99 Homes Finally, a national release that dares to expose the seedy truth of life in the City Beautiful. In the desperate days of 2010, single dad Andrew Garfield gets bounced from his Orlando home, then has to suffer the ignominy of working for the same scuzzball real-estate kingpin who evicted his ass in the first place. That's poignant stuff indeed as the ups and downs of the market continue to wreak havoc on the lives of Central Florida's 99-percenters. And where was this timely little slice of verisimilitude shot? In New Orleans, of course! Because America might want to take pity on Orlando, but it sure doesn't want to see us. Damn, and I was really looking forward to that gratuitous shot of the Lake Eola fountain. (R)
The Green Inferno In this year's Halloween offering from hack-'n-slash guru Eli Roth, a pair of pain-in-the-ass student activists find their mission to save the rainforest compromised when they're captured by a tribe of cannibals. Hey, kids: Set yourself a more realistic goal next time. Like, you know, saving the Rainforest Café. (R)
Hotel Transylvania 2 The best part of the first Hotel Transylvania: watching Dracula's daughter learn to fly while wearing a pink crash helmet. Totes adorbs! Worst part: seeing her grow up and take up with Andy Samberg. Seriously, she could have any halfway decent monster she wants, and she decides to settle for some flippin' Phish fan? In the sequel, the two of them have gotten married (oh, God!) and even had a kid of their own (hide the razor blades!). Just about the only promising element here is the arrival of Mel Brooks, who voices the character of Drac's own dad, Vlad. Old Mel has to be good for some honest yuks, right? Yeah, that's what we all said before we saw Dracula: Dead and Loving It. (PG)
The Intern And what would the Halloween season be without a new movie from Nancy Meyers? (Well, they always seem like horror flicks to me, anyway.) This time, her blatant manipulation of our age- and gender-related sensitivities is keyed to the high concept of a young female tycoon (Anne Hathaway) taking on a senior dude (Robert De Niro) as her intern. Wait a minute: I didn't think there was any more tension between men and women of disparate generations since Meyers forced Jack Nicholson to bang a woman his own age 12 years ago. You mean I sat through Something's Gotta Give for nothing? (PG-13)
Stonewall Fictional account of a young man caught up in the 1969 Stonewall riots. Danny Winters (Jeremy Irvine) befriends a group of street kids who introduce him to famed Greenwich Village dive bar the Stonewall Inn, where gays, lesbians and drag queens gathered despite chronic police harassment. The community's rage builds, and a riot erupts with the toss of a brick. (R)
