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Davis: Standing O for Deepwater Horizon at TIFF

Tim Burton has made his career by directing peculiar movies…now comes Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
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Mark Wahlberg stars in Deepwater Horizon.

After the success of Sully already this month, will audiences return to theatres again to see another true story about heroism from recent history?

Director Peter Berg (The Rundown) re-teams with his Lone Survivor star Mark Wahlberg for another based-on-true-events thriller Deepwater Horizon.

Wahlberg leads an ensemble cast including Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Kate Hudson and Ethan Suplee in the dramatization of the 2010 disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The movie does not focus on the resulting oil spill but rather on the personal life of Wahlberg’s character before all hell breaking loose on the drilling platform and the fight for survival by all after the explosion.  Deepwater Horizon got a standing ovation at the Toronto International Film Festival and is also getting strong critical notices.

Tim Burton has made his career by directing peculiar movies like Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland.  Therefore, it makes sense that he helm the movie adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. It’s a fantasy adventure about a magical island where children with unique abilities are guided and looked after by the strangely amazing Miss Peregrine (Eva Green). Sixteen-year-old Jake Portman (Asa Butterfield) travels to the island to discover the truth behind tragic events in his life and his life takes an extraordinary turn when he meets the peculiar children who are like something out of a fairy tale.

In typical Burton style, the special effects are said to be mesmerizing and he has again enlisted a strong supporting cast including Chris O’Dowd, Terence Stamp, Judi Dench, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett and Samuel L. Jackson.

Featuring the who’s who of funny, Masterminds is a slapstick comedy that is based upon actual events about an inept armoured car employee who, in 2007, pulls off a $17-million heist with the help of band of odd characters. However, he foolishly hands all the cash to his accomplices who double cross him by foolishly spending the money while setting him up for the fall. The cast includes Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis and Leslie Jones.

There are more than just Hollywood movies showing at the Grand 10 this weekend.  The Hindi (with English subtitles) movie M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story starts Friday and chronicles the rise of Mahendra Singh Dhoni from a train station ticket collector to becoming the world-cup-winning captain of the Indian Cricket Team.

Also showing at the Grand is the Globe On Screen presentation of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice starring Jonathan Pryce as Shylock. It is showing Saturday, October 1 at 10:00 a.m.

And opening Friday at the Encore in West Kelowna is the animated adventure Kubo and the Two Strings, which was sadly overlooked in theatres during its initial run. Critics loved it and audiences who did see it gave it an “A” rating with CinemaScore.