenplay by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith.

American Hustle

, 138 m., 2013

Christian Bale (Irving Rosenfeld), Bradley Cooper (Richie DiMaso), Amy Adams (Sydney Prosser), Jeremy Renner (Mayor Carmine Polito), Jennifer Lawrence (Rosalyn Rosenfeld), Louis C.K. (Stoddard Thorsen), Jack Huston (Pete Musane), Michael Peña (Paco Hernandez / Sheik Abdullah), Shea Whigham (Carl Elway), Alessandro Nivola (Anthony Amado), Elisabeth Röhm (Dolly Polito (as Elisabeth Rohm)), Paul Herman (Alfonse Simone), Saïd Taghmaoui (Irv’s Sheik Plant (as Said Taghmaoui)), Matthew Russell (Dominic Polito), Thomas Matthews (Francis Polito). Directed by David O. Russell and produced by Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon, Charles Roven, Richard Suckle. Screenplay by Eric Warren Singer and Russell.

Some Velvet Morning

, 84 m., 2013

Stanley Tucci (Fred), Alice Eve (Velvet). Directed by Neil LaBute and produced by Michael Corrente, Daryl Freimark, Tim Harms, Trent Othick, and David Zander. Screenplay by LaBute.

Neil LaBute has been playing both sides of the Gender Wars against the middle for the better part of two decades. With Some Velvet Morning, his latest two-hander, another expose’ of the twisted underbelly of men and women, he is (perhaps) at his most cynical, misanthropic – and literate – which, indeed, is saying something.