What to see this weekend

The Venice Syndrome

Today you are being offered your sixth dose of X-Men in film format with James Mangold’s The Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman of course. (You can read our review here.) It’s been receiving some pretty positive reviews but don’t expect a proper sequel to 2008’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Pretty excited about this bad boy — Maggie Carey’s The To Do List tells the tale of Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza) an overachieving high school graduate, who’s trying to gain a little more experience before she heads off to college by checking items off her to-do list. The flick has a pretty stellar cast including Johnny Simmons, Rachel Bilson, Alia Shawkat, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Andy Samberg — sure to bring in the ha-ha.

Cinéma du Parc have three documentaries opening today that are worth a gander. Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Blackfish delves inside the world of marine performance and offers an incredibly well researched opinion on SeaWorld’s hidden secrets. (Read our review here.)

Andreas Pichler’s The Venice Syndrome tackles the literal decay of Venice. The film explores how the city is destroying itself through the industry that sustains it. Inhabitants continue to leave and tourists continue to flock there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSokk7fNkP0

And Justin McMillan and Christopher Nelius’ Storm Sufers 3D follows Australians Ross Clark-Jones and Tom Carroll as they search for even larger and challenging waves to surf.

You can also check out Craig Zisk’s The English Teacher at Forum Cinemas, starring Julianne Moore as Linda Sinclair (said English teacher). A previous student Jason (Michael Angarano) returns to town after failing as a playwright in New York and Sinclair decides to use one of his plays for their high school production.

And Dave Schultz’s Rufus stars Rory J. Saper as the awkward and lonely titular teen, who happens to enjoy the taste of blood and who’s being chased by a fountain-of-youth-seeking vampire hunter. ■