At the movies
“I’ll See You in My Dreams” is, in the words of Variety, “a sweetly handled romantic dramedy” starring Blythe Danner (mother of Gwyneth Paltrow). She plays Carol, a Los Angeles widow who gains two new male friends — and possible suitors. “Grounded at every step by Danner’s calmly radiant, deeply felt performance,” the film offers “a succession of moments to savor, where what matters isn’t the fairly predictable narrative destination so much as the simple pleasure of spending time in these characters’ company.”
The characters “we spend time with” include two suitors, one young (Martin Starr) and one old (Sam Elliott), and three of Carol’s older friends, played by June Squibb, 85 (Oscar nominee for “Nebraska”), Rhea Perlman, 67 (“Cheers”) and Mary Kay Place. (The film, which opened May 15, was co-produced by Jan Miller Corran, a member of Oakland’s Temple Beth Abraham and the former executive director of the Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living in Danville.)
“Tomorrowland,” which opens this weekend, is a sci-fi fantasy starring George Clooney as a former boy genius who bonds with a bright, science-minded teen (Britt Robertson). Together they embark on a dangerous and life-altering mission to a mysterious place called Tomorrowland. The screenplay is by Damon Lindelof, 42, who also produced. He’s best known as the creator of the TV series “Lost” and “The Leftovers.”
Fantasy of a more horrific sort is found in “Poltergeist.” Yes, it’s a remake of the 1982 film — with evil spirits invading a suburban home and capturing a young child — written by Steven Spielberg. The new version has been brought into the present day and co-stars Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt. It was produced by Sam Raimi, 55, a master of horror, and directed by Gil Kenan, 38. Kenan, who was raised in Israel and Los Angeles, has directed two big studio movies: “Monster House” (2006), a charming animated film and Oscar nominee, and the fantasy “City of Ember” (2008), which was not a hit.
New and upcoming on TV
“Aquarius” stars David Duchovny, 54, as Sam Hodiak, an L.A. police sergeant looking for a missing teenager in early 1968. He is helped by an undercover officer dressed up like a hippie. Their investigation leads them to Charles Manson (a year or so before Manson became infamous worldwide). “Aquarius” can be viewed on TV (premieres at 9 p.m. Thursday, May 28), or you can watch the entire 13-episode first season online starting on May 29. (Yes, NBC is pulling a Netflix.)
Josh Radnor, 40, the star of “How I Met Your Mother,” will return to TV in winter 2016 as the star of the original six-part drama “Mercy Street.” The PBS series is set in a Union Army hospital during the Civil War. Radnor plays a civilian surgeon for the Army who comes from a slave-owning family.
Now filming in Los Angeles is the first season of “American Crime Story,” a true-crime spin-off of “American Horror Story,” the hit FX series that tells a different horror story each season. The first season of “American Crime Story” is subtitled “The People vs. O.J. Simpson.” David Schwimmer, 48, plays the late Robert Kardashian, a great friend of Simpson’s who was part of the legal team after Simpson’s arrest on charges of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. (Schwimmer consulted Robert’s ex-wife, Kris Jenner, about Robert and other O.J.-related info. Robert’s “O.J. fame” helped her mega-hit reality show get on the air.) Kris, meanwhile, is played in the series by Selma Blair, 42, another Jewish thespian.
However, the biggest Jewish players in the O.J. saga, defense attorney Robert Shapiro, now 72, and prosecutor Marcia Clark, now 61, are played, respectively, by non-Jewish actors (John Travolta and Sarah Paulson).
Columnist Nate Bloom, an Oaklander, can be reached at [email protected].