This week’s movie releases
Clint Eastwood gets back in front of the camera in Trouble with the Curve Director Jorge Torregrossa and model Andrés Velencoso make their feature debuts in Fin
More often spotted behind the camera than in front of it these days, 82-year-old Clint Eastwood plays an aging baseball talent scout in Trouble with the Curve, the directorial debut of his producer Robert Lorenz. With his employers at the Atlanta Braves questioning if his judgment is as impeccable as it once was, Gus Lobel (Eastwood) heads out on the road to prove he’s still got it. Looking out for him en route is daughter Amy Adams, a lawyer looking to reconnect with her father, and Lobel’s protégé Justin Timberlake, who also has eye on Adams.
Two more films from first-time directors also feature this week. Wu-Tang Clan frontman RZA both calls the shots and stars in martial arts spectacular The Man with the Iron Fists. Set in 19th-century China, it also features Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu, and tells the story of a group of warriors fighting it out for a hoard of gold in a small village.
Spaniard Jorge Torregrossa makes his long-awaited feature debut with Fin, a thriller about a group of old friends who find reality as they know it turning on its head during a weekend in the mountains. Maribel Verdú, Daniel Grao, Clara Lago, Blanca Romero and Kylie Minogue’s Catalan model boyfriend Andrés Velencoso all star.
Two old directorial hands, meanwhile, unite for Chasing Mavericks. Begun by Curtis Hanson (LA Confidential) and completed by Michael Apted (The World Is Not Enough) after Hanson fell ill, it’s the true story of surfer Jay Moriarity, who teams up with veteran wave rider Gerard Butler to fulfill his dream of surfing the giant Mavericks break in north California.
The surprise Golden Bear winner at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, veteran Italian duo Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s Caesar Must Die is a drama about prisoners staging a jailhouse production of Julius Caesar.
